The Greek Food

Category: Soup

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  • Patsa Soup Recipe

    Patsa Soup Recipe

    Always people are asking me to put more traditional recipes in this blog and talk about Greek food, and history and bla bla bla… Well, you know I really want that more than anything else, but its not so damn easy.

    Most of the times it has nothing to do with the complexity of the dishes but mainly with the amount of effort that you have to make in order to cook each dish. So, you want something traditional? That is as traditional as it gets in Greece and it is a dish that is almost close to become extinct on the taverns of Greece and those of Athens and Thessaloniki especially. Its called…..(drumming) ….PATSAS!!! (the crowd goes wild!!!)

    Patsas is basically a soup from pork leg and pork belly, the parts of the pork that very few want to eat. To be honest doing a little bit of research you can do it also with beef or lamb, depending on your taste but..my mother said pork, and pork we will cook today!

    In the Balkan region of Europe, there are different versions of this soup depending where you go and I remember for example when I first went to Poland and tried the local Flaczki, the first thing that came to mind was patsas and basically it had many similarities.

    In Greece and basically in Athens, Patsas had the fame of the “after” food for all the drunken people that had partied before on the local bars with live Greek music.  The reason is that it is a really strong soup that can relax your stomach and make you feel great the next day rather than have a big hangover.  Well, trust me on this one…the rumors were right!

    I remember once when I was working as a waiter in a local beer restaurant in Athens, we were invited out by our manager after work as he had his birthday.  To be honest, I don’t remember much of that night (it’s a lie I remember but im ashamed to say) but what I remember clearly was us ending up at 5 o clock in a local patsatsidiko as they call them (tavern that serves only patsas) where i ate the soup and thought it had a divine taste that time.

    patsa soup recipe

    There are some negatives despite that which you should have in your mind. The smell while you are cooking it is really bad, so make sure that you have a lot of windows open. Also, it does take a lot of time, so you need to have it prepared. Its one of those things that if you know you will get out and try a lot of Ouzo shots that night.  If you pass all that, then you will be rewarded with one of the most famous soups of Greek cuisine.


    HOW TO MAKE PATSA SOUP

    INGREDIENTS

    • 500gr of pork belly
    • 500-600gr of pork leg (chopped in 3-4 pieces)
    • 2 lemons
    • Salt and pepper
    • 1 small chilli pepper

    METHOD

    • Well, first we need to wash the meat and cut the pork belly on really small cubes. Ideally we would like the butcher to cut the pork leg on 3-4 pieces so it can fit on the pot. Fill in the pot with water, add the meat inside it and bring to a boil and keep it there for 15 mins. Then remove it from the heat, and throw away the water keeping –of cource- the meat.
    Patsas in the pot
    Our patsas is getting ready
    • Clear the pot and then add again new water, bring it to a boil and add again the meat. That is being done in order to remove any smells from the pork and clean the meat.
    • Keep it boiling for 2 to 3 hours. Ideally what you want to see is the meat from the pork leg to get soft and slowly being removed from the bone. After 1-2 hours when you notice that then you should remove the pork legs with a deep scoop and with a knife try to remove the meat from the bones. Don’t worry it should be really easy to do it.
    • Put the meat back inside without the bone now and add salt , pepper, the juice from 2 lemons and the chilli peppers. Stir so it can go everywhere and continue boiling it for 30-40 min. Test that the pork belly is soft and its ready!

    As much as tasty the soup can be…it is a real pain to clean afterwards the pot. So make sure you arrange beforehand on who will cook the patsa and who will clean everything afterwards!

  • Greek Meatballs…or Giouvarlakia

    Greek Meatballs…or Giouvarlakia

    The following dish is a classic all over Greece, Cyprus and Turkey. The problem is that I cant really be sure how to write the name in English as I have seen it written in so many different ways in cooking blogs.

    It is giouvarlakia, or youvarlakia, or …Greek Meatballs!We have different kind of meatballs in greece that are famous. Fried or the classic soutzoukakia from Asia minor, you can pick and choose what you would like

    When my mother was making them when I was young for some reason I never categorized it as a soup, but apparently that’s what it is.  I checked somewhere that giouvarlakia in Turkish means “round” which makes sense. Not that it would make a difference to the recipe if you didn’t knew that, but I wanted to show that I did my research!

    INGREDIENTS FOR TRADITIONAL GREEK GIOUVARLAKIA

    • 500gr of minced beef
    • 1 onion minced
    • 1 bunch of parsley finely chopped
    • 1 small bunch of dill also finely chopped
    • 1/3 of a cup of rice
    • 3 tablespoons of olive oil..maybe a bit more
    • Flour… well, enough to cover all the meatballs you create
    • Salt and pepper

    METHOD FOR GIOUVARLAKIA

    • Well, first of all you need to put all the ingredients in a big bowl together with the olive oil and start to form the meatballs with your hands. Ideally with 500grs you should be able to make 20-24 meatballs. Using the flour you should cover all the meatballs creating a small outer layer on them. That will keep the meatballs and not dissolve as you add them to the water.
    • In a big cooking pot, add water until the middle. Add a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper and bring it to a boil. When the water is boiling, then reduce it a bit and start adding the meatballs. After you finished, then reduce the heat as much as possible. Still boil but really minimum, and slow cook it for about one hour.
    • After one hour prepare the egg lemon sauce and add it to the pot making sure it goes everywhere.

    In case you dont remember how to make the Egg Lemon sauce called in Greek Avgolemono...well, i have it over here for you .

    Sit down and enjoy a classic greek dish!

     

     

  • Beef soup with vegetables

    Beef soup with vegetables

    As the winter is coming in London the amount of recipes that include the word “soup” in it is increasing all the time.

    Chicken soup is one of my favorite of all times, along with any Chinese soups which I really like. I remember that when I was young my mother used to do either beef soup or some fish soup, depending on the fish that she could find on the local markets.

    However, for some reason I never really liked it as much as the chicken soup, or the fish soup.  Nevertheless, obviously everything changes as you grow older and now i consider it one of the best comfort foods you can have.

    The more traditional way of cooking that soup is by adding orzo and red sauce which is still nice, but …well i made some small modifications. In this specific case i didn’t add orzo but rather kept the plain with lemon.

    On other cases i just add some mustard. It is equally great i have to say but i guess it is heavily influenced due to the fact that i have spent the past 10 years of my life in UK.

    Well… here it is…

    BEEF SOUP WITH VEGETABLES AND MUSTARD – INGREDIENTS

    • 1 kilo of Beef chopped.
    • 2 daphne leafs
    • 4-5 carrots chopped
    • 2 onions finely chopped
    • 1 small bunch of celery
    • 3  medium sized potatoes chopped
    • Salt/Pepper
    • Vegetable cube
    • 1 lemon
    Greek Beef Soup
    Our Beef Soup is ready. Greek style!

    METHOD

    1. In a big pot, add the olive oil in medium heat and let it sizzle. Add the beef and stir it well.
    2. Add Salt and Pepper as well and the onions and let the beef become a bit brownish. Fill it up with water, add the Daphne leaves as well as the vegetable cube.
    3. Put in the potatoes, the celery and carrots and let them boil for 2 hours. In my case i used a pressure cooker for almost an hour.
    4. After the beef is done add a spoon of butter and the celery leaves and keep boil for couple of more minutes.
    5. Serve with a bit more celery leaves and a slice of lemon.

    Obviously you can make the same soup with some variations… Sometimes i prefer to add a spoon of mustard rather than butter.

  • The best Magiritsa Easter Soup

    The best Magiritsa Easter Soup

    The following dish was one of my favorites during my childhood, and to be honest it is still one of my best dishes, the famous Magiritsa soup. I try to cook it almost every Easter now that I live in the UK and it was one the first dish that I ever made and managed to surprise my friends as they thought it was too difficult to make.

    It’s not difficult to prepare Magiritsa soup but it is quite time consuming I have to admit. During Christian orthodox Easter, Christians need to fast at least 7 days before Great Saturday when according to religion Jesus Christ was resurrected from the dead.

    So every time me and my family were fasting for one week without eating meat and anything related to that and were going to the church on Saturday to celebrate Jesus Christ resurrection. After that, the first food that we eat is the so called, –magiritsa.

    Obviously, there are many more options in the table and we should mention the traditional red eggs as well as the greek tsoureki bread.

    Magiritsa is a soup that has different kind of meats inside combined with rice. It’s pretty straight forward to make but requires a lot of preparation. As I am in London for almost 8 years, I have had the opportunity to make magiritsa a few times as some of my Easter holidays were spend here. So I will give you my version of the soup as I am doing it here.

    magiritsa easter soup
    Our Magiritsa is ready for Easter Saturday!

    Just an important note however before we get going. The dish in some of its versions in Greece, has beef or lamb intestines. Nevertheless, that is something really hard to find over here so I do not use them on this instance. Either way it is an important part of Magiritsa when this is cooked in Greece.

    The main part of the soup is called “sykotaria” which consist mainly the lamb offal. Different people add as many as they can find or simply like. So here is the recipe for magiritsa while in the same time you can see one the first blogs i did last year for cooking roasted lamb, another typical Easter dish.

    MAGIRITSA EASTER SOUP INGREDIENTS

    • 500gr liver lamb
    • 250gr liver beef (Not necessary but I add also for extra taste)
    • 250gr lamb diced
    • 1 lamb heart (Not necessary)
    • 1 cup of red wine
    • 3-4 lettuces depending on the size
    • ½ kilo of onions
    • 1 big bunch of fresh dill
    • 1 tea spoon of Olive Oil
    • Salt/Pepper
    • 1 cube of vegetables
    • 1 tea cup of rice
    • For the Egg-lemon sauce
    • 2 eggs
    • Lemon juice from 11/2 lemons

    So, ideally we need a big pot to boil all that stuff- get the biggest ones you can find.

    HOW YOU COOK MAGIRITSA

    • Add the tea spoon of oil and increase the heat. Add all of the different parts of meat you have and stir it well until most of it (if not all) becomes brownish.
    • Continue stirring by adding the chopped onions
    • Add the cup of red wine and let it for another 2-3 minutes. Smell the wine as it evaporates.
    • Add enough water to cover all of the meat and at least 2 cm more.
    • Continue by adding the chopped lettuce and stir it until it gets soft and mixes with the meat.
    • Continue with the cube of vegetables and add salt and pepper as much as you like. Bring it to a boil for at least 45 minutes. Taste regularly the meat and add water if you feel its necessary. Remember it’s a soup!
    • After 45 minutes add the fresh dill and the cup of rice and continue boiling it in a more medium heat until the rice is ready

    Just before you serve them you should add the egg lemon sauce called in Greek “avgolemono” (egg-lemon)

    Take a spoon of hot soup and begin to slowly add to the pot with the mixed eggs with the lemon juice. Slowly though. Repeat and add another spoon of hot soup. Slowly.

    Stir this mixture a bit (shake the pan round with your hand) to be mixed and then begin to slowly pour in the pot where you have your Magiritsa while stirring the soup with a spoon.

    Enjoy!

  • Hot chickpea soup recipe with lemon

    Hot chickpea soup recipe with lemon

    Writing for this blog now for almost a year I have tried to focus always in recipes that were always different. After a while I liked the challenge of cooking something that I haven’t eaten for a while or that someone never believed that I could cook.

    Other times it was curiosity and the fact that I wanted to taste different things. Couple of weeks ago it was the first time that I remembered to make the following chickpea soup. My mother was cooking it a lot when I was young and it was one of the favourite dishes of my father. Obviously for me, at that time I hated it. It is however a recipe that a Greek mother does often I think so I had to include it.

    So I decided to try and cook the same soup, just to see why I hated it when my mother was cooking it to me. The problem was that I haven’t eaten chickpeas for so long that I couldn’t even remember how they tasted. When the soup was made, I didn’t know if the chickpeas were really ready…or that’s how they should taste …

    Nevertheless, the recipe is pretty simple so its pretty difficult to go wrong. Also, I enjoyed it and so did my brother who was once again my “guinea pig” as in most of my experimental dishes. So.. here we go!

    Ingredients for Chickpea Soup with Lemon

    • 500gr Chickpeas
    • 1 onion sliced
    • 1 garlic clove sliced
    • Chili flakes
    • 1 tea spoon of cumin
    • Salt/Pepper
    • 1 lemon

    METHOD

    Let the Chickpeas in a bowl of water from the previous day to soak. iIn a big pot add some olive oil and then add the onions and garic. Stir them around and add a spoon of butter.

    Pour hot water until the middle of the pot and add vegetable stock cubes. Add the chick peas and bring it to boil for 10-20 mins. Then let it simmer until chickpeas get soften.

     Add salt pepper and olive oil while continuing to boil in low heat for half an hour. Serve while adding some lemon.

    Enjoy!