The Greek Food

Category: Special

  • The Greek Sandwich

    The Greek Sandwich

    The funny thing is that we always talk about very special recipes that sometimes are difficult to make and need some other times very special ingredients that you need to go out and find.

    However, we always forget the most essential dish that someone can make and the easiest one, the sandwich!

    Let’s be honest everyone prefers most of the time to make a quick sandwich than anything else. There are different kinds of recipes for that, and depending on what you like you can put as many things as you want.  Any man that has lived alone for some time…years…has become an expert in pasta…and sandwiches. He knows, the exact quantities, and the kind of bread that is needed for a good sandwich…and believe me, I spent a lot of time making sandwiches before I decide to start eating something different ….. So, let’s put some rules down.

    What makes the IDEAL sandwich?

    • Do not over do it! Don’t get too excited and put 20 different kinds of ingredients inside. The worst thing that you can do is try to eat a sandwich with the tomato falling, or the sausage slipping away.
    • Baguettes are the ideal bread for a huge sandwich for me but don’t ever underestimate the small toast breads.
    • The ingredients for a toast…or a heated up sandwich are different from a cold sandwich. Feta cheese is better cold than warm…You can eat it warm..but it’s not the same.
    • If you make one big sandwich…make just one! Do not make two because you will never eat the second and it will go to waste.  Don’t get greedy! Been there and done that…
    • Don’t overdo it with the sauces, add just enough so they will not drip out of it.

    In general, that is my own rules, that you can obvious ignore. To be honest, most of the times when I make a sandwich its with 20 different ingredients and still try to add more.. On the other hand, since this is a cooking blog….hmmm…correction…something like a cooking blog! I have added two different kind of sandwiches that I made with a bit of Greek flavour added.

    The Greek Salad Sandwich

    Lettuce –tomato- feta cheese-cucumber-olive oil- oregano-chopped onions

    Tuna Sandwich

    Lettuce-tomato-tuna chunk- dill-olive oil-green peppers-onions

    Today…cook a sandwich!

     

  • Courgette fritters with Feta

    Courgette fritters with Feta

    There are some times that you have an idea on your mind for too long and you are just not sure how to compete it.

    In Greece having fried courgettes is a classic appetizer that you can find in many taverns. The classic way to make them is to have them cut in slices and fry them while you have covered them in a mixture of flour and beer.

    Which is pretty nice but since I had a whole Sunday where I didn’t had anything to do, I decided to make the following recipe a little bit more complicated.  After all, its not fun to cook if you don’t play around to see what comes up…

    The worst thing that can happen is that you will cook something that is… not eatable…well there is always pizza hut I guess. But let’s be positive..

    So I guess the best way to name the following dish is courgette balls! As we want to make them look like meatballs but without the meat….mmm . Be advised that even if that was our main dish that specific Sunday, it is mainly served as a side dish or appetiser in Greece.

    Ingredients for Courgette Fritters

    • 1 kilo of of medium courgettes
    • 300gr of crumbled feta cheese
    • 100gr of flour
    • Half a bunch of mint
    • Half a bunch of parsley
    • Dill (remove the stalk)
    • 2 eggs
    • salt, pepper
    • oil for frying

    Method

    • Grate the courgettes and leave them in a strainer. Use your hands to drain them even more and then add them in a deep bowl.
    • Add the flour, feta, herbs, the 2 eggs, pepper and a bit more of salt if you want. Be careful, because the feta cheese will be either way
    • Gently mix them with your hands and check if you can mould them to small round burgers . If not add more flour
    • In a deep non sticky pan, add around 3 cm of olive oil to medium to high heat. Put some extra flour around your courgette balls and then fry them .
    • When you remove them add them in a plate with a kitchen paper on top to drain the liquids . Serve them with a sauce of your choice. Maybe tzatziki ?
  • Pasta with Feta-Tomato and Capers

    Pasta with Feta-Tomato and Capers

    Having pasta is not something of my speciality but I try to have one every now and then as they are really easy to make.  Despite that I never had the chance to have pasta that I would really enjoy to make it to the blog.

    Well, the last time I tried to cook pasta I tried the following way which was much better than I expected. As one friend told me, pasta is nice cause you can add what you want and it still work.

    I like past -as most of us I guess- as it is really easy to cook and fills your stomach when you are hungry. So here is a recipe I did with pasta and which I think can be really nice during summer. The important thing with that is that you can make it with really basic ingredients.

    Forgive me my Italians friends, I know that its not a proper Italian pasta recipe…but I did my best  in mixing Italian and Greek flavours

    Ingredients for pasta with tomato and capers

    • Pasta, your choice
    • 2 spoons of capers
    • 20 tomato cherrys cut in half
    • 2 fresh onions finely chopped
    • 300 grs of feta cheese
    • Olive oil, Salt Pepper

    How to make it

    Make the Paste, the normal way as you do.  Drain them and leave them aside

    Place the pasta on deep bowl and add all the ingredients including the feta and the cherry tomatoes. Make sure you mix them quite well.

    Serve by sprinkling a bit more of olive oil on top and a bit of olive oil

    Its Ready!

    Pasta with feta cheese and tomato
    Sprinkle a bit more of olive oil and you are done!

    Dont like pasta? how about trying this aubergine stew with capers?

  • My Greek Souvlaki recipe

    My Greek Souvlaki recipe

    Anyone that has been to Greece , always comes back and talks about –THAT- specific food, that which was like a kebap but not exactly the same. That food where you could find it everywhere but still could be so different in the way it was made.

    That …is souvlaki, the fast food dish that you have to try when you are in Greece. Reading along on the internet about souvlakia and opinios from different people I really liked the following that Jamie Oliver wrote in his blog regarding souvlaki.

    “We Brits often think of kebabs as a guilty pleasure. But, having seen the love and attention that goes into preparing a proper Greek kebab, I can assure you there is nothing to feel guilty about. It’s all about quality ingredients and fresh zingy flavours.”

    I couldn’t agree with him more on that. After living for 8 years in London I think the basic difference on the Greek Souvlaki is the attention that the cook puts and the distinct flavours that can come out of it depending on how you prepare it.

    As every dish, every Greek has a different way to make a souvlaki changing the recipe a little bit more than the others and still keeping it original.

    Souvlaki Pita Bread with Pork
    Adding potatoes rather than lettuce to my Souvlaki

    I can’t say that one is more right than the other but there are some basic rules I would say. In my opinion the traditional souvlakia are always being made with pork and tzatziki. Despite that there are different variations depending on the meat that you use (chicken and mustard or different kind of sauce etc) . Nevertheless, the main essence is that the results that comes in is a beautiful mix of flavours ideal for a Sunday barbeque or… any kind of day together with beer 🙂

    GREEK SOUVLAKI RECIPE INGREDIENTS

    • 800gr of pork fillets
    • 1 medium onion chopped
    • Thyme
    • 2 garlic cloves cut
    • 5 spoons of olive oil
    • 5spoos of vinegar from white wine
    • Salt/Pepper
    • wooden sticks for the souvlakia
    • 3 tomatoes in thin slices.
    • (optional) some lettuce chopped
    • (optional) potato chips

    Tzatziki Sauce

    • 3 cups Greek yogurt (around 350gr)
    • 2-3 garlic clove, minced
    • 1 large English cucumber, diced (the long, skinny ones)
    • 1 tablespoon salt (for salting cucumbers)
    • 1 tablespoon fresh dill (or both, depending on preference) or 1 tablespoon of fresh mint, chopped (or both, depending on preference)
    Greek Souvlakia
    The all too traditional Greek Souvlakia

    Method

    • In one small oven pot we add the vinegar and the thyme and add the sticks to marinate a bit so they dont burn.
    • We remove any white fat that our pork fillets might have with a good long pointed knife. Its important as if we dont it will remain hard no matter how we well we cook it
    • Cut the pork in nice cubes of around 1 cm each
    • Take the deep pot and add inside the meat.
    • Cut the onion in slices of various sides and add it also in.
    • Add any more seasoning you might want at this point.
    • Now add, the olive oil, 5 spoons of vinegar, salt and pepper and  mix them all together. You will notice that the pork will start to become more whitish because of the vinegar.Leave it on the fridge for 20 more minutes.
    • After it marinates, take the meat and add it to our wooden sticks one by one until each one has around 5. (give and take..)
    • Grill them, until they have a nice color and they are tender.
    • Serve it together with pita bread that is already grilled.
    • Add the tomatoes, tzatziki sauce and  some chopped lettuce if you do wish.

    Check here how to make tzatziki

    Ok, to be honest you can change the order in the end but the result remains the same. Ideally in the end you eat it with your hands like a wrap. Hope you enjoy it!

    If you do prefer i have embedded a nice video where you can make the same recipe but on a pan.  Its a bit more heavy but faster.

  • Spyros stuffed mushrooms with Feta

    Spyros stuffed mushrooms with Feta

    I am getting happier when I receive recipes from friends who tell me things they tried and foods they cooked for themselves.

    The main reason is because I always get inspirations from there foods to try new things and maybe change some small details depending on how I prefer it. In addition to that I have more goodies to share with you on this blog.

    Well, this is the recipe from Spiros as he has sent it to me recently. As he was the first from my friends in UK to get a Phd, his recipes are highly important 🙂

     STUFFED MUSHROOMS with Feta 

    • 5-6 Big Portobello mushrooms
    • 1 onion
    • 1 lemon
    • Around 500 gr of Spinach thinly cut
    • A small block of Feta cheese
    • 2 small tomatoes cut in small pieces

    Place the mushrooms in to a pan sprinkle them and grill them on the high mark for around 30 minutes.

    Try to cut the edges from the mushrooms and mix them with the finely cut onion.  Put in a pan, a bit of olive oil and add them in medium heat.

    In the meantime place the mushrooms in to a pan sprinkle them and grill them on the high mark for around 30 minutes.

    Stir them well until the onions become golden and the mushrooms release a bit of there juices. Add the spinach and stir around nicely, it will remove a lot of water, keep boiling it until it evaporates.

    Just before the water from the spinach evaporates, add the lemon juice ,the small cubes of feta and the chopped tomatoes.. Stir a bit more until the feta melts a bit without loosing its form. Add some pepper, you shouldnt need too much salt

    Place them into the mushrooms and sprinkle the with a bit more of lemon if you like and they are ready.

    Enjoy!