Category: Special

Bean Soup with Sausage
You know when a recipe is good for students? When it combines, meat, vegetables and you spend the less possible time. Ok i lied, the ideal recipe is when it contains only meat but anyway… Well the following recipe almost has these characteristics which make it if not ideal, but really good for students or generally people that leave alone.We have spoken before for Fasolada, the typical Greek bean soup that every Greek knows. Well, come on I wont say the same again about how to do it, you check the recipe over there.When I was little my mother always used to add sausages in the recipe as it is more attractive for kids. Also it’s a different way to cook the beans. Basically mixing this recipe with Spetsofai.

Now, why this one is ideal for students or general people that want to spend minimum time on the kitchen…

Well lets suppose that you have prepared the beans from yesterday and you start bowling them. The only thing that you have to do is to have the ingredients ready and cut. Just add them when the time comes. As the beans are bowling, you can go in the students halls and have a beer….eeeeeem….i mean go to your room and study for tomorrow’s exam. Leave the beans to boil for an hour and when you are back you are ready to eat.

To be honest when I was a student most of the times I was doing toast’s and ordering pizza’s but…it was a good effort J

Well…either way I thought it brought a pretty good result in the end…

BEAN SOUP WITH SAUSAGES

INGREDIENTS
- 1/2 pound white beans moderate
- 1 large onion or 2 small
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 sprigs rosemary
- 6-8 dust. garlic
- 2-3 bay leaves
- 1/2 celery
- 3 carrots cut into rings
- salt
- 1 pork rustic sausage cut into slices
- 1 cube of herbs
METHOD
- Soak for 8-12 hours, the beans in cold salted water (2 pinches of salt).
- Strain, put cold water and boil the beans for 5 minutes.
- Strain again and throw water
- In a saute pan over medium-high heat put tomato paste for a few minutes. Remove, wipe with a paper pan and keep the paste in a bowl. In the same pan in 1 tbsp olive oil saute the onion and garlic to get nice color and keep themselves on the side.
- Then in a little olive oil saute sausage, celery and carrot until the sausage is getting good color and the vegetables soften slightly.
- Then in a pot with 2 liters of water, put the beans with the cube, herbs tomato paste, garlic, onion, carrots, celery and cook for about 1 hour over low heat without stirring, keeping the pot half covered
- Check to add a little water as it is good to keep it boiling in order not to interrupt the cooking of our food.
- Season with salt towards the end of cooking and then add the sausages and a little raw olive oil to serve
January 19, 2012
Pickle Recipe (toursi): How to make your own traditional pickles
One of the best things that you can have a side dish is pickles or “toursi/τουρσί” as it is being called in Greek. You know about and you see them more or less every time on the super markets.

I always used to have toursi at home because my father used to make it in a bowl by himself. Its not difficult to make and its really enjoyable and tasty.

There are different kind of pickles depending where you are coming from, for example in USA and Canada they like to do cucumbers, while in Greece , Turkey and generally the Arabic countries I think we are more on green peppers and other vegetables.

The process is basically really simple, you leave all the vegetables in a lot of vinegar and let it the vegetables receive it for some days. But who am I to talk about those old and traditional recipes.

Well, recently we got my father as a present a laptop so we can communicate a little bit more easily, and as a first job I made him write the recipe about toursi …the pickles recipe. So here it is in his own style…the recipe for pickles as my father send it in his first email to me… 😀 (obviously translated…)

https://www.instagram.com/p/B8XTCS3BKjH/

How to make Pickles – Toursi
- 600 to 700 grams of green peppers
- Apple vinegar (portion depends on the size of your bowl)
- Water
- Pepper/Salt
- Ginger
We can replace them with other vegetable or put them all together if we have space.

For example cauliflower, cabbage etc.
- CAULIFLOWER. Wash and cut it and add it in the jar
- CABBAGE. Cut the leaves Wash and cut it more or less as our palm
- BULBS. Small onions like the ones we use for the stew, just clean them and add them inside .
- GHERKINS. If you find small (approximately 10cm) add them inside. Only clean the top and the bottom place. After 5-6 days remove them and cut them in fat slices like in the salad. Add a little olive oil and eat them.
Lets see now how can we make it.
- Rinse all your vegetables and place all the vegetables in a bowl, add the salt and toss well. Allow to steep for 4 hours.
- Squeeze excess liquid in batches with your hands and place in other bowl with enough vinegar to cover the half of the bowl and add water in the rest.
- Throw in the pepper and a slice of Ginger. Close the lid and shake to make sure it goes everywhere.
- Open up again and add a teaspoon of olive oil.
- Close the lid and seal it for 7 days. Afterwards it should be ready to taste.
Seal with lids and place in fridge. Keeps well for 6 weeks.
October 5, 2011
Frappe: How to make the Greek frozen coffe “Frappe”
You got to believe that people coming back from Greece for holidays they will always start telling you about how beautiful the Parthenon was, how great Acropolis is, the Greek Islands etc. etc.. That is true…but they always…always talk about that Greek frozen coffee that they drunk and was the best thing they ever had… Frappe!

Well, coffee is on our tradition, no matter what we do , no matter when we will always have a cup of coffee. The best business deals are made on coffee time and most probably some of our first dates… (hmm… )

Frappe is the classic frozen coffee drink that Greeks are having during summer. Its so easy to make, but it takes hours until they drink it.

How to make Greek frappe
- Instant Coffee
- Milk (if you want)
- Sugar (if you like it sweet like life)
- Ice (LOTS OF IT)
Method

In a shaker or jar, add 2-3 tablespoons of cold water, 1 teaspoon of instant coffee, and sugar to taste (1 of sugar for medium-sweet).

Close tightly and shake well, until the mixture appears to be all with foam.

Pour the foam into a water glass, add, 3-4 ice cubes, milk to taste, fill it up the rest with water and stir.

Serve with a straw.

Depending on your taste you can add more sugar or less. It’s the perfect way to wake up and start your day on hot summer day.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B0TbY5_Bw4C/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
June 30, 2011
Gemista – Greek Stuffed tomatoes and peppers
The following is by far my favourite Greek Dish. Ok this and souvlakia which you can read here. Well, both ways Gemista is a recipe I really like to cook and one of the most traditional Greek recipes you can find.

It takes a lot of time though and needs some preparation, so don’t start to do it if you really don’t have time.

Nevertheless if you try it once, I am sure you will try it again… Just before we go to the ingredients, a simple note, the size of the peppers and tomatoes must be more or less the same or else its possible some of them not be rightly cooked..

In Greece many people debate whether Gemista should be served with minced meat or without making them a purely Vegetarian food. As if we didn’t had any other reasons to fight… Thats the reason why the recipe is placed in multiple categories on my blog. The only thing that you have to do is prepare the stuffing with the minced meat and the rest is more or less the same.

The truth is that either way its great. It is a great dish especially for the summer when tomatoes and peppers are at their best!

INGREDIENTS FOR GEMISTA (GREEK STUFFED TOMATOES AND PEPPERS) RECIPE

Stuffed tomatoes, peppers and potatoes
- 500gr of minced meat beef
- 4-5 beef tomatoes and 1 pepper
- 1 cup of rice
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 2cloves of garlic
- 1 small bunch of parsley chopped
- Olive Oil, salt, pepper
- 1 can of tomato juice.
HOW TO COOK GEMISTA
- First of all we need to make the stuffing that we are going to fill in the vegetables.
- We need to cut the tomatoes making a little “hat” on top of them and with a spoon to remove all of its inside. Dont throw it away,we will need it!
- So go ahead and grab a deep frying pan and add 2 tea spoons of olive oil and in medium heat throw in the onions and the garlic. Let them sizzle a bit and stir them. Be careful not to burn them.
- Throw the minced meat in and stir it well until it becomes brownish.
- Add Salt, pepper and 2-3 teaspoons of oregano. Pour the tomato juice and the inside juice from the tomatoes you have removed. Let it cook for 5-6 minutes making sure you stir it in the mean time.
- Add the rice and then fill the frying pan with water and let it boil. Let it cook and taste it in the mean time to make sure that the rice is cooked..
- As it is being cooked the water will evaporate and a lit bit before its done you should add the chopped parsley removing it from the heat
- You need to stuff the tomatoes and the peppers with the mixture.
- Take a spoon and simple add the mixture inside but dont over do it because that might crack the tomatoes.
- When you fill them, you need to close the tomatoes and peppers with the tops.
- Bake it in a preheated oven for around an hour…an hour and a half. Make sure that your pan, has always a bit of water in it. For the pan i have on the picture i just added a glass. The water evaporates making sure the tomatoes are getting softer.
- When the vegetables become slightly blackened on the sides then it’s ready. Don’t serve it immediately but let it “mellow” for some minutes.
- It is best done with oven baked potatoes which you can add in the same pan.
This is typically a summer food that you can have even cold. Hope you enjoy it!

Our Stuffed tomatoes and Peppers are ready!
May 26, 2011
How to make a Greek Coffee

Greek coffee…well it’s not Greek food as the name of the site suggests but it’s a typical thing for all greeks and you will find it where ever you go.

It’s easy to make but it requires some practice and to have of course the Greek coffee and the “briki” (greek word for the coffee pot we use) where the coffee is made. Just to make clear, that is more or less the same coffee that is served in Greece, Turkey and a lof of Arab countries with little variations.

You measure the required cups of water into the briki. So if you want to make 3 cups of coffee you put 3 cups of water into the briki. Typically you will need 2 ½ spoons of Greek coffee for 2 cups of coffee and half spoon of sugar. Nevertheless this depends on your taste and how you drink your coffee.

So…you put the water into the briki and you add the coffee and sugar in low heat. Stir until the coffee is diluted in the water. Hold the briki all the time as it will boil really quickly and there is a danger that it will spill if you don’t take it off the heat fast.

Watch it carefully as it starts to rise and create a bubbly foam….let it rise for couple of cm and then take it out of the heat immediately.

Let it cool down for 30 seconds and put a little on all the cups. Be careful to distribute equally the foam an all the cups as this is what brings the distinct taste.

When you serve the coffee, you don’t need to stir it after that. Ideally it is served together with a glass of water and some sweets.

Typically the Greek coffee is drunk really slowly and you can see every day in Greek coffee shops old men drinking and discussing the news of the day. It’s one of the typical traditions in Greece that its followed even today. I am not kidding at all if I say that my father used to drink the same cup of coffee for up to three hours in the morning smoking his cigarette… Enjoy J

Note: You cannot make the greek coffee with any type of coffee. You need to search and find where they sell greek or turkish coffee’s in your area. There are places in London but..you need to search for any other countries..

May 16, 2011