The Greek Food

Tag: Greek Food

  • Home made marmalade

    Home made marmalade

    Greek mothers as always cannot leave their children no matter how old they are (30 going to 31) and for them they will always be 7 and in need for mothers care. I am sure that all of you have seen the movie “My big fat Greek wedding” so I don’t need to explain anything more.

    My mother is more or less the same, even if I am 10+ years in UK she still tries to find an opportunity to send me something that I can eat… Lately after a lot of fights she has settled in sending just Jam’s, lots of them.

    Even if still I have to admit I don’t eat much of them in the morning (my brother does) they are really nice and tasty.  I always remember her fighting with my father whether it’s better to melt the fruits to create marmalades or eat them as they are. Anyhow, I have received any possible jam that I could imagine from any possible fruit that exists. Whatever my mom could find…she WILL make marmalade out of it…pack it…and send it to London.

    So why not break down the recipe from my mother’s marmalade. I don’t think its anything that most of the people don’t know but it was and still is a basic thing of my Menu…

    As i found out, one really important ingredient in the process is of making a really good jam is pectin sugar. That ingredient is essentially what holds all of the fruit juices together.

    Pectin is a naturally occurring substance (a polyscaccaride) found in many fruits.  When heated together with sugar, it causes a thickening which is exactly what we want in this case. Obviously, this is not the traditional way that our grandmothers were used to but unless you want to spend some hours  in front of the pot you are better off using that.  Plus it is absolutely natural.

    INGREDIENTS FOR HOME MADE MARMELADE

    • 1 kilo of fruits of your choices (example apples)
    • 500gr of sugar
    • 1 envelop of pictin sugar.

    So, you need to take a 1/2 kilo of sugar, add the pictin sugar, mix them .  Add the apples in a pot together with couple of glasses of water so they start to boil.  If they were strawberries, you wouldnt need to add water as they are generally a juice fruit and will release there own.

    Boil them for 3-5 minutes …or in general until they start to soften up.

    Add the mix of sugar and continue to boil them.  and as they dont have any juice you may need to add 1-2 glasses of water.

    Boil them to medium-low heat until the marmalade becomes sticky.

    You should from before have ready some glass vases where you would store your jam.  You need to have cleaned them and  put them in the oven in really low heat for 15 -20 minutes to sterilize.

    Add the jam in there and keep it refrigerated!

     

     

  • Organizing your food shopping

    Organizing your food shopping

    Lets talk about shopping. I get a lot of emails always from people asking me how do i manage and arrange the shopping list all the time so i have the right ingredients all the time in my fridge. So its time to answer all of those questions!!!

    Well, ok i need to be honest, no one has ever asked me that question, and i don’t think anyone has ever send me an email about anything other than some advertising spam mails… Nevertheless, i thought it was a nice way to start this blog, so that’s what we will pretend it happened!!!

    So, first of all lets make something clear. I work , Monday to Friday usually 9 to 6. So most of the times when i finish work, i want either to go to the local pub or if the weather is bad ( which in London is common) go straight home. What i mean by that is that there isn’t much time or will for shopping , every time…. Which is quite normal i guess everyone has the same feeling…

    What do we do?

    First! Find the local store that is close to you! Yes that it is important, there must be some local grocery that is close to you that has the vital things. Onions, vegetables, coffee, or whatever else.

    There will be some time that you will try to cook something and realize that there is only 1 ingredient that is missing. I hate that moment….but it is good to know that most of the times you can get it really fast.

    You don’t wait until the last chance to decide what you want to eat. Programming is everything here. I still have on my mind to cook cod with skordalia sauce at some point in the next week…

    The main thing is always to have into your fridge the main ingredients so you can always have the opportunity to create based on them. And what are they? That’s an easy question, fish and meat and some basic vegetables. Nothing ground breaking huh? So lets make it a bit more clear..  Every week, or every second week if i am bored, i always find a chance to go to the local butcher or fishmonger to buy some the main ingredients of what i want to cook in the following days.

    Pasta is the easy thing, always have enough for those times that you want something easy. Fish that can be put to the freezer. If not you will have to cook it the same day, as it is always ideal for fish to eat it fresh in order to enjoy them better. But sometimes, fillets can be easily stored.

    For example if you have cod already in your freezer then it is really easy to add some small ingredients and cook it rather than going and buying them the same day.

    So, take away:

    Always make sure to have some basic ingredients in the freezer. 500gr of lamb, 500 gr of beef or pork, chicken breast, is always a good start

    But what next? Do we eat it as it is? Of course not. Well, if you have noticed most of the recipes over here, there are some basic ingredients that are always repeated.

    • Onions!
    • Garlic!
    • Tomatoes!
    • Olive oil of course
    • Feta cheese maybe also?

    After that there are some vegetables that are always good to have as they can be used in different recipes or as standalone.

    • Aubergines
    • Courgettes

    So you have those, and you have the basic ingredients for example to cook that or maybe that or a very traditional of that

    And then again there are always the famous lentils and the beans. The whole idea behind is that with a minimum of 6-7 ingredients you can have quite a few different recipes and make quality dishes. Obviously if something is missing, you can always improvise and that again is the essence of cooking.

    Obviously, there are other things like salt, pepper, oregano and other famous spices used in the Greek kitchen but the point is always to have into your kitchen the basic ones in order to be able to do the rest.  That will always make things much easier, when you are at home with a big headache and the weather outside is cold and miserable… then again you could always order a pizza! 🙂 Which i have to admit, i have done a lot of times but… eventually its much more fun to create it by yourself.

     

     

  • Octopus with Pasta

    Octopus with Pasta

    First blog of the year, and it will not be about the winter and the cold snow… Unfortunately I think in order the year to go well I need to write something that will remind mostly summer now.

    For a long time I wanted to eat some octopus while I was in London.  Its those things that I miss mostly while I am in London and the first ones that I am eating when I go back to Greece.  For some reason I had the believe that I wouldn’t be able to find a proper octopus around here unless I did go to some market… and as much as I would like to… unfortunately my boredom doesn’t let me and usually I prefer just staying in…

    Aaaanyway..

    I did manage to find after all a proper octopus once in my local fish monger and I didn’t let the opportunity to pass away. The following recipe is a classic in Greece and one that is most common during the time before Easter when Christian Orthodox is fasting.

    It has Greece written all over it (upwards downwards etc. etc.)  and is a must if you ever visit the country… Basically any recipe with octopus in my opinion…

    INGREDIENTS FOR PASTA OCTOPUS

    • 1 octopus fresh chopped in small pieces
    • 2 red onions chopped
    • 1/2 a glass of olive oil
    • 1/2 a cup of white whine
    • A small teaspoon of cinnamon
    • 1 tomato juice can
    • 500gr of pasta
    • Salt/pepper
    • parsley

    METHOD

    • Clean the octopus, really good and remove its mouth with its teeth.  Wash it really well and  cut it in small pieces.
    • In a deep pot,  add the onions for a few minutes being careful not to get brown.
    • Add the octopus for a few minutes until it changes color.  Throw in the seasonings and the tomato juice and let it boil for a few minutes.
    • Add the wine and let the alcohol vaporate.
    •  Fill it up with water and bring it to a boil. When the octopus becomes soft, add the pasta in.
    • Continue to boil the mix until pasta is ready.
    •  Make sure that there is some juice inside from the sauce, remove from the heat and add salt/pepper.

    Serve sprinkling some parsley.

     

     


    Greek Stewed Octopus in Tomato Sauce with Pasta 

  • 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!

  • Sardines with lemon

    Sardines with lemon

    Not the most usual of fishes that you can find in your table but definitely one that deserves your attention.  Cooking Sardines with a bit of lemon is quite easy and full of flavours.

    Honestly, I don’t eat Sardines often but it is a mistake that me and many others are constantly doing. The small oily fish from the herring family is ideal lunch and dinner especially during the weekend as it will definitely bring you memories from Summer time.

    When in Greece, Sardines are usually served as a starter or a part of a meze but in can work as a main dish also if you have them in big quantities.  Nevertheless, the following is a classic recipe that you can find I guess almost in every restaurant in Greece and enjoy.

    LEMON SARDINES IN THE OVEN

    • Around 1 kl of Sardines
    • Juice from 3 large lemons
    • Lemon, Salt, Pepper, Oregano
    • 5 cloves of Garlic

    Make sure that you have properly cleaned the Sardines. Rip the head of and with your finger open them up in the middle to remove the intestines.

    In a bowl, add Olive oil, Salt and pepper as well as oregano.  Add the Sardines and leave them in the fridge for 2-3 hours.

    Pre-heat the oven. Add the sardines together with the marinade and cook them for 30 minutes in 180c