The Greek Food

Tag: Greek Food

  • Sausages with leeks

    Sausages with leeks

    Like other kids, I guess, sausages were my favorite food when I was young. Easy to make and tasty, anything that I could ask at that time.  However, as time went by I forgot to try and make any nice relevant dish with sausage as the main ingredient.

    To be honest I was barely trying. Yeah of course, there is the spetsofai which is very typical in Volos , central Greece, but I was looking for something different.

    So one Saturday night, I came up to the following recipe which surprised me in a number of ways. First of all because it is easy to make which is important nowadays when you are looking to eat something nice in less than 30-40 minutes.

    Also, the flavour of the leeks, make a real difference..

    INGREDIENTS FOR SAUSAGES WITH LEEKS

    • 2-3 sausages chopped in large pieces. Ideally anything spicy would do
    • 3 leeks chopped
    • Around 200gr of feta cheese cut in various pieces
    • Olive Oil
    • Salt Pepper
    • Paprika and some chilli if you want
    • A bit of oregano

    LETS COOK THOSE SAUSAGES

    • Ideally you will need a deep frying pan. I used one of those for Chinese food. Throw a bit of olive oil in there… just a teaspoon and then leeks. Stir them a bit and add water. You don’t want to cover the leeks with water but just a but until the middle so they start to get soft
    leeks with sausages
    The sausages mixed with the leeks and the feta cheese squeezing in.
    • If you want at that point, you can add ½ of a vegetable stocking cube..but not necessary.
    • As the water slowly evaporates and the Leeks become softer you add the sausages, salt, pepper, paprika and the chili (if you like it spicy) and stir. Let it for 4-5 minutes more.
    • Just before the end, when the sausages are ready, add the feta cheese and the oregano and stir it for 1-2 minutes. Bear in mind you don’t want your feta cheese to melt.

    They are ready to be served.

    Tip: Make sure when you clean the leeks, to always remove the outside part of the leek before you chop them. So they can be softer when they are cooked. I didn’t know that…my mother told me…

  • 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!

     

     

  • Salad with Bread and Asparagus

    Salad with Bread and Asparagus

    Salads are so nice to have along with you main dish. I always remember my dad was saying how he disliked eating without having a salad to mix the flavours.  There are different kinds of salads and many versions of the typical Greek salad that people use.

    The thing is that with salads you can always be a bit more creative without problem as it is always just a side dish.

    Sometimes however, it can easily become your main healthy meal of your day which isn’t too bad to be honest…

    The following is a great way to use also that day old bread that you didn’t eat the previous day and now it’s too hard to eat just like that. While on the other hand the asparagus make a difference..

    SALAD WITH BREAD AND ASPARAGUS

    INGREDIENTS

    • 1 bunch of asparagus chopped
    • 2 cups of old bread
    • 1 small cucumber chopped
    • 250gr of Greek Feta cheese chopped in small pieces
    • Olive Oil
    • 1 table spoon (more or less) Red Wine Vinegar
    • Oregano
    • Salt

    METHOD

    Place the asparagus on a baking sheet and sprinkle it with olive oil and some salt. Put in a preheat oven and broil it from all sides for 4-5 minutes. Then let it aside to relax Add all the ingredients in a big bowl together with the asparagus.

    In a glass add 1/3 of olive oil and then the Red Vinegar, oregano and a bit of salt. Stir them well with a spoon and then pour the dressing on top of our salad.

     

    Enjoy!

    Dad’s tip: As soon as i send the picture of the salad to my dad he replied back: “Really nice Antonis!  I will go make one also but i will add also olives and Capers.” Grrr.. Why didnt i think of that?

     

     

  • 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 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!