The Greek Food

Category: Vegetarian

  • Traditional Greek Orzo pasta with tomato

    Traditional Greek Orzo pasta with tomato

    One Sunday, I wanted to cook something quite easy as I woke up really late. I had some orzo and my focus was to make a gioubetsi again at some point.

    Nevertheless, I just wanted to use some of it today and see what other recipes exist for orzo. So after checking a little bit on the net, I remembered one classic recipe that my mother used to do when we were younger.

    Orzo with red sauce is something really easy to cook and really delicate in taste. As I saw in a Greek site it is the Greek version of risotto…

    Honestly when I cooked, I realized how many easy to cook recipes exist out there which you can cook after work, when you are a student, when you are bored in general…but never do.

    ORZO PASTA WITH TOMATO

    Ingredients

    • 1 cup of Orzo
    • 1/2 Cup of Basil leaves
    • 1 small pack of cherry tomatoes
    • 2 table spoons of Olive Oil

    Method

    1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add orzo and cook for 8 to 10 minutes. Drain and set aside.
    2. Place basil leaves and the cherry tomatoes in a food processor. Pulse 4 or 5 times until blended.
    3. In a large bowl, toss together the orzo, basil-tomato mixture, olive oil, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Serve warm or chilled.

    Enjoy!

  • Tower of aubergines

    Tower of aubergines

    I’ve been feeling a little bit vegetarian lately as I said on my last post. Maybe too much of meat food of the last few days has brought me in this stage.

    Last time I went to the market I saw a man selling aubergines and I wanted to make papoutsakia again at some point. Nevertheless, I have realized in the past few months…that when you cook…you start from something…and sometimes you end up to something different…

    I always liked aubergines and loved any relevant recipes

    Not sure why, i guess it is my Asia Minor heritage or the fact that my father did a lot of work to introduce them to our weekly menu.

    Christmas is coming!

    In Greece when the summer comes, those vegetables are the ones that really shine most above all and you can find them in many different dishes. Sometimes though you do like to improvise and see how lucky can you get.

    So for this case, i decided to make a fun recipe that focuses on aubergines as a main ingredient and …really looks nice. Even if i am biassed in this occasion..

    Ingredients for Aubergine Towers

    • 2-3 Aubergines thinly sliced
    • 2 tomatos sliced
    • 1 onion
    • 200gr of Feta cheese
    • 250gr of teen can tomato juice

    How to Cook them

    Clean the aubergine slices and fry them in a pan, 2-3 minutes from each side really quick.

    When you finish, you place them in the side and get ready to make the small aubergine towers. The idea is to put one ingredient over the other creating a mixture of flavors.

    So first a slice of aubergine, onion, aubergine, tomato, aubergine and on top a teaspoon of tomato juice. Top it up with sprinkled feta cheese

    Repeat until you are done with all the ingredients.

    Wrap the pan, in a baking foil and cook it in the oven for an hour or so, removing the oven in the last 15 minutes.

    You can never go wrong, with feta, aubergines and tomatoes!

    Aubergines with feta cheese-1
  • Spinach Rice recipe…or in Greek …Spanakorizo

    Spinach Rice recipe…or in Greek …Spanakorizo

    Spanakorizo is not a dish that you hear really often about in the Greek cuisine. It is though considered one of the classic ones to have especially during the summer months. Spinach is used in couple of recipes and it is common to have pies with it in Greece.

    Other than the typical spinach pie that you can find in many places around Greece, spanakorizo is the 2nd most famous spinach related dish.

    The following Spinach rice recipe is a typical Greek recipe that my mother and most of the Greek homes I suppose are doing. It’s vegetarian and one that I started appreciating when I got older…as before the only foods that I liked were Meat related… The funny thing is that the recipe is one of the easiest ones that exist. The basic ingredients are dill, spinach and rice…

    Last time I cooked it was in a Monday after a long drinking weekend at the Broads in Norfolk UK. I always try to cook something vegetarian after long sessions of drinking in order to convince myself that I am doing a healthy life…:$

     INGREDIENTS SPINACH RICE RECIPE –SPANAKORIZO

    • 1 kilo of Spinach sliced. (washed really good)
    • 1 spoon of Olive oil
    • 1 bunch of fresh onions sliced
    • 1 small cube of Feta Cheese (if we want)
    • 1 big bunch of dill
    • 1-2 tomatoes juice
    • the juice form one big onion
    • Salt/Pepper and 1 cup of Rice

    Method

    • In pot we add olive oil and throw in the Onions and stir for 3 or 4 minutes around.
    • Next we add the Spinach and the tomato juice and continue to stir well so they dont stuck on the bottom of the pan.  Throw in the rice and add water until they are half covered.
    • Salt and Pepper and then add the sliced dill as well as the lemon juice. Taste and add more if it is needed
    • When the water is almost drained we serve it together with the trimmed feta cheese.

    Some additional things:

    Usually I like to add one vegetable cube as it adds a little bit to the flavour but it’s up to you.

    What I do like a lot is to add feta cheese.  I have cut a big piece of feta cheese in small cubes and I add it to the pot after I have removed it from the heat, stirring it so the feta cheese goes everywhere.

    According to some other recipes you can add tomato juice but I prefer to served it together with tomato and cucumber salad …and some octopus that I brought to UK from my last trip in Greece !

  • Gigantes Plaki – Giant beans recipe

    Gigantes Plaki – Giant beans recipe

    There are some classic recipes that if you go to various restaurants in Greece you are bound to see them in the Menu’s. “Gigantes Plaki” are one of them..

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  • Briam- Baked Vegetables

    Briam- Baked Vegetables

    One of the first recipes that I learned to cook when I came in the UK 7 years ago was briam (or else Tourlou Tourlou). That is a really well known dish in Greece and Turkey with baked vegetables. It is very tasty and healthy in the same time.

    If you cook it nicely and you give it some time…the vegetables will melt and become like a cream melting to your mouth giving you a really tasty food without messing up your diet. “Tourlou tourlou” means in…greek and Turkish…mixed up. Basically that’s the basic idea of the food… a lot of vegetables mixed up and baked in the oven providing a range of colours and flavours.

    tourlou tourlou

    Take a look in the ingredients

    INGREDIENTS

    • 2 Aubergines sliced in big pieces
    • 2 courgettes sliced in big pieces
    • 1 big potato cut in various sizes
    • 1 big onion  finely chopped
    • 1 small bunch of parsley finely chopped
    • 1 small bunch of mint finely chopped
    • 1 glass of olive oil
    • Salt and Pepper
    • Baking Foil
    • 250 grs of Feta Cheese.

    METHOD for Briam

    There isnt anything easier than that. Just add all the ingredients in an oven tray and add the Olive oil, Salt and Pepper. Use your hands and make sure you stir the ingredients well.  Cover the tray  with the baking foil and insert it in the oven on high heat.  Leave it there for 45 mins and then remove the baking foil making sure you stir the ingredients once more.

    When the potatoes get soft then its ready. It is important for that reason the Aubergines/courgettes to be sliced in big pieces. Add parsley and the mint, as well as the grated feta cheese and stir so it can go everywhere.

    Tips: be careful to slice the potatoes in really small cubes as they need to be cooked fast or else all the other vegetables will be cooked faster and you will end up eating them rare…