Category Archives: GREEK RECIPES

Recipe for the favourite Greek dip by Diane Kochilas

Ingredients:

3 cups/about 350 grams purslane
6 small organic cucumbers, peeled, seeded and shredded
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro/fresh coriander
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 1/2 cups/360 ml strained Greek sheep’s milk yoghurt (or any thick Mediterranean-style yoghurt)
1/4 cup/60 ml extra-virgin Greek olive oil
3 garlic cloves, crushed with the flat side of a knife
2 teaspoons ground coriander
sea salt and ground pepper

Method:

1. Wash the purslane, spin dry, and trim away any tough stems. Transfer to a salad bowl. Wring the liquid out of the shredded cucumber by gathering it up with your hands, one small bunch at a time, and squeezing it between your palms. Transfer to the bowl and add the herbs.
2. Whisk together the yoghurt, olive oil, garlic, and coriander and season with salt. Add the yoghurt mixture to the vegetables and mix well.
3. Season with pepper and additional salt if needed. Serve.

source: Neos Kosmos

A Greek-style dip of mashed and whipped potato spiked with garlic.

Ingredients:
500g potatoes (for boiling, always use Desiree potatoes)
4-6 cloves of garlic, crushed
300-400 ml good-quality olive oil
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoon of cooking salt (1 tsp for boiling and an additional 1/2 teaspoon when making potatoes)
1/2 teaspoon white pepper, freshly ground

Method:
1. Wash the potatoes thoroughly, leaving their skins on.
2. Fill a pot with water, add your potatoes and bring to a boil. Add a teaspoon of salt and cook until tender.
3. Drain and peel the potatoes when they are cool enough to handle.
4. Push the potatoes through a potato ricer into a large bowl.
5. Add the garlic, salt, pepper and vinegar.
6. While mixing thoroughly, gradually add the lemon juice and olive oil one after the other until your skordalia is nice and thick.
Have a taste of the dip. If necessary, add more salt, lemon juice, vinegar or even garlic.

source: Neos Kosmos

Kleftiko needs about 1kg of lamb.

Your butcher will need to cut up the lamb into chunky pieces making sure each piece has bone, meat and some fat on it.

Ingredients:
Allow approximately 1 kg of lamb per 4 people. Your butcher will need to cut up the lamb into chunky pieces (approximately each piece the size of your fist), making sure each piece has bone, meat and some fat on it.
To marinate the meat:
dried oregano
salt
rosemary
bay leaves
potatoes (preferably Desiree)
lemon juice
3-4 onions cut into slices
olive oil (light)

Method:
Your wood-fire oven temperature should be around 450-500 degrees. Once you have reached this temperature, push all the coal to the side of your oven. Make sure the flame has died down.

1. I am quite generous with my herbs as I like a lot of flavour. Marinate your meat from the night before if time permits. Put your marinated meat in a tray that can tolerate high, intense heat for the wood-fire oven and cover well with foil. Do not add any oil – a handful of water only. The fat on the meat will melt and will keep your meat moist.
2. After 2 hours prepare your potatoes as listed below and put them in the wood-fired oven. Leave the meat covered for the entire time and the meat will brown slightly. If you want your meat browned take the foil off after 3-3 1/2 hours and allow it to brown. Remember however, every time you open the oven you will lose valuable heat.
3. Cut your potatoes into quarters
(lengthwise), and put them in a separate tray to the meat. Add salt, the juice of a lemon, oregano, oil (about 1 cm deep), and cover them with the thickly cut onion slices. This will stop the potato from burning, but will allow it to cook. Put in the oven
to cook, for approximately 2 hrs. Discard burnt onion once cooked.

As you use your wood fire oven more frequently, you will become more familiar with the temperatures and the length of time for food to cook. The size of your tray, the amount of meat in the tray, the intensity of your heat, how often you open the door to check on the food will all be deciding factors on how fast or slowly your food cooks. Each time you cook different volumes of food, it will make a difference in the cooking time.

The trick is to allow time – it is a slow process, but well worth it.

source: Neos Kosmos

Cypriot style sausages.

A staple in the Cypriot household

Ingredients:
1 kg of ground pork mince
(I buy pork shoulder and ask the butcher to mince it)
4 large onions, finely chopped
2 cups of finely chopped parsley
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp dry oregano
caul fat*
* Caul fat is a thin edible membrane from the intestines of an animal. Once it is heated it melts but keeps the sausage in shape. You will need to order this from your butcher, as it is not readily available. It can be frozen up to 3 months. It should come washed, but you may still soak it in equal amounts of water and vinegar for about an hour before you use it. This will get rid of any residual smells of blood.

Method:
1. Combine mince, onions, parsley and seasoning in a large bowl. Use hands to mix well.
2. Cut a piece of caul fat (approx. 10 cm x 8 cm) and lay it on a clean surface. Take some mixture (approx. 1 1/2 times the size of your thumb), roll into an oval shape and place it on a corner of the caul. Roll and tuck with your fingers till it is covered twice over. Put it aside and repeat till all the mixture is used.
2. Prepare your grill or charcoal BBQ and place sheftalies on the grill. It will take approximately 10-15 minutes to cook depending how big they are. Do not turn too often as the caul will break and mixture will spill.
3. Once cooked, serve with pitta bread, tzatziki, more onion and parsley and enjoy with a cold beer.

source: Neos Kosmos

Baked whole snapper makes a delicious treat for the whole family.

Ingredients:
1.5kg whole snapper, scaled, gutted
Juice of 1 lemon
Sea-salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper, to season
1/2 cup olive oil
1 brown onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 stalk celery (with leaves), chopped
1 carrot, thinly sliced
400g can chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 tsp caster sugar
Lemon slices, to serve
Extra chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves, to serve
Method:
1. Put fish on a large plate and squeeze over lemon juice. Season, then cover with plastic wrap and set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 180°C. Heat oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add onion, garlic, celery and carrot, and cook until onion is soft and translucent. Add tomato, parsley, water, wine and sugar. Season. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Spoon 1/8 of the sauce into base of a large baking dish and top with fish. Top with remaining sauce. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil. Spoon sauce in pan over fish again. Cook, uncovered, for a further 10 minutes.
4. Transfer baked fish to a serving platter. Top with lemon and extra parsley. Serve with a Greek salad and bread, if you like.

Source: Neos Kosmos

Baked in the oven, this whiting dish allows the peppers to create a delicate sauce.

Ingredients: 1 kg small whiting 1 onion, sliced into fine rings 1 green pepper 1 red pepper 1 orange pepper 1 yellow pepper 2 cloves garlic 4 tbsp tomatoes cut into cubes without juice or seeds 3 tbsp parsley chopped 60 ml olive oil Salt and pepper to taste Method: 1. Cut the peppers in half and remove the seeds. 2. Place the peppers under the grill with the skin side up for approx. 15 minutes. 3. You can now remove the skin easily and discard it. 4. Remove the head, tail and central bone from the whiting, keeping just the fillet but making sure that the fish are whole and not split. 5. Salt the fish and place in the fridge while you prepare the sauce. 6. Slice the peppers. 7. Place the oil in a frying pan and gently fry the onion rings for two minutes. 8. Add the peppers and garlic and fry for another three minutes. 9. Add the tomato cubes and parsley, stir in and fry for another two minutes, adding salt and pepper. 10. Place half of the sauce you have now prepared in a shallow oven dish. 11. Arrange the fish on top of the sauce and then spread the remaining sauce on top. 12. Place in a pre heated oven at 180°C for 30 minutes, so that the fish is cooked and the sauce set.

Source: Neos Kosmos