Category: Greek dishes

Categories
Greek dishes Main

Pork with leeks and celery

This is traditional dish serving on the Lesbos island during the Christmas time. The Greek name is χοιρινο σελινατο (hirino selinato) and is absolutely delightful. I tried it with some kind of shyness, but I tried because I’m big fan of leeks and dry wine even. I do not regret, even I’m not big fan of pork!

Pork with leeks and celery
Print

Pork with leeks and celery

Recipe by adminCourse: Dish from LesbosCuisine: Aegean CuisineDifficulty: Easy
Servings

4

servings
Prep time

10

minutes
Cooking time

50

minutes

Ingredients

  • 500 grams of pork (doesn’t matter wich one, important is the part with meat, not only fat)

  • 6 fresh leeks

  • 1 big celery (green part)

  • 1 glass of dry white wine (full one, 175 millilitres)

  • 2 glass of water

  • 1 teaspoon black pepper

  • 2 teaspoons salt

  • olive oil

Directions

  • Add olive to the pot and when is gonna be hot, add meat cut into small pieces
  • add leeks – cut into 4-6 cm long pieces
  • add a celery – cut into small leaves
  • add the wine and close the pot for a few minutes.
  • Open the pot and add max 2 glass of water, salt and pepper, mix and close te pot again, for minimum 30 minutes.
  • after 30 minutes (total from cooking 35 minutes) have a look, the leeks and celery gave own water, check if meat is ready (the cooking time depends on the type of meat) and cook tilll meat will be tender. Ready!
Categories
Greek dishes Main Meat Video

Chicken legs in tomato

Chicken legs in tomato sauce
Print

Chicken legs in tomato sauce

Recipe by adminDifficulty: Easy
Servings

3

servings
Prep time

20

minutes
Cooking time

1

hour 

Ingredients

  • chicken legs (2 for each person)

  • tomato concentrate sauce (around 150 grams)

  • 1 chopped onion

  • olive oil

  • parsley

  • salt

  • hot pepper

  • one knorr’s cube

  • one spoon of sugar (option, if the tomato sauce is bitter)

Directions

  • Add salt and hot pepper to chicken legs and put on the side
  • Glaze the onion on the hot olive oil
  • Add tomato sauce to the glazed onion, mix together till will be one structure
  • Add chicken legs, parsley, one knorr’s cube
  • Simmer under the cover till the chicken is ready (the meat is going out of the bone easy

Recipe Video

Notes

  • Serve with potato, rice or pasta, kali orexi!
Categories
Greek dishes Main Meat

Moussaka

This is the most recognizable Greek dish, it is cooked exceptionally long, it is time consuming and of course delicious! Strangely, if they make moussaka in Turkey (this is extremely rare), they call it Balkan moussaka.
The following recipe was given to me by my friend Maria, a native Samian (Greek from the island of Samos), which is relatively simple, and I am sure that everyone can prepare moussaka at home.

Moussaka
Print

Moussaka

Recipe by adminCourse: MoussakaCuisine: Greek, Aegean cuisine


The following recipe was given to me by my friend Maria, a native Samian (Greek from the island of Samos), which is relatively simple, and I am sure that everyone can prepare moussaka at home.

Ingredients

  • 3 medium-sized eggplants

  • 3 medium sized squashes

  • potatoes about 4 pieces of medium size

  • grated yellow cheese – 200 grams

  • Bread crumbs (a bit)

  • butter (just a little bit)

  • Spices

  • 1 tablespoon salt – can be replace with two broth cubes

  • 1 tablespoon black pepper 

  • 1 tablespoons oregano or others herbs – what you prefer

  • half teaspoon oregano

  • Meat sauce

  • two red onions – chopped

  • 500 grams of minced meat – beef, pork or mixed

  • olive oil

  • parsley

  • 2 garlic cloves

  • 2 jars tomato puree or mixed tomatoes (5 pieces)

  • Béchamel sauce (you will find in the chapter with sauces) 

Directions

  • We start with eggplants – they must be cut, salt and set aside for an hour to let go of the water.
  • Make a meat stuffing:
    Glaze the onion in olive oil, add ground meat and mix, add mixed tomatoes (tomato puree), add parsley and grated or squeezed garlic. Add a little salt and pepper – I add two broth cubes instead of salt and pepper, some Herbes de Provence, a bit oregano, a bit hot pepper. Mix everything and the meat is ready.
  • By this time, our eggplants should already let go of the juice, so we wipe them from above with a paper towel and put in a preheated oven, where we bake for about 15 minutes – check with a fork. You can also make eggplants by frying them in a frying pan, but then they will be more greasy – it is up to you, I choose the option of baking eggplant in the oven.
  • Then cut into slices of squash and potatoes and bake in the oven until tender.
  • When we have it ready, we start to make the moussaka’s layers, the order is as follows:

    butter – we grease the bottom of the roasting pan,
    bread crumbs – pour a bit to the bottom of the pot
    baked potato slices,
    first layer of meat,
    baked / fried eggplant,
    cheese,
    baked / fried eggplant,
    second layer of meat,
    baked squash slices,
    third layer of meat,


    And cover everything with béchamel sauce.
  • Put everything in the oven and bake at 180 degrees for about 45-50 minutes – until the top is golden brown. 

Notes

  • Practical note: after removing from the oven, the moussaka must “stand”, according to my experience just to cool down, then for a bit in the fridge and will keep the form “at attention”, otherwise it will melt, to avoid this we can make a denser sauce béchamel.
Categories
Greek dishes Main Meat Soups

GREEK BEEF SOUP, GUVECI

If we think about the name of this dish, we have no doubt that it appeared on greek tables thanks to the Ottoman Turks. Güveç (read giuwetz) is nothing more than a turkish, traditional clay pot in which is using till today in Turkey to make different dishes are baked. However, in Greece, the name was adopted, softening the word (adding “i” at the end) and the name of the dish that hundreds of years ago came with the Turkish invader in this pot.

GREEK BEEF SOUP, GUVECI
Print

GREEK BEEF SOUP, GUVECI

Recipe by adminCuisine: Greek CuisineDifficulty: Easy
Servings

4

servings
Prep time

30

minutes
Cooking time

3

hours 
Total time

3

hours 

30

minutes

Guveci in the Greek version (Greek write gouveci) is nothing but a decent beef broth. I received the following recipe from Father Teofani, previously superior of the Vrontda monastery in Samos, currently Abbot of one monastery in Meteora (St. Nicholas Anapafsas).

Ingredients

  • 0.5 kg boneless beef – cut into 3 cm x 3 cm pieces

  • 5 chopped carrots

  • 5-6 peeled onions, whole

  • 5 whole peeled tomatoes

  • A cup (200-250 grams) of orza pasta

  • 4 bay leaves

  • salt,

  • pepper

  • 8-10 grains of allspice

Directions

  • Boil beef, carrots, onions and tomatoes in a large pot until tender. We leave the vegetables whole – except the carrot, which we cut into smaller parts. We add water during cooking, because it will simply evaporate.
  • When the beef is tender – usually takes 3 to 4 hours – add salt, pepper, add bay leaves and allspice.
  • After 30 minutes, add the orza pasta and cook (in this soup) until soft. 
  • And – ready!

Notes

  • The soup served can be sprinkled with grated cheese, but I do not like it.
  • In some places GUVECI is served as a regular dish, not as a soup
Categories
Appetizers Greek dishes Salads

Greek Salad

Greek Salad
Print

Greek Salad

Recipe by adminCourse: greek saladCuisine: greek cuisine

The most famous greek salad under the name “greek salad”. In fact, in Greece it is called a country salad (village salad) – Choriatiki salata.

Ingredients

  • 2 onions, chopped

  • 2 chopped tomatoes

  • 1 chopped cucumber

  • 1 slice of feta

  • a pinch of oregano

  • a few olives (option)

  • olive oil

Directions

  • Mix tomatoes, onions and cucumbers
  • On the top put slice of feta
  • Sprinkle oregano and pour over olive oil
Categories
Greek dishes Soups

Augolemono


Augolemono (read avgolemono) is the basic think in greek cuisine, and at the same time is something completely unknown in other part of the world.
It’s an egg mixed with olive oil and lemon. It sounds a bit bizzare, but Greek add it to almost everything – to fish soup, vegetable soup, chicken broth and even stuffed cabbage rolls.
So if we are serious about greek flavors, we need to know how to do it. Augolemono completely changes the taste of the dish, adds such a Greek taste …

Augolemono
Print

Augolemono

Recipe by adminCuisine: Greek cuisineDifficulty: Easy
Prep time

5

minutes

Ingredients

  • 150 milliliters of lemon juice

  • 150 milliliters of olive oil

  • 2 eggs

Directions

  • Pour all ingredients into a mixer and mix.
  • Then take some soup from the pot with a spoon and pour it into the mixer, the point is to reduce the temperature differences between augolemono and the cooking dish.

  • Repeat until the augolemono is warm and put it into the soup (last five minutes of cooking the dish).

Recipe Video

Categories
Appetizers Greek dishes

Tzatziki

Tzatziki is known by everyone who has ever been to a greek tavern. This extremely popular starter in greek cuisine applies to almost everything, especially recommended for chickpeas (rewitokeftedes).
Here’s a recipe for the most classic tzatziki, you can add finely chopped dill, grated carrots, and even chopped nuts or pistachios. As I mentioned, this recipe is basic and known in all greek homes.

Tzatziki
Print

Tzatziki

Recipe by adminCourse: AppetizersCuisine: GreekDifficulty: Easy
Prep time

5

minutes

Ingredients

  • 200 mL of thick yogurt

  • two grated or squeezed garlic cloves

  • a piece of cucumber finely grated, squeezed from cucumber water

  • a few drops of vinegar

  • salt

  • dill (option)

Directions

  • Put yogurt into a larger bowl, add grated garlic, grated squeezed cucumber, dill (option) and mix everything together, finally add a little vinegar (literally a few drops) and salt to taste.

  • Our tzatzyki have to stand still (chew up) and they are ready to eat. As I mentioned earlier, you can make a “rich” version, which means you can add carrots, nuts, ba! even an old radish (that was what I did in Poland when I came to visit my parents).

Notes

  • PS. this dill in the basic composition is debatable, in some regions of Greece they never add it, in others it is always. I leave the choice to you.
Categories
Greek dishes Salads Vegan dishes

Arugula salad

Arugula salad
Print

Arugula salad

Recipe by adminCourse: SaladsCuisine: Greek cuisine
Servings

4

servings
Prep time

10

minutes

One of the most popular salad in greek part of Aegean

Ingredients

  • half of pack arugula salad (the best from the shop)

  • 250 gr cherry tomates

  • 1 clove of garlic (chopped)

  • sunflower seeds

  • 1 tbsp red vinegar

  • 4 tbsp olive oil

  • 1 tbsp lemon juice

  • 1 tbsp honey (option)

  • 1 tsp salt

Directions

  • Arugula and tomatoes we wash, tomatoes we cut into halves.
  • Make sauce: mix together red vinegar, olive oil and the lemon juice, add salt, if we want, we can also add honey, it is up to us.
  • Put the rest of ingredients and mix in the bowl.
  • Add a little bit a made sauce on the top, ready.

Categories
Greek dishes Soups Turkish dishes Vegan dishes Vegetarian dishes

Homemade Tomato Soup

Homemade Tomato Soup
Print

Homemade Tomato Soup

Recipe by adminCourse: SoupsCuisine: Turkish cuisine, Greek cuisine
Servings

4

servings
Prep time

10

minutes
Cooking time

40

minutes
Total time

50

minutes

This soup is probably popular all over the world, domates çorbası in Turkish, tomatosupa in Greek. Below I present the Turkish version, which I liked the most.

Ingredients

  • 4-5 large, ripe tomatoes (can be replaced with a can of tomatoes)

  • tomato paste (150 grams)

  • 1 onion

  • 1 carrot

  • 4 tablespoons of flour

  • oil for frying

  • 1 teaspoon of sugar

  • 1 tbsp salt

  • 1 stock cube

  • 1 tbsp hot pepper

Directions

  • We put in a pot with water (medium-sized pot), put in it a sliced carrot, stock cube and bring to a boil.
  • Glaze the onion in a frying pan and add flour to make a roux.
    When the water in the pot boils, we add a roux and our tomatoes (chopped).
  • After a few minutes, add tomato paste and a teaspoon of sugar, cook the whole for 10 minutes.
  • Taste, if you like, add hot pepper and eventually more salt.