All the receipies are excerpts from the book
"Greek Cookery Book & Wines"
copyright "Michalis Toubis S.A.",
after the written licence of the editor.
tzatziki
1 portion (130 grams) calories: 75
portions: 6
1,5 cups of yogurt
2 medium-sized cucumbers
4-6 cloves of garlic, crushed
a little vinegar, olive oil, salt
Skin the cucumbers and cut into thin strips with a vegetable grater; and then cut into small pieces. Drain and squeeze well and than salt. Add the crushed garlic, the vinegar, the yogurt and mix, finally adding the olive oil. If you wish, you can sprinkle the tzatziki with paprika and garnish with olives.
Variation:
You can, if you wish, add more garlic for garlicky test, or, instead, add a mixture of finely chopped almonds and other nuts.
Greek salad
1 portion (150 grams), calories: 260
portions: 6
3 tomatoes
1 fresh cucumber
1 onion
2 green peppers
1 cup of black olives
180 grams of feta cheese
0,5 cup of olive oil
0,25 cup of vinegar,
rigani, salt and paperCut the tomatoes and the cucumbers into slices and the onion and the peppers into rings. Place the salad bowl, sprinkle with salt, pepper and rigani and add the olives. Cut the feta cheese into chunks and add to other ingredients in the bowl. Pour over the oil and vinegar.
Oil and lemon sauce
0,5 cup of olive oil
2 lemons
salt, pepper
Beat the juice of the lemons with the oil and add the salt and pepper.
It could be served with boiled of grilled fish, salad and most shell-fish.
Variation:
1. Finely shopped parsley can be added
2. Lemon juice can be replaced with vinegar to accompany vegetables or salads.
Egg and lemon sauce
1 cup of meat stock
2 eggs
juice of 2 lemons
Beat the eggs with the lemon juice, then add the stock slowly. Pour the sauce into a saucepan and stir slowly on a low heat, making sure it does not boil, because the egg will make it thicken.
Variation:
1. If the sauce is to be eaten as soup, more stock can be added and as much lemon as
desired.
2. If a thicker sauce is required, one more egg can be added to the basic recipe.
Souvlaki with pitta bread
1 portion (1 souvlaki), calories: 300
Cooking time: 20-30 minutes
portions: 8
300 grams of lean meat (pork shoulder)
8 pitta breads
8 small skewers
2 onions
2 firm tomatoes
parsley, rigani, salt, pepper black and red
0,25 cup of butter
Wash the meat well, dice it and sprinkle with salt, pepper and rigani. Divide the pieces of meat into eight and put them on to the skewers individually. Put them to cook on the grill.
Chop the onions and the parsley. Wash the tomatoes and cut them into thin slices. Cook the pittas one by one on the grill, coating them with butter.
When the pieces of meet are tender, put them on to the pitta (one skewer for each pitta bread) and slowly draw out the skewer leaving the pieces of meat in the pitta. Add the onion, the parsley, the tomato, sprinkle with the red and black pepper and roll up the pitta having first laid it on greaseproof paper, so that when you roll them up, you roll the paper with them.
Only half or the pittas is to be exposed above the greaseproof paper.
Variation:
1. Tzatziki can be added to the contents of the pitta.
Stuffed vine leaves (dolmades)
1 portion (5 dolmades), calories: 170
cooking time: 40-45 minutes
portions: 10
50-60 vine leaves
1 cup of olive oil
1,5 cup of onions, finely chopped
1 cup of spring onions, finely chopped
0,5 cups of dill, finely chopped
1 cup of rice
a good quantity of mint, salt, pepper
1-2 lemons
Scald the vine leaves, drain them and allow to cool. Mix all the ingredients except the lemon and wrap in the leaves forming them into "roll" shapes. Place some of the vine leaves on the bottom of the pan, than place dolmades in outward radiating circles, evenly spaced in the pan closed to one another. Put a plate (not too heavy) on top of dolmades. This is to ensure they don't break open during the cooking. Add the juice of lemon(s) and water, making sure the dolmades are covered. Boil slowly until the water has been absorbed and the rice cooked. Leave to cool.
Lamb fricasse with lettuce
1 portion, calories: 670
cooking time: 60 minutes
portions: 5
1 kilo of lamb (shoulder or breast)
300 grams of spring onions finely chopped
3 lettuces
1 small bunch of dill, finely chopped
0,5 cup of butter
2 lemons
2 eggs
salt, pepper
Cut the meat into medium sized portions and wash it well. Heat the portions in a pan with onions, stirring occasionally. When the moisture has been absorbed, add a little butter, then dill, salt and pepper. Leave the pieces of meat in the butter for a while, long enough to soften and brown the onions. The meat must not brown. Then immediately add two cups of water and allow boiling slowly.
In the meantime, wash the lettuces and coarsely shred them. Boil them in salty water then strain. When the lamb is ready, put lettuces in the saucepan and allow to boil for
2-3 minutes with the meat.
Remove from the heat and prepare the egg and lemon sauce. Beat the eggs well, add the lemon juice drop by drop. Take 1-2cups of meat stock and add it slowly to the sauce. Then add this sauce to the meat in the pan. Shake the saucepan to distribute the sauce over the meet.
Meat balls (served as appetizers)
1 portion (4 meat balls) calories: 320
Cooking time: 10-15 minutes
Portions: 12-14
1 kilo of veal or beef mince
250 grams of crustless bread soaked in water
2 eggs
2 onions, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
3-4 tablespoons of ouzo
rigani, salt, pepper, mint, flour
Mix all the ingredients as for meat balls, and knead the mixture while purring the ouzo slowly into it. Allow to stand in the fridge for a short while, making sure it is covered with a cloth. Then, mould them into small balls, put into the flour and fry them.
Moussaka
1 portion, calories: 900
Preparation time: 40 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Portions: for a large-sized baking tin
2 kilos of large round aubergines
1 kilo of mince meat
0,5 cup of oil
2 large onions
5 ripe tomatoes
0,5 cup of dry white wine
salt, pepper, grated kefalotiri cheese
oil for frying
2-3 portions of white sauce (béchamel)
Peal, wash and cut the aubergines into large, thin slices. Salt and leave them to drain.
Prepare the mince by browning it with the oil and onion, which should be finely chopped. Stop the browning process by pouring in the wine. Add the tomatoes, skinned and finely chopped, the salt and the pepper and allow to boil till all the moisture has been absorbed. Pour the oil into a frying pan and fry the aubergines. Then spread them in to a large roasting tin and sprinkle with grated cheese. After the first layer, spread the mince on the top and then add another layer of fried aubergines. Then sprinkle again with the grated cheese and pour on the white sauce, so that the surface of the moussaka is covered with the thick layer of sauce. Finally sprinkle some more cheese over this so that the surface becomes crisp.
Variations:
1. For easier serving and firmer portions, a layer of potatoes can be used. These should
have been cut into slices like the aubergines and fried in the same meaner.
2. Moussaka with courgettes:
This is made by keeping the same quantities as above and using the same ingredients, but replacing the aubergines with courgettes cut into slices and fried, to be spread in the same manner in the roasting tin.
Stuffed courgettes
1 portion (2 courgettes), calories: 400
Cooking time: 40-45 minutes
portions: 6
1,5 kg of large courgettes
3/4 kg of mince meat
0,5 cup of rice
0,5 cup of butter
2 medium-sized onions, finely chopped
parsley, salt, pepper
egg and lemon sauce or sharp white sauce
Clean, scrape and wash the courgettes. Cut a small slice from along one side and empty them by hollowing out with the spoon or special scooper. Knead the mincemeat with the rice, the finely chopped onion, the parsley, salt and pepper. Fill the courgettes with this mixture. Do not fill the up completely but leave enough space for the swelling of the rice. Put them upright in a saucepan and add water until they are almost covered, then add the butter. Use the resultant stock (juice) for the egg and lemon sauce or the sharp white sauce.
Swordfish kebabs
1 portion, calories: 230
Cooking time: 20 minutes
portions: 4-5
500 grams of swordfish
2 firm tomatoes
2 green peppers
2 onions
salt, pepper, rigani, oil
Cut the swordfish,tomatoes, paprika and onions into cubes. Roll the ingredients in oil, rigani, salt and pepper. Thread the pieces of swordfish, the tomatoes, the paprika and the onions on a small skewers or wooden spits. Roast the on the grill, catching the juice and pouring it back over the pieces. Grill tender and serve.
Artichokes a la polita
1 portion, calories: 340
Cooking time: 90 minutes
portions: 4
8 artichokes
3 lemons
6 small spring onions
0,5 kg of small potatoes
1 small bunch of dill, finely chopped
1 cup of oil, salt, pepper
Break off the tough outer leaves of the artichoke and then slice off the stem. Trim the base and cut off the leaves and rub them in lemon juice. Allow them to stand in water.
Finely slice the spring onions cut the other onions into four. Put them into the saucepan with the artichokes and the potatoes. Add the oil, the dill, the salt and the pepper and plenty of water to cover. Allow to cook for about an hour and a half until all the water has been absorbed and only the oil remains.
Variation:
1. If you wish, 3 finely slices carrots can also be added.
Stuffed tomatoes and paprika
1 portion (one tomato, one paprika), calories: 420
Cooking time: 60 minutes
Portions: 6
6 firm tomatoes
6 large green peppers
2 onions, finely chopped
1 cup of tomato juice
1 small bunch of parsley, finely chopped
12 soupspoons of rice
1,5 cups of oil
salt , pepper, sugar
Wash the tomatoes and peppers very well. From one end of each tomato cut a slice (from the top end usually), but be sure not to detach it completely as it must act as a lid. Then with a spoon empty the tomato of all the pulp, ensuring that you do not puncture a skin. From the pulp the seeds must be removed and disposed of. Then do the same to the peppers. Arrange the hollowed tomatoes and peppers in a baking tin.
Place the onion and one cup of oil in a fry pan. Before the onions have quite softened, add the rice and fry till transparent. Chop up the pulp of the tomatoes, add it to the juice and to the rice. Add salt and pepper and the finely chopped parsley, adding to the frying pan half a cup of water. Allow the ingredients to cook till most of the water has been absorbed.
Reduce the heat and put in each hollowed out tomato and pepper half teaspoonful of sugar. Than fill (each tomato and pepper) to half way with rice mixture. Some room must be left for the swelling of the rice. Add one soupspoon of water and a teaspoonful of sugar and close the lids. Pour the tomato juice into the baking tin with the other half cup of oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and bake for about 1 hour.
Variation:
You can, if you wish add potatoes sliced lengthwise to the baking tin, placed between each tomato and pepper.
Oil and lemon sauce
0,5 cup of olive oil
2 lemons
salt, pepper
Beat the juice of the lemons with the oil and add the salt and pepper.
It could be served with boiled of grilled fish, salad and most shell-fish.
Variation:
1. Finely shopped parsley can be added
2. Lemon juice can be replaced with vinegar to accompany vegetables or salads.
Egg and lemon sauce
1 cup of meat stock
2 eggs
juice of 2 lemons
Beat the eggs with the lemon juice, then add the stock slowly. Pour the sauce into a saucepan and stir slowly on a low heat, making sure it does not boil, because the egg will make it thicken.
Variation:
1. If the sauce is to be eaten as soup, more stock can be added and as much lemon as
desired.
2. If a thicker sauce is required, one more egg can be added to the basic recipe.
Honey cakes
1 honey cake, calories: 90
Cooking time: 30-35 minutes
1 cup of good quality butter
1 cup of light olive oil
1 kg of self-raising flour
1 cup of sugar
1 small spoon of cinnamon
1 small spoon of ground cloves
grated peel from 2 oranges
1 small spoon of baking soda
1 cup of stained yogurt
1 cup of walnuts, chopped
for the syrup:
2 glasses of sugar
3 glasses of water
3 glasses of honey
juice of one lemon
walnuts and cinnamon for sprinkling
Put the self-raising flour and the butter into a large mixing bowl. Beat the butter well, adding the oil, then add the sugar, the cinnamon, the cloves, the grated orange peel, the soda and the yogurt. Knead well and add the walnuts to the dough. Then divide the dough into portions and roll into small cigar shapes: bake them in the oven till browned.
Ensure that when they are put into the baking tin, they are not too close to each other or too big, because they will swell.
When they have cooled, prepare the syrup. Put the sugar with the water to boil for 10 minutes, than add the honey. Coat the cakes with the syrup as follows:
As the syrup is boiling put as many of the little cakes into the pan as will fit comfortably.
Allow boiling for 1 minute; remove immediately and place on a baking tray.
When all the cakes have been treated in the syrup, supplement the boiling syrup with 1-2 cups of water. Once it has boiled again, put 3-4 cakes at a time in a staining spoon and dip them back in the syrup for one minute again. Then sprinkle with the walnuts and cinnamon. Treat the rest of the cakes in the same way.
Baklavas
1 piece: calories: 590
Cooking time: 60 minutes
1 kg of ready-made sheets of fyllo pastry
1 kg of almonds, finely crushed
400 grams of butter
2 tablespoons of cinnamon, whole cloves
for the syrup:
2 kg of sugar
6 glasses of water
vanilla
the juice of 1 lemon
Mix the crushed almonds with the cinnamon. Melt the butter and coat a baking tin with it. Spread the sheets of pastry, coating each with butter. Begin with 3 sheets then sprinkle each sheet with crushed almonds and cinnamon and cover it with the next sheet. Divide the sprinkling ingredients so that 4 sheets will be left over without any sprinkling. Coat the last sheet of pastry with butter and mark out the baklavas with a knife into diamond shaped pieces. Plug each piece with 1 clove in its centre. Allow to bake in a moderate oven for 60-70 minutes. Prepare the syrup, but don't make it too thick. When the baklavas has cooled, pour the syrup over it.
Turnovers (diples)
2 1 cups of flour
3 eggs
4 tablespoonfuls of brandy
1 teaspoonful of baking powder
2 tablespoonfuls of sugar
oil for frying
1 cup of honey
1 cup of warm water
coarsely chopped walnuts
cinnamon
Mix the flour with the baking powder in a bowl. Make a hole in the center. Beat the eggs with the sugar and the brandy and add this to the flour, kneading well. Allow the dough to stand for half an hour and knead again. (Maybe half a cup of flour more may be required, but do not add this until you are sure if it is needed). Roll our the dough into a thin sheet then cut it into strips which can be tied in bows of knots or any shape you wish. Put plenty of oil in a frying pan to heat.
The turnovers must be fried in very hot oil. When they have browned lightly, remove them from the heat and allow them to drain on absorbent kitchen paper.
Prepare the honey syrup by dissolving the honey in warm water. Pour it over the turnovers, which have been placed on a flat dish.
Sprinkle with walnuts and cinnamon.
Greek coffee
preparation time: 10 minutes
1 small cup of water
1,5 - 2 teaspoonfuls of sugar
1 teaspoon of coffee
Put the water into the "briki" to heat. While it is getting hot, add the sugar and coffee. Stir. As soon as rises, remove from heat before it boils completely so as not to spoil the froth.
