My friend and his parents are coming at my house for dinner. They are Greek. I want to make them feel at home. I are some Greek dishes that I can make? What is the ingredient?
Greek Easter Menu
Appetizer (Mezedes)
Tzatziki
1-1/2 cups of yogurt (strained)
2 medium cucumbers
4-6 cloves of garlic, crushed
Salt, vinegar
Skin cucumbers & cut into thin strips with vegetable grater, & cut them into very small pieces. Drain & squeeze well & add salt. Add crushed garlic, a small amount of vinegar – like a 1/4 teaspoon. Add yogurt and mix well, add oil. Add only a very small amount. Serve with good Greek Bread.
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Spinach Pie (Spanakopita)
1 (10 oz) pkg. frozen spinach thawed and drained well
1 (24 oz) container of cottage cheese
4 eggs
1 T. salt
1 T. flour
1/4 lb. feta cheese
If using fresh spinach, cook spinach first, and drain well. Mix together with remaining ingredients.
Grease a baking pan with some oil, put a layer of filo dough that has been buttered or brushed with oil in bottom of the pan. Make sure you have enough pastry left over for top of the pie.
When ingredients have been well combined, spread on pastry in pan evenly. Spread rest of pastry on the top. Butter or oil top of filo dough and bake in moderate oven about 30-40 minutes.
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Egg-Lemon Soup
5 cups Chicken stock
4 oz. rice, rinsed
2 cups diced chicken
3 eggs
1 teaspoon cold water
Juice of 2 small lemons
Make your own chicken stock, or use canned broth. In large pot bring stock to a boil add rice and cook. Cook rice about 15 min., until tender, add chicken.
Beat eggs well with cold water about 3 min. or until eggs are slightly frothy. Add lemon juice to eggs. Beat this until well blended. Remove stock from heat. Add a few spoonfuls of hot (hot boiling) stock to egg mixture, beat quickly or eggs will curdle. Put egg mixture into the stock, combine and serve.
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Roast Lamb
1 5-lb. leg of lamb
1 Tbs. olive oil
Juice of one lemon
Salt and Pepper
1 tsp. parsley, chopped
1 tsp. thyme, chopped
1 tsp. sage, chopped
1 tsp. sesame seed
1/2 tsp. mustard seed
1 tsp. rosemary
1 clove garlic
2 tsp. mint, chopped
Wipe the lamb, with a damp cloth. Rub the leg of lamb with the olive oil, lemon juice salt and the pepper. Combine parsley, thyme, sage, sesame seed, mustard seed, rosemary, garlic and mint and pat this mixture on the leg of lamb.
Make a slit near the knuckle and place garlic into slit. Bake at 350 degrees F 2-3 hours. The roasting time will depend on the size of lamb that you are roasting.
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Village Salad (Choriatiki Salata)
3 firm tomatoes
1 fresh cucumber
1 onion
2 green peppers
1 cup of Greek olives
1/2 cup of olive oil
1/4 cup of vinegar
Salt and pepper
Feta cheese
Cut tomatoes and cucumbers into slices and the onion and peppers into rings. Place in large salad bowl, sprinkle with salt and pepper and add olives. Cut some feta cheese into chunks and add to other ingredients. Pour oil and vinegar over salad.
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Lettuce Salad (Maroulosalata)
1 large lettuce
4 spring onions
1 small bunch of fresh dill
Salt and pepper
Remove root and outer leaves from lettuce. Wash lettuce in cold water. Cut as finely as desired. Cut onions into rings and dill should be chopped fine. Salt and pepper then serve with olive oil and vinegar (or lemon juice).
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Green Beans in Oil (Fasolakia Prasina Ladera)
2 lbs. string beans
2 large onion
3 ripe tomatoes, skinned and crushed
1 cup olive oil
Salt and pepper
String the beans and cut them in half. Wash well and put into a saucepan with onion, which should be thinly sliced, and pour in about 1/2 cup water.
Cook to soften onion and beans together. Pour in oil and salt and tomatoes, the salt and the pepper to the pan. Then add 2 cups water and allow to cook until well boiled.
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Oven Roasted Potatoes (Patatess Fournou Ladorigani)
2 lbs. medium size potatoes
1 cup of oil
2 lemons
Oregano (rigani) to taste
Salt and pepper
Wash potatoes well and cut them lengthwise, place them in a roasting pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, oregano and juice of 2 lemons and mix them well. Add oil and 3 cups water. Roast in oven 60-80 minuntes until done.
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Easter Bread (Tsoureki)
This bread is only baked on Good Friday. It is the traditional Greek Easter Bread. A red egg is place in the center of the bread. This will make one large round loaf and several smaller loaves.
4 to 5 lbs. flour, sifted
1 tablespoon salt
4 yeast cakes, dissolved in 1 cup of warm water
10 eggs, beaten with 2-1/2 cups sugar
2 cubes, butter, melted in 1-1/2 cups milk
1 teaspoon allspice
1-1/2 teaspoons anise
3 eggs yolks
1/3 cup sesame seed
5 hard-boiled eggs, dyed red
Boil the allspice and anise in 1 cup of water and strain well, reserving water. Place 4 lbs. of sifted flour and salt in a large bowl, and make a well in the middle of the flour. Add yeast with water and eggs with the sugar and milk. Do not knead at this time. Add melted butter and milk and reserved liquid from allspice and anise. Mix this with hands to blend ingredients. Add more flour if needed. Then knead until dough is smooth.
Place the dough on a floured board and knead until firm, smooth and not sticky. Brush the dough with some melted butter, cover and set in a warm place to rise until double in size. Knead again, brush with butter and allow this to rise until it is double in size. Repeat this one more time.
The traditional Greek Easter bread is baked in a large round pan, about 12-inches in diameter and 2 inches deep. You can make smaller loafs as Easter gifts.
Place about 2/3 of the dough in a greased pan, and divide the rest of dough for smaller pans. You can press one red Easter egg in the center of dough and the other four around the edge. Cover pan and let rise for several hours. When risen, brush dough with egg yolks. Sprinkle top of bread with sesame seeds, and place one Easter egg in each of the smaller loafs, brush them with egg yolks and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
Bake about 45 min., according to the size of your pans, until bread is brown and dough inside does not stick to a knife. Bake in 350 degrees F oven.
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Baklava
1 lb. sweet butter
1 lb. filo pastry
1-2 lbs. blanched almonds, chopped
1 lb. shelled walnuts
2/3 cups sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon allspice
3 dozen whole cloves
Ingredients for the Syrup
2 cups honey
2 cups water
2 cups sugar
2 cinnamon sticks
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Combine all of the ingredients for the syrup in a saucepan, bring to a boil. Simmer for 10 min., strain and allow to cool.
Grind or chop walnuts and almonds, and mix thoroughly with the cinnamon, allspice and sugar. Brush a 9×13x2 inch pan with butter, lay a sheet of filo in the bottom of the pan, brush with butter, and then repeat process until you have used about a dozen sheets.
Then spread one thin layer of nut mixture on top of filo, cover with a sheet of filo, brush with butter, cover with another layer of nuts, and repeat this process until all the nuts are used. Then cover with remaining filo sheets, brushing each sheet with butter.
With a sharp knife, cut the top filo sheet into triangles (cutting diagonally across the pan). Insert a clove in the center of each triangle, and bake at 350F for 1-1/2 hours. When baklava is browned, remove from oven, and pour syrup over it, so it penetrates into layers and covers baklava. Allow baklava to cool several hours before serving.
The most delicious food in the world be flat without the "refreshing" feel that wine will give to the taste buds, "cleansing" them so that they are ready to taste again and again the wonderful meal for as long as it may last.
Mandilaria is the most widely disseminated indigenous variety of red wine which is found in Naxos, Paros, Santorini and the other Cyclades, in Crete and in the Dodecanese Islands, where is it called Amorgiano. This wine is deep in color, full-bodied, velvety taste, cultivated bouquet.
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"Heavy" Coffee (Kafes Varys Glykos)
At the end of a good Greek Meal is the wonderful strong Greek Coffee. Preparation time about 10 minutes.
1 small cup of water
1-1/2 teaspoonfuls of sugar
1 teaspoonful of coffee
Put the water into the ‘briki’ to heat. While the water is getting hot, add the sugar and coffee. Stir, and as soon as it rises, remove from heat before it boils completely so as not to spoil the froth.
A Dictionary of Greek Coffee: Coffee: The beans are to be ground until they have the consistency of a fine powder.
