Culture & Traditions
Flavors of Greece: Authentic Recipes
Moussaka
For a large baking dish (6 - 8 people)Eggplant 1.5 kg
Potato 200 g
Ground beef 500-700 g
Crushed tomatoes 500g
A clove of garlic
2 onions
Olive oil
4 spices = spices mix : pepper (white, black, or both), cloves, nutmeg and dried ginger,
Cinnamon
Salt, pepper, powdered sugar
For the béchamel:
Milk (quantity to be defined according to his desire to have or not a lot of bechamel in the dish)
25g butter can be enough
Flour / cornflour
Salt pepper
Parmesan or Gruyere 75 g or more ...
Prepare the tomato sauce: In a frying pan, put the tomatoes (fresh or canned) with the crushed garlic, salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar. Simmer slowly over very low heat. Prepare the vegetables: Cut the eggplants lengthwise, into slices about 1 cm, sprinkle with salt and let them drain in a colander. Slice the potatoes, reserving them in water. Sauté the minced meat in olive oil with the finely chopped onions, until the onions and meat are golden brown. When the tomato sauce has dropped, add the meat in the sauté pan, and the spices: a half teaspoon of four spices and a pinch of cinnamon. Leave for another 5 minutes on low heat and turn off. (The spices do not support long cooking: their taste goes away very quickly, add them in the dishes always at the end of cooking).
Wipe the eggplants with paper towel and fry them with olive oil. In the dish, make a layer of potato slices, then a layer of eggplant, then a portion of the tomato sauce / meat, redo a layer of potato, then of eggplant, and of tomato sauce until exhausting these ingredients. Add the bechamel on top, and the cheese, put in the oven at medium temperature, about 1 hour. Leave the dish to cool slightly before cutting. Moussaka is always better when it is prepared the day before.
Melomakarona (Christmas macaroons)
For the dough (mix):1 cup (style mug) of butter
1 cup of olive oil
1 kilo of flour with yeast
1 cup of sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon powder
1/2 cu. ground cloves
the zest of 2 oranges
1 tsp. baking soda
1 yogurt
1 cup crushed walnuts
For the syrup:
2 glasses of sugar
3 glasses of water
3 glasses of honey
1 lemon juice
nuts, cinnamon
Work the butter to soften it, then add the oil, sugar, flour (and yeast), cinnamon, cloves, zest of the 2 oranges, baking soda and yoghurt. Mix and add the nuts. Shape long macaroons. Put them on a plate on a parchment leaf. Cook in a oven until golden brown (30 - 35 minutes). Remove from the oven and let cool. Prepare the syrup: boil the water and sugar for 10 minutes and add the honey and lemon juice. In the boiling syrup, dip 1 by 1 the macaroons, several seconds each so that they are well absorbed syrup. Place the macaroons after this operation on a dish. Add water to the remaining syrup (1/2 cup), boil and re-dip the macaroons in the syrup.
Then sprinkle the macaroons with crushed nuts and cinnamon. Perfect for tea time ...
Papoutsakia
EggplantMinced meat
Crushed tomatoes
Onion, garlic, parsley
Olive oil, salt, pepper,
4 spices, cinnamon
Bechamel sauce, grated cheese
Cut the eggplants in 2, remove the flesh, oil and cook in the stove or oven. Sauté the onion, then the minced meat. Add the crushed tomatoes, crushed garlic, parsley, spices, salt, pepper and let it simmer. Fill with this preparation the inside of the eggplants. Add the bechamel sauce and the grated cheese (Parmesan, Comté or Gruyère cheese). Put in the oven to finish cooking.
Tsadziki
Yogurt or cottage cheeseCucumber
Garlic
Olive oil
Salt - pepper and Dill or parsley
Grate the cucumber in a colander, press a little on it to get out the juice (essential if you prepare the recipe in advance: no risk of having a tsadziki too liquid in the end). Once well drained, mix the cucumber with cottage cheese, add the garlic, salt, pepper and do not forget the finely chopped dill and a drizzle of olive oil.
Kourabiedes (Almonds macaroons)
1 kg of flour640 gr of butter
250 gr toasted almonds, crushed
2 egg yolks
150 gr of sugar
Water
5 tsp. orange flower water - icing sugar
Beat the butter and sugar in foam. Add the egg yolks, almonds, flour and water. So you get a firm dough. Make shortbreads in the shape of large macaroons and arrange them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake 30-35 minutes at 200 °. At the end of the oven, sprinkle the kourabiedes with orange flower water* and sprinkle generously with icing sugar.
Lemon sauce
2 - 3 whole eggsThe juice of 2 lemons
2 - 3 cups vegetable broth or chicken
Salt - pepper
Boil the broth. In a salad bowl, beat (electric mixer) the eggs with the lemon juice. Add a cup of hot broth in the egg-bowl mixture, continue beating. Then pour the mixture into the remaining broth and beat again! Cook over low heat until thickened with sauce. This sauce accompanies dolmades, stuffed zucchini, vegetables sream cooked (celery for example), meatballs .
Dolmades (stuffed vine leaves)
Organic vine leavesWhite rice
Onion - garlic
Olive oil
Salt - pepper - mint or parsley - juice of 1 or 2 lemons
Boil the vine leaves and let them cool. Mix in a bowl: rice, finely chopped onion (s), pressed garlic, salt, pepper and a few mint leaves (preferably fresh). Take a vine leaf, spread it well and put the rice stuffing in the middle. Fold the vine leaf down the edges so that the rice can't "escapes" during cooking. Repeat with all the vine leaves. Place the stuffed leaves 1 to 1 in the pan, drizzle liberally with lemon juice and olive oil. Cover with lemon sauce.
Greek Houmous
Chickpeas 300 gTahini (sesame purée) 100 g
2 garlic gloves
Olive oil, salt, pepper,
Juice of 1 lemon
Soak the chickpeas the day before, with a little bicarbonate. Rinse and cook until they are easily crushed. Drain and put in a blender with tahini, garlic cloves, lemon juice, same olive oil, salt and pepper. Add cooking water if necessary, to obtain a smooth preparation. Present in a dish, sprinkle with paprika or chopped parsley, or cumin (recipe + oriental). Decorate with black olives.
Eggplant salad
EggplantsGarlic
Olive oil
Salt - pepper - half lemon juice
Sweet or strong marinated chilli
Pierce the eggplant skin with a fork before putting it in the oven until it is well grilled. Once cooled, cut and remove the flesh. Mix the eggplant flesh with the pressed garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil and lemon juice. Adding pepper is optional (again, use only the flesh of the pepper), to be made or not according to the tastes of each. Enjoy on a slice of toast.