Tag Archives: Greek food

Loose Meat Gyros Pitas

13 Jul

So, I have wanted gyros for a while, and just never make it to the place in town that has them on the menu. I really liked the Gyros Meafloaf I made a while back, but I didn’t want all the cooking time. So, instead, mixed the ground beef, onion, and seasoning the same, but then just browned the beef in a skillet. I found some pocket pitas, added some feta cheese, lettuce, and ranch dressing (didn’t have ingredients for tzatziki, unfortunately), and we had a meal we all enjoyed. I didn’t make any other sides to specifically go with this, but Lemon Roasted Potatoes would be a great addition.

Loose Meat Gyros PItas

 

Loose Meat Gyros Pitas

What you need:

1 pound ground beef and 1 pound ground lamb or 2 pounds ground beef
1 small onion
4 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon dried savory
1 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon dried oregano or 2 teaspoons fresh oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
Dash of ground cumin
1/2 cup water

How to make it:

Place the meat into a large mixing bowl, and then grate the onion and garlic into the bowl. Next, add remaining ingredients. Mix everything together well, cover, and, refrigerate for 45 minutes to an hour.

Brown meat mixture in a large skillet, in batches if necessary. Add 1/2 cup water, stir, and turn heat to low to simmer for 5-10 minutes.

Serve on pita with toppings of your choice, such as feta cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, red onions, olives, cucumbers, tzatziki, hummus, tabbouleh, etc.

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Baklava Two Ways

2 Jan

I am surprised that I haven’t ever posted this recipe!  Most likely because I haven’t made it in a while.  I really enjoy baklava, but like Spanakopita and Tiropita, it’s somewhat time-consuming to make having to butter all the phyllo dough.  In the end, though, all the work is so worth it!  For New Year’s Day, my sister and I decided we wanted a Greek feast for dinner, and we spent 3 hours prepping tiropita, pastitsio, and dolmathes.  We had a roll of phyllo dough left, so we decided to make a dessert to take to my brother and sister-in-law’s house for dinner tonight.  I thought of baklava, but the nuts are pretty expensive to get already chopped.  So, then I thought about the Biscoff Cookie Truffles my sister had made last week, which were absolutely amazing, and thought that the Biscoff cookies and Biscoff spread would make a great filling instead of the traditional nut filling.  Turns out that I’m not the only to have the idea of Biscoff Baklava, but we made a few changes because I was worried that version would be way to sweet and over seasoned.  The Biscoff cookies and spread are already so flavorful on their own, they don’t need anything else, as evidenced by the truffles we’d just made.  It turned out amazing, and I will share how we made it and include the traditional baklava filling and the Biscoff filling.

IMG_20140102_182317_935

 

Baklava

What you need:

1 roll 9″ x 14″ phyllo dough (usually in your grocery’s freezer section)
2 sticks unsalted butter, melted

Traditional baklava filling:
4 cups (1 lb) coarsely ground walnuts
2 cups (1/2 lb) coarsely ground almonds
4 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
3 Tbsp melted butter

Alternate Biscoff baklava filling:
1 8.8 oz package Biscoff cookies
1/2 of a 14 oz jar of Biscoff spread
4 oz cream cheese

Syrup:
1/4 cup honey
1 Tbsp lemon juice
2 c. water
2 c. sugar
1 cinnamon stick

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Traditional baklava filling:
Combine the ingredients for the filling.  Brush bottom and sides of 13″ X 9″ pan with melted butter. Lay phyllo dough in bottom of pan, generously brushing with butter.  Repeat this process, brushing each sheet of dough with butter, using half the dough in your roll. Pour filling over phyllo dough and spread evenly. Continue again with layers of phyllo dough, brushing each sheet of dough with butter, until you have used the remaining dough.

Alternate Biscoff filling:
Place Biscoff cookies in a large zipper bag and crush into fine pieces using a rolling pin.  In a small saucepan, heat Biscoff spread and cream cheese over low heat.  Stir continuously until mixed together and easier to spread.  Brush bottom and sides of 13″ X 9″ pan with melted butter. Lay phyllo dough in bottom of pan, generously brushing with butter.  Repeat this process, brushing each sheet of dough with butter, using half the dough in your roll. Carefully spread the Biscoff spread and cream cheese mixture over the phyllo dough.  Next, evenly pour the crushed Biscoff cookies over the spread.  Continue again with layers of phyllo dough, brushing each sheet of dough with butter, until you have used the remaining dough.

Score through top layers of the pastry with a sharp knife. Pour remaining butter over. Bake for 40 minutes on the bottom oven rack or until pastry is golden brown. Remove to a cooling rack and cool for 5 minutes.

Biscoff Baklava

I forgot to get a picture before we started serving it, but this gives you an idea of one way to make the cuts.

Combine all syrup ingredients in saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally to dissolve sugar. Reduce heat and simmer 20-25 minutes or until it reaches 225 F on a candy thermometer. Remove cinnamon stick and allow to cool.

Pour cooled syrup over hot pastry. Allow to stand for at least 3 hours or overnight. (Note: I like to put mine in the fridge overnight, then bring to room temperature before served.)

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Gyros Meatloaf with Tzatziki

15 Feb

Unfortunately, the Greek restaurant we had here in town closed down, and even though there are a few places that serve gyros still, I decided to keep working on my own version at home.  I have made Gyros Burgers before, but wanted to try it as more of a meatloaf than burgers so it could be sliced and put in pita pockets.  Now, the downside to meatloaf is that it takes a while to cook without getting too dry.  So, now, when I have time I can do meatloaf, if I’m pressed for time, I can do burgers.  I also made tzatziki for the first time tonight to go with this.  It was perfect!  My husband is usually not a fan when we get gyros when eating out.  He says it’s too messy, but this was thicker, more dip-like, so it wasn’t dripping all over when eating it.  Tonight, I served it with Sweet Potato Chips, which were a nice compliment to the gyros.

Gyros Meatloaf with Tzatziki and Sweet Potato Chips

Gyros Meatloaf with Tzatziki

What you need:

Gyros Meatloaf:
1 pound ground beef and 1 pound ground lamb or 2 pounds ground beef
1 small onion
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried savory
1 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon dried oregano or 2 teaspoons fresh oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
Dash of ground cumin

Tzatziki (original recipe with more step by step pictures at Daily Cynema:
24 oz container plain Greek yogurt
1 seedless cucumber, peeled
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon dried dill weed
1 teaspoon salt
Ground black pepper to taste

How to make it:

Put the onion in a food processor for a few seconds.  Remove into paper towels and squeeze out excess liquid.  Place onions in a mixing bowl, and stir in remaining meatloaf ingredients.  Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 325 F

Put the meat mixture back into the food processor and process for about a minute or until mixture becomes like a fine paste.  Press meat mixture into a 9 x 5 loaf pan, making sure there are no air pockets.  Place loaf pan in a larger roasting pan, and pour boiling water into the roasting pan until there is enough to reach the middle of the side of the loaf pan, creating a water bath for baking.

Water Bath for Gyros Meatloaf

Carefully place in oven and bake in the preheated oven for 60-70 minutes, or until meat reaches an internal temperature of 170 F.  Pour out any excess fat, and slice thinly to serve.

Finished Gyros Meatloaf

While meatloaf is baking, grate the peeled cucumber and squeeze out the excess liquid.  Put in a mixing bowl and stir in remaining tzatziki  ingredients.  Put in a container and keep refrigerated until ready to use (I just returned it to the container the Greek yogurt came in).  Serve with the gyros meatloaf in pita bread with lettuce, tomato, and red onion, if desired.

Tzatziki

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Gyros Burgers

10 Nov

 

I love, love, love gyros, but lamb can be rather expensive and difficult to find.  So, I usually just use ground beef instead, and it still tastes great.  I shape the meat into patties and grill them.  Since I didn’t get them as thin as I wanted, I cut the burgers in half lengthwise to be thinner in the pita and to better simulate the gyros meat at restaurants.  Now, my brother and his wife did this a little different.  Instead of making patties to grill, they put it in a loaf pan and cooked it in the oven, I think at 325 F for about an hour.  Then, the sliced the loaf thinly, again, like gyros meat is in the restaurants.  Some day, I will figure out how to make my own pita, but for now, I buy it.  I added lettuce, tomato, and red onion, and I was wishing I had made tzatziki to go with it, but I didn’t have Greek yogurt to make it.  So, we used ranch dressing instead.  This was a great dinner, and I hope that I think to make it again soon since it was a long time in between the last times I made it!

 

Gyros Burger
Based on recipe here

What you need:

1 pound lean ground lamb, or 1 pound lamb, or 1/2 pound ground beef and 1/2 pound ground lamb
1/2 onion, grated, or 2 tablespoons dried chopped onions
2 tablespoons bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon dried savory
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 dash ground cumin

How to make it:

Preheat grill to medium-high heat, and spray the grate with non-stick spray.

In large bowl, combine ground beef/lamb, onion, and bread crumbs.  Add savory, allspice, garlic salt, pepper, and cumin. Combine well and shape into 4 very thin patties.

Cook patties for 5 to 7 minutes on each side, or until cooked through.

Serve with pita bread, lettuce, red onion, tomato, and tzatziki.

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Moussaka and Pastitsio all in one!

23 Feb

 

I tried to think of a new name for this, but with the migraine I have, I’m not feeling too creative at the moment.  This is a combination of 2 of my favorite Greek dishes, Moussaka and Pastitsio.  I got the Italian themed veggie pack from Bountiful Baskets this week, and it had an eggplant and a zucchini.  Not really enough to make Moussaka or something like Eggplant Lasagna, so I decided that adding some pasta, like in Pastitsio, it would make a great meal.  I was right, it turned out great.  I put the pasta on the bottom, then the zucchini and eggplant, then the meat sauce, then the bechamel sauce.

 

Moussaka and Pastitsio All in One

What you need:

Filling:
1 eggplant, cut lengthwise, 1/2 in  width
1 zucchini, cut lengthwise , 1/2 in width
Salt
Olive oil
1/2 lb macaroni (supposed to be long macaroni noodles, but they are hard to find, so elbow macaroni or a noodle like penne or ziti works too)
1 eggs
1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick)
1 lb ground beef or lamb (for meatless, use diced mushrooms, zucchini or eggplant)
1 medium onion
1 12 oz can tomato paste
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
Grated Kefalotiri, Parmesan, or Romano cheese

Cream sauce (krema):
2-1/2 cups milk
2 eggs
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup butter
Salt and pepper to taste

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Sprinkle eggplant slices with salt and set on paper towels for 15-20 minutes to let them drain.  Pat tops with a paper towel.  Spray or brush each side of the eggplant and zucchini slices with olive oil and lay in a single layer on a baking sheet.  Bake in oven for 10 minutes, flip slices over and bake for another 10 minutes, until they are tender and slightly brown.

Boil macaroni according to package; drain; return to pan.  Melt the 1/4 cup butter, beat in egg, and stir in with macaroni.

In a skillet, brown onion and ground beef or lamb.  Add tomato paste, and seasonings.  Cook for 5 – 10 minutes.

Make cream sauce. Melt 1/4 cup butter and pour in 1/4 cup flour; brown slowly. Beat 2 eggs with 2-1/2 cups milk, salt, and pepper, and pour into butter and flour mixture very slowly; mix well. Cook over low heat until it thickens.

To assemble, grease a 9 x 13 pan.  Add macaroni mixture to pan and press down with a piece of wax paper.  Sprinkle generously with the grated cheese.  Lay out eggplant and zucchini in a single layer.

Sprinkle with grated cheese.  Spread the meat sauce evenly.  Pour cream sauce evenly on top.

Bake in preheated oven for 45 – 50 minutes, or until golden brown.

Freezes best unbaked, thawed for 1/2 hour, then baked as above.

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Avgolemono Soup

18 Feb

It has been a LONG time since I have had this soup.  I hadn’t actually made this soup until now.  When I was making the chicken broth, my uncle commented on Facebook that when my grandmother was cooking chicken broth on the stove in the morning, he knew they were having Avgolemono Soup for dinner that night!  That was my motivation to finally make it.  The ingredient list is short, but it does require a little time and attention while making it.  The results are worth it, I promise!  If you want, you can add some cooked, shredded chicken to this to make it more of a meal.  I made it without.

Avgolemono Soup
Recipe from my Uncle Chris

What you need:

1 quart broth
1/4 cup long grain rice or orzo
1 egg
Juice of 1 lemon

How to make it:

Bring broth to boil. Add rice or orzo. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, squeeze lemon and mix with egg in a bowl.

When rice is done cooking, remove from stove. Using a ladle, add a small amount of hot broth very slowly to the egg-lemon mix while constantly stirring the egg-lemon mix with a wisk or mixer. Continue doing this with about half the broth and then reverse the process; use your ladle to slowly add this mix back into the remaining broth. When this process is complete your soup should look frothy.

Return it to the stove to heat back up to serving temp–But don’t let it boil! What you are making is called a suspension. The soup looks creamy, but it is actually comprised of tiny globs of egg suspended in the broth. The cooling process used to create the suspension is called tempering. If you just dumped the egg into the hot broth it would cook too fast to suspend (you end up with egg-drop soup). You don’t ever want to boil the soup because that will cook the egg too much and cause it to separate from the broth. This happens also when you reheat the soup. It never looks as good as it does on the first serving.

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Greek Salsa

16 Feb

 

This is a recipe I got from my Papou, and he had gotten it from a magazine, but I can’t remember which one anymore.  The recipe was actually Greek Salsa Chicken, this salsa served over lemon chicken and roasted potatoes.  Normally, I serve it with Lemon Herb Chicken and roasted potatoes that I’ve cooked separately.  But, I thought it would be the perfect addition to the Kotopoulo Lemonato we had for dinner tonight!  I was right!

 

Greek Salsa

What you need:

1 1/2 cups crumbled feta cheese
1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes, halved (I diced one regular tomato tonight since that’s what I had)
1 jar (4.75 oz) pitted kalamata olives
1/2 cup minced fresh parsley
Juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp chopped fresh oregano (or 1 Tbsp dried oregano)

How to make it:

Combine all ingredients in a bowl.  Cover and chill until ready to serve.

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Kotopoulo Lemonato (Lemon Chicken) and Broccoli Rabe

19 Jan

First, another great recipe from Cyndy at Daily Cynema, Kotopoulo Lemonato.  I love lemon chicken, and this is an AMAZING dish.  And yes, in the picture, that is a whole onion and lemon rinds in the cavity of the chicken.  Trust me, it works. The chicken was moist and flavorful.  My potatoes did get a little crunchy, I probably should have stirred them more, but I like crunchy roasted potatoes.  If they are mushy, then what was the point of roasting them, right?  For this dish, I used the red onion, a yellow onion, 3 lemons, fresh rosemary, and fresh oregano from the Italian themed veggie pack.

For full instructions on how to make this, please visit Daily Cynema: Kotopoulo Lemonato (Lemon Chicken).  She does a great job walking your through making this with great pictures.

I made this at a friend’s house tonight, and she was in charge of a veggie side.  She got the organic basket from Bountiful Baskets this week, and one of the things she got was broccoli rabe (rabe is apparently pronounced like the word “rob”).  I had never heard of this before, but we decided to give it a go in cooking it.  My friend did all the work on this one, following this recipe.  The taste is a mix of a broccoli taste and a leafy vegetable taste like spinach.  It is a tad bitter, but I still really enjoyed it.  I didn’t get a picture of all of it before we ate, my phone was not cooperating, but here is some of it so you can see how it turned out:

This dinner was a great success!

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Moussaka (Eggplant Casserole)

16 Jan

Moussaka is a dish that I have never helped make nor have I made it myself.  It’s been on my list of recipes to try for a while, and I knew it was close to Pastitsio, so it shouldn’t be too difficult.  When I got eggplant in my Italian themed veggie pack from Bountiful Baskets, I decided it was time to give it a try.  Normally, you would need more than one eggplant, but I decided to make it as an eggplant and zucchini casserole since zucchini was on sale at the grocery store this week.  I also wanted to use the mushrooms I got in my basket, so I incorporated them into the meat sauce.  It turned out amazing, I’m very happy with the results!  It’s somewhat lighter than Pastitsio, because it’s vegetables instead of pasta.  Next time, I think I may come up with a mix of the eggplant, zucchini, and noodles.

If you would like to make this meatless, substitute another package of mushrooms, diced, or some diced zucchini and/or eggplant for the 1 lb of ground beef or lamb.

Moussaka

What you need:

Filling:
1 eggplant, cut lengthwise, 1/2 in  width
3 zucchini, cut lengthwise , 1/2 in width
Salt
Olive oil
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1 lb ground beef or lamb (for meatless, use more mushrooms, or diced zucchini or eggplant)
1 8 oz package whole mushrooms, diced
1 medium onion
1 12 oz can tomato paste
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
Grated Kefalotiri, Parmesan, or Romano cheese

Cream sauce (krema):
2-1/2 cups milk
2 eggs
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup butter
Salt and pepper to taste

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Sprinkle eggplant slices with salt and set on paper towels for 15-20 minutes to let them drain.  Pat tops with a paper towel.  Heat olive oil in a large skillet and brown eggplant and zucchini slices.  Drain on paper towels and set aside.

Meanwhile, in a skillet, brown onion and ground beef or lamb.  Add mushrooms, tomato paste, and seasonings.  Cook for 5 – 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, make cream sauce. Melt 1/4 cup butter and pour in 1/4 cup flour; brown slowly. Beat 2 eggs with 2-1/2 cups milk, salt, and pepper, and pour into butter and flour mixture very slowly; mix well. Cook over low heat until it thickens.

To assemble, grease a 9 x 13 pan.  Sprinkle bread crumbs to cover the bottom of the pan.  Lay out eggplant in a single layer.  Spread half of the meat sauce over the eggplant and sprinkle with grated cheese.  Lay out zucchini in a single layer.  Spread the remaining meat sauce over the zucchini.  Pour cream sauce evenly on top.

Bake in preheated oven for 45 – 50 minutes, or until golden brown.

Freezes best unbaked, thawed for 1/2 hour, then baked as above.

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Tiropita (Cheese Pie)

1 Jan

 

Does the name sound familiar?  Like Spanakopita that I had posted previously?  This is a cheese version of that recipe.  The assembly is the same, it’s just a different filling, and just as delicious.

 

Tiropita (Cheese Pie)

What you need:

1 roll phyllo dough (You can find this in your grocery’s freezer section with the pies and baked goods)
2 sticks unsalted butter, melted

Filling for Tiropita:
1 lb feta cheese, crumbled
15 oz container ricotta cheese or Greek anthotiro cheese
1 8 oz package cream cheese, softened
6 Tbsp grated kefalotiri cheese or Parmesan cheese
3 eggs
1/2 c. or so fresh parsley

How to put it together:

Preheat oven to 325 F.

Combine the ingredients for the filling and set aside.  Brush bottom and sides of 12″ X 18″ jelly roll pan with melted butter.   Lay phyllo dough in bottom of pan, and brush completely with butter. (Note: Depending on the size of your pan and the size of dough you find, you may need multiple pieces of phyllo dough to cover the bottom of the pan) Repeat the process of laying dough and buttering to create 5-6 layers of dough.  Pour filling over phyllo dough and spread evenly.

Place a layer of phyllo dough over the filling, again, brushing it completely with butter. Repeat the process of laying dough and buttering until you have 3-4 layers.  Score through top layers of the pastry with a sharp knife. I cut mine in straight lines to make squares, then add diagonal cuts to make triangles.  Pour remaining butter over.

Bake for 1 hour or until pastry is golden brown (see picture at top). Remove to rack and cool for 5 minutes.  Cut and serve!

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