Nursery Rizario School

Traditional Greek recipes

Comenius project 2012-2014 Trikala -Greece

Mousaka

What we need:

Meat sauce

1 ground lamb or beef 2 Tbsp olive oil 1 chopped onion 4 chopped garlic cloves 1 teaspoon allspice 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon black pepper 1 Tbsp dried oregano 2 Tbsp tomato paste 1/2 cup red wine Salt

Bechamel sauce

1 stick unsalted butter 1/2 cup flour 1 teaspoon salt 4 cups whole milk 4 egg yolks 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Vegetables

3 large globe eggplants 1/2 cup salt 8 cups water 2-3 potatoes 1 cup cheese Olive oil

Method

Prepare the meat sauce

1 Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat and brown the ground meat. By the way, the meat will brown best if you don't stir it. Add the onions about halfway into the browning process. Sprinkle salt over the meat and onions.

2 Once the meat is browned and the onions have softened, add the garlic, allspice, cinnamon, black pepper, oregano and tomato paste. Mix well and cook for 2-3 minutes.

3 Add the red wine and mix well. Bring the sauce to a simmer, reduce the heat and continue to simmer gently, uncovered for 20 minutes. Turn off the heat. Taste for salt and add more if needed. Add the lemon zest and the lemon juice. Mix well and taste. If the sauce needs more acidity, add more lemon juice.

Set the sauce aside.

Prepare the potatoes and eggplants

4 Mix the 1/2 cup salt with the 8 cups of water in a large pot or container. This will be the brine for the eggplants.

5 Slice the top and bottom off the eggplants. Cut thick strips of the skin off the eggplants to give them a striped appearance. Slice the eggplant into 1/4 inch rounds and drop them into the brine.

6 Let the eggplants sit in the brine 15-20 minutes, then remove them to a series of paper towels to dry. Place a paper towel down on the counter, layer some eggplant on it, and then cover with another sheet of paper towel and repeat.

7 As the eggplants is brining, peel and slice the potatoes into 1/4 inch rounds. Boil them in salted water for 5-8 minutes – you want them undercooked, but no longer crunchy. Drain and set aside.

8 To cook the eggplant, broil or grill the rounds. You could also fry the eggplant rounds but they tend to absorb a lot of oil that way. To grill the eggplant rounds, get a grill very hot and close the lid. Paint one side of the eggplant rounds with olive oil and grill 2-3 minutes. When they are done on one side, paint the other side with oil and flip. When the eggplants are nicely grilled, set aside. Do the same with the potatoes.

Prepare the béchamel

9 Heat milk in a pot on medium heat until steamy (about 160 degrees). Do not let simmer.

10 Heat the butter in a small pot over medium heat. When the butter has completely melted, slowly whisk in the flour. Let this roux simmer over medium-low heat for a few minutes. Do not let it get too dark.

11 Little by little, pour in the steamy milk, stirring constantly. It will set up and thicken dramatically at first, but keep adding milk and stirring, the sauce will loosen. Return the heat to medium. Add about a teaspoon of salt and the nutmeg. Stir well.

12 Put the egg yolks in a bowl and whisk to combine. Temper the eggs so they don’t scramble when you put them into the sauce. Using two hands, one with a whisk, the other with a ladle, slowly pour in a couple ladle’s worth of the hot béchamel into the eggs, whisking all the time. Slowly pour the egg mixture back into the béchamel while whisking the mixture. Keep the sauce on very low heat; do not let simmer or boil.

Finish the mousaka

13 Preheat the oven to 250°C. Layer a casserole with the potatoes, overlapping slightly. Top the layer of potatoes with a layer of eggplant slices (use just half of the slices).

14 Cover the eggplant slices with the meat sauce. Then layer remaining

eggplant slices on top of the meat.

15 Sprinkle half the cheese on top. Ladle the béchamel over everything in an even layer. Sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top.

16 Bake at 250°C for 30-45 minutes, or until the top is nicely browned.

Let the mousaka cool for at least 15 minutes before serving.

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Gemista (with tomatoes and pepper plant)

What we need:

10 peppers moderate. 6 medium tomatoes. 1/2 kilos of ground beef. 1 tee cup rice Carolina. 3 chopped onions. 3 cloves of chopped garlic. 3/4 cup oil. 1/2 cup oil. The interior of the grated tomatoes, 1 glass of tomato juice, 2 teaspoons tomato paste. Salt, pepper and oregano.

Method

1. Cut the top of the tomatoes, and pour the contents into the bowl. Cut the lid off the peppers and remove the seeds and the white part.

2. Sautee onions and garlic with the olive oil (3/4), add the mince and turn until they change color, add the tomato puree and tomato paste, and crushed tomatoes, then add the washed rice and continue sautéing, and add 3/4 cup water, salt, pepper and oregano. Boil the filling for 20 minutes.

3. Fill our vegetables and the dish in the pan, add oil (1/2 cup) 1 cup water and sprinkle some salt.

4. Cover stuffed with foil and place in oven. Bake at 200 degrees 1 hour and uncovered for another half an hour

Souvlaki - (souvlaki)

INGREDIENTS 1.5 kg tender pork or beef 3 tablespoons olive oil juice of 2 lemons 3 tablespoons oregano 1 tablespoon thyme

salt and pepper

METHOD

Rinse the meat and bone and clear it of any hard gristle or muscle or fat.

Cube it in large portions (approximately 2 cm x 1,5 cm x 1,5 cm), season it and thread it on skewers.

Pour the olive oil over the meat.

You can cook them under a hot grill for about 3 minutes on each side, basting them often and turning them once.

The best results are achieved by barbecuing on charcoal. They take a little longer to cook, about 15 minutes, depending on the strength of the fire.

Before serving, pour over the cooked meat the lemon juice.Serve with a greek salad or a green salad.

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Tzatziki (Τζατζίκι )

Ingredients: 500 grams (1/2 quart) of Greek yoghurt (or natural full, dairy yoghurt) Three garlic cloves 1/2 cup of olive oil 1/2 sliced cucumber

Method

Put the yoghurt in a bowl.

Put the garlic through a garlic press and using the edge of a knife, spread the garlic coming our of the press on the yoghurt.

Take the cucumber and peal the skin. Slice it thinly, either with a knife or using a salad slicer. Mix the ingredients with a mixer (or a fork) and slowly add the oil. The oil will be absorbed, and when it is done, the tzatziki is ready.

Serve with a spoon and a few olives spread on the top.

If you want very strong taste add more garlic in your tzatziki

Tzatziki is eaten with plenty of fresh bread.

Greek salad (Horiatiki )

The most representative of Greek salads!

INGREDIENTS 3 – 4 tomatoes 1 onion Greek feta cheese 1 cucumber Olive oil salt olives oregano

Method

Prepare all the ingredients

Cut the tomatoes, the onion and the cucumber in slices.

Mix them, add salt and add some pieces of feta cheese, oregano and at the end pour some olive oil.

Your Greek salad is ready!

Greek Christmas Recipes: Kourabiedes

Kourabiedes Greek Christmas Cookies

INGREDIENTS:

2 kilos soft flour

1 kilo butter

300 grams powdered sugar

300 grams crushed roasted almonds

1 small glass cognac

1 teaspoon baking soda

Rosewater

 Preheat oven to medium (175c).

• Whiten the butter by beating by hand for ½ hour. Add the sugar, cognac, almonds and finally the flour, mixed with the baking soda. Continue to beat until all ingredients are well mixed.

• Mold into the familiar shapes of the kourambiethes and place on a cookie sheet. Bake for 20 minutes until golden. Remove from oven and immediately sprinkle with rosewater, then roll in the powder sugar.

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Melomakarona Greek Christmas Cookies

Recipe for Melomakarona

INGREDIENTS

2 cups oil

1 cup sugar

1 cup orange juice

1 cup fine semolina

1 kilo soft flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

Lemon and Orange zest

Simple syrup: (In a pot, mix together 1 cup each of water, honey and sugar and

bring to boil while stirring constantly.)

Crushed walnuts

 

Preheat oven to 200c

1. Beat oil well with mixer, then add the sugar, zests, orange juice, semolina, and then, a little at a time, the flour mixed with the baking soda.

2. Form the dough into small shapes, as the pastries will get quite big while baking. Make sure the oven is hot before baking, otherwise

the pastries will flatten. Bake for about 30 minutes until pastries are firm and golden brown.

3. When completely cooled, arrange in rows in a pan and pour warm syrup over them.

4. Sprinkle with crushed walnuts.

Stuffed Turkey

Ingredients 1 turkey, 3 kg 2 kg potatoes salt and black pepper juice of 2 lemons 4 tablespoons olive oil 1 tablespoon oregano 1 tablespoon thyme 30 gr. butter 200 ml water

Ingredients for Stuffing

3 medium onions, finely sliced 1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed 5 tablespoons olive oil chicken liver and heart, rinsed and thinly sliced 90 gr. long-grain rice, rinsed and drained

200 ml hot water salt and black pepper 90 gr. pine nuts, browned in a frying pan 45 gr. sult (optional) 1 teaspoon oregano 1 teaspoon thyme

Method

Rinse and dry the turkey. Season the turkey with salt and black pepper all over, as well as in its cavity. Prepare the stuffing.

Place the turkey in the middle of a roasting tin, breast up. Peel and quarter the potatoes lengthways (quarter-moon shape), rinse them and arrange evenly around the turkey.

Pour the lemon juice and olive oil over the turkey and potatoes, then sprinkle with most of the herbs. Dot the butter all over and carefully pour the water into a corner of the pan. Roast in a pre-heated oven, gas no.5/ 400 grades F/ 200 grades C, for 2.5-3 hours.

A little water may be added if it looks as if it is drying up, no more than 6 tablespoons. The turkey should be golden brown by the end and the potatoes a little less so.

Stuffing

Sautee the onions and garlic in the olive oil.

Add the giblets and Sautee for 5 minutes, then add the rice and Sautee for a few minutes until it looks glistening.

Add the hot water, salt and pepper and simmer slowly for 3 minutes until most of the water is absorbed but the rice should remain hard.

Take off the heat, add the pine nuts, the sultanas (if used) and the herbs. Mix well and stuff the turkey, leaving a little room for expansion.

There is no need for sewing up the opening of the turkey; in fact, you can seal this opening with half a potato, which seems to work well.

In any case roast the stuffed turkey breast side up and avoid turning it too much.

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Easter RecipesEaster Lamb on the Spit - (Arni Souvlas)

Method

On Easter Sunday Morning, the fire is started at about 7.00 am to ensure that the wood is reduced to glowing embers by the time the roasting starts. The lamb or goat, having been properly cleaned, is rubbed with lemon all over his skin and seasoned with salt, pepper, oregano and thyme both outside and inside. Then the souvla, the long round iron stick, having also been properly cleaned and rubbed with lemon, is passed through the animal from one end and out through the head. The back feet are secured by passing one through the muscle of the other and are then tied with wire. It is also recommended to tie with wire the spine of the lamb on the spit. Two iron poles with forked ends are inserted in the earth by the fire. At the beginning of the roasting session the lamb is at about 60-70 cm from the fire. Later the poles are lowered so the meat rests at a distance of 30-40 cm from the fire. The long iron spit ends in a handle and members of the family take it in turns to sit and turn it almost continually (Now there are machines doing that for us!). While the meat is cooking they brush on a mixture of olive oil, lemon juice and oregano. A lamb roasted like this takes about 4 hours or less, presuming that it is of the desirable weight of 5 kgr maximum. It is vital that the lamb cooks very slowly, even if it takes longer than three hours. A clear indication

that it is nearly cooked is when the flesh shrinks away from the bones. Please note that the fleshy parts (legs and shoulders) take longer to cook, so they draw most of the glowing embers to the two ends, making two small piles of them under the fleshy parts which gives those parts the extra heat they require, while the thin body is cooking at a slower speed.

Easter Midnight Soup - (Magiritsa)

Magiritsa is the soup that Greeks break their 40 days fasting with after the midnight liturgy on Easter Saturday.

INGREDIENTS a lamb's liver, heart, lights and intestines juice of 3 lemons salt 6 onions, trimmed, rinsed and finely sliced 25 gr. butter 2 cos lettuces, trimmed, shredded and rinsed carefully (use only

their young leaves and hearts) about a teacupful of fresh dill or fennel, rinsed and finely chopped 1.2 lt hot water salt and black pepper 60 gr. Rice 2 eggs

Sauce by eggs and juice of 2 lemons.

METHOD

Rinse all the meat. Turn the intestines inside out with the help of a thin stick and rinse them thoroughly. Rub them with salt and lemon juice and rinse them again. Cube them into small portions. In a large saucepan, Sautee the onions in the butter, until they start to change colour. Add the chopped intestines, liver, lights and heart, fry together for a few minutes, stirring. Add the shredded lettuces and all the fresh herbs and sauté for a few more minutes. Add the hot water, and seasoning, cover and cook for 30 minutes. Then add the rice and cook for a further 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and let it stand for 10 minutes, before proceeding with the sauce. Add the sauce to the soup, stirring. Return to a very gentle heat for 2 minutes, stirring at the same time. It should be by now a quite a thick soup.

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Easter bread - (Tsoureki)

INGREDIENTS 1 kg flour 1 teacup butter 2 tablespoons grated orange rind 6 eggs 1 ½ teacups sugar ½ teacup milk 2 tablespoons yeast

½ teacup lukewarm water

METHOD

Dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm water. Add a teacup of flour and beat the mix. Cover the mix with a towel and place it in a warm place to rise. Slightly heat the milk, the sugar, the butter and the orange rind and place

them in a bowl.

Add the yeast, the eggs, beaten, and the flour, stirring constantly. Make sure the dough is neither too soft nor too tough. Cover this dough with a towel and let it stand in a warm place for about an hour and a half.

When the dough has doubled in size, knead it again by hand and shape plaited breads. Brush the breads with 2-3 beaten egg yolks and bake them in a medium oven for about 30-35 minutes.

Apple jam

What we need:

• 2 pounds of red apples• juice of one lemon• 3 cups of tea water• 1 kg sugar• 1 vanilla• about half a teaspoon of cinnamon-chocolate (found in the supermarket, substitute 1 stick cinnamon)

How we do it:1. Wash, peel and be at the apples in a blender(to make small pieces should not melt).2. In a large saucepan place the apples, lemon juice and half a kilo of sugar.3. On medium heat bring the jam to the boil and cook until softened apples.

4. Add there maiming sugar-cinnamon chocolate (or cinnamon stick) and vanilla and continue to cook for about 10minutes.Then remove the pan from the heat.

Strawberry jam

What we need:• 1poundstrawberries• 600gr.to 1kg sugar• 1/4cup. Lemon juice

How we do it: 1. The strawberries should be ripe but robust. Then wash, cut the stems and put them in a bowl and crash they by hand.

 2. Pour into the wide pot, along with sugar and lemon juice.3. The boil over high heat, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon, until they reach a temperature of 105 ° 4. When they will be cold, put them in sterilized jar and keep in the refrigerator.A few secretsThe amount of sugar depends on your taste and how sweet your strawberries are.To check if jam tied:Put three saucers in the freezer. After it has cooked about 10 minutes the marmalade, put a saucer on the 1 tsp jam. Put it back in the freezer for a minute. Take it and try to jam in a line with your finger. If you can make

the line without trying to reunite the jam, then it is ready!(The other two plates are in case the first fails. Then you will continue with the second, after a while)

Walnut Pie - (Karidopitta)

INGREDIENTS 150 gr. unsalted butter 120 gr. caster or granulated sugar 4 eggs, separated 150 gr. flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 0.5 teaspoon cinnamon 0.25 teaspoon cloves (optional) 4 tablespoons brandy grated rind of one orange 230 gr. walnuts, coarsely chopped

Syrup 250 gr. sugar 300 ml water orange and lemon rind 3-4 cloves 1 tablespoon brandy 2 cinnamon sticks

METHOD

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Add the egg yolks one by one, beating between additions so they are well incorporated.

Sift the flour with the baking powder, cinnamon and cloves, if using. Add the brandy, grated orange rind and walnuts to the butter mixture and mix well.

This step should be done, by hand, otherwise if a blender is used it will pulverise the walnuts and the karidopitta will lose its essence.

Whisk the egg whites until they become stiff, then, with a metal spoon, start folding them in, alternating with tablespoons of the flour, until they have all been incorporated.

Butter a flat oven dish and empty the thick mixture into it. Traditionally karidopitta is baked in a flat dish and cut into diamond or square shapes.

Cook in a preheated oven, 190 grades C for 40 minutes.Meanwhile, prepare the syrup. Dissolve the sugar in the water, add the lemon rind, the cloves and the brandy and boil gently for 8 minutes.

Bear in mind that the syrup must be poured hot over the hot karidopitta in order to be well absorbed. Strain it.

Take the pie out of the oven and cut the shapes you want but leave it in the container.

Pour the hot strained syrup slowly all over and let it stand for at least 20 minutes so that it can be absorbed.

Leave the karidopitta in its container, placing the two cinnamon sticks diagonally, side by side, on the centre.

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