Xortopita – Greek Greens Pie

Wild greens constitute one of the greatest capital of Cretan cuisine. No one knows exactly how many different species of plants are used for human consumption and helped these people to survive during wars and occupation times.  I read that more than 120 herbs from the coastal zones to the higher mountain regions have been identified and counted.

Picking wild greens is a very enjoyable activity and the prepared meals are super healthy food!

For this recipe I used self-seeded Swiss chard form last year who is sprouting here and there in my vegetable garden. A great gift form the nature.

For the “Cretan” flavourful taste, I added mint and dill and some feta.

Usually these greens pies are prepared in the oven and the dough used for this is the filo.

One of the specialties of Sfakia are the “Sfakianopites”:  round flat pies filled with local mizithra cheese, pan-fried (without oil or butter) and then, served with a generous drizzle of Cretan honey.

For this pies I used the technique of the sfakianopites and worked very well.

For the dough I used my sourdough recipe which, thanks to the long ferment time, turns very elastic for rolling it out. https://artandkitchen.wordpress.com/2018/05/07/basic-bread-recipe/

For the yogurt sauce see: https://artandkitchen.wordpress.com/2013/02/18/mint-and-dill-yogurt-sauce/

• Servings: 6
• Time: 60 min working time +waiting and cooking time
• Difficulty: medium
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Ingredients:

Dough

• ½ cup sourdough starter (or ¼ cup water + ¼cup flour + 1/4 teaspoon dry yeast)
• 1 cup water
• 3 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon salt

Filling

• 300 greens (I used the green part of Swiss chards)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 3 spring onions, finely chopped, tender green part as well
• 3 tablespoons cup finely chopped fresh spearmint
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped dill
• 200 g crumbled feta
• Salt and pepper to taste

Prodecure:

1. Combine the sourdough starter with the water and the first cup of flour for the first rising into a big bowl, cover and let sit until spongy. The time depends of the kind of yeast (if using sourdough starter often I combine them the evening before or early in the morning) and the temperature.
2. Add the the other two cups of flour and the salt for the second rising knead shortly and let lit for about 20 minutes. Now knead again until smooth. I perform this step directly in the bowl using a dough spatula and folding over the bread until done. Let rise a few hour until doubled. During this time prepare the filling.
3. Wash the greens and drain very well. Then slice them.
4. Heat the oil and fry the onion until translucent. Add the greens and cook stirring from time to time until the liquid is almost adsorbed.
5. Add the herbs and combine well.
6. Add the feta and season to taste with salt and pepper. Place on in a bowl to cool down.
7. When the dough is soft, divide it into 6 pieces. Make 6 portions of filling. Note: you may make also more pieces/portions and make smaller pitas.
8. Roll out the dough to the size of about 15 cm on a well-floured surface. Place the filling on it and carefully close the filling into the dough trying to exclude as much air as possible.
9. Dust well with flour and slowly roll this out to the desired size. I made round of about 25 cm. Do not staple them, but place them on a well-floured surface until cooking time.  Best if you would in team and somebody helps you the roast the pitas while you roll them out.
10. Heat a skillet and roast dry on both sides until browned. Note: We decided to cook them on the open fire.
11. Serve if warm with yogurt sauce.
12. Leftovers may be kept in the fried for a few day or be frozen.

Autor: https://artandkitchen.wordpress.com/

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Day 11: Stay at Home or In the Garden: Spinach and Feta Muffins

As most muffin recipes, they are easy and quick to be prepared; for this reason they can be served for a week dinner as well, we served these instead of bread together with meat balls.

You can adapt the recipe and for example add grated carrots instead of fried spinach.

If you are using an acid ingredient, as in this case the feta, baking soda will be enough, if not, please use a mixture of baking soda and baking powder.

These muffins can be prepared in advance and reheat for about 3 minutes before serving.

Spinach and Feta Muffins

• Servings: 12 pieces (6 cm wide)
• Time: active time=25 min cooking=25 min
• Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 mall onion, chopped
• 200 g spinach, washed and chopped or only young leaves
• 200 g flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 150 ml milk
• 1 egg
• 100 g feta, crumbled
• 50 g walnuts, chopped (optional)
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg powder, to taste
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Sesame seeds for topping, to taste and optional

Preparation

1. Heat oil and fry the onion until translucent. Add spinach and sauté until just soft ad water adsorbed. Remove from the heat.
2. Preheat the oven to 180°C
3. In a bowl, sift together flour and baking soda.
4. Add milk and egg. Stir until just combined.
5. Fold in feta, walnuts and sautéed spinach.
6. Season with nutmeg, pepper and salt to taste.
7. Scoop the mixture in muffin molds (I used 6 cm wide silicon molds).
8. Sprinkle with sesame seed or more walnuts.
9. Bake at 180°C for about 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and done.
10. Best serve them lukewarm.

Autor: https://artandkitchen.wordpress.com/

Day 10: Stay at Home or In the Garden; Fasolada – Greek Beans Soup

Yesterday evening we enjoyed this warm and hearty Greek soup for dinner as the sun went down and cold wind blew over Switzerland. In fact, this is a typical winter dish.

Once again, we decided to prepare it over the open fire also in order to warm the room a little bit and to give a special touch to the soup. Nevertheless, this is not strictly necessary and you can prepare this on you stovetop, in a low cooker, a pressure cooker or a simple pot.

Today we had some more for lunch and thanks the sunlight I could take the pic I have missed yesterday: we were too hungry and I did not have time to prepare some more light for a decent pic.

Fasolada (Φασολάδα) - Greek Beans Soup

• Servings: about 6-8
• Time: active time=30 min cooking=120-480 min
• Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

• 500 g white beans (I used spitted ones without skin, any kind of beans would work as well)
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 onion, peeled and diced
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 tablespoons chopped pancetta or bacon (optional)
• 2 tablespoons tomatoes concentrate (optional)
• 3000 ml water
• 1-2 cup carrots, peeled and diced
• 1 cup celery stalks, diced or 1/2 cup celery green chopped
• 1 tin (about 400 g) chopped pelati (tomatoes)
• More herbs (I used 2 small rosemary spring and 5 winter savoury springs)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Crumbled feta and/or rustic bread, optional

Procedure

1. Soak beans in cold water overnight or at least a few hours in warm water. Rinse well until the water comes out clear-
2. Fry onion with the oil until translucent. Add garlic and tomatoes paste and fry for 3 more minutes.
3. Add water, the soaked beans and the other ingredients. Season to taste.
4. Let simmer for 1½ hours or until beans are tender. During this time, check occasionally if the liquid is enough and if necessary add some more water.
5. Serve with rustic bread and if you like with crumbled feta. Καλή όρεξη! Enjoy it!

Autor: https://artandkitchen.wordpress.com/

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Day 7: Stay at Home: Filo Twisted Spinach Pie from Scratch

I made this Greek spinach pie in about 30 minutes working time, thanks my kneading machine. I did not measure the exactly amount of the ingredients for the filo. While the kneading machine was working/kneading, I had the time to prepare the filling. At the end, it was a very simplified version of my post  Spanakotiropita with Homemade Filo Dough.  I could have used more ingredients, but at these times, I preferred to skip some and for example save the feta and eggs for other recipes. No shopping excursions now! I will simply list the ingrediens and the procedure. We miss Crete so much!

Filo Twisted Spinach Pie from Scratch

• Servings: 2-4
• Time: 60 min
• Difficulty: medium
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Ingredients:

Filo

• 1 1/2 cups four
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespona ouzo
• about 1/3 cups water water

Filling

• olive oil
• 300 g spinach, whashed
• 1 big onion, sliced
• mint, chopped
• dill, chopped
• salt and pepper to taste

Topping

• 2 tablespoon water
• 2 tablesppons olive oil
• 1/2 tablespoon flour
• salt to taste
• sesame and nigella seeds

Procedure

1. For the filo combine flour, oil, salt and ouzo in the kneading bowl. While kneading add water until you see the dough forms, turns smooth and elastic. Let kneed while you prepare the filling.
2. Fry the onion in about 2 tablespoons olive oil until translucent. Add the other ingredients and let cook until spinach turn soft and the liquid is adsorbed.
3. Roll out half of the dough to a rectangle of about 20 to 40 cm. Stretch with the back of our hand until about 30 to 60 long.  Brush with oil. Spoon the filling (on the shorter side of the rectangle) but do not go all the way to the edges so that the pastry sheet margins could be folded in slightly. Roll or pack lengthwise. Place the roll in spiral in your round baking tray ( 28 cm diameter). Repeat with the second portion.
4. Combine the water, oil, salt and flour for the topping. Brush the spiral with this and top with seeds.
5. Bake in a preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes at 190°C until golden and crispy.
6. Enjoy warm, lukewarm or cold.

Autor: https://artandkitchen.wordpress.com/

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Antikristo | Food In Crete

On Crete there is a very special cooking method used for lamb or goat meat. This cooking method is called antikristo  which literally means “across the fire”.

In the fields this cooking method is made across large fires with huge grids where the meat ist hanged after salting (only salt is needed) and cooked with the indirect heat of the flames.

The big advantage of this cooking method ist that the meat does not need constant attention and shepherds could continue with their works.

In  our case with tried to use a Spanish tool intended for roasting bread. We tool was big enough for one shoulder of lamb! The result was excellent and we could smell and taste Crete even thousands of kilometers away from our beloved island.

Bread Swirls with Olives

Prepare these savory small breads in advance and freeze them. You will need only 2 minutes in a preheated oven and you have something special to serve as appetizer, as side for a meal or simply for a snack. They will be very much appreciated!

Variation: Add some oregano to the dough or top the swirls with sesame seeds

• Servings: about 24 pieces
• Time: active time=30 min resting=8-12h
• Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients:

• 100 g sourdough starter (or 50 g water + 50 g flour + 1/4 teaspoon dried yeast)
• 1 cups water
• 2 cups white flour
• 1 cups black flour or any whole kind of flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup black olives, pitted and chopped
• Olive oil (optional)

Procedure

1. The evening before combine well the starter, water, flours and salt. Knead about 5 minutes. Place in a bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place overnight.
2. The next morning the dough should have risen, stretch it to a rectangle of about 50 to 30 cm on a well-floured surface.
3. Distribute the olives on the dough leaving 5 cm of the long border free. Roll it so that you get a long (50 cm) roll and slice it into 2 cm think swirls. Place the pieces on a baking tray. Brush with olive oil if you like.
4. Let rise again in a warm place (this took me about 1 hour, but it depends on the temperature and the kind of yeast).

Bake in a preheated oven for about 15 minutes until golden brown.

Autor: https://artandkitchen.wordpress.com/

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Greek Style Leg of Lamb Stuffed with Secret Ingredient (Lamb Roll)

Easter lamb is a traditional recipe, which we always love very much! This year I would like to present you a variation of stuffed lamb, this one is slow roasted and filled with the traditional feta with the addition of dried tomatoes and CARDMOM! Thanks the special addition of this secret ingredient and the recipe becomes a wonderful taste and thanks the excellent sauce it is elevated to a gift from the gods and a real perfect Easter recipe.

According the cooking direction of this recipe, you will get a melt in the mouth well done stuffed lamb. Well done lamb it’s way we always pieces of lamb on Crete and I really appreciate this cooking way. If you prefer medium-rare lamb, you may simply roast at higher temperature (220°C) for the first 30 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 180°C; it’s done when the instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of the meat reads 60 C.

• Servings: 4
• Time: 3 hours
• Difficulty: easy
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You need:

• 8-10 kitchen twines of the length of about 50 cm
• 1 boneless leg of lamb of about 1500 g
• 10-15 preserved wine leaves
• Olive oil
• 3 small onions, peeled sliced
• 1500 g small potatoes, peeled (if they are big simply quartered)
• 2-4 cardamom pods, lightly crushed (to taste)
• 1 cup white wine
• Salt and pepper to taste

Filling

• 15 dried tomatoes
• 1/2 cup boiling water
• 30 raisins
• 1 pinch cardamom
• 200 g feta, crumbled
• 1/2 lemon zest
• Salt and pepper, if needed

Procedure

1. Filling: In a small bowl, cover dried tomatoes with 1/4 cup boiling water; let soak for 5 minutes. Drain, but reserve the water. Add all the other ingredients and adjust with salt and pepper. I did not need salt as the feta and dried tomatoes where dry enough.
2. On your working surface, place the twines at a distance of about 3 cm between each (in the direction of the long side of the meat, see picture).
3. Over the twine adjust the wine leaves in the same size as the meat.
4. Wash and pat dry the meat and trim any excess fat. If some parts are much thicker than others are, butterfly them to make it evenly thick. Lightly pound the lamb with a meat mallet, if necessary, to further even it out and make it roughly rectangular in shape
5. Lay the mean skin side down over the leaves and spread the filling over the lamb. Starting at one short end, roll the lamb up tightly together with the leaves. For this step, it is easier if you get the help of a second person! Tie the roll. Brush with olive oil.
6. Cover the lamb well with foil and refrigerate for at least 8 and up to 24 hours. Let the lamb sit at room temperature for about 1 hour before cooking.
7. Preheat the oven to 170°C. For this recipe is better not to use the air forced function!
8. Sauté the onions in a non-sticky skillet with about 2 tablespoons of olive oil and when lightly browned and set aside. Add one more tablespoon of olive oil to the skillet and toss the potatoes in it.
9. Place the lamb in the mold arrange onions around the lamb, add the cardamom pods (one on each side) and arrange the potatoes around the meat (if possible in one layer).
10. Add the reserved liquid of the dried tomatoes and half of the wine.
11. Add some salt, pepper to taste, and drizzle 2 tablespoon of oil over all of them.
12. Cover with the lid and bake for 2 hours at 180°C. If your baking dish does not have a lid cover with parchment paper then with aluminum foil; in this case take care that you add more liquid or you check from time to time that the meat will not dry out (this depends also form the kind of oven!)
13. After two hours remove the lid, add the remaining wine, check if you need to add more salt and increase the temperature to 210°C, bake for 30 minutes. From time to time, check that you still have enough liquid (I recommend to have a level of at least 1.5 cm liquid on the bottom of your mold).
14. Remove from the oven and allow to rest at least 20 minutes before removing the twine and slicing.

Autor: https://artandkitchen.wordpress.com/

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Ekmek Kataifi – Greek Pastry Topped with Custard and Whipped Cream

A few years ago on Crete a Greek friend offered us this wonderful cake and she gently shared her recipe. I still had the notes and finally now I decided to write this in my blog. Her recipe is a sugar-reduced one, as most of the recipes requires double quantity of syrup, I also noticed that she reduced the fat of the cream adding beaten egg white. If you don’t feel safe eating raw eggs please skip it or double the cream quantity!

Perhaps you noticed that the name “Ekmek Kataifi” doesn’t sound Greek: historical this recipe was a bread pudding, created during the Ottoman empire and served during the Ramadan time combined with kaimak (a creamy cheese similar to mascarpone).

Note: sometimes you in Turkish shops you can buy already roasted kataifi in the shape of a round cake; in this cake skip the first two steps.

• Servings: 12
• Time: 2 hr + resting
• Difficulty: easy-medium
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Credit :Artandkitchen

Ingredients

• Base

  • 250 g frozen kataifi pastry
  • 50 g butter, melted

  Syrup (may be doubled if you wish)

  • 100 g sugar
  • 50 ml water
  • 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
  • 1/4 teaspoon mastic, powder (optional)

  For the Custard

  • 3 tablespoons fine semolina
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
  • 70 g sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 3 egg yolks
  • 500 ml milk

  Whipped cream

  • 100 ml heavy cream, chilled
  • 1 egg white, from very fresh egg (skip and double the quantity of heavy cream if preferred)
  • 2 tablespoons powdered sugar

  Topping

  • roasted slivered almonds or pistachios, for serving
  • 8 candied cherries (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 160 °C.
2. To begin making the base. Make the Kataifi pastry as fluffy as possible; spread it on the Springform (of about 24 cm) and brush with the melted butter. Toast the Kataifi strands until golden brown, this takes about 30-40 minutes.
3. In the meanwhile, prepare the syrup by boiling the sugar with the water in a small saucepan for about 5 minutes. You can also add some mastic powder. Remove from the heat and stir in the lemon juice and spoon the hot syrup over the toasted pastry base.
4. Combine semolina, cornstarch and half of the sugar in small bowl; whisk in egg yolks and a few tablespoons of cold milk; whisk to remove any lumps. In another pot (or simply in the microwave) heat the milk with the rest of the sugar. Before this comes to boil, remove this from the heat and add it to the egg mixture stirring constantly; Place the saucepan over medium heat and let the cream thicken, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat and let cool down until lukewarm.
5. Spread the custard evenly over Kataifi. Let it cool to room temperature, cover with cling film and put in the fridge. Leave best overnight as so that the tastes will bind better.
6. Make the whipped cream just before serving: in a clean bowl beat egg white into stiff peaks, add sugar and beat again until glossy. In another bowl, preferably chilled, beat chilled cream. Gently fold beaten egg whites into the whipped cream and spread over the cold cream.
7. Sprinkle with roasted slivered almonds, top with cherry and serve best with a cup of real Greek coffee!

 

Okras with Vegetables from the Oven

The plant and its seed pods are also known as “lady’s fingers” and in Greece this dish is called “Bamies sto fourno” (Μπάμιες στο φούρνο). The Greek name come from the Arabic name, bamyeh.

While in central Europe, we can get this fresh vegetable almost only in Turkish shops, in Greece we can find it in almost all supermarkets and farmer markets!

Okras could turn slimy ant to prevent this we should cook it whole, after tossing it with salt and vinegar and marinating for at least 30 minutes.

In Greece this dish is very popular ad for the recipe the quantity of oil is at least 3 fold of what I suggest her with my recipe.

• Servings: 4-6
• Time: 2 hr
• Difficulty: easy
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Autor: https://artandkitchen.wordpress.com/

You need

• 1 kg okra, trimmed and washed
• 4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 onions, peeled and diced
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
• 2 red peppers, seeds removed and diced
• 1 cup water
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 2 cups ripe tomatoes, diced into 1-2 cm pieces
• 2 strips orange zest (about 5-5 square centimeters J )
• 4 tablespoons fresh parsley, coriander or dill chopped
• salt and pepper to taste

Procedure

1. Trim the stems off the okra, and place in a large bowl. Add the vinegar, toss and let sit for 30 minutes to an hour. Drain the okra, and rinse thoroughly. Place these in an oven safe baking mold.
2. Preheat the oven at 180°C.
3. In the meantime heat the oil in a skillet, add onion, garlic and red peppers. Fry until fragrant. Combine water and tomato paste. Add this to the skillet as well as the tomatoes and orange zest. Heat thoroughly. Add herbs and adjust salt and pepper.
4. Pour the sauce over the okra, cover with foil or lid and place it for 1 hour and 30 min in the oven. The last 15 min remove the lid to allow the food to get a bit of color.

Dolmades me Avgolemono – Stuffend Wine Leaves with Egg-Lemon Sauce

Spring, sun, flowers, herbs and missing Crete!

During my walk through the garden I noticed that the fist wine leaves were almost big enough to be used for one of my favourite Greek dishes: dolmadakias (diminutives of dolmades)! Now in early spring the leaves are very light, tender and even if even still small, I decided to try to make this without meat (lamb or beef

As the same times I had some asparagus on hand, I decided to prepare also the egg-lemons sauce, which is perfect for both preparations!

Usually for this recipe, we use pine nuts, but as did not have such of them just now at home, I decided to uses some previously roasted pumpkin seeds; and WOW! This was real great!

I collected only about 30 leaves about 10-12 cm wide (yes real small, but tender!) and these made 3-4 cm sized dolamadakias.

Note: this dish often served lukewarm and the lemon leaves would taste even better the next day.

• Servings: 2-4
• Time: 90 min
• Difficulty: medium
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You need:

Leaves:

• 30 young tender fresh grape leaves (double the filling and the sauce if you have big leaves), washed and stem removed

Filling:

• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 small onion
• ½ cup rice
• 1 cup vegetal broth (or simply the hot water you used to prepare the leaves + salt)
• 1 tablespoon fresh mint, chopped
• 1 tablespoon fresh parsley chopped
• 1 tablespoon fresh dill, copped
• 2 tablespoons, chopped roasted pine nuts (or roasted pumpkin seeds)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Sauce

• 1 egg
• 1 lemon, juice of
• 1/2 lemon, grated peel of
• 1 cup water (I used drained liquid form the stuffed leaves +  the blanching water for the leaves)
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Additional lemon juice

Procedures

1. Bring about 1 liter of water to boil and place the leaves in hot water. Drain the leaves after 3 minutes (preserve one cup of water). Set aside and don’t discard the water.
2. Fry the onion in the oil just until translucent, add the rice and the broth. Reduce to simmer.
3. Add the herbs and seed, cook until the water is adsorbed for about 6-8 minutes, the rice will not be cooked through, but this just fine. Adjust salt and pepper to taste.
4. Place a small amount of this filling (about 1 teaspoon or more if the leaves are big) on the backside of the leaf near the stem and then close it. For this step, I first fold the left and right side of the leaf toward the center and I roll it up starting from the side of the stem (like the spring rolls).
5. Place one tablespoon of olive oil on the bottom of you pot, and then place the stuffed leaves one by one, near each other, opening side down so that they don’t move. If you have more leaves you some leaves to cover the bottom of the pot or (even better) a few thin sliced potatoes (addition to your meal)!
6. Try to make two layers of the leaves in the pot (size depends on the leaves and the pot!)
7. Grate le lemon zest, set aside; juice the lemon and set this aside as well.
8. Place parts of the peel or additional lemon slices over the stuffed leaves, cover with the water (add to the water previously salt to taste), add about 1 third of the lemon juice as well.
9. Cover with a small plate the stuffed leaves, so that they don’t move while cooking. Cover with the lid and simmer for about 40 minutes (adding some more water if needed). Drain out the liquid and use it for the sauce.
10. If you have rice leftovers, cook them in a small saucepot with water as a risotto until done.
11. For the egg-lemon sauce blend together the egg, the lemon juice the lemon zest, the drained liquid from the stuffed leaves, the cornstarch and the olive oil.
12. Very slowly heat the sauce in a small saucepot until it thickens (do not let it boil but add more water if needed). Adjust salt and pepper. If you need add more lemon juice to taste.
13. Serve the stuffed leaves with this sauce.

Autor: https://artandkitchen.wordpress.com/

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