Gemista (Stuffed Vegetables) with rice and ground meat

Hi there! Its been a while since my last post here. Last 6 months have been really demanding and left me with no time for cooking and blogging. Seems like things calming down and I finally can back to what I love so much... being in the kitchen! 

Gemista (literally means filled, stuffed) is a dish that s very common in Greece, especially in summer, when peppers and tomatoes are in their pick. The stuffing contains almost always rice combined either with groung meat or just herbs. 

 

Ingredients (for 10 vegetables)

Peppers and tomatoes for stuffing
300 gr. minced meat
10 tbsp rice (1 for each vegetable)
1 onion, chopped
1 handful chopped parsley
3 tbsp tomato sause
1/2 tsp red pepper
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp salt
olive oil
1 large potato, cut into slices 

 

How to Make

In a saucepan heat the olive oil and add the onion. Let it soften and add the minced meat. Mix and stir continuously until the mince gets whitened and disolved. Add the sauce, parsley and spices and cover with water. Let it boil for about half an hour.

Now, its time to empty the vegetables. Wash them well, empty them and sprinkle a little salt inside.
Then, add the rice and 1.5 glass of boiling water. Boil for 10 minutes until rice is tender, stirring intermediary and continuously to prevent sticking. Add a little more water if needed. Once the rice is ready, cover with a clean towel and the lid, remove from the heat and set aside for another 10 minutes.

 

Fill the vegetables with the stuffing and put them in a pan close one to another. Put the potato cuts where there are gaps, sprinkle with little salt, olive oil and 1 cup of water and cook in the oven at 200C for about an hour. At half time, use 2 spoons to turn the peppers around so that they can be cooked evenly both sides.

 

In Greek here.

Spinach and Feta pie (Spanakopita - Tiropita)

This is an all-time-classic recipe from my grandmother for the traditional pie. The pastry is similar to a puff pastry and the filling varies from spinach - feta cheese, feta cheese solo, leeks, pumpkin etc.. I recently learnt to make this pie on my own, but I still like preparing it with my grandmother.

Ingredients (for 2 medium or 1 large pie)

700 gr. all purpose flour (might need more)

1 glass warm water

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1 small coffe cup vegetable oil

1 tbsp vinegar

150 - 200 gr. melted butter

filling 

1 egg

boiled spinach

feta cheese

How to Make

Sift the flour in a large bowl or on a table and make a hole in the center. Add in the hole all pastry ingredients except butter and mix the liquid with the flour with your fingertips ar a fork, taking flour from the sides like shown in the pictures below:

Continue kneading to make a firm and pliable dough. You might need to add some more flour, but be careful so that the dough wont turn hard. The dough will be like shown in the following pictures:

Cut the dough into 2 or 4 pieces. On a floured surface, roll out each piece to a similar cyrcle or rectangle shape with a rolling pin. Use the rolling pin as shown below: Roll it on top of the dough until dough widens enough and the put the pin on one side of the dough and roll it again. Repeat from all sides:

 

Cover the surface with melted butter and cut it with a knife as in following pictures:

Take all small cuts and put them upside down, one on top of another in the center cyrcle. Then cover them with the sides of the center piece and put it in the refridgerator for 2-3 hours.

Preparing the filling:

Boil the spinach for few minutes and put them aside to drain. Mix the drained spinach with feta cheese and 1 bitten egg. For the solo feta filling, just mix feta cheese and egg.

Preparing the baking pan

Put this ball on a floured surface and roll out the dough again until widens enough to fit in the baking pan. Butter well the interior of the pan, put one piece, cover again with butter, place the filling, cover with the other piece of pastry, butter the top well and carve the surface. Place in a preheated oven at 180 -200 Celsius and cook for about 30 minutes:

When take it off the oven, cover the pie with a wet towel and let it stay for about another 30 minute. Enjoy!

Pork (leg) in a clay pot

I must admit that I have neglected a little bit me beloved blog-home, but fortunately nothing bad has happened, it is just that my free time is significantly reduced. However, I always try to cook as often as possible and to visit all the blogs I love, but I have not the time to posts new recipes and comment on everything I like as often as I want to. Hope to fully recover soon!
Now, to the cooking part. This dish I think is one of the most delicious, impressive, aromatic, tender  meals EVER!! And the best thing about it, is that it's very very easy, as all the work is done by the oven, so the chef can just have a great morning while waiting!!

Ingredients

1 pork leg with the bone
2-3 cloves of garlic
black pepper
red pepper
oregano
salt
olive oil
potatoes
optional: lemon

 

How To Make

Put the pork overnight in a bowl and pread with some olive oil and spices. Ideally, at some point turn the leg upside down.
The next day, first of all turn on the oven to 150 degrees Celsius. Cut the potatoes into large chunks and put the leg in the clay pot. Cut a clove of garlic into thin slices and fix them with a knife in various places of it. Pour in this holes the remaining juice of th bowl. Spread the potatoes around it, sprinkle them with spices and a little more olive oil throughout the pot (and optional lemon).
Put the clay pot in the oven and forget about it for 3 hours. After these 3 hours we check periodically the pork. A total of 3.5-4 hours is needed and its ready, when the meat falls off easily from the bone and it is soft and easily cut with just a fork. Shortly before the end, I like to fill the holes of the pork with the juice from the pot, this way it becomes even more delicious!

 

Applepie (Milopita: greek version)

One of my favorite deserts, especially in winter is this apple pie. This recipe is similar to many in circulation, but my mother always made it like this and with some tiny changes I make it too! The greek name milopita just means applepie (Milo is apple and pita is pie!).

Ingredients
2-3 apples
3 tbsp cinnamon
3 tbsp granulated sugar
150 gr. butter

For the dough
1 apple, cut into cubes
200 gr. butter
1 and 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs
3 cups flour
1 cup milk
1 tsp cinnamon
1 handful of raisins
1 tsp vanilla extract
 

How to Make

Preheat oven to 180. Prepare the dough by putting in the mixer butter to hit well, the eggs and sugar alternately until homogenized, cinnamon, and finally the flour alternately with milk. From the flour keep aside 1-2 tbsp. Let it hit for 3-4 minutes.

Put together a pan with removable bottom covered with wax paper and put it 150 gr. butter, 3 tbsp sugar and 3 tbsp cinammon and place it in the oven until the butter melts. At the same time, cut the apples into small cubes (can be made into rings, depending how we like it).

Then, chop chop the apple for the dough and mix these pices with the raisins. Use the remaining 2 tbsp of flour to cover them. Add them to the dough and stir well with a spoon.
Remove the pan from the oven, add the apple cubes and then the dough. Bake at 180 for 50 minutes to 1 hour. To see when it is ready, dip a toothpick in the cake. If it comes out clean, you re ready to go!

 

Remove from the oven and turned over on a platter. After you carefully remove the baking sheet, sprinkle with icing sugar and serve!

Find it in greek here.

 

Rizogalo (Greek Rice Pudding)

This is one of my favoyrite deserts! My dad used to make this really often when we were little and we all loved it! Its name literally means rice - milk (as in Greek, rizi means rice and gala means milk). 

Ingredients (for about 6 little bowls)

1/2 cup short grain white rice
1.5 cup  water
3.5 cups milk
1.5 tbsp cornflour
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup sugar
pinch of salt
cinnamon for serving
optional: zest of 1/2 lemon

 

How to Make

In a saucepan boil 1.5 cup of water and add the rice. Let it cook until rice is done for about 7-10 minutes. The rice must be soft - if needed add little hot water. Then add 3 cups milk, sugar, vanilla extract and lemon zest (opptional) and let it warm up.

In the meanwhile mix cornflour and the remaining 1/2 cup of milk until fully homogeneous and throw them in the pot too. From now on, lower the heat and boil for 10-15 minutes, stirring constantly, until thickens. Divide into small bowls and let cool well. When cool, sprinkle with cinnamon and refrigerate.

Find it in Greek here.

 

Fasolada (Traditional Greek Bean Soup)

Fasolada is one of the most basic dishes of Greek cuisine. To make this soup you’ll need beans, onions, tomato paste, celery, carrots, olive oil, salt and pepper. This means that it is made from materials that you can find everywhere. The preparation method is very easy because all ingredients just need to boil together. Fasolada is one of the foods that none of us appreciated as a child, but growing up we realized its nutritional value and mum was right to insist on finishing our whole plate.

Some combinations that are tasty and healthy follow:
With feta cheese. Apart from the wonderful flavor that feta cheese gives it also supplements the dish with amino acids, known to be the basic protein components.
With olives. They provide mono-unsaturated fats in the body and vitamin E. The ideal way to serve olives is with lemon. Vitamin c that lemons contain enhances significantly the absorption of beans’ iron.
With pickles. Pickles contain fiber, salt and little energy (about 30 calories a portion). Prefer the pickles that are preserved in oil, rather than brine.
With salted fish. Three pieces of salted fish provide 150 calories. Before serving, wash them very well, because they are kept in too much salt.
With raw salad. The salad, because of the fiber that contains, facilitates bowel function, so the beans cause less indigestion.

 

Ingredients (Serves 4)
1 cup of beans (200 gr)
1 tbsp baking soda
olive oil
1 large onion
2 carrots
4 tbsp tomato sauce
1 / 3 tsp black pepper
1 / 2 tsp red pepper
1 bunch celery
1.5 tbsp salt

Optional
1 small chili pepper
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
some lemon
 

How to Make

Soak beans overnight with little baking soda in plenty of water. Next day, put onion and celery in the chopper and chop the vegetables (carrots and peppers optional). At the same time drain and beans. Put olive oil in a pot to cover the bottom well, and turn on the stove. When olive oil gets hot, add onion and celery, after 1-2 minutes carrots and peppers (personally I prefer everything chopped in small cubes) and leave for a while to soften all vegetables. Then add beans, black and red pepper. Then, add the tomato sauce and stir well. Fill the pot with water until it covers completely the beans and let it boil until tender. 

 

In the pressure cooker it takes 25 minutes from the time the valve whistles, and a simple pan around one and a half hour.When beans are ready, add 1.5 tsp salt and a little lemon juice and stir well. 

Find it in Greek here.

 

Chionati (Snow White) - Cake with chocolate and coconut topping

This is a desert that I first had at my godmother's several years ago. Since then, my mother makes it a lot and now I do too! The name Chionati, means Snow White in greek and its taken this name from the coconut topping that looks like snow - obviously! Basically its a really tasty cake wrapped in chocolate and coconut!

Ingredients

3 eggs

7 small coffee cups sugar

4 small coffee cups corn oil

9 small coffee cups flours (all puprose)

4 small coffee cups milk

2 tsp baking powder

1.5 large cup water

1.5 large cup sugar

250 gr. dark chocolate

2 tsp butter

200 gr. coconut

How to Make

Beat the eggs with the sugar until they get fluffy and then add corn oil gradually. Continue with flour, baking powder and milk alternatively. Grease well a medium baking pan, pour in the mixture and bake at 175 (Celsius) for about 40-45 minutes. Let it cool.

 

Prepare the chocolate by putting water, sugar, dark chocolate and butter in a sausepan and let it boil for about 10-15 minutes until chocolate melts entirelly. Cut the cake into cubes and dip them in the chocolate, then cover with coconut and refridgerate.

 

Put the remaining edges of the cake with some of the chocolate together and use coupe pates to give this mixture shape. Cover these again with chocolate and coconut.

 

Fish Soup

Fish soup is one of my best soups! I find it really tasty and healthy! Usually, I use fish fillets for convenience, but whole fish can be used as well!

Ingredients

300-400 gr of fish fillet (cod, monkfish, halibut, red snapper)
2 carrots
3 potatoes 

1 zucchini
1 onion
2 green peppers
3 tbsp white rice
1/3 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp salt
a little olive oil
chopped celery (about 3-4 tbsp)
lemon juice

How to Make

Boil the fish fillets for 15-20 minutes. Use a sieve to strain the fillets, keep the broth and check the fillets for remainig fish bones. At the same time boil carrots, potatoes, zucchini, onion and pepper until soften and keep aside.

 

In a pot, pour the fish broth (about 5-5.5 cups), add little olive oil, salt and pepper and let it boil. Then, add the white rise and let it cook for about 7-8 minutes. Cut carrots in slices and 1 potato in cubes. Put the rest of the potatoes, onion, zicchini and pepper in liquidiser. Add this mixture to the pot along with the cut carrots and potatoes. 

When the rice is ready, add little lemon juice and the fish fillets.
 

Find it in Greek here.

Pork with Leeks (Praso-tigania)

This is a dish that combines perfectly perfectly pork with leeks and because of its ingedients, is a meal that contains everything! Protein, vegetables, flavour! Its name praso-tiganiA mean exactly what it is. Praso is leek and tiganiA means fried pork cut in small portions.

Ingredients

500 gr. pork cut in small portions
little olive oil
1/2 cup white wine
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp ground red pepper 

1 tsp oregano

500 gr leeks washed and cut
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
little olive oil
2 tbsp tomato sauce
1 tsp salt

How to Make

In a large skillet put little olive oil in and when it starts getting hot put the pork and with a wooden spoon turn them around again and again until they get brown on the outside. Pour the wine and let it boil for 2-3 minutes. Add oregano, black and red ground pepper and water to cover everything, cover with a lid and let it boil for about half kour until the pork is cooked. Check now and then the water, and add boiling water if needed.
 

Continue with the leeks. In a pan put little olive oil and when hot add the leeks. Turn them around for a while, add tomato sause and spices, water to cover them and let them cook for about half hour until soften. When ready, add the cooked pork and let them cook together for another 5-10 minutes.
 

Find it in Greek here.