Moussaka 

What we need:

 

• 1kg eggplants
• 1kg potatoes
• 125g kefalotyri cheese, grated (or any hard type of cheese, like parmesan)
• salt, pepper, sugar
• 1/2 bunch parsley, finely chopped

Meat filling

• 1kg ground beef
• 350g chopped peeled tomatoes
• 1-2 tbl tomato paste
• 125ml white wine (retsina if available)
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 75ml olive oil
• 1 beef stock cube
• 4 egg whites
• 1 pinch each cayenne pepper, black pepper, salt
• 2-4 cloves of garlic
• herbs: 1 tbl parsley, 1 tbl mint, all chopped finely
• spices:2 pinches origanum, 1 pinch each of ground cloves, ground cinnamon, ground coriander, and 1/2 of a bay leaf.

• 4 cups of bechamel sauce (with the 4 egg yolks)

Recipe:

1. Slice the eggplants into long slices, approximately 1cm thick.  Salt them, and let them stand for 30 minutes.  Wash the salt off, strain them and pat them very dry with kitchen paper.
2. Slice the potatoes into 1 cm thick slices and fry them in plenty of hot oil.  Let them strain on absorbent paper.
3. Prepare the meat filling.  In a saucepan, bring the oil to heat and lightly saute the onion and the ground beef, until the ground beef is no longer pink.  Add the wine and the stock cube.  Add the spices, a little water and let the meat simmer for 45 minutes.
4. Then add the tomatoes, tomato paste, garlic, herbs, and the salt.  Allow to simmer until the sauce has thickened.
5. Remove from the heat and allow to cool a little.  Stir in the egg whites.
6. Prepare  the bechamel sauce.  Take care to only add the egg yolks once the sauce has cooled a little.
7. In an ovenproof dish,  we layer first the potato slices, season with salt and pepper, sprinkle with half the chopped parsley, a little sugar, and 1/3 of the grated cheese. Next we layer the meat filling, and finish off with a layer of the eggplant slices, which we season as the potatoes.  We spread the bechamel sauce over, sprinkle with the remaining grated cheese, and bake at 180 degrees for approximately 1 hour.

Magiritsa

Magiritsa

What we need:

• 1 lamb or kid pluck: liver, lungs and other organs
• intestines of a lamb or kid
• 1 bottle of vinegar
• 2 heads of lettuce
• 15 scallions, finely chopped
• 600g onions
• 2 leeks
• 1 cup fresh dill finely chopped
• 1 cup olive oil
• 1 cup sweet red or white wine
• juice of one orange
• salt
• black pepper
• 6 ltr water
• 150g rice
• 3 eggs
• 4 lemons
• 1 tbsp olive oil

Recipe:

1. Wash the pluck and the intestines very well and remove the fat. Put them in a large bowl, sprinkle with lots of vinegar and let stand until we have everything else ready.
2. Wash the lettuce, sprinkle with vineger and rinse again with water. Finely chop it without crushing it.
3. Finely chop the intestines. Put them in a bowl with the juice of 2 lemons and let them stand.
4. Peel, wash, chop and process in a blender, the onions.
5. Finely chop the scallions, leeks and dill
6. Take the eggs out of the fridge.
7. In a pot, bring 3 ltr of water to boil on high heat. Once it begins to bubble intensely, add the pluck and let it boil for 3 minutes.
8. Remove the pluck from the pot, strain it and finely chop it. Throw away the water, wash the pot and put it back on the stove on high heat. Pour the olive oil, the scallions, the onions, the leeks, salt, a bit of sugar and mix with a wooden spoon for 5 minutes.
9. Pour some wine, add the chopped pluck and the chopped intestines and let them boil for 15 minutes on high heat, without covering the pot. Pour the rest of the wine, the orange juice, salt and pepper and let them boil in medium heat, covering the pot, for another 10 minutes.
10. Raise the heat, add 3 ltr of water, the lettuce and the dill. Cover the pot and when it comes to boil, reduce the heat and let the soup simmer for an hour, without opening the pot.
11. Wash and drain the rice.
12. Raise the heat and add the rice. Cover the pot and when the soup begins to boil, reduce the heat once again and let it simmer for 20 minutes.
13. In the meantime prepare the egg and lemon sauce (avgolemono).  Beat the egg yolks and the olive oil and add the lemon juice. Whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Add them to the yolk mixture and continue beating. While beating, temper the sauce with  spoonfuls of the hot stock.  Once the temperature of the egg-lemon sauce has reached that of the stock's, pour it into the soup and stir.
14. Let the soup stand for 10 minutes and serve.

Giouvetsi 

  What we need:

• 1kg veal, cubed
• 2 large onions
• 200ml olive oil
• 2 vegetable flavored Bouillon Cube
• 3 cloves of garlic (cut in 4 pieces)
• orzo or hilopites pasta
• 250ml red wine
• 3 ripe tomatoes
• 2 tbl tomato paste
• 2 tbl sugar
• feta cheese
• parmesan

Recipe:

1. In a pressure cooker, saute the chopped onions and brown the veal cubes in the heated olive oil.  Add 250ml water and cook for approximately 15 minutes, depending on the size of the meat cubes.
2. Empty the contents of the pressure cooker into an ovenproof dish, preferrably a lidded one. Add the stock cubes, tomatoes, sugar, garlic, salt and pepper, and the orzo.  You can use more or less orzo, depending on the size of your dish.  Add the wine and at least 250ml water.
3. Cover.  If your dish does not have a lid, cover well with alluminium foil.
4. Bake in a preheated oven, at 170 degrees C, for 1 to 2 hours.  After 1,5 hours, remove the lid, add the crumbled feta cheese, stirring it through the meal.  Sprinkle the grated Parmesan cheese on top, and return to the oven, uncovered,  for a further 10 minutes.
5. Keep an eye on it, until it is ready.

Dolmadakia Yialantzi

Dolmadakia Yialantzi

What we need:

• 250g grapevine leaves
• 1 bunch spring onions, finely chopped
• 2 onions, grated
• 250g short grain white rice
• 1/2 bunch parsley, finely chopped
• 1/2 bunch dill, finely chopped
• mint to taste, finely chopped
• 1cup olive oil
• 1 1/4cup boiling water
• juice of 1 1/2 lemons
• salt, pepper

Recipe:

1) Wash and blanch the leaves in boiling water 2-3 minutes.  Remove and refresh in cold water, let drain.

2) In a bowl, combine all the filling ingredients (spring onions, onions, parsley, dill, mint, rice, salt, pepper, 1/2 of the oil).

3) Spread out one leaf onto a plate, rough side up.

4) Place some filling on the stalk end of the leaf.

5) Fold over the stalk end of the leaf to cover the filling.

6) Tuck in each side of the leaf,

7) and continue rolling gently until the filling is completely enclosed into a tight roll.

8) Cover the bottom of a casserole pot with left over leaves.  Place the dolmathakia on the leaves, join side down, packed neatly side by side in rows.

9) Add the boiling water, the lemon juice, and the rest of the olive oil.  Place an inverted plate over the dolmathes, for some weight, place the lid on, and simmer gently till the rice is done.

Ravani

Ravani

What we need: 

• 6 eggs
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 cup of flour
• 1 cup of fine semolina
• juice and grated zest of one orange
• 1 baking powder
• 2 tsp vanilla essence

For the syrup:

• 2,5 cups of water
• 2 cups of sugar
• 1 tbsp margarine
• half lemon
• 1 cup of milk (for the end)

Recipe:

1. Whisk the eggs with the sugar. Add the flour, the semolina, the orange juice and the grated zest and finally the vanilla essence and the baking powder.
2. Pour the batter into a greased ovenprooof dish.  Bake at 180 degrees for 30 minutes.
3. As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, drench it with the cup of milk.  The milk can be either at room temperature or straight from the  fridge.  I left the milk out for 15 minutes before using it.
4. Follow the milk with the syrup, which you pour over the sutrface of the cake.  Take care that the syrup is cool, while the cake is warm.