Category: main dish

famous greek dish, main dish

Moussakas

andronikiscretanhouse

  
Moussaka is a juicy, delicious, comfort dish, it is one of the most popular dishes in Greek cuisine and it is a favorite dish on Sunday.
On this day, all the members of the family have lunch together and usually, they have guests at home.
Versions of moussaka exist in many Mediterranean countries.
Our recipe for moussaka appeared in the early 20th century.
Nikolaos Tselementes was the first famous Greek chef and he wrote the first complete Greek cooking guide.
He gave to the moussaka a European character. He removed the many spices and finished his moussaka with a layer of béchamel.

What you will need:

For the meat sauce
– 1 kg minced meat (half pork, half beef)
– ½ cup of olive oil
– 2 onions (finely chopped)
– 2 garlic cloves (finely chopped)
– 100 ml red wine
– 500 gr. grated fresh tomatoes or homemade tomato sauce
– 1 big red pepper (not spicy, cyclically cut)
– 6 corns allspice
– 1/2 bunch parsley (finely chopped)
– Salt, pepper
– ½ peel of bergamot or orange
Vegetables
– 800 gr aubergines
– 700 gr zucchini
– 700 gr potatoes
– sufficient olive oil to fry
For the béchamel
– 100 gr vegetable butter 
– 100 gr flour
– 1 lt of fresh lukewarm milk
– 2 egg yolks
– 1 pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
– Salt, white pepper
– 1 cup of grated homemade cheese
For the pan
– Bread crumbs

The recipe step by step

Prepare the vegetables
Remove the stalks from the aubergines and cut them into slices, 1 cm thick.
Place them in a bowl with salted water for about half an hour.
Drain the aubergines in a colander and wipe them with a kitchen towel to get rid of the excessive water.
Fry them in plenty of oil, until nicely colored.
Place the fried aubergines on some kitchen paper, to absorb the oil.
Remove the stalks from the zucchini and peel the potatoes.
Cut them lengthwise into slices 1 cm thick and fry in plenty of oil, until nicely coloured.
Place the fried zucchini and potatoes on some paper, to absorb the oil.
Prepare the meat sauce
Heat the oil in a large saucepan.
Stir in the minced meat breaking it up with a wooden spoon.
Add the chopped onion and garlic and sauté.
Pour in the red wine and wait to evaporate.
Add the red pepper, salt, pepper, allspice, and peel of bergamot or orange.
Finally, add the tomato and the parsle
Bring to a boil, turn the heat down, and simmer with the lid on for about 20 minutes, until most of the juices have been evaporated.
Prepare the bechamel
Use a pan to melt the butter over low-medium heat.
Add the flour whisking continuously to make a smooth cream.
Add warmed milk in a steady stream keep whisking to prevent your sauce from getting lumpy.
If the sauce still needs to thicken, boil over low heat while continuing to stir.
Remove the pan from the stove and stir in salt, pepper, and a pinch of nutmeg.
Add the egg yolks while whisking quickly to prevent the eggs from turning into an omelet.
Finally, add the cheese and mix gently until it is incorporated into the sauce.
Assemble the moussaka
Discard the bergamot or orange peel and the allspice from the minced meat sauce.
Sprinkle a baking pan with bread crumbs.
Lay the potatoes in an overlapping layer to cover the bottom of the baking pan.
Add half of the minced meat above the potatoes.
Lay the zucchini to cover the minced meat.
Add the rest of the minced meat above the zucchini.
Add the aubergines in one last layer.
With the back of a spoon press lightly the surface to become as flat as possible.
Pour the béchamel on top carefully to cover the surface of the pan. Use a spatula to flatten the surface.
Finally, sprinkle some breadcrumbs to make the crust crispy.
Bake and serve

Bake at 180o C for 1 hour. If the surface becomes too brown, cover it with aluminum foil and continue baking.
Let it cool a bit and serve it in pieces.

Remarks
– Alternatively, for a lighter version, you can lay the eggplants, zucchini, and potatoes on baking paper, sprinkle them with some olive oil, and bake them in a pre-heated oven at 200o C for 10-15 minutes until they become soft and slightly brown.
– Put the eggplants in salted water for two reasons. First, to remove any bitterness and second to not absorb too much oil when fried.
– For this moussaka recipe, you will need a large baking dish (approx. 25 X 35 cm).
– Use any mince mix you like.
– The cheese for the béchamel must not be salty.

Bon appetite – Kali orexi

main dish

Yοuvarlakia Avgolemono – Meatballs Soup

andronikiscretanhouse

Meatballs Soup with egg-lemon sauce, also known as Yοuvarlakia avgolemono is an easy but delicious Greek dish. It’s a winter dish. The secret of the recipe is the egg-lemon sauce, which gives a nice texture and flavor.

What you will need:

for the meatballs (youvarlakia):

  • 500 gr minced beef
  • 1/2 cup rice (Carolina) washed and drained in a colander
  • 2 medium onions, finely chopped
  • 1 egg, slightly beaten
  • 4 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped
  • 2 tablespoons fresh dill, finely chopped (optional)
  • 3/4 cup olive oil + 4 tablespoons extra
  • 4-6 cups water or broth
  • salt, pepper
  • 1/2 cup flour (optional)

for the egg-lemon sauceDSC_0468.JPG

  • 2 eggs
  • juice of 1-2 lemons (more to taste)
  • broth from the pot

the recipe step by step:

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1. Start by making the meatballs (youvarlakia). Place into a large bowl the meatballs ingredients (minced beef, rice, onions, egg, parsley, dill, 4 tablespoons olive oil, salt, pepper).

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2. Knead the mixture with your hand until combined.

 

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3. Form the mixture into small balls.

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4. Roll them into the flour (shaking off any excess flour) and set them aside.

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5. In a large sauce pan pour the water or broth, the olive oil, salt and pepper. Cover and bring to the boil.

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6. Turn the heat down and gently add the meatballs in the stock, cover and simmer for 25-30 minutes. (The water should be enough to cover the meatballs, adding more warm water if needed).

Once the meat is cooked, remove the pot from the heat.

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7. Prepare the egg-lemon sauce as follows:

Crack and separate the eggs. Put the white in a deep glass bowl and the yolks in a small saucer.

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8. Whisk the whites well.

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9. Whisking adds into the bowl the yolks and the lemon juice.

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10. Whisking add slow ladles of hot broth.

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11. Stir gently the egg-lemon sauce into the youvarlakia and shake the pot in a circle to mix the sauce with the meatballs.

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tips and tricks

  1. Serve while still hot with (optionally) a sprinkle of chopped parsley or dill or peppermint.
  2. Always serve with some nice hard bread. The crisp and lightly brown bread makes for a perfect dipping agent and truly soaks up all of the savory liquid in the bowl with ease.
  3. Ιf you don’t use flour your broth will be thinner.
  4. You can replace the water with broth or vegetable stock
  5. The youvarlakia is a summer food if instead of egg-lemon sauce put grated tomatoes with water.

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Bon appetite – Kali orexi

main dish, summer dish, Vegetarian

Boureki from Chania

andronikiscretanhouse

what you will need: 

  • 1 kg zucchini (long slender zucchinis without seeds), washed and cut the two edges
  • 300 gr potatoes, peeled
  • 1 large ripe tomato
  • 400 gr homemade cheese or mizithra or ricotta (crumbled).
  • 100 gr feta (crumbled)
  • 100 gr kefalotiri or  parmesan (grated)
  • 3 tablespoons of fresh pepper mind finely chopped or 1 tablespoon dried
  • 200 ml olive oil
  • 3 tablespoons breadcrumbs
  • 20 gr sesame seeds
  • Salt

for the batter:

  • 90 gr of all purpose flour
  • 260 gr of whole milk
  • salt and pepper

recipe step by step

  • Cut the zucchini, the potatoes and the tomatoes in very slim slices. Place them in different bowls.
  • Mix the cheeses and peppermint in a large bowl.

Assemble the boureki:

    1. Oil 1/3 of the olive oil at the bottom of a roasting pan and sprinkle 1 tbsp breadcrumbs.

    2. Cover the bottom of the roasting pan with potatoes. Season and drizzle 1/5 of the cheese mix over the potatoes.

   3. Place a layer of zucchini, sprinkle 1 tbsp breadcrumbs and drizzle 1/5 of cheese mix.

   4. Place the second layer of zucchini. Scatter the slices of tomato and sprinkle 1/5 of the cheese mix.

   5. Place the third layer of zucchini and sprinkle again 1/5 of the cheese mix.

   6. Then lay the last layer of zucchini. Drizzle the rest of the olive oil on top.

  7. In a bowl mix the milk and the flour. Mix gently the rest of cheese and season with salt and pepper to taste.

   8. Pure the batter on top of the veggies. Sprinkle the sesame on the top.

   9. Cover with foil and bake it in the preheated oven for 50 min in 2000 C. After 50 minutes, bake uncovered for another 30 minutes in 1800 C  until it become golden and it is fork-tender. 

  10. Allow it to cool ½ an hour before cutting into. It is served warm at room temperature, but it is also delicious the next day.

Tips

  1. Zucchini and potatoes should be in very thin slices.
  2. The slices of vegetables should be placed so that they slightly overlap each other.
  3. The quantities of materials are enough for a 35×25 deep rectangular pan.
  4. Be careful not to use too much salt. The cheese usually has a lot of salt.

 

boureki

Bon appetite – Kali orexi