Equipment: Cooking

Showing posts with label Cooking. Show all posts

Showing posts with label Cooking. Show all posts

Zucchini and feta tarte

Here's a simple, light and tasty tarte for summer dinners...

Ingredients
2 medium zucchinis grated
1 onion minced
salt, pepper
2 spoons of frying oil (e.g., sunflower oil)
3 eggs
50cl of milk
250 gr feta cheese (smashed)
100 gr hard cheese grated (here I have used italian provolone)
1 round ready-made puff pastry

Procedure

Peel off the zucchinis and grate them.
Fry slightly the grated zucchini with the onion until it is quite smooth and most of it's water is evaporated. Season with salt and pepper.
Beat the eggs, add all the rest of the ingredients.
Lay the puff pastry in an tarte recipient for the oven (butter it or use the special baking paper).
Empty the mix in the pastry and layer it with a spoon.
Bake at 180 degrees and fan for about 20min or until it gets a nice golden color.
Serve it with some tzatziki sauce and finish with a fresh fruits salad. Enjoy!

Tyropita, the greek feta cheese pie!

Family was asking for tyropita, the Greek feta cheese pie, last week and searching to find the recipe in my blog I realized that it was missing! I had only the spanakotyropita recipe that is even better but more complicated. So, you can imagine the rest... had to take photos on top of cooking :)
I was extremely busy & tired and so was my daughter that I asked to take fast some photos, which explains the low quality of the result. But it's better than nothing, no?
So, if you like feta cheese, try this recipe and you won't regret it :)
My only regret is that I had to leave immediately after so I tasted it much later at night when I came back... at least family was nice and had left me a few pieces !

Ingredients
250gr feta cheese (original, not imitations :)
250gr of various hard yellow cheeses that you prefer GRATED (here Gruyere and Comte)
4-5 eggs
500gr filo (special thin dough for greek pies)
200ml of milk
100ml extra virgin olive oil (of good quality)
salt, white pepper
sesame seeds (optional)

Procedure

In a bowl, smash the feta using a fork and add the other cheeses, salt and pepper and mix a bit.
In deep oven dish of 40x30cm that you buttered the bottom, add 3 layers of filo that you have sprinkled a bit of olive oil on each one before adding the net one. Then you continue to add layers of filo in the following way:

add 2 every time in a way that each one covers half of the space in an accordion style,
sprinkle all over some olive oil
pour evenly all over some of the cheese mix
add one layer of filo and sprinkle oil again on it

Repeat the procedure until it's only left 3 layers of filo that you use to finally cover everything.

With a sharp knife then you cut in pieces 5x5cm all the surface. In a separate bowl, you stir the eggs and add the milk and stir once again. Pour the mixture evenly to the top and optionally decorate the top with sesame seeds.
Bake in the oven at 180 degrees of Celsius and fan for about 30min or until it gets a nice golden color. Enjoy!

Truffade auvergnate (sort of :)

Sometime ago, I was honored to accompany my son's class to a field trip in Auvergne (a french region), more precisely in Cantal a department in south-central France, with its capital at Aurillac.
We spent a dreaming week in a farm surrounded by animals, warm-hearted people and a beautiful, green scenery thanks to the volcanoes that the region is known for.
One of the last dinners, we had the chance to try one of their typical dishes, the delicious "Truffade Auvergnate" which is a sort of a thick pancake made with sliced potatoes, garlic and cheese (more precisely the variety called "fresh tomme" or Cantal jeune). For more information, search the web, for example wikipedia. After some scooping on the web, I've found that there exists also a similar recipe, "The Aligot", but I have never tried it yet. Maybe the next time that I will visit the region :)
Cheese is one of the typical products there, with Cantal cheese (one of the oldest in France, from the time of Gauls) but also Saint- Nectaire and Salers.
Cantal cheese is a firm (semi-hard) cheese, made from raw or pasteurized cow's milk from the Salers breed. According to the time of aging, it can be found in three varieties:

Cantal jeune (1-2 months aged)
Cantal entre deux (2-6 months)
Cantal vieux ( more than 6 months)

In the recipe that I will provide you today (easy but so tasty!), I have used Cantal entre deux, that was the only one that I could find easily (sorry Celian for not being too concentrated the day that you proposed me to buy some when we were there, but I can now admit that I have some intolerance and that kind of cheese it always scares me :)
Here it goes ....

Ingredients
1/2 kg of waxy potatoes (I have used Agatha variety)
250gr tomme fraiche de Cantal (I have used Cantal entre deux)
2 toes of garlic
some oil
salt, pepper

Procedure

Peel the potatoes, slice them thinly and cook them in a big saucepan (I have used my wok) using some frying oil like sunflower's (instead of goose fat that was used traditionally) until they are tender. Smash them slightly using a fork.
Add the sliced garlic and season with salt and pepper.
Cover all over with sliced cheese. Normally, you cover and let the cheese melt and then mix well with a wooden spatula. Given that I have used a harder version of cheese, I decided to put it in the grill and mix when it was well melt. The final result should give a thick pastry, a bit different from my version that was still very tasty.
Serve immediately in the table with the saucepan and accompany with a fresh green salad and some slices of ham.
Whole family agreed that it was a nice way to remember those beautiful days spent in Cantal, sitting around a tasty dish, one warm evening in our garden... Thanks CM1-CM2! (even for the cooking recipes book that I got thanks to your tombola which included also this recipe...)

Happy Easter 2017

Dear family, friends, acquaintances and just passengers from this blog,

I wish you all Happy Easter whatever that means for each one of you, if it means something.
Actually, I am so busy this period that I have realized just 2 days ago that Easter is this weekend :)
This blog proposes several traditional Greek recipes to prepare these days that each one reminds me of the Easter time that I have spent in Greece with my family at good and bad times.
I continue to prepare most of them for my subsequent family and I will be glad if my effort will help others to bring up memories from their youth in the same way or even better :) Cheers!
Recipes:

Easter eggs
Roast lamb leg (traditionally we roast the whole lamp in a huge barbecue, though)
Easter cookies
Vivian's pudding
Ribbon cake as Easter cake
Tsourekia (recipe is still missing but you can see what it is and get a recipe somewhere else...)

Hummus

Ok, I won't pretend that I managed to have a nice hummus on my first attempt neither on my second, I do not know why actually, as it is one of the easiest dip recipes to make.
I want to thank Katia (my ex zumba teacher that makes the most delicious hummus :) for her recipe and Aneta for being the intermediate (and for iniating me to zumba btw :)
So, what is hummus ? It's a Lebanese food dip made of chickpeas that I just loooove and that it takes a few minutes to make at home (much better than store-bought).

Ingredients
1 can of cooked chickpeas or 250gr of cooked chickpeas
fresh lemon juice of 1 lemon
1 garlic clove minced
2 spoonfuls of extra-virgin olive oil (plus some extra for serving)
1/2 teaspoon of cumin
some salt
1 spoonful of tahini
(Katia likes to add some parsley or celery also, so you just improvise for the rest :)

Procedure

Drain and rinse the chickpeas.
Mix all the ingredients in a food processor apart from tahini.
When you have a smooth puree, then add the tahini and mix once again.
Empty in a nice serving dish, sprinkle with some olive oil and paprika and use pitas to taste it!
You can store in an air-tight container and in the fridge max for a week.

I've got a Kenwood Kmix!

Amazing cooking news!

I've got a brand new stand mixer the KENWOOD Kmix98, the latest model in a fancy color (lemon yellow :) that is

powerful,
solid,
of big capacity
and practical.

What more to ask from such a tool?

It replaced my old Moulinex Ovatio maxipress duo that had lots of tools but was not very solid, as most tools were in plastic in comparison with the Kmix that have them in metal.
(I've got the majority of the tools btw brand new, so please if they might be in need to someone just let me know to pass them for free... they might fit to the latest model, as they look similar btw)

What do you have?

Butternut squash soup

Comforting food today, one of my favorite soups, the butternut squash soup.
I did not have big pumpkin seeds to decorate at the end, as a friend does and it's so yummy, so enjoy our homemade funny faces using sour cream :)

Ingredients
1 big butternut squash - peeled, seeded and cut in small cubes
1 big potato and 1 big carrot - both cut in small cubes too
2 table spoons of olive oil
1 small onion chopped
salt, pepper, ginger

Procedure

In a pressure cooker, start by cooking the vegetables in the oil for a couple of minutes and then cover with water, add the spices, close the pressure cooker and cook for about 20min.

When done, smooth using a blender and serve adding some fresh pepper and some sour cream or use some pumkin seeds that you have previously fried in some oil. Serve with some good cheese. Enjoy!

Recipe reminder (curry)

What am I cooking today? Not Greek for once :)
I would like to remind you a curry recipe that I like and my kids too btw.
As kids make hard criticism in general (ok, they are a bit softer with mum still, but not always), I think that it worths to consider it for one of your next meals.
Are you ready for my chicken curry recipe, then?
Go for it!

Recipe reminder (Gemista)

Time to remember a nice vegetarian Greek recipe "Stuffed tomatoes, the greek way" or "Gemista" as we call it in Greek.
It deserves all your attention... Light, healthy, tasty, good-looking, what more to ask from a recipe?
Simply, enjoy!

Recipe reminder (spetzofai)

What have I cooked for yesterday? Spetzofai...
I had almost forgotten the impact that this dish has to my non-Greek friends, they become addicted! Reminder then for this heart-warm dish and special tribute today that is a pretty cold one and there is still snow around.
Find all the details here: http://vivianiscooking.blogspot.fr/2014/03/spetzofai-weird-name-greeek-taste.html

"Tigania" or fried pork

"Tigania" is a fast and tasty way to prepare a starter for a nice dinner. Actually these starters in Greece we call them "mezes" and we can eat several starters like this instead of following the classic procedure of a dinner.
Once again, a Greek recipe that in old times, people were cooking in villages with meat coming from their own pigs and instead of olive oil, they were using the pork fat. Not so healthy, but soooo delicious! Even the modern version is very tasty, so do not hesitate to try it :)

Ingredients
700-1000 gr of pork tenderloin or whatever part you like most, cut in cubes
some lemon juice (my case) or white wine (depends on your style of cooking :)
salt, pepper, oregano, lemon juice, olive oil
1-2 green peppers (my case) or leeks washed and cut in pieces (depends on what you have available :)

Procedure
Start by washing and cutting the meat and the vegetables.

Continue by boiling the meat with enough water that covers it in a low covered casserole. Leave it until almost all the water will be evaporated (about 30min).

Continue by adding the vegetables and enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the casserole (about 1/2 of a cup).

Add salt, pepper and oregano and start frying the meat by stirring regularly.
Just a bit before the end, pour on top the lemon juice or the wine and cover for 1-2 min.
Take out of the fire the casserole and your dish is ready to be served!
Warm is the best :)

"Papoutsakia" or stuffed eggplants for the novice :)

Popular Greek recipe, perfect for the summer menu and very similar to moussaka : "papoutsakia"! The word literally translated means "little shoes" and opposite to shoes, it tastes and smells great :)

If you like moussaka, then you will love it also as it a bit easier and as it serves individually, it is great looking for a nice summer dinner among friends.

Ingredients
For the base:
5 nice round eggplants
For the filling:
500gr ground veal meat
1 minced onion
5 red tomatoes
some minced parsley
olive oil, salt, pepper
For the topping cream:
1/2 lt of milk
5-6 spoonfuls of flour
salt, white pepper
2 spoonfuls of butter
2 beaten eggs
some grated yellow cheese (e.g., gruyere)

Procedure
You need to prepare 3 things:

the base that is actually fried halves of the eggplants,
a red meat sauce that looks like bolognese sauce
a thick white cream, sort of a "bechamel" sauce

Start by cutting the eggplants in half. With a knife, create a "hole" by cutting some of the inner part of each eggplant. Mince the parts that you will cut from each eggplant and keep them to add them to the meat sauce later on.
Fry the eggplants little by little in a saucepan with enough frying oil. Take them out to a dish with some kitchen paper to absorb the oil. When done, put them aside and prepare the meat sauce.

In a small casserole, fry the meat, the onion and the eggplant parts that you have cut from inside the eggplants with some olive oil. When done, add the minced tomatoes, salt, pepper, the parsley and 1 cup of water. Cover and leave the sauce to cook in medium fire for about 30 min. Put aside and prepare the white sauce.

In a small casserole, add the milk and the flour and stir well to dilute the flour with a hand mixer. Add salt and pepper. Continue to stir until it starts to thicken enough. Take out of the fire and add the butter and then the beaten eggs. Stir well all the time. Your sauce is ready!

Start now to construct the "papoutsakia". Put in a big deep oven dish tray the eggplants, fill them with the meat sauce using a spoon and cover them with the white sauce. Add on top some grated yellow cheese like "gruyere". Add also some water in the tray like 2-3cm high.
Bake in fan and 180 degrees of Celsius for about 30min or until they get a nice golden color on top.
Enjoy!

Dolmadakia "yalantzi"

"Dolmadakia" are stuffed grape leaves and it is a very popular dish as it is very tasty and once you try it, you get addicted :)
You can find it in several countries and even at the supermarket in small cans.
I will share with you today one of the greek versions that is called "yalantzi" and it is the vegetarian version using rice.
I could not miss from this blog a traditional greek recipe like this one...

Ingredients
500gr vine leaves (fresh or canned)
500gr round rice
5-6 scallions, minced (incl. green part)
1 onion, chopped
dill and parsley, both chopped
1 1/2 cups of olive oil
3 lemons, the juice
salt, pepper
2-3 cups of boiled water

Procedure

Prepare the ingredients, chop or mince onions, dill and parsley and extract the lemon juice.
Start by boiling in a small casserole salty water and adding the vine leaves for 2-3 min to soften. Drain with cold water and set aside.

Start preparing the filling. Fry slightly the onions and the scallions with some olive oil. Take out of the fire and add the rice, the dill and the parsley, half of the lemon juice, the salt and pepper.
Take one by one the leaves and put in the middle one teaspoon of the rice filling.

Roll like shown in the photos.

Put each roll ("dolmadaki") in a low casserole tightly next to each other.
When all rolls are done, add the boiling water to cover them, the olive oil, some salt and the rest of the lemon juice.
Cover with a plate and then the casserole cover. Cook in low fire for about 50min. In the middle, check for water.

Serve with tzatziki (shown below in the photo).

Chicken curry

I will share with you my favorite chicken curry recipe that a dear friend of mine has given me years ago. It had been quite some time that I did not do it, as my kids where pretty young and such recipes were too exotic for them.
Thanks to an indian friend that brought me recently some of the ingredients, I decided that it was time to indulge myself. Not a bad idea, as kids really liked it, and it was a nice change.
I serve the chicken with some basmati rice and the trip to India starts... (ok with some chinese touch :)

Ingredients
4-5 chicken filets
1 onion
1 garlic clove
2 teaspoons of curry powder
1/4 teaspoon of cumin powder
1/2 teaspoon of ginger powder
400ml of coconut milk
salt, pepper, olive oil (the greek touch :)
cashew nuts (as many as you like)

Preparation

Cut the chicken in medium cubes and fry it in a low casserole with some oil. At some point, add also the minced onion and garlic and continue frying. Once done, add all the spices and the coconut milk. Add enough water to cover generously the meat. Cover preferably the pressure cooker and allow 15 minutes for the meat to soften and the sauce to thicken.

Uncover and add the cashew nuts and let shimmer for another 1-2 minutes.
In parallel, prepare some basmati rice according to the instructions of the package.

Serve together with some naan bread if possible. Let me know what do you think of my version of chicken curry!

Roast leg of lamb

I didn't like to eat lamb. I didn't like the smell of lamb... until... I invented my way to cook it and it became my favorite and the dish that my kids like and my friends are asking me to cook for them :)
It's a simple, very simple recipe that just needs a covered dish for the oven and one orange and one lemon!
The orange juice covers the smell of lamb and perfumes it in a delicate way. If you add also potatoes around the meat, they will be caramelized in a surprising way. And if you cannot resist and want to add some herb, just add oregano, the ultimate seasoning herb for the oven in my opinion.
Another tip, is to buy one week before cooking the meat, to put it in the freezer and unfreeze it the day before cooking. That way, the meat will be tender. Enough with secrets, let's pass to action!
Ingredients
1 leg of lamb
1 orange
1 lemon
salt, pepper, olive oil
3-4 potatoes

Procedure

Put the meat in the middle of a dish for the oven that has a cover.
Peel the potatoes, cut them in quarters and add them around the meat.
Add the salt, the pepper and add olive oil all over the ingredients.
Pour the juice of the lemon and the orange all over and add enough water to cover half the height of the potatoes.
Cover the dish and put it in the oven. Bake at 160 degrees of Celsius and fan for about 2 hours. Check for water after 1h30min to be sure that there is still enough.
Uncover and let a few minutes in grill to get a nice golden color if you like.

Enjoy!