Holiday Recipes

Christmas recipes, holiday recipes, Greek food, Mediterranean Diet

Lucky Greek New Year’s Bread / Vasilopita

Lucky Greek New Year’s Bread / Vasilopita

Vasilopita is a must-have for any Greek New Year’s celebration. It also makes the world’s BEST French toast, not to mention bread pudding. 2 teaspoons mahlepi* ½ cup of water 1 teaspoon mahlepi seeds 1 1/2 cups, plus 1tsp. sugar 1 tsp. mastic crystals* 2 cups / 440 ml milk 2 packets active dry...

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Greek Christmas Cookies / Kourambiedes

Greek Christmas Cookies / Kourambiedes

Yield: 4 dozen Shapes: buttons, about  1 ½ in./ 4 cm in diameter; small oblong fingers, about 2 in./ 5 cm long; hearts; diamonds; crescents 8 oz./ 228 g blanched almonds 8 oz. / 225 g unsalted butter, at room temperature 2 large egg yolks 15 oz. / 440 g Confectioner’s sugar 1 tsp....

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Festive Rice Pilaf

Festive Rice Pilaf

8 servings   2 cups. basmati rice 5 to 6 Krokos Kozani (Greek saffron) threads 2 cups chicken broth 2 cups water 4 tbsp. butter Salt 2 tbsp. olive oil 2 large onions, finely chopped 2 large carrots, diced small Zest of 2 oranges, sliced ​​into thin strips 3 tbsp. sugar 3 tbsp. water...

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Classic Baklava

Classic Baklava

About 30 pieces   1 pound/500 g. very good quality unsalted butter (preferably sheep’s-milk butter) 2/3 cup extra-virgin Greek olive oil 10 cups coarsely chopped walnuts or blanched almonds, or a mixture of both 3 cups zwieback or other unsweetened biscuit crumbs, such as Greek frigania or Melba toasts 2 pounds/1 kilo commercial phyllo...

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Greek Christmas Sweets

Greek Christmas Sweets

Traditional sweets like kourambiedes and melomakarona, the almond shortbread cookies and honey-walnut cookies, respectively, that are part of the Greek holiday table are among the specialties you will find in these pages, but so are contemporary holiday desserts, a few breads, and more. Remember, ring in the New Year with a Greek Vasilopita, St....

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Herb-Crusted Roasted Pork

Herb-Crusted Roasted Pork

8 servings   3 pounds pork (leg or shoulder, bone in) For the herb crust: ¼ cup. coarse salt 1 tsp. black pepper in grain 1 bay leaf, crumbled ¼ tsp paprika 2 sprigs rosemary, spiny leaves only 3 sprigs thyme, leaves only 2 cloves garlic, peeled 3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped 4...

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