Recipes | Greek Food - Greek Cooking - Greek Recipes by Diane Kochilas

Greek Recipe of the Week

Variations on a theme…Haloumi

Haloumi, the Cypriot sheep’s milk cheese flavored with mint, is one of the best grilling cheeses in the Mediterranean. Over the years, I’ve used it a lot in many different ways. What follows are two variations on the grilled haloumi theme, one a double-decker grilled haloumi cheese sandwich and the other a haloumi...

Meatless Monday, Cretan Style, with this wholesome grain dish.

This simple, but delicious recipe makes a wonderful main-coure vegetarian dish. It is adapted from Feasting and Fasting in Crete by Diana Farr Louis. Look for trahana or Cretan Xinohondros, an unusual but very tradition grain product from the Eastern Mediterranean and Greece, in Greek grocery stores all across the world. This is a...

Spiced Cabbage Pilad, from Northern Greece

This is a great vegan or vegetarian main course, originally from the northern Greek province of Thrace, where the food is a little spicier than it is elsewhere in Greece. You can also serve this as a side dish for grilled meat, chicken, and game. It’s great with duck and it’s even great with...

Fish Stuffed with Sweet Onion Rice

This dish comes from the northern Greek region of Goumenessa, in Central Macedonia, a gorgeous, mountainous areas punctuated by lakes and rushing rivers. Sweet water fish abound here, among them a species of carp called grivadi, which is a little like American catfish. You can make this dish with trout or with any firm...

This subtle, tangy Greek fish dish is an underappreciated classic, even in Greece. It’s traditionally made with the thin-stalked dark green celery that Greeks call “selino” but which Americans might know as Chinese celery. You cal also make this with leafy greens, such as chard. 2-4 servings Salt 2 pounds/1 kilo gilthead bream,...

Here’s an all-time classic! 4 servings 2 ½ pounds/1.12 kilos shrimp, cleaned but heads and tails attached ½ cup extra-virgin Greek olive oil 1 large onion, peeled and chopped 1 hot green pepper, seeded and chopped 2 cups grated fresh tomatoes (canned are fine) Salt and freshly ground black pepper ½ pound/225 g....

Everyone who’s ever eaten Greek food, knows about grilled octopus. But there are many other recipes for octopus, too. Here’s one of them, an elegant dish that calls for baking the creature in parchment paper, which helps it retain its moisture and concentrates its flavors. 4-8 meze servings 1 medium octopus (about 2...

Red Mullet in Caper Sauce / Barbounia me Saltsa Kapari

Red mullet is arguably one of the Aegean’s most characteristic fish. Typically, it is pan-fried. This island dish, however, calls for cooking it in tomato and caper sauce, the latter a mainstay in the culinary heritage of many arid Cycladic islands. This recipe originally appeared in my book, Aegean Cuisine (KETA publishers). 4-6 servings...

Octopus, Oranges, Olives, and Ouzo are delicious

4 servings as a main course 1 large red onion, chopped 2 garlic cloves, chopped ½ cup/120 ml olive oil, or slightly more if desired 1 medium-size octopus (2-2 ½ pounds/1 -1.35 kilos) ½ cup ouzo 1 cup chopped plum tomatoes, or 1 can Greek whole Santorini tomatoes in their juices ½ cup...

Simple Boiled Greens “Salad” the Greek Way

For 4 – 6 servings 1 ½ pounds of sweet or bitter greens of choice: Bok Choy (papoulies in Greek), Rainbow Chard, Kale, Collards, Sweet Dandelion, Chard, Amaranth (in season on summer) or bitter greens such as mustard greens, bitter dandelions and the whole range of wild chicories Salt Extra Virgin Greek Olive Oil...

Lettuce Salad with Fennel, Radishes and Tangerines

6 servings 2 small heads Bibb or lamb’s lettuce, torn 1 fennel bulb, stalk trimmed, quartered and thinly sliced 6 large radishes, trimmed and thinly sliced 1 orange, peeled, pith removed, cut into sections then diced large ½ cup snipped fresh dill 12 Kalamata or wrinkled black Greek olives, pitted For the...

6 to 8 servings 8 large carrots 1 small clove garlic, chopped 4 tbsp. Aegina or other pistachios, coarsely chopped 4 tbsp. dark raisins, seedless ½ tsp. cinnamon ½ tsp. cumin powder ¼ tsp. cayenne pepper, or more, preferably 1 / 3 cups extra-virgin Greek olive oil Juice and zest of 1 orange...

Spinach Salad with Olives and Pine Nuts

8 servings 2 tbsp. pine nuts 10 oz./ 300 gr. Baby spinach, washed, drained and trimmed 1 red onion, peeled, halved, and cut into paper thin slices 1 ½ cups cherry tomatoes, rinsed and halved lengthwise 5 oz./150 gr. Manouri or pressed ricotta salata 24 Thassos, Halkidiki or other wrinkled black or brown ...

8 servings For the caramelized walnuts 1 cup whole shelled walnuts ½ tsp. salt 1 tbsp. sugar For the dressing 2 tsp. Dijon mustard 2 tsp. chopped garlic 4 tbsp vinegar 2 / 3 cup extra-virgin olive oil Salt and pepper to taste For the salad 6 oz. smoked turkey, cut into...

Arugula, Fennel, Pomegranate and Olive Salad

8 servings 2 large bunches arugula, trimmed, washed and spun dry 1 large red onion, peeled, halved and thinly sliced 1 large fennel bulb, trimmed, halved and thinly sliced 16 wrinkled black olives, preferably Thassos throumbes or other Greek wirnkled black olive Avrils (seeds) from one large, firm pomegranate For the dressing 1...

Haloumi Souvlaki with Ouzo-Raisin Compote

Haloumi makes a great meze and dinner party treat. Check out my other recipes for haloumi, too. The grilled cheese haloumi sandwich is a terrific snack or light meal, too. For 6 servings 2 packs Haloumi cheese 18 pearl or other small onions, peeled and whole 4 tablespoons extra virgin Greek olive...

CARROT-SOUP_OLIVE-PASTE_GREEK-SALAD-IN-A-JAR

On a chilly Sunday in Athens, still worn out from a marathon of holiday cooking, and too spent to have gone to the supermarket with the Saturday crowds, I cooked with what was left in the fridge. That turned out to be a bunch of carrots, a little ginger, a dollop of the only...

Spinach Pasta, Pine Nuts, Raisins, Hot Pepper Flakes

Here’s a Greek recipe inspired by some of the new dishes I worked on for the winter menu at Pylos restaurant in NY, where I am consulting chef. It’s an easy but delicious combination of sauteed spinach and cherry tomatoes, pine nuts, shrimp, raisins, and red pepper flakes, called boukovo in Greece. The best...

Wild greens include shoots, too, like these, from the vine.

While it might seem odd to a non-Greek cook to boil greens until they are extremely soft, this is the way Greeks like to eat them. In Greek cooking, all sorts of greens, wild and cultivated, sweet and bitter, are boiled, typically in a big pot filled with salted water that is at the...

In the Cyclades, sweet greens filo pies are a regional specialty.

Sefoukloti is a transliteration of the local Naxos pronunciation for “seskoula,” Greek for chard. This is one of the most unusual Greek recipes, a greens pie drizzled with honey. 8 servings 1 kilo (2 lbs.) chard (you can use spinach if you can’t find) 1 large bunch fennel 1 bunch fresh mint or myronia...

Lucky Greek New Year’s Bread / Vasilopita

Good luck foods include this Greek traditional bread recipe, 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...

Christmas Shortbread 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....

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...

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...

Kourambiedes, Greek shortbread cookies studded with almonds.

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....

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...

Herb-Crusted Roasted Pork

This is a pan-northern-Greek dish, one of the all time classics and favorites on the Sunday and festive table. In Naoussa, the addition of tomatoes to the dish distinguishes it from other versions around the region. Locals say the best cut for this is pork collar. For 4-6 servings ½ cup olive oil 1...

Lamb, Peppers, Tomatoes and Pita Bread Make the Perfect Souvlaki

Makes 4 servings For the Marinade: 2 tablespoons coarse salt Freshly ground black pepper to taste 2 tablespoons Greek dried oregano 2 tablespoons minced garlic ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil 1/3 cup fresh strained lemon juice 2 1/2 pounds boneless lamb leg or shoulder, cut into 1 ½- inch cubes (There should be about...

This is one of the most classic dishes in Greece, a specialty of the mainland area around Mt. Pelion and Volos. There are many different kinds of sausages in the Greek kitchen. The ones from Thessaly are usually made with beef and flavored mildly. Look for something similar when making this. Spetzofai is great...

The Greek kitchen abounds with luscious “country” recipes for stuffed onions, an economical dish that requires a little time. This particular rendition os from Galaxidi, a coastal area on the mainland side of the Corinth Canal. It makes a beautiful dinner party treat, as an opener or, even, as a main course. There are...

The best place to taste these stateside is…Pylos restaurant in the East Village, NYC. This dish is one of the most aromatic in the entire Greek kitchen. My kids love it and so will yours! Serve with mashed potatoes, as pictured, or with whole wheat pasta and a green salad. 4-6 servings 2 wedges...

Braised Cretan Grains with Whole Onions / Xinohondros Stifado me Kremmydakia

Pumpkin pastitsio…savory roasted pork with an herb crust…stuffed turkey…and more. These are some of the dishes you’ll find in my holiday main course section, so hurry, take a look, and head straight to the supermarket!

This is a great dish for the holiday buffet. A large tray will feed up to 16 hungry revelers. The pastitsio isn’t traditional, of course. For one, there is no meat in this dish, but the savory tomato sauce filled with hearty chunks of sweet pumpkin more than makes up for that, as does...

Trahana is an ancient wheat and dairy based food, used in soups, stews, and stuffed dishes.

Trahana brings to mind all the frustrations of childhood. The pebble-sized sour-milk pasta typically hand-made at the end of the summer in rural Greece and kept in cotton sacks for the winter, is the kind of food that mothers relentlessly try to force on their young, and one which, with equal fortitude, children just...

8 servings ½ cup extra virgin olive oil 1 large onion, finely chopped 1 small garlic clove, finely chopped 1 bag sour trahana 2 liters chicken or vegetable stock Salt and pepper to taste Lemon Juice to taste For Garnish: Thinly sliced fresh or fried leeks Raw olive oil Boukovo 1. Heat the olive...

The Greek riots: a picture of hate | Jonathan Jones http://t.co/3uD2KGlo via @guardian 4 days ago
GreekFoodTv☼ Greek Coffee, ελληνικός καφές, from our mini series, "How do you..." make a Greek Coffee. Please... http://t.co/CNFcIxtY 4 days ago
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Meant to be shared! How to Assemble a Meze Platter: http://t.co/BrcRVEtg 4 days ago
In Country Cooking of Greece, you will find dozens of great ideas for mezedes, the small plates that are meant to... http://t.co/jKuQfoNR 4 days ago

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