A countryside Greek recipe I personally go mad for!

Sausage, bell peppers and tomato, a triad of ingredients that generally make me really happy. In this specific case the add the deep-frying aspect which gives the overall plate a special twist. Well, it is super good and healthy to be on a diet but if one day you decide to break rules, then this dish if defintely the best option!

serves 5

ready in 1 h

5 small pork meat sausages

200 grams country style sausage sliced (wurstel can be good too)

1 kilo green bell pepper

400 grams tomato sauce

1 onion, chopped

1 tsp sugar

salt and pepper

500 ml frying oil

Cut the bell pepper into long strips.

Heat the frying oil into a casserole and bring it to 180° C. Deep—fry the bell pepper for 4/5 minutes or until soft. Drain on blotting paper.

In the same oil deep-fry the pork meat sausages for 7/8 minutes, and after them fry also the slices of sausage for a couple of minutes. Set aside.

Meanwhile heat 2 tbs of frying oil and fry the chopped onion. Once fried, add the tomato sauce, the sugar and bring to a boil Let simmer for 10 minutes or until the sauce thickens.

Season with salt if necessary. Add the small sausages and let them cook for further 10 minutes. At last add the fried bell peppers and sausage slices. Cook for further 2 minutes and serve.

In Greece they call it Stifado. Main difference from an Italian stew is the bell pepper added at the beginning and the fact that the final cooking is made en papillote. A solution at times easy and scenographic, other than extremelly good, that can be prepared in advance. I love it.

1,2 kilos veal meat in chunks

1,2 kilos potatoes

1 big red bell pepper

1 big onion

one third of a glass of white wine

2 tbs white vinegar

1 tbs tomato paste

3 liters vegetable stock (or vegetable stock powder and water)

salt

3 tbs olive oil

400 grams feta cheese

garted zest of 2 lemons

Chop roughly the onion and dice the bell pepper into 1 cm thick pieces.

Heat the oil in a casserole, stir fry the onion and the bell pepper for 3 minutes.

Add the meat (in chunks). Let the juice of the meat evaporate for 10 minutes. Add the wine and vinegar and let evaporate completely.

Then add the stock and the tablespoon of tomato paste. Simmer for 1H, 1H15 minutes circa or until the meat gets tender.

Then add the potatoes and cook for further 15 minutes (or until potatoes are tender). Retain from fire. Season with salt if necessary. Make sure the stew is liquid enough and not too dry. Cool down.

Pre-heat oven to 200° C. On a table prepare 6 pieces of aluminium foil (circa 30×40 cm), put them into a bowl (to give them shape of bowls themselves – this will help to retain the liquids), and divide the stew into the 6 aluminium bowl.

Divide the Feta cheese into 6 parts and crumble it on top of each portion of meat. Sprinkle with a pinch of grated lemon zest. Close each papillote with another aluminium foil on top and seal carefully.

Bake for 20/25 minutes.

Serve and open them directly at the table.

This soup is good in winter (hot) and in summer (warm). Adding the Feta cheese is up to you, the lemon zest is giving to the overall soup a great taste already. In Italy we eat lentils for NYE, they say it bring you loads of money. Not true. But never give up traditions! This version will shift the eating moment from a traditional need to a pure pleasure.

Serves 4

Ready in 1H

300 grams brown lentils

200 grams Feta cheese

1 small onion

2 spring onions

1 small red bell pepper

1 bay leaf

1 cinnamon stick

grated lemon zest

1 tbs of tomato paste

3 tbs white vinegar

1 lt stock (or water + stock cubes at your choice)

3 tbs extra virgin olive oil

Chop roughly the onion and the spring onions. Dice the bell pepper.

Heat the olive oil and stir-fry the onions and the red bell pepper.

Meanwhile wash the lentils under running water for a couple of minutes. Add them to the onion and red bell pepper mixture. Fry for 5/6 minutes high heat stirring.

Add the vinegar and let it evaporate completely (i twill take a couple of minutes).

Add the tomato paste, the stock, the bay leaf and the cinnamon stick. Simmer for 45 minutes (or until the lentils are soft).

Add the grated lemon zest and 50 grams of Feta cheese and let simmer stirring well until the Feta cheese melts down.

Serve hot (or warm), topped with the remaining Feta cheese crumbled and a pinch of fresh lemon zest.

Serves 4

Ready in 30 minutes

400 grams Feta cheese (in 4 slices 100 grams each)

150 grams cherry tomatoes

1 small green bell pepper

1 lemon

1 tbs capers

pepper

30 pitted Kalamata olives

Extra virgin olive oil

Oregan

Pre-heat oven to 190° C.

Clean and half the tomatoes.

Clean and slice (3 millimeters thick) the green pepper.

Spread 4 aluminium sheets on a table, put on each of it a slice of Feta cheese. Season each slice of Feta cheese with one quarter of tomatoes, green pepper, capers, olives and 2 slices of lemon each.

Season with pepper, oregan, 2 tbs extra virgin olive oil each and seal the foil starting from the sides. Seal them and put them on a dripping pan.

Bake 20 minutes. Serve.

To bake it a little, open it and bake for further 8/10 minutes opened.

Serve.

serves 6

ready in 1 hour

300 gr feta cheese

2 red peppers

1 tsp oregan leaves

50 grams pitted black olives

4 tbs fresh cream (or milk)

juice of 1 kemon

2 tbs olive oil

salt

Clean the pepper and grill them until soft and you can peel them easily. At ghis stage, Under running water, clean peel the peppers. Cut them into small pieces.

Crush the feta cheese into small chunks, add the pepper chunks. Season with lemon juice, cream (milk) the olive oil and with salti f needed. Mix well untili t gets creamy (if necessary add some milk or cream).

Add the pitted olives in chunks (retain 2 for decoration).

Refrigerate for 2 hours before serving.

I said that many times: I simply love garlic. The social implications are easily solved cause the garlic day generally is Friday! Skordalià (you read it with an accent on the final A), is a easy dip made with mashed potatoes and garlic. The quantity of garlic suggested is the minimum needed to give it its flavor. If you love garlic as I do, you can double the quantities!

Serves 4

Ready in 45 mins

4 big potatoes

3 garlic cloves

4 tbs white vinegar

1 tsp salt

5 tbs extra-virgin olive oil

Boil the potatoes in salted water (it will take around 30 mins). Drain and let cool. Peel and mash them roughly with a fork.

Put the mashed potatoes in a small casserole on medium heat and let it cook for a 8/9 minutes, stirring constantly.

Add the garlic and the rest of the ingredients. Cook for 1 or 2 extra minutes. Season with extra salt if needed.

Pour in a plate and serve warm with pita bread.

Here we enter the not-so-easy part of Gree food. Moussaka is to Greec what Lasagne is to italy. A monument, an institution. Start earlier when you want to make Moussaka – and follow quantities as well. If some is left over you can deep-freeze it for future consumption.

Serves 8/10

Ready in 3 hours

1.2 kg minced meat (beef and mutton)

1 big onion

1 garlic clove

500 grams canned tomatoes

1 tbs of ground cinnamon

2 cloves ground

4 tbs white vinegar (or half glass of red wine)

3 leaves laurel

extra virgin olive oil (as needed)

4 medium-big sized eggplants

3 tbs ground cinnamon

frying oil

1 kg potatoes

200 grams kefalotiri or parmesan or pecorino cheese

1 lt milk

4 eggs

1 tsp ground nutmeg

150 grams butter

150 grams all-purpose flour

salt

Slice the eggplants into 1-cm slices. Put them in a colander , sprinkle with salt and set aside for a couple of hours (overnight if possible), to draw out the water.

Chop finely the onion and the garlic and fry them in 4 tablespoons of olive oil. When soft and translucent, add the cinnamon, the clove and the laurel. Fry a couple of minutes and add the minced meat. Fry until browned. Pour the vinegar, and let evaporate.

Add the tomato sauce and 2 glasses of water. Bring to a boil, season with salt and let simmer for 1 hour and 45 minutes. Stirring everynow and then and adding some water if necessary.

Meanwhile boil the potatoes in salted water. Let cool down, peel them and slice them into 1 cm slices. Set aside.

Drain the sliced eggplants with a towel, spirnkle them with cinnamon and deep-fry them in frying oil. Drain them on paper towel and set aside.

To make the bechamel, melt down the butter in a casserole, add the flour and mix well. Let simmer for a couple of minutes and then slowly add the cold milk and the nutmeg. Keep it on medium heat and bring to a boil continuously stirring. When boiling, keep on heat for a couple of minutes and retain from fire and season with salt. Let cool down. When warm, add the eggs one at a time.

To prepare the moussaka: arrange a layer of sliced potatoes in the baking tin, then arrange the eggplants on top. Cover with the meat mixture, sprinkle with half of the cheese. Pour the bechamel over the top.

Sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Bake 45 minutes at 180° C. Serve warm.

The only, maybe difficult thing here is to find the ready fill pasta. It is easily found in international groceries stores (if you have any close by). If you swap to puff pastry do not roll them out. Just make normal triangles and seal them with some beaten egg yolks.

16 pieces

Ready in 1 hour

1.5 kg fresh spinach

1 big onion

300 grams feta cheese

2 eggs

2 rolls of fillo dough (500 grams)*

3 tbs olive oil

70 grams of butter

You can find the fillo dough easily at international supermarkets.

Put clean spinach in a casserole with 1 tbs of olive oil (no water needed), bring to a boil on medium heat and let them cook until tendere (it should take 10/15 minutes according to spinach quality). Drain, let cool and chop them roughly.

Chop finely the onion and fry it in a casserole with 2 tbs olive oil. When tender, add the spinach and let fry for 6/7 minutes (until the exceeding water is absorbed).

Pour in a container, let cool down, then add the eggs and feta cheese (crushed), mix well, season with salt and set aside.

Unroll the fillo dough, cut stripes of 10×30 cm each.

Brush one of them with the melted butter and couple it with another stripe (2 sheets per spanakopita).

Put a tbs of filling and roll them up in the form of triangles.

Go on with the same procedure, until you finish dough and filling.

Brush them on top with the melted butter and bake for 30 minutes at 180° (if they get too brown, cover them with an aluminium foil).

Tzaziki

500 grams Greek yogurt

1 big cucumber

1 lemon squeezed

2 tablespoons white vinegar

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon chopped dill

1 garlic clove finely chopped

salt

Grate the cucumber. Squeeze with you hands to take the water out of it.

Now put it in a container with the yoghurt and all the other ingredients. Mix well, season with salt as per your preference and put in refrigerator for a couple of hours before serving.

Cheese and Mint Crispy Pie

6 fogli di pasta fillo (o pasta sfoglia) / 6 fillo sheets (or puff pastry)

30 gr noci tritate grossolanamente / 30 gr walnuts roughly chopped

1 o 2 zucchine media/ 1 or 2 medium size zucchini

200 gr caprino / 200 gr fresh goat cheese

300 gr ricotta / 300 gr ricotta

Succo di 1 limone / 1 lemon juice

15 foglie di menta / 15 mint leaves

sale e pepe / salt and pepper

olio d’oliva / olive oil

30 gr di burro / 30 gr unsalted butter

Spennellare un foglio di pasta fillo con il burro fuso e adagiarvi sopra un altro foglio. Spennellare anche questo e aggiungere un altro foglio.

Brush one fillo sheet with melted butter. Cover with another sheet. Brush also this one and add another sheet.

Foderare una tortiera da 23 cm. Unire le noci. E ricoprire con un altro trittico di fogli di pasta fillo spennellati con il burro (come sopra). Tagliare i bordi in eccesso.

Se usate la pasta sfoglia le noci vanno sparse sopra prima del formaggio (la sfoglia non va cotta au blanc).

Coat a baking pan (23 cm). Add the walnuts. And cover with other three sheets of fillo (brushed with butter as above). Trim the exceeding fillo sheets.

If you use puff pastry, just put the walnuts on top before putting the cheese (in this case do not cook au blanc).

Cuocere in bianco per 5 minuti a 170°.

Cook au blanc for 5 minutes at 170°.

In un recipiente unire gli altri ingredienti (la menta va tritata) e mescolare bene.

In a container add all the other ingredients (chop the mint leaves) and mix well.

Tagliare la zucchina a fettine sottili.

Slice the zucchini into thin slices.

Versare questo composto nello stampo di fillo pasta. Decorare con le zucchine.

Put the mixture into the fillo pasta mould. Cover with the sliced zucchini.

Cuocere in forno per 30 minuti a 160°. Intiepidire e accompagnare con un filo d’olio d’oliva.

Bake for 30 minutes at 160°C. Cool down and serve with a hint of olive oil.