Greece, a mountainous country, is a mushroom lover’s paradise. Many mushrooms grow in the wild, but there are also a few companies that have made a thriving business out of cultivating them.

Makes 4 servings

4 tbsp. extra virgin Greek olive oil
1 lb. / 500 g button mushrooms or Oyster mushrooms (plevrotous), trimmed, wiped or rinsed, and sliced thin
2 red onions, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 cup Arborio, Carnaroli, or Greek “glasé” rice
½ cup dry white wine
3 cups vegetable broth
3 sprigs fresh thyme, little leaves only
3 sprigs fresh oregano or marjoram, leaves only, finely chopped
1 tsp. pink peppercorns
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Heat 1 tbsp. olive oil in a large skillet and sauté the mushrooms until soft but al dente. Remove from heat and set aside.
In a large, deep skillet or wide pot, heat the remaining 3 tbsp. of the olive oil over medium flame and add the onions. Season with a little salt. Cook over low heat for about 15 – 20 minutes, until the onions turn a deep golden color. Add the garlic, stir to soften for a minute, and immediately add the rice. Stir all together, to coat the rice in the oil.

Add 1 cup of the vegetable broth. Stir until absorbed. Add the wine and cook, stirring occasionally, until absorbed. Stir in the mushrooms and all their pan juices. Add as much of the remaining broth, 1 cup at a time, as needed to finish cooking the rice, which should be soft but al dente. Season to taste with salt and pepper and stir in the herbs. Remove and serve, garnished with the pink peppercorns.

Note: You may add cheese to this dish. Several tablespoons of creamy Greek feta, grated kefalograviera or kefalotyri, or parmesan cheese would work beautifully. The feta adds a whole other dimension.

By Diane Kochilas

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Spanakopita is golden in color when baked, the color often enhanced by butter and egg yolk. Other white, fresh, preferably salted cheeses may also mixed with, or substituted for, the feta cheese. It is mostly eaten as a snack in Greece, and it can be an alternative to tyropita. There is a "fasting", or vegan, version of spanakopita, eaten during the Great Lent and other religious fasts, and composed of spinach, onions or green onions, other green herbs like dill, parsley or celery, olive oil and a little wheat flour, but without eggs or dairy products; the mixture is oven-baked until crisp.

Non-traditional vegan versions are available that typically use tofu instead of cheese. In rural Greece, smaller amounts of spinach are used, with the missing part substituted with leeks, chard, and sorrel.

Trim the roots from the spinach, or if using silverbeet, remove leaves from tough stems. Wash leaves and drain well. Coarsely shred the leaves and tender stalks of the spinach and set aside. Place the feta in a large bowl and coarsely mash with a fork. Add the ricotta, kefalograviera, eggs, breadcrumbs, nutmeg, pepper and oil.

Mix with the fork to combine. Add the spinach and set aside while preparing the pastry case. Preheat oven to 180C. Lightly grease a 20cm x 30cm x 5cm deep baking dish. Lay the filo out on a bench. Cover with a dry tea towel then a damp one to keep it from drying out. Line dish with a sheet of filo and butter the filo.

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Ingredients

2 tablespoons extra virgin Greek olive oil
450 gr sausages, outer skin removed, cut into large chunks
1 tsp chopped basil
½ cup Mavrodafni or other sweet red wine
6 cups chicken broth
1 butter stick (1/2 cup)
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 cup Carnaroli rice mix with mushrooms
1 cup grated parmesan cheese

Instructions

1 Heat a large, nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the sausages and sauté for about 5 minutes, until they begin to brown.
2 Add ½ cup of Mavrodafni. As soon as it evaporates, remove the skillet from the heat and keep aside.
3 Keep simmering the broth. Melt butter and add a little oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Sauté the onion and garlic for about 5 minutes. Season with salt. Add the rice and stir for 2 minutes.
4 Add 1 cup of the broth. When it is absorbed, add another cup, repeating the same process until most of the broth is absorbed by the rice. Return the sausages and basil to the rice. If necessary, add a little bit more broth. Add half of the cheese and stir.
5 Serve the risotto with the remaining cheese on the side.

Serves 6

greek food - greek cooking - greek recipes by diane kochilas http://www.dianekochilas.com/

 It is also one of the few things I do not make at home, first of all because it is so hard to replicate and secondly because one can still find good cheap souvlaki to eat everywhere in Athens (and all of Greece of course).

You might be wondering therefore why I am posting a souvlaki recipe. Well, this is no ordinary souvlaki, although it is just as juicy and mouthwatering as the real deal, with the difference that it is meant to be made at home and has ingredients you can find in almost any part of the world.

The main recipe belongs to a well-known Greek chef, Giannis Loukakos, and I have slightly tweaked it to make it less time-consuming, an important factor I think for the home cook. It is vital you choose the right part of meat for this dish: pork neck. With its high fat content neck is perfect for slow roasting, as the fat is rendered during cooking giving the most succulent, tender meat you will have ever tasted. This meat is then wrapped in a tortilla instead of the usual souvlaki pita, making each bite slightly less “bready”, and adorned with crispy salad leaves, chopped tomatoes or mustard and Greek yogurt. 

A wonderful dish like this deserves an equally good wine. I was lucky to have a nice bottle of Rossiu di Munte Pinot Noir 2008 (means ‘Red of the Mountain” in the local dialect) by Katogi Averoff at hand,  which was sent to me a while ago to taste and blog about. Set on the steep slopes of Pindos mountains, the vineyards of Katogi are I think the highest in Greece (940m above sea level), which means that the grapes have enough cool weather to produce a good Pinot.The winery also boasts a beautiful hotel and I think that it would be worth a visit, if you ever decide to see more than the islands in Greece.

The wine itself was medium-bodied, with nice, round tannins and lovely cherry fruit on the nose and palate. Its price is quite high for Greek standards (19-20 euro) which is partly due to the quality of the vinification process and the low production. Although duck would have been my first choice for a Pinot wine, it really suited the tender, mellow flavour of the meat and I am happy to have paired the two together. The next day we tried it with some full flavoured cheeses: an Appenzeller, a Vacherin and a 36 month old chunk of Parmiggiano Reggiano and it was really good with them too.

INGREDIENTS for 6 people

2kg pork neck, cut into cubes
1 kg onions, finely sliced
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
200ml red or white wine
750ml good quality chicken stock or plain water
2 tsp Greek dried oregano

for serving

Flour Tortillias (abour two per person)
mixed salad leaves (2-3 handfuls)
chopped tomatoes (about 3)
grated Cretan graviera cheese (or Pecorino omano)
Greek strained yogurt
aromatic mustard

DIRECTIONS

1 Season the meat pieces.
 2 In a pressure cooker heat 50 ml of olive oil and brown the meat pieces in two-three batches, making sue you do not crowd them in the pot.
3 Discard the fat and add another 50 ml of olive oil. Over medium heat saute the onions until they are soft and slightly coloured. Add the garlic and when you start smelling it pour the wine in the pot.
4 Let the wine simmer for a few minutes and then add the meat and stock to the pot.
5 Bring to the boil, close the pressure cooker lid and following the cooker’s isntructions cook for about 35 minutes.
6 When you open the pot the meat should be very very soft and quite a bit of liquid still. Continue simmering until all of the liquids have evaporated and the meat idoes not hold its shape any more, about 30-45 minutes.  Set aside to cool a bit before serving.
7 For serving: place the tortillas on the table (better cut them in half) together with 2-3 chopped tomatoes, the salad leaves, grated cheese, mustards and yogurt. Loukakos suggests serving this souvlaki with grated cheese, tomato and lettuce, but I liked it better with tomato, mustard and yogurt. Experiment with the flavours to find the one you like best!

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For the sauce

4 cups canned chopped tomatoes
2 garlic cloves
Salt and sugar to taste
2 tablespoons olive oil

For the eggplants

1 - 2 cups all purpose flour
4 large eggs, slightly beaten
3 1/2 cups breadcrumbs
2 2/3 cups grated Kefalotyri cheese (about 220 g)
2 medium-large eggplants, cut lengthwise into 18 slices, each about 1 cm thick
350 g kasseri cheese, or any semi-hard, mild yellow sheep's milk cheese, coarsely grated
1 1/4 cups anthotyro or ricotta, drained
3/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
½ cup chopped fresh mint leaves
1/3 cup chopped fresh oregano leaves
Pepper to taste

Instructions

1 In a medium saucapan, simmer the tomatoes, garlic, salt, sugar and olive oil together until thickened and reduced by about 1 cup. Remove from heat and set aside.
2 Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Oil 3 baking sheets and one glass baking dish large enough to hold the eggplant rolls (about 13 X 9 X 2 inches).
3 Place flour in a wide shallow bowl, eggs in second bowl, and breadcrumbs mixed with 1 cup kefalotyri cheese in another.
4 Season each eggplant slice with salt and pepper. Press each slice, one at a time, into the flour, then dip into the beaten egg, and finally into the breadcrumb-cheese mixture.
5 Arrange eggplant slices in single layer on prepared sheets. Bake eggplant in batches until coating is golden, turning after 15 minutes, about 30 minutes total. Cool on sheets.
6 Mix the kasseri, anthotyro, herbs, and 1 cup of kefalotyri in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper.
7 Spread about 2 tablespoons of the cheese filling over the surface of each eggplant slice. Starting at the narrow end, roll up eggplant slices. Arrange rolls, seam side down, in prepared baking dish. Spoon the sauce over the rolls and sprinkle with remaining kefalotyri.
8 Bake uncovered until the eggplant dolmades are heated through and the kasseri melts, about 30 minutes.

greek food - greek cooking - greek recipes by diane kochilas http://www.dianekochilas.com/

Sofrito Preparation

Dredge the fillets with salt and fresh ground pepper. Coat them with flour and fry slightly on both sides. Scrape any excess flour from the bottom of the pan and remove them.
Add olive oil in a saucepan and sauté the onion.
Add rosemary, marjoram, garlic and white wine.
Cut the stems of both the parsley bunches, tie them and add them in the saucepan.
Add meat fillets and simmer until the sauce thickens and meat is tender. If needed you should add more water.
Remove parsley stems from the saucepan.
Serve meat in a platter and pour the sauce over them.
Serve fillets with mashed potatoes and carrots.

Potato and Carrot Mash Preparation

Boil the cubed potatoes and carrots in water.
Add plenty of salt and pepper and the mashed garlic.
When the vegetables are tender remove from the sauce pan and drain.
Preserve half glass of the water.
Melt butter on the saucepan.
Add on a a blender the vegetables and blend. Gradually add the milk and the water that you preserved. Blend until the texture is soft and creamy.
Add the melted butter and mix again.
Empty the puree on a saucepan.

Sofrito Ingredients

1kg boneless beef fillets (leg part preferred)
1 onion, finely cut
2 garlic cloves, mashed
1 glass of white wine
Rosemary
Marjoram
2 bunches of parsley
Salt
Pepper
Flour for coating the fillets
Olive oil for frying

Mash potato and Carrot Ingredients
5 medium potatoes, cut in cubes
1 mashed garlic
Mix of pepper and salt
6 medium carrots, cut in thin slices
1 glass of milk
2 spoons of fresh butter

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Ingredients

a pack of shredded filo pastry (kataifi)
8 (2 for the filling) eggs
1l fresh milk at room temperature
300g anthotyro cheese
300g feta cheese, grated
300g spicy gruyere or pecorino cheese, grated
300g kasseri cheese, grated
300g gouda cheese, grated
1 teacup of extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons baked bread crumbs
2 tablespoons of melted butter
freshly ground pepper

Method

Grate all the cheeses in a large bowl. Add the 2 eggs, whisked, the olive oil and freshly ground pepper. Combine everything well with a spoon. Grease with butter a large, rectangular, ovenproof pan and sprinkle with the baked bread crumbs. Divide the filo pastry into 2 equal parts. Spread it with your fingers and line the bottom of the pan with the first half. Empty the filling in. Spread the other half of the shredded filo pastry evenly on top to cover the filling. Use a knife to score the pie into pieces. Whisk the remaining 6 eggs and the milk together and pour the mixture over the pie. Then pour over the melted butter. Preheat the oven to air250ºC. When you place the pie in, reduce heat to 180ºC and bake for 50 minutes until golden and crispy.

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Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic (about 1 large clove)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups plain yogurt (or low-fat)
• 1 cup peeled, seeded and grated cucumber (about 1 medium cucumber)
• 1 whole peeled avocado, diced small

Add the lemon juice, olive oil, garlic and salt to the yogurt. Add the grated cucumber, diced avocado and mix well. Chill for at least an hour to allow the flavors to blend.

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