Eating and Drinking Greek Style!

Agree, with the operative word being LOCAL @DavidPF!

1 Like

Thank you for posting …

We have travelled frequently (yearly or every 18 months) to Greece prior to Covid, as we have dear friends who have a home in Skiatos and we would travel with them …

I am a grand fan of Taramosalata but unfortunately Barcelona is not the best city to eat it ! The best we have had outside of Greece, is Bucaresti ! They have a large Greek Community.

Hopefully, we shall be able to go in 2022 - 2023.

1 Like

Hope you can visit. Toronto and Montreal have large Greek communities, as do Detroit, NYC and Chicago, so I’m lucky I can find taramasalata in Greek restaurants, as well as tarama at some grocery stores, when I am in Toronto.

Hope you are able to visit Greece in 2022 or 2023. I haven’t visited since 2007, and would have visited some relatives during the summer of 2020, if Covid hadn’t derailed my plans.

1 Like

I lived 2 years on Skiathos. Paradise.

Sharing the family stifado recipe, given to me by my FIL - per a request from @celeryvictor.

2 lbs cubed beef, lightly salted
1 very large onion, chopped
3-5 large garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup A/P flour
3-4 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup dry, fruity white wine
28 ounce can diced or puréed tomatoes, with juice
1 tablespoon pickling spice, tied into cheesecloth or a spice bag
1 package frozen pearl onions
Salt and black pepper, to taste

In a 6 quart Dutch Oven, sauté onion in olive oil until soft; add minced garlic and sauté until soft but not brown. Remove and set aside.

Add more oil to pan if needed.

Dredge seasoned beef cubes in flour and brown on all sides. Scrape up fond from the bottom of the pan, and add the tomatoes, wine, and pickling spice, along with the reserved onions and garlic.

Bring to a boil, turn down the heat and simmer steadily, covered for the first hour. Check to ensure the heat isn’t too high and that the mixture isn’t sticking on the bottom.

Uncover the second hour, stirring occasionally until the stew is at the desired thickness. When meat is tender, add the pearled frozen onions, and warm through thoroughly. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with fresh parsley, and serve with crusty bread, if desired.

Enjoy!

5 Likes

Sharing my favorite recipe for Paximathia/Paxemadia, which is a twice baked, biscotti like cookie.

8 eggs
3 cups A/P flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 cups ( fresh) vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon pure Anise extract or 3 drops anise oil
1 1/2 chopped or sliced almonds, toasted

Beat sugar and oil together, adding oil 1 cup at a time

Add all other ingredients and beat well

Spray loaf tins well with Pam, or grease well

Pour batter into loaf pans, filling only about 1/4 full

Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 25-30 minutes

Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes

Remove from pans and slice into 3/4 inch slices

Place on cookie sheets and bake at 350 degrees, until cookies are lightly browned on top; flip over and brown the other side until lightly golden

  • Although I haven’t tried these cookies with other oils, I’m sure avocado or grape seed oil would work well in this recipe. I may try it next time with a third olive oil, as I think a straight swap to olive oil would make these too heavy.
2 Likes

I’m a bit confused by this, because the recipe asks for “vegetable oil”, and when you buy “vegetable oil” in a store you don’t know what it will be - the company chooses whatever is easy to get and cheap at that time.

1 Like

@DavidPF - I buy nice quality oils typically, but mostly any fresh vegetable oil will be ok for these cookies. Yes, some are mixed, but that’s alright for this purpose. I was simply suggesting that most any vegetable oil would work. If you want to splash out 2 cups of avocado oil, that should be fine too. Then I stated that I felt all olive would make them too heavy.

There are many more oils on this planet - I’m certainly not suggesting red palm oil, Argan oil, sesame, or certain others.

Hope this answers your question.

Adding to my post above: the oils I buy, DO state what they’re made of. Maybe a labeling requirement in the USA, I’m not sure.

Thanks - I was just confused by where you said “other oils” because you basically hadn’t specified an oil (since “vegetable oil” is variable). I agree that it sounds like any reasonable sounding choice should work.

You need some juniper berries in there.

For the stifado - yes! Especially so if I was using game…I do have juniper berries here, but I didn’t think to put them in. Maybe next time. Also, if one was out of juniper berries, a shot of gin may also work…and one for the cook, but with tonic.

Wow this nice.

Salmon plaki.
It’s Orthodox Good Friday tonight. Happy Easter to everyone celebrating this Sunday.

11 Likes

3 Likes

Your plaki looks just beautiful, and I’m sure it tasted good as well! How could it not? Kalo Pascha!

Also, happy you posted the muffin recipe, was just going to search this thread for it; will put the dough together tonight.

The menu for tomorrow is:
Philadelphia Fish House Punch - I know, not Greek, SIL is making
Dolmathes, Spanikopita, Tiropita
Asparagus Mimosa
Roast lamb with a Parmesan crust
Rice pilaf
Moroccan carrots
Tsoureki Muffins
Vanilla Bean Yogurt Panna Cotta with Strawberry and Rhubarb Sauce
Wine
Red Eggs

Will you be celebrating with a dinner, in or out @Phoenikia? Whatever is planned, hope you enjoy the day!

6 Likes

Hi @Lambchop! Kalo Paska!

It’s just 3 of us, so I’m keeping simple, and we are eating at home. Ontario, Canada is locked down until May 20, 2021, so in-restaurant dining isn’t open now.

I’m making roasted lamb with garlic, lemon, oregano and rosemary, hopefully vegetarian dolmades with pine nuts, and fava beans with dill and lemon (a la polita)

Your menu sounds delicious! Enjoy!

6 Likes

This looks right up our alley. Would you mind sharing your recipe?

Happy holiday to you. (I’m not Greek, but I like to eat like one. I’ve been fortunate to visit twice.)

I made keftethes last night, to have during our coast-to-coast Easter Zoom (lunch for me, afternoon dinner for the NYers). I improvised the recipe, with ground lamb, beef, and a little pork, bread crumbs, egg, parsley, oregano, garlic, and, as an experiment, baharat. The baharat was a good addition, giving a generic middle eastern note. I have a lamb steak that I might have for dinner, but I’m leaning towards grilled local black cod, with oregano and Meyer lemon.

4 Likes