Uses for Leftover Yogurt, from Heather

Here are the sauces that I make regularly using plain yogurt:
1) the tzatziki that you mentioned
2) raita - which is very similar to tzatziki depending on how you make it... drained yogurt, drained grated cucumbers, cilantro, salt, and whatever spices (I usually use a little mint and a decent amt of cumin; my MIL would probably put in cumin & red chili powder) - served with any Indian/Pakistani food I make
3) yogurt tahini sauce from the falafel recipe that's on the blog:
1/2 cup plain low-fat yogurt
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons tahini (sesame-seed paste)
1 garlic clove, minced

Yogurt usually lasts a while, so you could use the rest of it next week by making some Greek-style grilled chicken and putting it in pitas with tzatziki. You can substitute sour cream for yogurt in a lot of things - even on a baked potato. You can make a "curry" chicken salad - cubed chicken, celery, apples, dried cranberries, with a sauce of drained yogurt, a little mayo, & curry powder. Also you can bake lots of stuff with yogurt. There are a bunch of recipes on Cookinglight.com. I know I have made some CL coffee cake or blueberry coffee cake (or maybe both) a few times with yogurt and it was amazing, but I can't remember which one it was right now.

And another way I use yogurt is to thicken sauces in Indian dishes. The two that I'm thinking of right now are:

Keema
Ground beef (actually should be lamb, but I'm not a lamb cooker) with garlic, ginger, onion, diced tomatoes, spices, & yogurt. I've had ppl tell me to make it a number of different ways, but the simplest on was where you brown the beef & onions with all the spices, garlic, & ginger and then throw in the tomatoes and the yogurt toward the end. The basic spices are turmeric, cumin, & red chili powder. You can add other stuff like cloves, cinammon, cardamom. It might be just as easy to use a premade garam masala and some extra chili.

A tip from Nastia on getting kids to eat

Someone metioned Kalamata olives. I am impressed they are being sold all ove the world (For the record, Kalamata is a Greek city in Peloponese.) If you want your kid to eat kalamata olives put them in a tomato salad with some good virgin olive oil. The oil will take away the bitter sour taste, also kalamata olives are VERY good with feta cheese, oregano and peppers in the salad.

Greekish Chicken Thighs, by Kristina

Preheat the oven to 350.
Season the skin-side of the thighs with kosher salt, some freshly ground pepper, and dried oregano. Don't be afraid of salt. Use about a teaspoon and a half for four thighs.

Heat an oven-safe skillet (nothing teflon coated, and nothing with a plastic handle) with about 3 Tbs of extra-virgin olive oil. Don't be afraid of evoo...it is your friend. Heat it on high heat...don't be afraid of high heat...once you get the hang of this, you won't burn anything.

While the skillet is heating, slice two cloves of garlic however you best like your garlic sliced, keeping in mind that the smaller the pieces, the more intense the garlic flavor.

Once the oil is hot, place the chicken skin-side down in the hot oil. (trick: if you push the chicken to the side just a leeettle bit the second you put it down in the oil, it won't stick to the pan). Let it sit, skin side down, in your pan for a few minutes until the skin part is nice and golden.

After a while, you'll get a feel for how long it takes to get your chicken the golden color you like it. If you're new to this, check it after five minutes. If the chicken still looks kind of pale, leave it sit for a while. It is scary to leave chicken for that long on high heat if you are not used to cooking like this; have confidence in yourself, grasshopper, pay attention and you will not let it burn.

While it's cooking like that, season the bottom, skinless side with the same amount of kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, and oregano you used on the skin side. Once you're ready to turn your chicken over, add your sliced garlic, THEN turn over your chicken. Quickly squeeze half a lemon over the chicken. Then put the whole skillet into the oven, and there it will rest for about 25 min or so, roasting away and cooking through to the bone.

After about 20 minutes, open the oven door and put about a Tbs of feta cheese on top of the chicken thighs. A small slice is nice if you're using fresh feta, or pack together about a tablespoon into a ball-like shape with your fingers if you're using crumbles.

Use tongs to put the chicken thighs on top of the spinach and mushrooms.
Enjoy. Mmmmm.

Add some kalamata olives (cold) to the finished dish for extra flavor, or some cold feta crumbles.And that's how you cook chicken without drying it out, with a nicely flavored skin.

Avgolemono, from Nastia

Fish soup for us to day with special Greek sauce called Avgolemono and its yuuuummyy.

You will need

Two big or three small fish for soup (cod is good, scorpaenid also good)

Two or three carrots peled and cut in rounds

two big potatoes cut in cubes

One celery root with the leaves chopped

two big onions chopped

one tea cup of white rice (not the yellow one)

Juice from three lemons

Three eggs

olive oil

salt pepper

Boil the fish in some salty water and remove them, add the veggies and the olive oil in the wather and boil for 5 mins, add the rice and boil until the veggies and rice are soft add some water if necessary. Take all the bones of the fish and put the flesh back to the pot.

Beat the eggs until foamish, add lemon juice slowly and keep beating until it takes a light yellow color. Add two big soup spoons from the pot to the mix, stir and add the mixture in the soup. Be carefull when adding the eggs the soup must be hot but not boiling, cause then the eggs will harden and the soup will be junk. It can replace chicken soup when someone is sick.

Spanakopita, from Nastia

Pies have a great part in Greek tradition, we make them for holidays, funerals, memorials, Christmas, Easter, as a main dish as an appetiser, or as a dessert. There are also sweet pies, such as Bougatsa (cream pie).

I made Spanakopita (Spinach pie) yesterday, with home made leaves and fresh spinach. For a big pan you will need:

750gr Flour for pies (26oz, or 1.6lbs, approx. 6 cups)

1 kg (2.2lbs) fresh spinach

5-6 fresh onions (the green ones)

about 100gr (3.5oz) anise finelly chopped

500gr (17.5oz, a little over a pound) feta cheese

2 tbsp vinegar

olive oil

Cold water/salt pepper

In a large pan fill with water until in the middle, wash the spinach thoroughly and add to the cold water, light the kitchen scald the spinach in hot water until soft (dont boil the water and make sure the leaves are nice and green, not over boiled) take off the spinach wait a little and then squeeze all the water out.

In a pan put some olive oil, the onions (chopped) and the anise, stir fry, add spinach and mix well, add salt and pepper, turn off the heat and leave the pan without cover.

Prepare the leaves.

Make a dough with flour, water, and vinegar, has to be soft and not sticky, if the water is cold the dough is better, separate in 18 small balls. Using a rolling pin make small pitas puting three of them one over the other with olive oil in the middle (Pita-oil-pita-oil-pita) that will give you six triplets of pitas. sprad olive oil in a pan, preheat the oven at 180C (I think 350F)

Take the first triplet and with the rolling pin make a big pastry leaf (must cover the pan), put it in the pan, spread olive oil make second leave, spread olive oil, make third leave, add the spinach mix and feta cheese crumbs until well covered, continue with the rest of the leaves (three at bottom three on top) Turn the leaves edges on the inside of the pan (they make a yummy crust after bake) Spread olive oil and some milk on top of the pie and cut it in square pieces.

Bake for an hour or until brownish.

Tip in order to prevent the leaves from sticking on the kitchen counter you can spread some corn flour on the counter.

Tip, if you use cold carbonated water for the dough it will become more crunchy.

Tip, find a rolling pin that suits you I prefer something like this

which is made of wood but a plastic one will do the same job.

(imperial measures are editor's estimates - results may vary)

Pseudo-Greek Feast, an idea from Heather

Pseudo-Greek Feast

Appetizer:
pita chips & hummus - both store bought... I know how easy they are to make, but I already had them at home and I decided late in the day what I was cooking

Main:
- Salad of halved grape tomatoes, kalamatas, cubed cucumber, feta, & olive oil vinaigrette
- Chicken, marinated in olive oil, mint, oregano (both dried, not fresh), salt, pepper, garlic; basted with a mixture of fresh lemon juice and olive oil and broiled (i.e. in the oven with the heat coming from the top of the oven - I know they call this grilling in the UK so I don't assume it means the same to anyone). I used to always grill them, but I'm the worst griller ever. It came out really well - so delicious!
- served chicken with tzatziki, which I made by mixing drained plain natural yogurt, grated & drained cucumbers, and a little salt, mint, garlic, and lemon juice. I don't know if the mint is common, but I love it.
- roasted vegetables - this is nothing I've ever had at a Greek restaurant or in Greece, but I love it and think it goes well. (I used to grill these too, but, again, I suck.) I did zucchini, yellow/summer squash, baby portobello mushrooms, and yellow pearl onions, with olive oil, pepper, and oregano and just stuck them in a roasting pan in the oven until they were tender and juicy

Everything was really nice except for the salad because the dressing was just too tangy and acidic.

A note from Nastia, our resident Greek: VERY GOOD HEATHER, a real Greek dinner. Just one tip. Don't put vinegrette on tomato salad just plain olive oil and oregano, it tastes better. Also, don't put lemon juice in Tzatziki because it messes with the yoghourt, some oil will do.

Rabbit Stifado (Stew), from Nastia

Here is a Stifado (Stew) recipe with rabbit. Its concidered to be one of the best Greek dishes

Stifado

1	large rabbit, jointed
2	tablespoons tomato paste
2	bay leaves
4	tablespoons red wine vinegar (balsamic also works nicely)
1/2	cup olive oil
1/3	teaspoon sugar
4	cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1	small cinnamon stick (about a 3-inch length)
	salt and black pepper
4	whole allspice
1	sprig rosemary
2/3	cup red wine
1 1/4	cups hot water
11/2	lbs white pearl onions, peeled,left whole

Rinse the rabbit pieces and place them in a mixing bowl together with the bay leaves and vinegar; mix well and leave to marinate for at least 2 hours, or overnigh; remove the rabbit from the marinade and pat dry with kitchen paper.

1. Heat half of the olive oil in a large saucepan until hot, add the rabbit and fry the pieces until quite brown on all sides; add the tomato paste, bay leaves, sugar, garlic, spices and the hot water.
2. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Bring to the boil mixing well then reduce the heat, cover and simmer for about 1 hour.
4. Meanwhile, heat the remaining olive oil in a frying pan; add the onions and sauté gently for 15 minutes stirring occasionally, until golden all over; after the rabbit has been cooking for 1 hour, add the onions and oil from the frying pan to the saucepan; combine, then re-cover and simmer for a further 15 minutes; fish out the cinnamon stick, allspice berries and rosemary sprig.
5. Note: This can be served with pasta, noodles, rice or oven-roasted potatoes, but my personal favourite is homemade french-fries, which taste delicious dunked in the spicy sauce.

Souvlaki, from Nastia

Souvlaki

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 1/2 pounds of pork shoulder, cut in 3/4 inch cubes
• 1 teaspoon of ground Greek oregano (rigani)
• 1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground pepper
• 1 tablespoon of sea salt
• 2 tablespoons of red wine (or good red wine vinegar)
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil

PREPARATION:

In a bowl, pour wine (or vinegar) and oil over the pork and toss to coat. Sprinkle salt, pepper, and oregano, and toss again. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Note: If using vinegar, do not marinate longer than 2 hours or the meat can absorb too strong a vinegar taste.

If using wine, the meat can be marinated for up to 2 days as long as salt is also used.

Using 8 inch skewers, thread approximately 6 pieces of meat on each. This should make about 12 skewers.

Grill the meat turning until well browned, about 15 minutes. Serve on the skewers with a squeeze of lemon.

Note: If using a gas grill, use wooden skewers. If using a charcoal grill, use metal skewers. If broiling in the oven, use either, but wooden skewers should be soaked in water for several minutes before using.

Yield: serves 3 (4 skewers per person) as a main dish.

As a meze: To prepare this recipe as a meze, use smaller skewers (5-6 inches long) and put 3-4 pieces of meat on each to make approximately 20 skewers.

Taste tip: If you have the spice sumac in your cabinet, rub a little on the meat before adding marinade ingredients.

Paedakia (Goat Ribs), an idea from Nastia

Greek Alert!! Tonight is Sunday and our dinner is

Goat ribs (very famous in Greece) marinated in lemon and virgin olive oil with oregano and pepper, with fresh potatoes in the oven, backed with lemon juice, virgin olive oil onions, garlic and oregano. Greek feta cheese and fresh tomato and cucumber salad.

Goat ribs in Greek are called Paedakia (Pa-ee-da-kee-a)

Spanakopita Burgers, an idea from Allison

Dinner tonight was a spanakopita burger sort of thing (the patties were turkey, spinach, oregano, feta, garlic and onions) with olives and mustard on the burgers, and roasted sweet potatoes.

Garlic Sauce from Nastia

Here is the garlic sauce recipe I promised.

1 ¾ pounds boiling potatoes

6 large garlic cloves, peeled

2 cups 1/2-inch diced French or Italian bread, crust removed

½ cup extra-virgin olive oil

3 tablespoons white wine vinegar

Salt to taste


1. In a large pot, place the potatoes in cold water to cover by several inches and turn the heat to medium. Once the water begins to boil, about 20 minutes, continue to boil until a skewer glides easily through the center of each potato, another 25 to 30 minutes. Peel the potatoes once they are cool enough to handle. Pass the potatoes through a food mill or colander

2. Pound the garlic in a mortar until mushy. Add the garlic to the potatoes, mixing well. Soak the bread cubes in a little water until sodden, then squeeze the water out. Pass the bread through the food mill or colander. Blend the bread, potatoes, and garlic together with a fork in a mixing bowl.

3. Slowly pour the olive oil and vinegar in a steady stream as you continue beating with a fork until the mixture has the consistency of a thick mayonnaise. Do not do this in a food processor because the potatoes will become gummy in their over processing. Season with salt and refrigerate until needed.



Tip. add some walnuts also with the potatoes, or dont use any bread, just some walnuts and more potatoes.

Its VERY good with fried fish, beet roots, on toasted bread and with fried zuccini and fried eggplants.

Greek holiday food from Nastia

Next big food event is March 25th (It's a national holiday and we celebrate our fights against the Ottoman empire) Traditionally we eat fried cod with Scordalia which is a very thick sauce made by garlic, olive oil,vinegar, walnuts, and bread or potatoes, it's VERY spicy and requires a good teeth brushing afterwards.