Potatoes in the casserole (yiahni)

Potatoes yiahni is again very easy to prepare and it can work as a side dish as well!

Fry in a casserole a chopped onion with one cut green pepper into 2 table spoons of olive oil. Add the potatoes that you have previously peeled off and cut into pieces. Stir them around for 4-5 minutes until they take a nice crust from the outside.
Add two grated tomatoes, salt, pepper, a bit of sugar and oregano or peppermint. After 2 minutes add enough water to cover the potatoes and let it boil. Right before the potatoes are done, stir them carefully with a wooden spoon so as they don't stuck at the bottom. The juice that is left has to be thick (and not watery, like in the photo).

Enjoy!!!

Pork in the casserole with oregano

Now that's a dish that everyone loves and enjoys! With a fresh slice of bread as the dish has amazing juice to dive in, you can luxuriate a relaxing lunch break! Po po po... I can still smell it!!!

Pork in the casserole with oregano

In a casserole, fry 1kg of pork cut into cubes in a bit of olive oil, until the meat gets the nice brown colour all around. Salt, Pepper, Oregano, plenty of lemon juice (2-3 lemons).. Let it "boil" in its juices for 15-20 minutes and you're ready!

NOTE
There should be left some juicy olive oil-lemon-pork fat sauce in your casserole.

Enjoy!!!

Peas with tomato sauce

Following the same procedure as the one for the green beans below, you can prepare another light, summer and healthy dish with peas. Ok for sure, that's not my favourite.. but I do like it!

Peas with tomato sauce

The only note is that you have to replace parsley with dill. Et voila! it's ready!

Enjoy!!!

Green beans with tomato sauce

A super light dish for the summer and one of my favourite tastes.. (do I say that everything is my favourite? ignore me..)

Green beans with tomato sauce

In a deep casserole, fry a chopped onion, add the green beans and stir them well untill they all get a bit of the onion and olive oil. Add a can of tomato juice (if there are pieces of tomato it'll be even better). Salt, pepper, sugar (cause of the tomato of course). You can also add some potatoes if you'd like to, cut in round pieces. Sparkle some fine chopped parsley and finally pour some water, enough to cover the green beans and let it drink all the juice. If need be, add some extra water.

PS: This is the kind of dish that feta cheese should not be missed from!

Enjoy!!!

Chicken with red sauce in the oven

Chicken: Kids' favorite!

Ask your butcher to cut a whole chicken into pieces. Marinate the pieces into a mixture of olive oil, salt, pepper, oregano, garlic, chopped tomatoes and their juice and a bit of sugar. Keep it in the frigde for about 15 minutes.

Chicken with red sauce in the oven

After the 15 minutes, take the chicken and put it in an oven pan, as it is with its marinade. For extra flavour you can spread around 2-3 tea spoons of butter and you can add a cup of dry red or white wine. Add 2 glasses of water and bake it for 40-50 minutes at 220o C.

Accompany it with creamy rice or french fries and your kids will love you even more!

Enjoy!!!

Pork steak with honey

Last minute call food..

Put a pork steak in an oven pan; cut an onion and a tomato into round pieces. Add some potatoes around. Season with salt and pepper. Pour on the top a mixture of 2 parts of olive oil, 1 part of honey and 1 part of mustard.
Add 2 glasses of water and bake it for 30 minutes in 220o C.

Pork steak with honey

Enjoy!!!

Filled Zucchini Avgolemono

Zucchini!!! You gotta love it!

Filled Zucchini Avgolemono

Ingredients
11 zucchini
1kg minced meat (pork and veal, or only veal)
2 fresh green onions
1 handfull of dill
1 espresso cup of rice
1 tomato
Juice of 1/2 lemon

Avgolemono
1 egg
Juice of 1 lemon

Procedure
Wash the zucchini and remove the flesh, either with the special gadget or with a little spoon. Keep the flesh aside.
Mixe the minced meat with the onions, the dill, the rice and the tomato. Season with salt and pepper.
Fill the zucchini with the mixture of meat. In a deep casserole, lay the flesh of the zucchini at the bottom (this will prevent the food of getting burnt). Then lay on the top the stuffed zucchini. Season with salt and pepper and pour the juice of the half lemon. Add water till a bit over the half of the zucchini and let it be cooked for around 45 minutes. It's better if you have the cover of your casserole on but not sealed closed.

As soon as they are done, bit the egg with the lemon juice adding 2 table spoons of the juice of the food. Mix together nicely and pour in the casserole. Again, make sure that your zucchini have been away from the fire for at least 10 minutes before you pour the avgolemono in it.

Enjoy!!!

Capsicum filled with rice (gemista)

My all time favourite summer food is the so called "gemista", literally meaning "filled" or "stuffed".

Take your capsicums, wash them and cut the head as if you want to use later as a hat. Cut out the seeds.
In a bowl count as many table spoons of rice as the number of your capsicums adding 3 more.
Then, let's say, for the rice of 10 capsicums add 1 1/2 cups of tomatoes chopped into small pieces including their juice. I personally add as well a teaspoon of ketchup. If not, just add some suger. Then add a chopped onion, parsley, fresh or dry peppermint, oregano, salt, pepper and 2-3 tbl spoons of olive oil.

Gemista (Capsicum filled with rice)

Mix everything together and then fill in the capsicums with this mixture. Add the little hat on the top of every capsicum and put them in an order into an oven pan, spread on them some olive oil, add 2 glasses of water and bake at 180o C for around 45-60 minutes.

PS: You can also make the same exactly procedure using big mature tomatoes. Take out their flesh that you can use it later in the mixture of the rice, and then you have two vegies transformed into amazing and eye catching partners on a plate!

Enjoy!!!

Spetzofai (Villager's sausage)

Honestly, I'm not a big fan of sausages, but there are these spicy, big, not fat, and full of taste so-called villager's sausages that can tantalise the taste of any food!

Spetzofai (Villager's sausage)

Fry 1kg of green peppers cut into big pieces. Remove them from the pan.

Put the sausages in the same pan and fry them for 5-8 minutes. Remove them from the pan.

Fry one chopped onion and them add 1kg tomatoes chopped julienne. Season with salt, pepper and a bit of sugar. As soon as they boil well, add the green peppers and the sausages and cook for 15 minutes. 

The original spetzofai stops here. Now if you want you can add potatoes; fry them after the green peppers, remove them from the pan and continue as above.

Enjoy!!!

Beans in the oven

Greece, well, was never a rich country and that is why people had to find out creative and delicious ways to transform and present even the cheap legume into a delicatessen plate! Full of flavours and nutritional value!

Beans in the oven

Beans is one of the very traditional meals especially cooked as soup. Here, there is an ulternative way, cooked firstly as soup and then baked in  the oven.
Ah and of course, Feta cheese is the obvious lover of legumes!


In a big bowl with hot water, pour 1/2kg beans (big dry beans). Let them as they are overnight.
The next day,  fry a chopped onion and thin cut green pepper in 2 tbl spoons of olive oil in a deep pot. Add 4 chopped tomatoes, a bit of sugar, salt and pepper. Add the beans and cover them with water. As soon as they complete 2-3 rounds of boil (around 15minutes), add some fine chopped parsley and transfer the mixture into a round over pan. Sprinkle some dry peppermint. Bake in 200o C until the food "drinks" its water and only some juice is left over (around 30minutes).

Enjoy!!!

Spaghetti Bolognese a la greque(light and deli)

Spaghetti bolognese (light version)

Well, everyone knows how to boil spaghetti, and prepare some minced meat in a pan, with tomato sauce, olive oil, onion, garlic, salt-pepper-sugar and parsley... Add a bit of cinnamon and you're ready to go. Just make sure that you have cooked the meat enough and that you added a bit of olive oil in the boiling water for  the pasta so as not to stick.

Enjoy!!!

PS: If the above sounds actually complicated, just put everything in a pan, all together, add a glass (or 2 depending on how much meat you have) water and let it get done!!