Showing posts with label greece. Show all posts
Showing posts with label greece. Show all posts
Olympic Cooking 2018 - Day 1, Greece
The Olympics have rolled around again.  I was kind of hoping to take the year off, but the kids have grown up with us cooking around the world during the Olympic games over the last 10 years and the older two practically begged me to continue.  It's getting tougher to pick out recipes.  We have more dietary restrictions than previous years with one child following a diabetic meal plan, not eating red meat, and eating chicken under duress, but after hours of researching recipes and traditional foods, I think we are set.

So, night one of Olympic cooking followed our tradition of starting the Olympics with the location where the games began - Greece.  Tonight's menu was chicken souvlaki and 
yellow split pea puree (fava).  




I had high hopes for tonight.  The marinade for the chicken smelled wonderful and I thought that I would really like the fava based on the ingredients.  Instead, the chicken was just okay and the fava was very bland.  I am pretty sure that I messed up the fava a bit because I added too many peas, so I may make it again at a later point to see if that was the problem.  I served the fava with some raw veggies.  Anyway, the kids ate everything except the mushrooms without complaint, so that's a positive.  

 Both the recipe for the chicken souvlaki and the fava came directly from the Girl Cooks World blog. I've copied them both here while adding my own comments into the directions.  For the original recipes, please follow the links.

Chicken Souvlaki

Ingredients:

 1/2 cup olive oil
 1/4 cup lemon juice
 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
 4 cloves of minced garlic
 1 tsp dried oregano
 3 chicken breasts, cut into chunks
 2 green peppers, cut into large chunks
 1 red onion, cut into large chunks
 8 ounces fresh button mushrooms
 skewers (metal or wooden, whichever you prefer)

Directions:

Combine the olive oil, lemon juice, red wine vinegar, minced garlic and oregano in a large bowl and stir to combine. I use a large Tupperware container.  Salt and pepper to taste. Add chicken to marinade and refrigerate for 3-4 hours. If you are using wooden skewers, soak them in water while the chicken is marinating.
After marinating, alternate the chicken with the sliced peppers, onions and mushrooms on the skewers.  I tend to like my mushrooms a bit less done when grilled so I put all the mushrooms on a separate skewer. Brush with the leftover marinade and grill.  The recipe said approximately 5 minutes per side, but we found it took a bit longer than that.  You want to grill until the chicken is done and the veggies are slightly charred.   Once done, serve immediately.


Greek Fava

Ingredients:

1-1/4 cups dried yellow split peas
3 shallots, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup plus 1 TBSP olive oil, divided
2 TBSP lemon juice
2 TBSP chopped green onions
1/2 tsp dried thyme
salt and pepper

Directions:

Rinse the split peas and put in a large saucepan and over with several inches of cold water. Bring to a boil on the stove top, and then reduce heat and simmer, skimming if necessary, until the peas are very soft.  This took about 40 minutes for us, so plan accordingly.
While the peas are cooking, heat a TBSP of olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat and saute the shallots and garlic until lightly browned. Remove from heat.
Drain the cooked peas, reserving the cooking liquid if you desire. Transfer the peas to a food processor, add the shallots, garlic, 1/4 cup olive oil, and lemon juice and process until smooth. If the mixture is too thick for your taste, add a little of the reserved bean liquid.
Add the green onions and thyme and season with salt and pepper to taste, stirring by hand. Transfer to a bowl and top with oregano and an extra drizzle of olive oil, if desired.
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Olympics 2014 - Greek Night
It's OLYMPIC time again!  Once again, I am planning on cooking a meal from a different country each night during the Olympics.  We started this as a way to learn more about countries other than the United States and to expand our palette.  Please keep in mind that I culled all the recipes together, illiciting ideas from Facebook friends and Pinterest boards.  I am the complete opposite of a professional chef.  In fact, I do not like to cook at all.  I guess that's another reason I took on this task.  It forces me to cook things I would otherwise never attempt.

It's the first full day of the Sochi Olympics and my intent was to cook our Russian food tonight.  Alas, in between grocery shopping for our two weeks of ethnic cooking, picking up and then sorting 130+ boxes of Girl Scout cookies for delivery, shoveling another 4 inches of snow from the driveway, and helping kids complete their generic Valentines (I just don't have the time or energy to make homemade this year!), I neglected to make the dough in time.  When I finally got around to getting the ingredients out, I realized that the dough would need to rise for about 2 hours and then set for another 30 minutes or so before I could even cook.  So, we changed gears and decided it would make sense to begin our Olympic cooking with Greece, instead.

For dinner we had Kolokythokeftedes and Greek Marinated Chicken.

 

We made the marinade for the chicken first.  The girls wanted to help with the process and worked on adding the ingredients while I chopped herbs.  It was fine, but after one measurement error (TBSP vs tsp), I decided they needed a little more supervision, thus making the process a little longer.


While the chicken was marinating, Boo and I whipped up a batch of zucchini balls or
Kolokythokeftedes. The recipes for both dishes are listed below.

Verdict:  The kids really liked the flavor of the chicken and seemed to enjoy the Kolokythokeftedes, too.  Ebabe wasn't overly enthusiastic about the fried outside part, but gobbled up the insides.  Guess this might be a good way to get them to eat their vegetables!

GREEK CHICKEN MARINADE (recipe from Budget Bytes)
Ingredients
  • 1 cup plain yogurt
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • ½ Tbsp dried oregano
  • 1 medium lemon
  • ½ tsp salt
  • freshly cracked pepper
  • ¼ bunch fresh parsley
  • 3½ to 4 lbs chicken pieces
To make the marinade, combine the yogurt, olive oil, minced garlic, oregano, salt, and some freshly cracked pepper in a bowl. Use a fine holed cheese grater or a zester to scrape the thin layer of yellow zest from the lemon skin into the bowl. Also add the juice from half of the lemon (about 1-2 Tbsp). Stir until the ingredients are well combined. Roughly chop a big handful, or about ¼ bunch, of parsley and stir it into the marinade.

Add the chicken pieces and marinade to a gallon sized zip top bag. Remove as much air as possible, close the bag tightly, and massage the bag to mix the contents and make sure the chicken is well coated. Refrigerate the bag for 30 minutes.

After marinating for 30 minutes, cook the chicken on a grill.

 

KOLOKYTHOKEFTEDES  (original recipe from Closet Cooking)

Ingredients
  • 2 zucchinis, grated and squeezed to remove as much liquid as you can
  • 1/4 cup of crumbled feta
  • 1 clove garlic, chopped
  • 2 green onions, sliced
  • a few table spoons of freshly chopped dill and parsley
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • approximately 1/2 cup flour
  • 2/3 cup Panko breadcrumbs
  • oil for frying
Mix the zucchini, feta, garlic, green onion, herbs and egg.  Lightly season with salt and pepper.





Mix in enough flour and breadcrumbs (we used about 2/3 cup of Panko bread crumbs and 1/2 cup of flour) that you can work with the mixture to form balls.  Form the mixture into balls and dust in flour.
 


Fry in oil until golden brown.



The remove from pan to cool and serve warm!


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