In continuation to my earlier article on Greek Cuisine
Greek food is somewhere in between Turkish/Middle Eastern food and Italian food. Most of the meats are grilled or roasted and most of the veggies are cooked in olive oil (fried or stewed).
Two ingredients that are common in Greek food might be perceived by some people as being bitter. Personally I don’t find them bitter, but they are:
Greek It’s a strong robust oregano, often used in generous amounts.
I’ve never understood why some people think of lemon as bitter. Bitter and sour are really opposites with respect to Ph values.
On a dish such as Greek chicken with oregano, olive oil and lemon, the oregano intensifies and becomes a bit more bitter as it bakes. The acidity of the lemon however helps to neutralize the alkaline bitterness. The essential step for this is basting. Greek chicken should be basted twice while cooking and once before serving. If you’ve cooked this and it was bitter, my first guess was that you didn’t baste.
Greek roasted lemon chicken with potatoes, properly basted.
~Jan Soloven, Trained chef, organic gardener, and experienced eater.
You may serve this with Tzatziki Sauce. Tzatziki sauce is an easy and tasty recipe, typical in Greece, and very popular in the neighbouring countries
Here is how to make it?
Greek food combines the freshest of ingredients from land and sea.
Greek lasagna, called pastitsio, is usually made with a tubular noodle such as penne rather than lasagna noodles. But it’s the white, creamy sauce that really sets this dish apart. The sauce is called béchamel and makes this Greek lasagna impossible to resist.
Pastichio (also spelled “pastitsio”) is like lasagne, but a big difference is using long tubes of macaroni, maccheroncelli, instead of flat layers of pasta, with a milk/cheese sauce.
The ingredients:
-2 pounds ground beef
-1 pound maccheroncelli
-1 small chopped onion,
-1 clove of garlic minced
-3 medium tomatoes chopped
-Chopped parsley
-Whites of two eggs
-About a stick of butter
-3/4 cup white wine (my mom used white zinfandel)
-Grated kefalograviera cheese (substitute parmesan or romano if you don’t have it)
-2 eggs with 2 additional egg yolks from the egg whites above (for four egg yolks total in this part)
Method–
Chop the ingredients listed above. Separate two egg yokes from the whites. Put the two egg whites in one bowl and the two yokes in another bowl that also has two whole eggs.
Boil a pound of the maccheroncelli pasta and add salt in it. Turn the heat to about medium on a large pot. Melt about half a stick of butter in the pan and add the chopped onions. Stir them and let it cook for a few minutes. Crumble 2 pounds of ground beef and add it to the pan and stir it (Trader Joe’s ground beef is my favorite). Add the minced garlic clove to the pan. Add pepper, salt, and keep stirring.
Drain the maccheroncelli and put it back in the pot. Put about 1/3 of a stick of butter in the pot with the maccheroncelli. Add tomatoes, parsley, and white wine to ground beef once it’s brown and stir. Let it cook for 45 minutes on a medium-low flame. Add a little salt to the pasta if you like and stir.
In a large pan, turn on the heat and melt one stick of butter in it. Gradually add 3/4 cup of flour to the pan and stir it thoroughly. Pour in the 4 cups of milk and stir it until it’s thick, but do not let it boil.
Add pepper, salt, and a little nutmeg to the milk and stir.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees to bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Turn off heat to the ground beef after 45 minutes. Turn off heat to milk sauce when it’s thick.
Put some grated kefalograviera cheese into the milk and stir it. After it’s cooled down a little, beat the 4 eggs and add it to the sauce and stir. Add egg whites to ground beef mixture after it has cooled somewhat and stir it.
Put a layer of the pasta on the bottom of a baking pan like lasagna, then spread grated kefalograviera. Pour all the meat mixture onto the pasta and even it out. Put a layer of pasta on top of the meat and spread more grated kefalograviera cheese evenly. Then pour the milk sauce on the entire thing and spread the cheese evenly on top of the sauce.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour (my mom did one hour). Let it cool for at least 30 minutes. And you’re done!
If you are on planning to visit Israel, then you must go through this food tour by Mark Wiens–
Abu Hassan –
Located in a peaceful area of Jaffa, this restaurant is always packed and busy full of people hungry for hummus, ful, and musabaha. it’s truly a legendary place and the hummus was of the sticky and smooth variety. I think my favourite thing was the musabaha, like hummus, but with whole chickpeas. They also offer a mix of hummus, ful, and musabaha all in a single bowl which is excellent. Total price – 72 ILS ($20.95)
An Iraqi Jewish food in Israel, sabich is a pita filled with eggplant and hard-boiled eggs, and a selection of salad and condiments. David says that there’s no doubt Sabich Tchernichovsky makes the best sabich in Israel, and I was very impressed. He assembled the pita so slowly and perfectly, adding layer upon layer of eggplant, egg, and salad. It was truly one of the best vegetarian (but with egg) sandwiches I’ve ever had. Price – 21 ILS ($5.87)
Falafel Johnny Benin –
Next to Sabich Tchernichovsky, is Falafel Johnny Benin, a legendary Tel Aviv falafel hole in the wall restaurant. I ordered a half of a falafel sandwich, with salad and tahini. It was delicious and freshly cooked. Half falafel pita – 9 ILS ($2.51)
Carmel Market, Tel Aviv –
Carmel Market is one of the most well-known of all open-air flea markets in Tel Aviv. You’ll find everything there, including a nice food section. HaBasta Restaurant – Located on a side street of Carmel Market, is HaBasta, a gourmet market fresh restaurant. They served us some very fresh and interesting dishes. The crab was delicious, and the fried veal brain was amazing, but I especially loved the cherry salad. Total price – 400 ILS ($111.72)
Pronto Restaurant –
Owned by the renowned Chef David Frankel, Pronto is a refined Israeli Italian and Mediterranean restaurant. The food was extremely high quality, and the flavours were very subtle and delicious. We were planning to pay for our meal, but David knows the chef very well, and Chef David wouldn’t allow us to pay. Delicious high-end gourmet food.
Jasmino, Tel Aviv –
This was probably my favourite food on this entire Israeli food tour of Tel Aviv, Jasmino, specializing in grilled meat pita. The owner, another extremely kind man, ordered me the sweetbreads pita, grilled thymus and bottom part of lamb throat glands, with salad and tahini. It was extraordinary. My kind of place. Price – 28 ILS ($7.82) And that completed our Tel Aviv food tour! –
Transport yourself to a tropical paradise with these luscious mango recipes.
All you need to do is bring home some succulent mangoes to prepare these innovative and easy-to-make recipes to relish.
Following are few of avant-garde mango recipes for summer!
Kairi Murgh Tikka or Mango Chicken Tikka
Ingredients
Chicken leg boneless 180 gms.,
Raw mango 100 gms,
Ginger 10 gms,
Garlic 10 gms,
Green chilli 8 gms,
Salt 5 gms,
Turmeric powder 5 gms,
Garam masala 2 gms,
Jeera powder 5 gms,
Lemon 10 gms,
Besan 20 gms,
Egg 1,
Mint 15 gms,
Coriander 20 gms,
Curd 100 gms.
Procedure
Make the marinade by mixing all the ingredients. Boil the mangoes and make a puree of it. Now add chicken and keep it overnight.
Arrange marinated chicken on a skewer and cook it in tandoor of an oven. Serve hot.
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MANGO PHIRNI
Ingredients
1 litre milk
½ cup mango puree
1 tablespoon rice, soaked for 1 hour
3-4 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon green cardamom powder
1½ tablespoons finely chopped mixed nuts (almonds and pistachios)
¼ cup chopped mango Mango slices for garnishing
Method
1. Boil milk in a deep non-stick pan.
2. Grind rice into a smooth mixture, add to boiling milk, mix and cook until reduced. Add sugar and mix till it melts.
3. Switch off heat, add green cardamom powder, mixed nuts, chopped mangoes and mango puree and mix well.
4. Put in individual serving bowls and refrigerate to chill.
5. Serve chilled garnished with mango slices.
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Mango Kulfi
Mango kulfi is an easy Indian mango ice cream and this recipe does not require any cooking, so easy!!
Ingredients:
Mango Puree: 1 cup or 1 1/2 cups chopped Alphonso mango
