RECIPES FOR GREEK DISHES

                                     FENNEL BULB AND ARTICHOKE BAKE

   

1 kg (2 lb) 4 pieces fennel bulbs

3 medium-sized artichokes

2 carrot, scraped and cut into batons

1 lemon, halved

2 tbsp olive oil

3 soring onion, trimmed and finely chopped

2 fennel sprigs

2 dill sprigs

Salt and pepper to taste

Vegetable stock

A knob of butter to grease the dish

3 tbsp kasseri or Cheddar, thickly grated

3 tbsp San Mihalis or Parmesan, thinly grated

375 ml (1 ½ cup) cream

Chopped chives

 

Discard the hard leaves of the fennel bulbs and quarter them from stem to root, discarding the core.

 

Cut the stalks off the artichokes, strip off the hard outer leaves, trim the hearts, remove the choke, and quickly rub them with half a lemon and plunge them into the water with lemon juice to prevent them from discoloring.

 

Sauté the spring onions in olive oil for 2 minutes, in a large, flat saucepan, and sprinkle with a little salt.  Then, add the carrots, fennel bulbs and artichokes, sprinkle with a little salt, and sauté very gently for about 10 minutes on all sides.  Pour in enough hot stock to just cover the vegetables, add the herbs, cover the saucepan and simmer until the vegetables are tender but not falling apart.

 

Preheat oven to 180 C (350 F).  Transfer the vegetables with a slotted spoon and arrange them on a well-buttered baking dish. 

 

Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper and the two kinds of grated cheese, drizzle with cream and bake for 20 minutes.   Serve piping hot sprinkled with chopped chives, and crispy, brown bread.

 

 

                             CHICKEN WITH RICE AND MILANESE SAUCE

1 ½ kg (3 lb) chicken, skinned and cut into serving pieces

1 onion, peeled and studded with a clove

2 tender celery stalks with leaves

1 carrot, peeled and thickly sliced

1 bay leaf

Salt

6 peppercorns

 

Rice:

2 tbsp butter

1 small onion, peeled and grated

2 cups rice

80 ml (1/3 cup) dry white wine

800 ml (3 2/3 cups) hot, tasty chicken stock or more

 

Sauce:

3 tbsp butter

1 bay leaf

3 tbsp cornflour

500 ml (2 cups) warm, tasty chicken stock

2 egg yolks, beaten

3-4 tbsp low fat cream or stock

A pinch of nutmeg

1 tbsp lemon juice or according to taste

 

Thinly grated San Mihalis

 

Cover the chicken with salted water, bring to the boil and skim well.  Add the rest of the ingredients, cover and cook for 1 – 1 ½ hours until the chicken is tender.  Remove from the heat and cool.  Remove the bones from the chicken, strain and degrease the stock, and set aside.

 

Prepare the rice.  Sauté the onion, with 1 tbsp butter until almost soft.  Add the rice and stir for 1-2 minutes until well covered with butter.  Pour in the wine, stir and let it evaporate.  Then add the hot chicken stock, cover and simmer gently until the liquid has evaporated and the rice is cooked but not mushy, add the remaining butter and toss carefully with a fork.

 

For the sauce, melt the butter add the bay leaf, sift in the flour and stir for 3 minutes.  Add the hot stock, gradually, and whisk each time until the sauce bubbles and thickens.  Add the nutmeg, correct the seasoning, if necessary.  Remove the saucepan from the heat. Mix the egg yolks with the cream.  Stir a ladleful of sauce into the egg mixture and very slowly pour it back into the saucepan, whisking constantly.  Sprinkle with lemon juice and simmer very, very gently, stirring constantly until, well combined.

 

Arrange the chicken pieces in a heated serving dish, over a bed of rice.  Cover with some sauce and sprinkle with grated cheese.  Serve accompanied with the remaining, extra grated cheese and sauteed vegetables.          

 

 

                    PHYLLO POUCHES FILLED WITH VEGETABLES AND CHEESE

 

You can use any vegetables that combine well for this vegetarian dish.  Children just love it!

 

3 medium-sized courgettes, trimmed and sliced into thin rounds

2 large potatoes, peeled, cubed and parboiled in slightly salted vegetable stock

3 medium-sized carrots, cubed and parboiled in slightly salted vegetable stock

2 tender celery stalks, trimmed and chopped

2 spring onion, trimmed and finely chopped

1 clove garlic, peeled and bruised

125 g (1 cup) feta cheese, crumbled

2 tbsp grated San Mihalis

1/8 tsp Cayenne pepper

125 ml (½ cup) olive oil

6 sheets of phyllo pastry

2 tbsp fine dried breadcrumbs

6 chive leaves or

6 spring onion leaves, blanched

Melted butter

 

Sauté the courgettes, spring onions, celery and garlic in 2 tbsp of olive oil.  Add the potatoes and carrots and cook gently, until the vegetables are tender, using some of the stock in which the carrots and potatoes were cooked, if needed.

 

Sprinkle the vegetables with cheese, and stir until the feta melts, then sprinkle with Cayenne and stir again.  Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Discard the garlic.

 

Line an ovenproof dish with buttered baking parchment.  Fold each phyllo sheet in two breadthwise and cut it into two equal pieces.  Brush each piece with olive oil or melted butter.  Place one piece of phyllo on top of the other and sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Spoon 1/6 of the filling in the center of each crossed phyllo piece, bring the ends together and tie with a chive leaf or blanched spring onion leaves to form a pouch.

 

Brush the pouches with olive oil or melted butter and bake in an oven preheated to 190 C (375 F) until the pastry turns crisp and golden.  Serve with a salad of your choice.            

 

 

                                        COURGETTES AND CHEESE TART

                                 

Pastry:

100 g butter, at room temperature

60 g (2 oz) feta crumbled

60 g (2 oz) San Mihalis or Parmesan grated

180 g (4 oz) self-rising flour

 

A knob of butter for the dish

 

100 g bland kasseri or Emmenthal grated

100 g Graviera from Crete, grated

2 sliced of Greek ham, chopped

2 medium-sized courgettes, thickly grated

2 spring onions, trimmed and thinly sliced

1 tbsp dill, chopped

 

4 eggs, separated

250 ml (1 cup) cream

Freshly ground black pepper

 

Place all the ingredients for the pastry in a blender and pulse until the dough forms a ball around the hook.  Cover and refrigerate fir ½ hour.  Roll out the dough and line a buttered tart dish.  Prick the pastry sheet with a fork, cover with baking parchment and beans, and bake blind in an oven preheated to 180 C (350 F) for 12 minutes.  Discard the parchment and beans and set them aside to cool.  

 

Meanwhile, mix the 2 kinds of grated cheese with the chopped ham and place them in the pastry shell.  Sprinkle the courgettes, spring onions, and chopped dill evenly over.   Whip the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff.  Mix the egg yolks with the cream until well combined and sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper. Then fold the whipped egg whites gently into the yolk mixture and pour evenly over the vegetables and cheese, not the pastry!

 

Bake for 35-40 minutes in an oven [reheated to 180 C (350 F) until puffed and golden brown.