Recipe: Greek Feast
One of my favorite memories growing up was going to the Greek Festival in Santa Clara. The festival was always a great time: long lines of booths with crafts, music, and of course food. Mediterranean food may be my mother’s favorite so whether grabbing a quick bite at Yiasso, a small Greek fast food joint in San Jose, or a meal at Thea (before it closed) in Santana Row, we always have had Greek food at my house.
One of the things that I love about so many Greek dishes is that they go together so well. Rather than in France where side dishes generally can’t be swapped out, in Greek cuisine, you can combine just about any of the dishes together (this is obviously an exaggeration to make a point, but you get the idea). So when I do Greek food, I rarely do “one dish”. For this particular week, I decided to do Keftedes (Greek Lamb meatballs) and a form of Greek chicken. I served that with a roasted Greek vegetable salad, a version of Baba Ganoush, hummus, and tzatziki all with pita bread of course.
I admit the presentation leaves something to be desired here, but it feels and reminds me of that great street food I used to have that the Greek festival every year.
Enjoy!
Lamb Keftedes
Ingredients:
1 lb ground lamb
½ lb ground pork
1 tablespoon minced mint
½ tablespoon minced oregano
1 shallot chopped
3 garlic cloves
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon coriander
1 egg
½ cup of panko bread crumbs
½ teaspoon white pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil (plus more for brushing)
In a bowl, mix together lamb and pork, shallots, and garlic with your hands until it is combined. At that point in a separate bowl, crack the egg and whisk until homogeneous. Then add in panko bread crumbs, spices, olive oil, and herbs. Mix until the mixture is homogeneous. At that point, mix the bread and egg mixture into the lamb and pork. Combine, but not mixing too much. Then, form the ground meat around a skewer and place in the fridge covered for 30 minutes.
After thirty minutes, remove and brush with olive oil before placing on a preheated grill. Now… if you move them, they will FALL APART! You must let a crust form on a one side before turning it… actually rolling it over might be a better description. You want to roll it with as little force as possible. If it doesn’t roll, you haven’t let it cook enough on one side. It will release itself from the grill when it is caramelized. The rotate and continue to brown on all sides. You want to cook them to a medium-ish and them remove them allow to continue cooking with residual heat until they are a medium well. Brush once more with good olive oil.
Greek Chicken
Ingredients:
Your favorite cut of chicken, I like bone thighs and in this case they happen to be boneless but skin on, if you prefer bone in (it does taste better) you just need to cook them longer.
6 thighs
1 cup of good olive oil
1 lemon, juiced and crushed
1 tablespoon of mint chopped
1 tablespoon of oregano chopped
5 garlic cloves minced
1 teaspoon of salt
½ teaspoon of white pepper
In a bowl, mix together olive oil, lemon juice and the crushed lemons themselves, mint, oregano, garlic, salt and white pepper. Whisk together. Pour over chicken thighs and refrigerate for 6 hours.
Remove 30 minutes before you plan to cook. Preheat a grill. Grill the chicken on high heat, about 2 minutes a side or until they release. Be careful of flare ups because of the oil. The idea on the high heat is to form a crust. Then turn it over and do the same on the other side. Then move to a part of the grill that is less hot (always turn burners to different levels so that there are cool spots and hot spots on a grill).
Continue to cook until the chicken is well done but not over done. Remove from the heat and serve.
Roasted Greek Salad
1 pint cherry tomatoes
3 bell peppers
2 zucchini
1 lb asparagus
1 jar of marinated artichoke hearts
½ cup pitted kalamata olives
Olive oil
½ tablespoon mint, chopped
½ tablespoon oregano, chopped
Feta Cheese crumbles
Preheat Oven to 250 degrees. Take the cherry tomatoes and place on an aluminum foil lined baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place in the oven and roast for 2 hours. They should be shriveled and caramelized. Remove from the heat and toss with a pinch of the mint and oregano.
Meanwhile, preheat a grill. Remove the woody end of asparagus, slice zucchini into strips. Then drizzle the peppers, asparagus, and zucchini slices with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Place on the grill and grill each of them. The peppers will take the longest. You want to really char the skin so it is almost entirely black. The asparagus will take the least amount of time. When the vegetables are done, remove and place on a tray to hold until after.
When the peppers are done, place in a paper bag or a bowl with plastic wrap over it so that their heat causes them to steam. The steam will cause the skin to separate from the flesh of the pepper. Allow them to cool, then remove the skin with a knife and cut into strips.
Finally, drain the kalamata olives and artichoke hearts. Combine everything in a bowl and drizzle with olive oil, herbs, and feta cheese.
Baba Ganoush
Ingredients:
1 large eggplant
1 teaspoon of cumin
½ cup good olive oil
1 teaspoon of red wine vinegar
½ tablespoon of mint
1 teaspoon DRIED oregano
1 teaspoon tahini
2 garlic cloves minced
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper or hot paprika
Salt
Begin by slicing the eggplant and brushing with olive oil. Once it is brushed, it must go on the grill. Eggplant is like a sponge and will absorb the olive oil quickly. I also don’t like to add salt at this point because it causes the eggplant to release its water and steam rather than grill. Grill eggplant on each side for 3-4 minutes depending on the thickness of the slice. The eggplant should be cooked through but still moist and tender inside. Remove and allow to cool.
Cut the eggplant into large chunks (you could puree it, but I prefer it this way). Mix oil with red wine vinegar and tahini and then drizzle that over the eggplant. Add in mint, oregano, garlic, crushed red pepper, salt. Toss. Allow to sit. It may need more olive oil.
Hummus
Ingredients:
1 can of garbanzo beans or chickpeas (you could make from fresh but that takes forever as garbanzo beans are one of the few that don’t do well with a quick soak, you have to do it overnight)
1 tablespoon of tahini paste
1 lemon juiced
2 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon of cumin
½ tablespoon of salt (or to taste. I find that hummus needs a lot of salt but the tahini can be salty so use your judgement)
Black pepper
½ cup of olive oil (it may not be this much… it may be more… you need to drizzle it until the hummus is the right consistency)
In a food processor, toss in whole garlic cloves and pulse until finely minced. Then add in drained garbanzo beans, tahini paste, the juice of a lemon, cumin, a sprinkle of salt (we will salt again at the end). And pulse until it is a thick paste. Then begin drizzling in olive oil. Continue drizzling until the hummus is a lose paste like consistency. This is as loose as it will get, it will tighten in the fridge so make sure it is loose. Taste and add salt and pepper.
Tzatziki
Ingredients
½ cup of greek yogurt, plain, strained
½ cup of sour cream
2 garlic cloves minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon minced mint
½ cucumber grated
½ teaspoon cumin
Salt and Black pepper to taste
1 lemon, juiced
Begin by taking the cucumber and grating it on a cheese grater. Then place in a towel and squeeze the water out of it over a sink. It will take a couple times as there is a lot of water.
In a bowl mixed together the yogurt (which has been strained in a cheese cloth over night, ideally), sour cream, 2 garlic cloves minced, cucumber, mint, cumin, lemon juice, and salt and pepper. Mix together. Place in the refrigerator for an hour. Serve.
