Greek Chickpeas

The most simple and perfect snack. 

Ingredients: 

1 can of chickpeas 

1/2 red onion, chopped 

2 teaspoons of onion salt 

Pepper 

Extra virgin olive oil 

vinegar (optional) 

Directions: 

1. Open the can of chickpeas, drain the juice and discard. Place chickpeas in a medium bowl. 

2. Chop up half a red onion. Add to the bowl. 

3. Add onion powder. Drizzle with olive oil (a little less than 1/4 a cup). Sprinkle with pepper and mix well. Add more onion salt if needed. Drizzle with vinegar optional. 

Mint Braciole and Fresh Pasta

This is one of my favorite Sunday additions to sauce. My new favorite way to make this is by combining two of my dad's friend's recipes. Joe says classic garlic and cheese and Anthony says "add the mint." Hearing them in the background over the phone while my mom is going over the recipe with me is priceless. So I decided to combine all the ingredients and see how it would come out. It came out great. I served it with homemade pasta and a side of some fresh artichokes, roasted red peppers and olives. 

Ingredients: 

4 pieces of meat for Braciole 

1 bundle of mint, chopped 

2 teaspoons of pignoli nuts, chopped 

4 gloves of garlic, chopped 

4 teaspoons of parmeasean cheese  

Directions: 

1. Prepare your ingredients. Each braciole can be a little different. Start by adding about 1 teaspoon of the parmeasean cheese evenly over the first peice of meat.

2. Sprinkle your garlic, as little or as much as you want on top of the parmeasean. 

3. Add some pignoli nuts. 

4. Add some chopped mint leaves. 

5. Roll. Starting from one side begin to fold the meat over until it is all rolled up. 

6. Use two toothpicks to hold the roll in place. Repeat for the remaining peices of meat. 

7. In a pan on medium heat, brown the Braciole on each side. You can cover if you want to help cook thoroughly. 

8. After about 8 minutes when the meat starts to look cooked even in the innermost spiral, add it to your sauce to continue cooking. If you don't want to add it to the sauce, give it anther 2 minutes to make sure it is completely cooked. 

For the pasta: 

3 cups of flour 

4 eggs 

1. Combine ingredients. Knead. Place in refrigerator covered in Saran Wrap for an hour. 

2. Roll out dough. Roll through machine or cut by hand. 

3. To cook the pasta have a large pot of salted boiling water. It will cook very fast. 

4. Enjoy! 

American Pie

Unlike other pies, this pie I was going for looks instead of natural flavor and I needed to do it quickly because it was a last minute add on to a long list of Memorial Day dishes. Also, cherries are expensive so buying it in the can made it affordable. But if you choose to do it from scratch- just place the fruit, some sugar and cornstarch in a saucepan and boil it down. Continue the recipe from there.

Ingredients: 

For crust: 

2 1/2 cups flour

2 sticks of butter 

1 pinch of salt

1 tsp sugar

6 tsp of cold water 

For filling: 

1 1/2 cup of blueberry filling preserve 

2 21 ounce cans of cherry filling 

Directions: 

For the crust:

1. Can be found under the recipes for either berry or apple pie. 

2. For this pie. Take a peice of aluminum foil and place it into the pie as if it was reading 9 o'clock. This is to help seperate your fillings.

3.  Place the blueberry filling into the too left corner, holding the aluminum foil in place. 

4. In the remaining 3/4 of the pie, pour the cherry filling. 

5. Let sit in refrigerator for 5-10

Minutes. Remove the aluminum foil slowly. 

6. Cut 7 stripes and a few stars from the remaining pie dough. Arrange on pie

7. Using the remaining dough, form a crust around the pie in any decorative form you chose. 

8. Brush the stripes with a little bit (1-2 teaspoons) of milk so that they bake nicely. If they shrink that is ok the pie will still look great.  Cover the edges with aluminum foil. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes and then remove the foil. Brush crust lightly with 1-2 tablespoons of milk. Return to oven and continue to bake for 20-30 minutes until the crust is golden brown. 

Easter Leg of Lamb

The first day I realized I had the craziest family on the block, was Easter morning somewhere in the decade of 1990. When I looked outside into the yard I remember seeing my dad and grandpa on the grass, with long spearlike metal rods, and a whole dead lamb laying out on plastic. They had just gotten back from Sears with all new roasting rods. It was 6am. 

If you don't want to get a whole lamb and save some of your grass- this is a great way to keep up with tradition.

There are two people in my family who make leg of lamb the best. My uncle Chris and of course my cousin Christina. She is my twin in every way. I love her. 

Ingredients:
1 bone-in leg of lamb, 5-8 lbs depending on how many people you are serving (don’t forget the lamb will shrink!)
5 lbs potatoes, peeled and cubed
5 cloves of garlic, sliced in half
4 additional garlic cloves, smashed slightly
3 lemons
1 cup extra Virgin greek olive oil
1-2 cups chicken broth
Oregano
Salt and pepper
4 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced

Directions: 

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

2. Trim away most of the visible fat and silver skin. 

3. Make ten slits into the lamb with a pairing knife. You can make 5 slits on each side. Insert each half of the garlic clove into the lamb. 

4. Drizzle olive oil on to each side of the lamb and rub it in. (You shouldn’t need more than 1/4 cup). 

5. Season both sides with oregano, salt and pepper.

6. In a roasting pan, add the potatoes, the remainder of the oil, 1 cup of the chicken broth and lemon juice from the 3 lemons. Mix well. 

7. Spread the potatoes to the periphery of the pan and place the leg of lamb into the middle of the pan. 

8. Add one of the 4 additional smashed garlic cloves to each corner. Season the potatoes with salt and pepper. 

9. Add the seeded diced tomatoes around the pan.

***note*** If the liquid in the pan doesn’t reach to about half way up the lamb, add more chicken broth.

10. Slow roast in the oven for about 5 hours, turning the lamb over every hour.

Wait 20 minutes before carving. Enjoy. 

Greek Peas

Sometimes I only post hard recipes and forget that the simple ones are just as important and delicious! These are the things that keep me up at night and probably why I always dream of food! So here is a STAT midnight greek pea recipe on request- brought to you from my bed. This dish is also known as Arakas Kokinistos! 

Ingredients: 

2 lbs green peas 

16 ounce can of chopped tomatoes 

1 onion, chopped 

2/3 cup of olive oil 

2/3 cup water 

1 1/2 teaspoon of salt 

1 teaspoon of pepper 

A bunch of fresh dill, chopped. (Avoid using the stem of the fresh dill) 

Directions:

1. Heat olive oil on medium heat. Add onions and sautée until translucent. 

2. Add the peas and coat well in the oil. Try not to let the onions brown by mixing well. 

3. Add the tomato, dill, salt and pepper. Stir the sauce well. Bring to a boil while stirring to keep the bottom from burning. 

4. Once at a boil, lower heat to simmer for 45 minutes. Keep the lid halfway covering the pan. Serve and enjoy! 

Notes: 

-You can use frozen peas, just defrost for 20 minutes and rinse. 

-There are many variations, the longer you cook it the less chunky the sauce will be.  

-If you like dill- just keep adding it in. 

FYI 

-It comes out differently depending on who is making it, but this recipe is as good as I can get it considering no one measures! 

The importance of this dish is the oil, the use of only onion (no garlic!), and the dill. It is present on just about every holiday. It is often used as a side dish for everyday dinners. It is definetly a more exciting way to make peas and worth a try! 

Background: 

The base of this dish- of the oil, tomato and onion is called kokkinisto. That base can also be used when making meats such as chicken, beef or pork.

If you were using meat, instead of the dill, you would add something like cloves or cinnamon! 

Spanakorizo

Delicious recipe for traditional Greek rice. 

Ingredients: 

1 cup of basmati rice 

2 tablespoons of olive oil 

1/2 cup chopped onion 

1 tablespoon chopped garlic 

1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin 

1/2 pound of baby spinach 

2 cups of vegetable or chicken broth

4 tablespoons of fresh dill 

1/2 teaspoon of salt 

Fresh ground pepper 

Juice from one lemon 

Zest from one lemon 

Directions: 

1. Heat olive oil in a medium pan with a tightly fitted cover over medium high heat. Add onions 5-7 minutes until translucent. Add garlic and continue to sautée for another minute. 

2. Add the lemon zest, cumin, and spinach. Cover the pan and cook 3-5

minutes until the spinach wilts. 

3. Add rice, stock, half of the dill, salt, 3 turns of cracked pepper, and stir well. Bring to a boil. 

4. Reduce heat to a simmer, replacing lid on the pan. Cook 15-20 minutes until the rice is tender. 

5. Before serving, add the remaining dill and lemon and stir into the rice. 

Mom's Greek Lemon & Dill Chicken

You know what they say about a dish, if it's eaten with someone you love, then it will taste even better. I know my mom is a phenomenal cook, but it tasted ten times better cause we sat down and ate together. 

This recipe is a quick fix especially for cold nights! It reminds me most of my mom because I'm pretty sure she invented it.  It was always a nice surprise to come home from school and see it simmering on the stove. The aroma of the lemon and garlic you can smell first, and will have your mouth watering. Soon you will be asking "Mom, is it ready yet?" 

Ingredients: 

6 Chicken cutlets, pounded or sliced very thin

Flour batter: 

2 tablespoons of Flour 

1/4 teaspooon of Lemon pepper 

1/4 teaspoon of dried oregano 

1/4 teaspoon of Garlic powder 

1/4 teaspoon of dried thyme 

2 1/2 tablespoons of paprika 

2 1/2 tablespoons of dill 

2 cloves of garlic sliced 

3 cups of Chicken broth (or 3 bullion cubes and three cups of water). 

1 fresh squeezed lemon 

4 tablespoons of butter 

4 tablespoons of olive oil 

1/2 cup white wine 

Directions: 

1. Slice the 6 chicken cutlets thin. You will end up with 10-12 smaller, thinner pieces. 

2. Make a flour batter of flour, lemon pepper, thyme, and garlic powder. Coat each peice of chicken well. Set aside.

3. Sauté chicken peices in 4 tablespoons of olive oil and 2 tablespoons of butter on either side until brown. When turning the chicken, add 2 more butter tablespoons of butter. 

4. Add chicken stock to the pan. 

5. Add garlic slices, water, fresh lemon juice. 

6. Add paprika and dill to the top of each chicken peice. 

7. Simmer for an hour, half way covered. Serve over white rice. 

Enjoy!!!