Summer Greek Feast

This picture gives you the complete wrong impression that my son would actually eat all of this wonderful food. He won't. He'll eat the pita chips and hummus. The rest he will point at and say, 'no like this!'. 'sigh' - one day perhaps.
This Greek themed dinner included hummus, tzatziki, Greek Salad (all of which I've posted before), BBQ chicken skewers and pita chips.

BBQ Greek Chicken Skewers

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup Greek Seasoning

Chop the chicken into 1 inch cubes. Toss everything into a bowl, coating all your chicken pieces well with the seasoning. Thread the chicken cubes onto the skewers. BBQ until the meat is cooked through.



Seasoned Pita Chips

This recipe comes from Eat, Shrink and Be Merry by Janet and Greta Podleski. (Titled Bewedged)

1 1/2 tbsp dried rosemary
2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese (I used the shaker, not grated, it was fine)
3 6 inch pita rounds (with pockets)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter, melted
1/4 tsp each garlic powder and onion powder

Preheat oven to 350*. Crush the dried rosemary with your fingers and combine it with the Parmesan cheese in a small bowl. Set aside. Using a sharp knife or kithen scissors (I used a pizza cutter), cut each pita into 6 equal wedges (I thought these were too big so I cut them into 12). Peel back the layers so you end up with double the wedges. Place the wedges, rough side up, on a large baking sheet. Do not overlap (I ended up using 2 sheets). In another small bowl combine the melted butter and olive oil. Brush the olive oil mixture over all the wedges. Sprinkle wit the cheese/rosemary mixture. Bake on a middle oven rack for about 10 minutes. Watch that they don't burn! Excellent dipped in hummus!

Slow Cooked Lamb

Mmmmm, this turned out delicious! Absolutely the best lamb I can remember having. I just have to remember that I love slow cooked meat. So tender. Lamb has a tendancy to overcook and become tough easy, but not like this. Here's what I did:


1/2 cup red cooking wine
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp honey
2 cloves garlic (crushed)
1 tbsp dried rosemary

Mix these ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside.

1 lamb roast - I picked a leg roast (no bone), small enough to fit into a crockpot easily
4 cloves of garlic
tbsp flour
salt
pepper
1 tsp olive oil

Heat a frying pan with at a medium heat with a tsp olive oil. Slice 4 cloves of garlic up into 2mm slice. Poke holes into the meat with a steak knife, insert the garlic slices into the holes. Sprinkle salt and grate pepper all over the roast to season it. Dust it with flour and put in to the heated pan to sear (remember to wear and apron and be ready for spatters!). Turn meat to sear all sides.

Place seared lamb into the crockpot and drizzle your reserved wine mixture over the meat. Place lid on and turn onto low for 8-10 hours.

Greek Potatoes

I had a really good Greek potato recipe a while back, but I couldn't find it. I found this one online today to add to our meal.

Pita Bread

When we eat Greek, we use the Greek Pitas. These are are thicker and not hollow inside. Brush a little butter (or garlic butter on them). Toast or heat for a few minutes. Cut into triangles and serve with hummus, baba ganoush, or tzatziki.

Greek Chicken Cubes

I like these much better in summer when I can BBQ them on a skewer, but pan frying them is tasty too.

2 chicken breasts, chopped into 1 inch cubes (can use more chicken if serving for more people, usually it's just my husband, myself and our little picky eaters eating so 2 does fine for us)
Greek Seasoning Mix
1 tbps olive oil.

Heat olive oil in frying pan. Coat chicken cubes in seasoning (use enough until nicely coated). Fry chicken in pan, turning often until chicken is cooked (no pink left).

Greek Salad

Usually I use Renee's brand Greek dressing for this, but I was out, so I made up my own dressing. Here it is:

1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup Greek seasoning mix
1 tbsp oregano
(I'd probably crumble feta into this too, about 1/4 cup)

Mix everything together well. Makes 1 cup of dressing.

The Salad:

1/2 English cucumber, chopped into 1/2 inch chunks
1 tomato (I prefer Roma, but any tomato will do), cut into 1/2 inch chunks
1/2 green pepper, cut into chunks
kalamata olives, as many as you like (I don't like these, but my husband does)
1/2 cup crumbled feta
2-3 tbsp finely chopped red onion

Mix everything together. Add dressing (drizzle enough for your likeing) just before serving (salad gets soggy if sitting in dressing for a long time).

Spanikopita

Filling:

1 8 oz package of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled
1 egg
1/2 cup red onions, finely chopped
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp dried dill

Mix everything together well

Heat oven to 375*
Use thawed sheets of filo pastry (4). Brush olive oil on each sheet of filo dough. Cut each strip of filo into 3's (using knife edge). Put a spoonful of spinach mix at the end of each long strip and fold into triangles. Place each triangle on a baking sheet. Brush olive oil on top of each triange. Bake until golden brown. (about 15 minutes). Makes 12 triangles. *update, I started using a melted butter/olive oil mix to brush on the filo instead of just olive oil and it really makes what was good even better!

Tzatziki

1 Cup of plain yogurt. (I use Liberty brand mediterranian style, it's really thick and strain overnight with a cheese cloth to make it even thicker)
1/2 English cucumber, grated
1 clove garlic crushed
1-2 tsbp dried dill (I just skake it in until it looks right to me)
squirt of lemon juice

Mix all ingredients together. Make ahead of time to allow the garlic and dill to flavour nicely.

Serve with spanikopita, souvlaki, pita bread, falafel, or calamari

Hummus

1 Can of Chickpeas, drained
1/4 cup of mayo or sour cream (light if you prefer)
2 tbsp tahini
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 cloves crushed garlic
1/2 tsp sugar
a few dashes of dried corriander and cumin
salt and pepper to taste

Puree the chickpeas (I use a hand blender, but can be done in a food processor). Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until creamy. Make ahead of time to allow the flavours to come together. Serve with pita bread.