Unpacking the "boxes"

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In with the greens!

After a long, cold and dark winter, the spring seems to make an appearance slowly! First the blue skies, then the blossoming flowers and of course the delights of the longer days.
As the winter blues are going away our diet changes too. Its time for some greens and lighter dishes.
A lovely Spinach Pie came to mind after a friend asked for the recipe. The spinach pie reminds me of home as my mum is the queen of pies, since she owns a shop where she makes pastries as such.
The recipe I make is a slightly altered version of my mums recipe. The reason of alteration is that I do find that the spinach I can get here in the UK is rather bland in taste, so I need to give the recipe some extra flavours. Thats where my lovely leeks come in handy. Not a spring vegetable but helps!


Spanakopita - spinach filo pastry pie


1 bunch of spring onions
500gr frozen spinach
2 medium size leeks - avoid the huge ones they are just bitter and we need sweetness
1 bunch of fresh dill
2 eggs
1 block of feta cheese
1 packet of Filo Pastry
2 cups of olive oil
salt pepper to taste

Instead of frozen spinach you can use fresh but you will need 1kg as the frozen one is already partly cooked so half of the moisture is gone. Before you start you recipe thaw your spinach in a colander so the juices can leave and that reduces the cooking time needed

Heat a pan with some olive oil. Chop the leeks and the spring onions and through in the pan so they start sweating. 

Once that is done through in the spinach and cook all the greens till the liquid that came out of the spinach is gone. 

Before you are ready to turn of the heating put some salt and some pepper and the finely chopped dill. Herbs at the end so they keep the full flavour. If you wish you can also add a table spoon of finely chopped mint but this is not really part of my recipe.

As I mentioned above, the leeks are not part of the original spanakopita. But they do add sweetness and flavour. We do actually make another pie solely with leeks instead of spinach.

Leave the mixture to cool down and that also gives you time to see if there is any liquid left. If there is you can put some fine semolina to thicken it. The semolina will pick the liquid and expand and also give more volume to the mix. Add the two eggs and the feta cheese which you either crumbled or diced and mix.

I mentioned to wait till the filling is cold because if its too hot the eggs will possible cook and the cheese will melt and you want that to happen in the over not in your pan! 

Now it time for the filo pastry to go in the tray. In this occasion I found pastry in an Arab super market and that is for Baclava and this one is drier thinner and stays more crunchy.  Brush some olive oil to cover all the tray and lay your first filo to cover the one side, brush with oil and add the next one. You need to make sure that every part of the tray is covered with pastry and every sheet is brushed with oil before you add the next one on top

Layer about half of the pastry you have and then add the filling as by this time it would have cooled down.

Finally add the last of your pastry, one sheet at a time and make sure that you do not forget to brush with oil. All the pastry that was hanging from the rim of the tray can go on top now as you can see on the photos below. The remaining oil can be mixed with some water and poured on top of the pie.

The water helps the pastry to be more crunchy!

Preheat the oven to 170°C -330°F and place the pie in the middle of the oven. If you have fan assisted oven place it on the setting up and down heat and fan.

The pie should  cook for about 40-50 minutes till its golden on top and bottom. I used a pyrex dish that helped me see if the bottom is cooked as I haven't made a pie in this oven before.
Your pie should look like this!

You can serve it cold, warm, straight from the oven, for breakfast or dinner, on its own or with a dollop of Greek Yogurt on the side. The ultimate greek way would be with a glass of chocolate milk! (www.milko.gr)

No matter how you serve it, make sure you share it and enjoy it!!

The Feast of all Feast

As the late Keith Floyd said on his trip to Corfu, the Greek Easter is "..the Feast of all Feasts". And he was right.
If there is one day in the year that is more important of all, religiously and culinary, is Easter Sunday.
After 40 days of lent and the strictly vegetarian diet, that the Greek Orthodox people usually follow during that period, Easter Sunday is an endless feast of meat and rich food!

Kalo Pascha

For this blog I will include the recipe for the Easter soup we eat (Magiritsa) which includes mainly offal and I will also add some photos from the preparation. I will add a second blog with the roasted lamb and some dips/salads that we usually have on the Greek table.

I am sure that many people will find the soup something out of a horror book... but I can assure you that I have found similar dishes in many cultures. It is of an acquired taste I admit, but for me this soup is what screams "Easter in Greece" more than anything! This recipe has many variations but that is what I am used to from home.

Here it goes!

It is usually made for at least 6 people as the Easter lunch or dinner is a family affair and the more the merrier!

Magiritsa
Ingredients

1-1,2 kg lamb offal
This includes hearts, liver, kidneys, sweetbreads anything offal. I used a heart and liver and kidneys.
We use lamb as this gives the true taste of Easter.
Picture not included for these ingredients for people with a sensitive disposition. But if you feel sick even with the thought of offal please stop reading now!

2 big Romaine lettuces
2 bunches of spring (salad) onions
a bunch of dill
olive oil
salt, pepper to taste

We chop all the offal into bite size chunks. You can ask your butcher to do it for you. Since offal is not the easiest thing to find in this country order from a good butcher well in advance!! The Foodhall in Selfridges has a fabulous butcher, a bit on the pricier side but great quality and they do offal which is fantastic. Borough Market is good too on Saturdays, Tuesdays and Fridays, although I found that liver costs more than fillet there, so I did not leave my custom (£24 per kilo).

You need to brown the meat with some olive oil in a big pot.

Once this is done, you need to pour water to cover the meat and start boiling. Remove the foam that will be created on the top with a slotted spoon.

After about 40 minutes of gentle boiling (top up with water -its a soup after all) chop your greens ready to be added in the soup. Small chunks of onions, roughly chopped lettuce.

Add them at once but wait for the dill to be added almost at the end.

The greens need to be cooked for another 15 minutes at least and then you can add the finely chopped dill.

Continue to cook for another 10 minutes and add the olive oil at the end and take off the heat. The oil should not be much, about two espresso cups.

And here is how it should look like. Now you have 3 options for the finishing touches. You can just add lemon, make lemon sauce or Augolemono which is a lemon sauce with egg. The way I listed the options, goes from light to heavier! 

Augolemono sauce
1 large egg,
2 lemons,
liquid from the soup

(The egg can be replaced with corn flour to make it lighter and create a basic white lemon sauce.)

Beat the egg, start pouring the juice of the lemon. Then take some of the liquid from the soup.

Do not use boiling liquid that will cook your egg to a lemony omelette ...

Gently combine all the liquid whilst whisking, add more of the soup liquid. 

Once the mix is smooth and no curdles have been formed pour into the soup and bring to the boil. Do not forget to stir the soup to avoid curdling. 

You can add less or more lemon according to taste.

Serve immediately and let the Easter Feast begin!!

Kali oreksi!