Tag Archives: Greek

May 31 2012
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Recipes

Greek Chicken Salad

Easy, but still delicious, dinners are the best. Last night was one of those nights where I was hungry coming home from work, but not in the mood to make a huge meal. Additionally, I had a rotisserie chicken left over from the day before that I wanted to use up. Solution? Clean all the meat off the chicken, and create something tasty with ingredients already in my pantry! If you ask any of my friends, they will tell you Mediterranean is by far my favorite genre of food. This means I always have staple ingredients such as Greek yogurt, feta, or olives in the house (this recipe could’ve used some kalamata olives but I was out!). Therefore, my rotisserie chicken was transformed into my version of Greek chicken salad!

Greek Chicken Salad:

3 tablespoons EVOO

Juice of half a lemon

Kosher salt and pepper

Leftover chicken meat from rotisserie chicken (I had everything left but the breasts and drumsticks), in chunks or shredded

2 mini cucumbers, very thinly sliced into half-moons

1/2 a small Vidalia onion

2 tablespoons of dill

1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt (you may need more)

Block of feta cut into chunks

Pita pockets

Arugula for garnish

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine the oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Fold in the chicken, cucumbers, onion, dill, and yogurt. Taste and adjust seasonings and add yogurt if it is too dry. Cut pita pockets in half, stuff with shards of feta, then chicken salad. Top with arugula and enjoy!

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May 09 2012
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Recipes

Greek Quinoa Salad

I meant to post this recipe a while ago (2 months ago, in fact), but clearly life got in the way. Between work and friends and everything else, I have been so busy and have sadly neglected the blog a bit. However, I am back and have cooked a lot in the lapsed time! This means many posts to come. This recipe for Greek Quinoa Salad is the one I made when my girlfriends came over a few months ago for wine night. It is fresh and very herbsious, which I love. It has very fresh notes when you bite into a cucumber or tomato, and a nice tang from the calamatta olives. I highly recommend making a large batch of this: it is great to much on as a snack or bring for lunch throughout the week (and nothing is better than having lunch prepared a week in advanced when you work!).

Greek Quinoa Salad

Ingredients

2 Cucumbers, diced

1 pint of grape tomatoes, halved

Scallions, diced

1 can chick peas

½ cup chopped calamatta olives or black olives

Handful of chopped fresh parsley

Handful of chopped fresh basil

Crumbled feta cheese

2 cup Quinoa

4 cups chicken broth

½ cup Olive oil

½ cup Red wine vinegar

Juice of one lemon

1/8 tsp garlic powder

1/8 tsp cumin

1/8 tsp coriander

1/8 tsp turmeric

1/8 tsp paprika

1/8 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

Directions:

Mix all vegetables and herbs in a large bowl, set aside.

In a saucepan heat over medium/high a tablespoon of olive oil add the quinoa and a little bit of each of the spices (last 6 ingredients), sautee for about a minute and add the chicken broth and fresh lemon juice. Heat on high, when it comes to a boil, crack the heat down to a simmer and cover the pot (from this point, cook according to your quinoa box’s directions).

While it’s simmering whisk together 1/2 cup of olive oil and 1/4 cup of vinegar with salt and pepper (to taste). Pour the dressing over all of the vegetables and mix them together.

When the quinoa is done fluff it with a fork and let cool.

Mix the quinoa in with the vegetables.

To serve: top with the feta cheese

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Feb 05 2012
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Recipes

Wednesday Wine Night

Earlier this year, a small group of my girlfriends decided we wanted a regular gathering every month or so. Thanks to Jordy, ‘Wednesday Wine Night’ began in the Fall! The idea is simple: every 4-6 weeks a different person in the group would have everyone over, serve wine, and prepare some offerings to snack on. Though I am allergic to wine, and we do not always meet on a Wednesday, this has been a great way to have a relaxing night with girlfriends. This past Monday the group came over to my apartment, which I took as an opportunity to try and wow everyone with my food. The menu consisted of:

  • Homemade sun-dried tomato hummus with veggies
  • Herb crusted sweet potato bites
  • Greek quinoa salad
  • Roasted red pepper pizza with a splash of balsamic
  • Lots and lots of wine & desserts

Thankfully, my wonderful friends loved the meal! I had been nervous about the pizza because it was the first time I used a real pizza pan, but the crust came out perfectly crisp. Everyone enjoyed the sweet potato bites because they were something tasty and different. One of the best compliments to the chef was when a few people asked for the recipes! Most importantly, everyone had a great time with each other chatting about life and nibbling the food.

For now, feast your eyes on some photos from the evening. Recipes to come individually!

Herb Crusted Sweet Potato Bites

Greek Quinoa Salad

Roasted Red Pepper Pizza

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Jun 26 2011
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Old Blog, Recipes

Greek Shrimp & Couscous

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Ingredients

·         1 (10-ounce) package couscous

·         2 teaspoons olive oil

·         1 pound frozen shrimp, thawed, peeled and de-veined

·         1 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes  with green pepper and onion, drained

·         1/2 cup Greek black olives, pitted and chopped

·         1 tablespoon dried mint leaves

·         1 teaspoon garlic and herb seasoning

·         1 teaspoon dried oregano

·         Salt  and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

In a medium saucepan, cook couscous according to package directions. In a separate pan, add olive oil and shrimp. Add tomatoes, olives, mint, garlic and herb seasoning, and oregano. Simmer for about 3 to 5 minutes to cook shrimp and heat through. Season, to taste, with salt and black pepper. Pour over couscous and serve.

Recipe from: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/robin-miller/greek-shrimp-and-couscous-recipe/index.html

This was very delicious and simple. I made this dinner with my roomate and we both enjoyed it. We used a can of diced tomatoes but not with peppers and onion. As a side dish we had roasted broccoli which is very simple.

Broccoli:

Cut broccoli into small pieces and spread out on a baking sheet. Drizzle EVOO and sea salt or kosher salt over broccoli and put in the oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until done to your liking (personally, I think it is best when it is slightly burned).

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Jun 26 2011
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Old Blog, Recipes

Greek Baked Chicken in Yogurt

I went home this weekend and Meemah (my grandmother) bought be a cookbook! The book is called Pure Simple Cooking by Diana Henry. Just looking through the book got me very excited because so many of the recipes sound wonderful! The first recipe I made is as follows:

Greek Baked Chicken in Yogurt

4 large chicken breasts, skin removed

salt and pepper

olive oil

1 large onion, finely chopped

16 oz greek yogurt

2 large egss, beaten

2 tbsp all purpose flour

2 oz feta cheese, crumbled

2 tbsp chopped fresh dill

leaves from 2 to 3 mint sprigs, torn

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

1. preheat the over to 350 degrees F. season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper and quickly brown them in a couple of tbsp of olive oil over medium heat- you just want a good outside color, not to cook the chicken through. remove these and set aside. saute the onion in the same pan- ass a little more oil if needed- until soft and just turning golden.

2. combine yogurt, eggs, flour, feta, dill, mint, and garlic in a large bowl and mix well.

3. lay the onion and the chicken in the bottom of an overproof dish into which everything will fit snugly. spread the yogurt mixture evenly on top and sprinkle with parmesan.

4. bake for 45 minutes. the yogurt will have set, and the chicken should be cooked through.

This was a very interesting recipe to try. I love Greek food, so I was really excited to make some myself. First off, I used 4 oz of Feta, which I don’t believe made too much of a difference. The dish came out great. I will admit at first when I saw it I thought visually it looked gross. But when I and my friends dug in, it was surprisingly good! I am used to having Greek food with regular yogurt, not baked. The yogurt topping on the chicken gets a very interesting texture, which took me a few bites to get used to. Overall, I really enjoyed this dish and would make it again! As a side dish I made sauteed spinach which went great because spinach is used in a lot of Greek food!

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