Geia sas fíloi mou! (that's Greek for "hello my friends".)
As you may have guessed, this weeks recipe blog has two, yes two! fantastic Greek recipes. (well, there's actually three, if you include the spinach and watercress sauce.)One is so very easy and so tasty I would be very disappointed if you didn't make it.
The other is for a lamb Moussaka, the difference is it is baked inside a whole beef tomato, I don't like using the phrase "twist on a classic" but I suppose that's exactly what it is. It takes a little time and care but it has a real "wow" factor when presented to your dinner guests.
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| Boozy Pork Souvlaki. |
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| Beef Tomato Moussaka Bombs. |
I wouldn't say either of these recipes are traditional Greek recipes, as I have adapted them from memories of holidays in Athens and Crete. They both remind me of long hot days in that gorgeous part of the Mediterranean, drinking ice cold bottles of Mythos beer and Metaxa brandy, eating lamb kleftico, giros pitta, Kalamata olives and those fantastic Baklava I did the recipe for a couple of blogs ago. The sauce I'm going to show you packs a real iron-y punch from the spinach and is best used sparingly, more like a condiment.
So, first recipe then!
Boozy Pork Souvlaki. (6 good portions).
Equipment:
1 sealable tub, big enough to hold all the ingredients.10-12 wooden skewers, soaked in boiling water for at least 1 hour.
Griddle pan (if you haven't got a griddle pan a normal heavy based frying pan will do, you just won't get the smoky score marks from the ridges.)
Large baking tray.
Ingredients:
1 large red onion, cut into chunks.
200g of button mushrooms, wiped clean of any dirt.
2 tablespoons of dried oregano.
3 sprigs of thyme.
2 cloves of garlic, split with the flat of a knife.
2 glasses of decent robust wine ( I use Bordeaux.)
Half a lemon.
Salt and Black pepper.
Olive oil ( not extra virgin.) for brushing the souvlaki whilst griddling.
To Serve:
6 Lightly toasted and split pitta breads, salad leaves, Spinach and watercress sauce ( see recipe below.) marinade glaze.Method:
Firstly, trim up the pork fillet, removing any sinew.
Next, in a saucepan, put 1 glass of wine, the thyme, garlic,
oregano and half a lemon. ( I used 2 halves of lemon in the recipe you see here, but they had been juiced for another recipe before, so 1 half a fresh lemon will be plenty.)
Heat the saucepan up to boiling then immediately remove from the heat and allow to cool.( a lot of chefs will say, when cooking with wine, to boil the wine to remove some of the alcohol but I like to taste the alcohol in the finished dish, especially with these souvlaki.)
When the wine in the saucepan has cooled, add the other glass, then put the pork, mushrooms and red onion in your sealable tub and pour over the wine, with the herbs, garlic and lemon and give it a light season with the salt and pepper.
Give everything a good stir round, pop the lid on and put in the fridge to marinate. I like to leave it at least 12 hours to get that red wine flavour all the way through the meat. You can leave it up to 2 days in the marinade, just give it a bit of a stir round a couple of times so that everything gets a good soaking in the wine.
Once the ingredients have marinated, remove them all from the tub, but don't throw the marinade away as you can boil it down to make a rich savoury glaze for the finished souvlaki. ( just put the marinade, with the herbs, lemon and garlic into a saucepan and boil it up. When its come to boiling, sieve out the aromatics and reduce down. You may want to add a good pinch of sugar to it as it reduces. You won't be left with a lot of glaze when it has reduced down but it is really tasty and finishes the griddled skewers off perfectly.)
Repeat until you've used all the ingredients.
You should get 10-12 souvlaki's.
Turn on the oven to about 170 degrees c/ gas mark 4. Then put your griddle pan on the stove and get it screaming hot.When it's hot enough put 3 of your skewers on the griddle and brush with the oil. You may need to turn on the extractor fan as it can get pretty smoky! Season lightly with salt and black pepper and
press down lightly on each souvlaki to get some nice char-marks on them. After 2-3 minutes turn them over, brush with oil again and griddle for another 2-3 minutes.
Put the skewers onto the baking tray and put in the bottom of the oven, just to keep warm while you do the rest. Repeat this process until all of your skewers are griddled and on the baking tray, in the oven.
Toast and split the pitta breads, give them a smear of the spinach and watercress sauce, and a few salad leaves then the souvlaki. ( I use two skewers per pitta.) Drizzle or brush on a little of the reduced marinade glaze and serve!
Now for that spinach and watercress sauce recipe. ( I don't think this is even remotely Greek, but it goes really well with both the other recipes.)
Spinach and Watercress sauce.
Equipment:
Large saucepan.Hand blender.
Measuring jug.
Ingredients:
100g of fresh watercress.300g fresh spinach, washed and drained.
150ml double cream.
Half a teaspoon of grated nutmeg
1 tablespoon of butter.
Salt and pepper.
Method:
Put the saucepan on a medium to low heat on the hob and add the butter.When the butter has melted add the spinach and watercress.
cook down gently for 10-15 minutes until almost all of the water in the leaves has evaporated, give the leaves a good squeeze with the back of a wooden spoon to remove as much water as possible. Add the grated nutmeg and the double cream and heat through gently.
Pour the mixture into a measuring jug. ( this makes it much easier to blend without getting it all over the kitchen!)
Now go at it with the hand blender until you get a smooth, vivid green, thick sauce. Check the seasoning, it should taste a little bit bitter but if it's too bitter for you add a pinch of sugar, then season with salt and pepper.
Okay, moving swiftly on to the star of this weeks blog!
Beef Tomato Moussaka Bombs.
I love these! it's a great way of making a simple moussaka a bit more sophisticated.I got the idea from the Mediterranean tradition of serving a main meal baked in a vegetables ( or in this case fruit!).Greek stuffed peppers, or the Turkish vegetarian "Imam Biyaldi" ( baked aubergine stuffed with rice, tomatoes, diced veg, lots of herbs and fruit.) and stuffed butternut squash.
If you have a local green grocer, go in and ask, a few days before you want to make this recipe, if they can get you some good, large and, most importantly, ripe beef tomatoes. That's exactly what i did with my green grocer (Jessica's fruit and veg in Cannock.) and he was more than happy to oblige.
I've tried using supermarket ones before but they are usually too small and too unripe to use and too expensive!
There's a few processes to do in this recipe but none of them are difficult. As I said at the start of this blog, it requires a little time, patience and care.
Equipment:
A good, sharp, small knife, preferably with a rounded end rather than a point. ( I use a sharpened bone handled butter knife, as my grandad used to use.)Frying pan.
Baking tray.
Small saucepan.
Colander or sieve.
Ingredients for the filling:
4 very large ripe beef tomatoes.750g/ approx 1 1/2 lb lamb mince.
2 red onions, finely diced.
1 large aubergine.
1 large courgette.
2 tablespoons tomato puree.
3 cloves garlic, peeled and finely sliced.
2 tablespoons dried oregano.
1 tablespoon cumin seeds, ground.
3 bay leaves.
1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon.
approx 1/2 tablespoon freshly grated nutmeg.
5 allspice (pimento) berries, ground.
2 tablespoons olive oil ( not extra virgin ).
And a very special ( and not Greek at all!!) ingredient.
Say hello to my little friend! This, if you didn't know, is "nam pla" or Thai fish sauce.
It gives such a rich, meaty, savoury boost to all sorts of lamb dishes. Its made from fermented anchovies, which, I must admit, doesn't sound nice at all, and if you taste it or smell it on its own you might think I'm mad to use it in this recipe but, believe me, it adds so much Umami to the finished dish that I think it's essential.
You could use Worcester sauce, which is also made from fermented anchovies with a few other ingredients, but I think it adds too much of a vinegar-y taste to the lamb.
Ingredients ( for the creamy white sauce topping.)
1 tablespoon butter.1 tablespoon plain flour.
approx 300ml milk.
150g feta cheese.
Grated nutmeg.
Salt and fine ground white pepper.
Method 1:
Pre-heat your oven to 160 degrees c/gas mark 4.slice up the aubergine to about 5mm thick. sprinkle generously with salt and leave in a colander or sieve to extract the moisture for about 30 minutes.
Slice up the courgette about the same thickness as the aubergines, brush lightly with oil and put them in the oven, on a baking tray for about 10 minutes, after 10 minutes, take them out and flip them over, bake again for approx 5 minutes until they start to colour up.
Saute the diced onions in the olive oil on a low heat for around 15 minutes. remove from the frying pan.
Give the aubergine slices a rinse under cold running water to remove the salt then put them on a clean tea towel.Put another clean tea towel on top and gently press down to remove all the water.
Brush the aubergine slices with oil and put them in the oven on a baking tray, bake for approx 15 minutes until they start to brown. Once they're browned remove from the oven and set aside with the courgettes.
Scrape any remaining juice and seeds out with a spoon
Keep all the flesh and juices to use later.
You should be left with 4 hollowed out beef tomato "bowls".
Add the lamb mince to the frying pan and brown on a medium heat for approx 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent it burning. Add the sliced garlic, oregano, nutmeg, cumin, bay leaves, ground allspice berries and cinnamon and continue to cook on medium for a further 10 minutes.
When the moussaka mixture is done you'll probably notice there is a lot of fat in the pan, to get rid of the majority of it scrape the lamb to one side of the pan and let the fat run down to the other side (I like to raise the pan up on one side at an angle to do this so you can get rid of as much fat as possible.)
Spoon as much fat out of the pan as you can and leave the mince mixture to one side so you can prepare the tomato "bowls".
In the bottom of your hollow tomatoes lay a slice of the baked aubergine, then a spoonful of the lamb mince,then a couple of slices of the baked courgettes. Layer the tomatoes up like this until they are full, pressing the mix down as you go.
Method 2 (Creamy Feta Topping.)
In a saucepan gently melt the butter over a medium heat, then add the flour.
Mix together well ( this is called a roux.)
Add a splash of milk and beat until smooth, then add another splash and beat again.
Now you can add the rest of the milk and whisk together to get a smooth white sauce about the thickness of double cream.
let the sauce gently start to bubble, stirring all the time, but don't let it boil.
Finally, break the feta into chunks and add to the sauce.Add a good pinch of white pepper and a grate of nutmeg. Mix together until the cheese has melted into the sauce. Have a taste and add a little salt, if needed. Bear in mind that the feta itself is quite salty, so you may not need any salt.
Now you can spoon the feta sauce onto the stuffed tomatoes.
Place the topped tomatoes onto a baking tray and bake for about 20 minutes on a low shelf in the oven until the feta topping is nicely browned and the moussaka bombs are ready to serve!
Once again, the spinach and watercress sauce goes really well with these and it looks fantastic on the plate!
Phew! That was a big blog this week! I hope you have enjoyed it.
Sorry to say that there won't be a review blog this week as I just haven't had time to go out for food.
There will be a review next week so watch out for it!
And, as usual, there will be another recipe blog next week which will be something really easy.
Until then, blog buddies.
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