Author: Katerina

I don’t normally get so impressed with a salad but this is really something different!

1 cup brown or green lentils boiled and drained

1/2 cup chopped sun dried tomatos

1/2 cup grilled peppers

1 red onion

10 caper leaves

10 almonds

 

Firstly you need to give flavour to the lentils so mix them with 3 tablespoons olive oil and, 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and a generous  pinch of salt. Leave them aside for as long as possible (as long as you prepare the rest of the ingredients) or for a few hours if you are not in a rush.

Chop thinly the rest of the ingredients, red onions, sun dried tomatoes, grilled peppers and almonds. For the peppers you use the ready made ones as well they work fine.

The caper leaves are a rare ingredient which comes from a Greek island, Santorini.  In London you can find them at the Isle of Olive otherwise swap for capers of olives or even both if you like the flavour.

In this salad you can increase the ingredients you like for example the roasted peppers.

Mix everything together toss with almonds and enjoy!

 

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So this is an everyday very quick and easy recipe.  My fussy 15 month old eater loved it and if you add a nice little salad or steamed broccoli it’s a solid weekday dinner.

 

Ingredients

1/2 baked butternut squash

1 egg

2 tablespoons buckwheat flour

100g feta

2 springs of rosemary (only leaves)

salt(very little because feta is salty),  cayenne pepper to taste

Cut the butternut squash in medium pieces and bake in a preheated oven 180C for 45 minutes.  Let it cool down.

Cut very thinly the rosemary leaves, mix all the ingredients together without breaking the ingredients too much.

Heat a pan and add enough olive oil to allow deep fry.  Of course you can use sunflower oil but I am Greek and I can’t do that!

 

Once the oil is hot, not smoking, take tablespoons of your mix and place it gently in the oil. Don’t put too many at the same time. Fry for 2 minutes turn them the  other way and fry them for another 2 minutes.

 

 

This is really not a quick recipe but my mousakas is everybody’s favourite, “magnificent” is one of the comments I have received over the years whenever I am making this version. I would dare to say it’s a great Greek food but we all know it’s Turkish! However this version belongs to me…!

Ingredients

2 aubergines

1 onion

2 garlic gloves

half a bunch of parsley

1/2 kg potatoes

1/2 kg free range beef mince meat

1 tin organic tomato sauce

2 tbs organic tomato paste

200ml vegetable or beef stock

1 tsp brown sugar

1 tsp paprika

a pinch or oregano, dried basil black pepper and cayenne

 

Bechamel sauce (gluten free)

1 Lt goat’s milk

100g manchego

100g parmezan

pinch of nutmeg

2 tbs butter

9 tbs cornflour

 

Method

-First make the mince meat sauce.  Finely chop the onion and garlic and saute them in low medium heat. After 5 min add the mince meat, increase the heat and try to give it a bit of colour. After 10 min add the rest of the ingredients, 1 tin organic tomato sauce , 2 tbs organic tomato paste, 200ml vegetable or beef stock, 1 tsp brown sugar, 1 tsp paprika, a pinch or oregano, dried basil black pepper and cayenne. Let it simmer in gentle heat for 1 hour. Taste and add a pinch of salt.

In the meantime you have a lot of things to do.

-Slice thinly the potatoes and the aubergines and fry them in medium heat. For the potatoes I use a lot of olive oil – deep frying. For the aubergines pan fry the aubergines in plenty of olive oil.

-Bechamel.  Whisk all the ingredients apart from the cheese. Pour the mixture in  a saucepan and keep whisking over high heat. It only takes 5 or 7 min of whisking and you will see the sauce start thickening. If you stop whisking you should also see a few bubbles. Reduce the heat and keep stirring for a couple more minutes. Turn off the heat and add the cheese and a pinch of salt. Manchego is the cheese closest in taste and texture that we would use in Greece.

-Assemble. Layer potatoes, a bit of mince meat sauce, aubergines, the rest of the meat sauce and finish off with the bechamel sauce.

 

 

By Katerina Kazantza

This is by far my most popular pie from the days I used to operate my home baking business.  And although I thought I perfected this recipe a long time ago it’s still a work in progress.  So in the future I might post my other perfect recipe but for today this is how it goes:

Crust (with a Greek traditional feel)

100g self-rising gluten free flour (I used Doves farm)

150g gluten free buckwheat flour

(if you don’t like the taste of buckwheat or you can’t find any use only self-rising gluten free only you will need 250g in this case)

50g plain organic yoghurt

60g butter

1 organic egg

pinch of salt

 

Filling

500g spinach

2-3 leeks

4 spring onions

100g organic feta

100g goats cheese

pinch of salt pinch of black pepper (if you like it)

dill ( a fresh bunch or dried one if you don’t have any)

 

Method

-Firstly make the filo: Melt the butter and let it cool slightly, and mix with the egg and yogurt.  Add the flours and knead for a couple of minutes until you have a nice dough which doesn’t stick to your fingers. You might need to add extra flour ( a few tablespoons) to achieve the right consistency. Put the dough aside

-Make the filling: Cut the leeks and the onions in small pieces and wash them thoroughly in a sieve. In a big saucepan add some olive oil the leeks and the onions and saute for about 10 minutes. In the meantime prepare the spinach, wash it in case it needs washing. Add the spinach and cook everything together for another 5 minutes. It really doesn’t take long for the spinach to be soft.

-Preheat your oven at 180C with fan if you have.

-Take the saucepan to you window or balcony and let it cool down (That’s what I do – no wonder why the neighbours think I am a weirdo! ) If you have a good half an hour you can also leave it in room temperature.

_Cut the dough in half and make two filo’s the same size of your tray.  Use a large piece of baking paper and extra flour on top to roll the dough. The result should be thin but not to the point that it start making wholes. (If it doesn’t work the first time don’t get disappointed do it again – or send me an email and we’ll figure it out. Stay tuned in the future there will be some cooking classes!) With this amount of filo I am only using a small tray but of course if you double the recipe you can use you big oven trays.

–The most important step of the recipe Once the filling has cooled down squeeze out as much water as possible, this will give your pita a nice crispy bottom  (otherwise it will go watery stodgy doughy etc )

-Add the feta, goat’s cheese and dill in the filling (you can skip the dill if you don’t like it)

-Almost there!  Take one filo with the baking paper and transfer it to your tray. Spread the filling on top evenly so you don’t have gaps. Transfer your second filo with the assistance of the baking paper , once you are on top of the pita flip the filo on top.

-Bake for 25min or until filo looks golden crispy.