Green salad with figs and walnuts

A bit more than a year ago my mom started working in another hospital, in Kastoria, about two and a half hours away from Thessaloniki. So now she spends about 4 days a week there and 3 days back home. At first I was a bit worried, you know, it's not easy to change your every day routine from one day to another and I guess age does not help much here. But after she settled down there I figured that she actually enjoys the lifestyle of a smaller city. Being there alone (my dad works in Thessaloniki, so he stayed there) she started new hobbies and sports. My dad generally is very conservative when it comes to food. So in the past, when cooking, my mom stayed within the limits of my dad's taste. And now she totally grabbed the chance and started experimenting with new ingredients and new combinations!

Last Christmas me, Stratis and my dad went to Kastoria. So my mom wanted to impress us with her new cooking discoveries. Among other things she made a really nice salad, which all of us liked a lot. Fresh lettuce blended with the sweetness of dried figs and a touch of balsamico was just wonderful and full of flavor, great during the winter, when the big, ripe tomatoes are impossible to find! There is no exact proportions of the ingredients, it really depends on your personal preferences. Here I post more or less the amounts that I used, but it's really a try and fail process! :)

INGREDIENTS:

5-7 large lettuce leaves, roughly chopped (enough to fill a large salad bowl)

2 handfuls fresh rucola leaves

3-4 dried figs, quartered

1 tbsp black raisins

1 small handful walnuts, chopped

For the dressing:

3 tbsp balsamico

1 1/2 tbsp liquid honey (I like thyme honey, but you could use any other)

freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. Mix all the ingredients for the dressing in a separate small bowl.

2. In a large salad bowl mix the lettuce, rucola, figs, raisins and walnuts. Pour over the dressing and add some extra black pepper if you like and it's ready! So simple!

Rice with grape leaves, sun dried tomatoes and raisins

It's amazing what you can find in the freezer when defrosting it. Tiny boxes with baby corn, diced onions and chopped parsley, leftover cookie dough and ... what's that? Grape leaves?! How long have they been in there?! Stratis found them at a Turkish store and thought it would be cool to make dolmadakia (little grape leaves rolls with rice stuffing). However, after the first, not very successful attempt there was more than half pack left, so it ended up lying pointless in the freezer, until I discovered it yesterday.

Luckily, a couple of days ago I was browsing through one of my most favorite cooking blogs dedicated to Greek food, owned by Peter Minakis. Few months ago he posted a recipe for a rice-based side dish which really intrigued me when I first read it. It was pretty much a fuss-free version of dolmadakia. The idea was to prepare the stuffing and then mix in the chopped grape leaves. Smaaaaart! You get all the flavor of dolmadakia without having to spend hours in the kitchen rolling them! Great!

I changed a bit the proportions of the ingredients, used slightly different herbs and added a sun dried tomato. I think it was one of those rare times when Stratis was not complaining about the plain rice for side dish :)

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup long grain rice, washed

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 large onion, diced

3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1/2 cup parsley, finely chopped

2-3 tbsp chives, finely chopped

juice of 1 lemon

1/2 cup black raisins, washed and soaked in hot water

2 tbsp pine nuts

1/3 cup canned sun dried tomatoes, finely chopped

1 cup canned grape leaves, washed and chopped

2 cups hot chicken stock or water

salt and ground black pepper to taste

1. In a large pan heat the oil and saute the garlic and onions until soft.

2. Stir in the rice and cook together for a couple of minutes.

3. Add the parsley, chives, raisins, pine nuts, sun dried tomatoes, grape leaves, lemon juice and chicken stock, cover with a lid and cook on a medium heat for about 20 minutes or until the rice is soft. Add more water if the rice looks dry.

4. Season with salt, pepper and extra lemon juice and ready!

Spring Couscous

Since I started working I obviously have much less free time, which during the weeks means pretty much that I have to either cook on everyday basis something fast and easy or otherwise prepare something from the previous evening, preferably something that would last for a couple of days. Yesterday I made Stratis' favorite burgers with potato puree. Today we still had few burgers left but there was no side dish since we finished all the puree yesterday.

Generally, I really enjoy the idea of couscous as a really fast yet delicious side dish. You could flavor it with spices and herbs or by using chicken stock instead of water to soak it in. Mixing in chopped vegetables like tomatoes, onions, paprika, cucumber, broccoli, mushrooms etc is also great.

So on my way home I already knew what I would cook. A friend of mine cooked a similar recipe few years ago at our ethnic dinner party. I changed it a bit mainly by adding zucchini and olives and using less lemon juice but the main idea is same. It's a great side dish and if you increase the amounts of veg and use less couscous you could make a wonderful salad too!

INGREDIENTS:

3 cups couscous

3 large ripe tomatoes

1 zucchini, diced

1 tbsp olive oil

1 cup parsley, finely chopped

2-3 tbsp black olives, finely chopped (optional)

juice of 1/2 lemon

salt and ground black pepper to taste

1. Place the couscous in a large bowl, add lightly salted boiled water enough to cover, cover with a lid and let the couscous absorb the water.

2. Meanwhile in a non-stick pan heat the oil and stir-fry the zucchinis for 3-4 minutes, until they get a light golden color.

3. Dice the tomatoes trying to keep the juice and set aside,

4. Once the couscous is soft, mix it with a fork to make it fluffy.

5. Add the fried zucchinis, tomatoes, olives (if using) and the lemon juice and mi well. Season with salt and pepper and enjoy!

Bacalao a la catalana

It's been a month since my last post :( To be honest I haven't been cooking much lately. We sort of switched to salads for some time so there wasn't anything worth posting anyways.

Tonight I felt like healthy food but a bit more complicated than just a salad. I remembered that I had a cod fillet in the fridge. On the other hand a couple of weeks ago I bought a Spanish cooking book, so I thought I might as well try something from there. I always buy cooking books with pictures. When you see how the result looks your motivation to cook something new is doubled! Well this time my eye stopped on a cod fillet with spinach which looked pretty amazing. Luckily I had spinach in the freezer. According to the recipe I was supposed to used fresh but even with the frozen one it was still delicious!

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup black raisins
1/3 cup pine nuts
2-3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, crushed
10 cups fresh spinach leaves, roughly chopped
4 cod fillets
freshly ground nutmeg
salt and ground black pepper to taste
some lemon juice

1. Soak the raisins in hot water for 15-20 minutes.
2. Roast the pine nuts in a heavy pan over high heat until golden.
3. Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the garlic and fry for few minutes. Remove and discard.
4. Add the spinach to the oil. Do not add extra water, the spinach has enough juices. Cover and cook for about 10 minutes. The spinach will decrease in volume. Remove the lid, add the drained raisins and pine nuts, season to taste and cook until the liquids evaporate.
5. Meanwhile place the cod in an ovenproof dish, brush with some olive oil, season with salt pepper and nutmeg and place in the oven for about 15 minutes. Once the fish is almost cooked through turn on the broiler and continue cooking until the fish is gold brown. Drizzle the fish with freshly squeezed lemon juice and serve along with the spinach.

Buckwheat kasha or porridge

Two days ago the weather was sunny again so it was a great opportunity to go out, ride a bike, take some beautiful pictures of the city and not to think at all of what I would cook later. Unfortunately, a hungry man, returning from the office probably would not share my joy. So when I realized that it was already 6pm so I had to go with something ultra quick. While I was switching between pasta and... well pasta... my eye stopped on a pack of buckwheat that I bought a couple of days ago.

A pack of what?! Buckwheat? What the hell is that? If you never lived in Russia or other countries of ex USSR, these are probably the questions going through your mind, as this "pseudograin" is not very common outside these areas. And I really don't know why this is the case, since it is really tasty and it reminds me a bit of my childhood. So I was really happy to discover it in the Turkish store (what would I really do without it!) in my neighborhood.

When you open the package you see brownish little grains, pyramid-shaped. You don't have to soak it overnight or do anything else. Just rinse it a bit with some water and it is ready to be cooked.

INGREDIENTS:

3 cups buckwheat
2 tbsp butter or in worse case margarine
water for cooking
salt and ground black pepper to taste

1. Wash the buckwheat and put it in a medium pot.
2. Add enough water to cover and through the butter in. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Place the pot on a strong heat and bring to boil, then lower the heat, cover and continue cooking for about 15 minutes stirring occasionally. If necessary add some water.
4. At the end the buckwheat should be tender and non sticky. You could probably compare it's consistency to steamed rice. Place it on a plate and serve as a side dish along with steak, chicken, meatballs, sausages (that's what I did. I know, LAZY!) or anything else you like.

I know that this is not a real recipe, it doesn't even involve cooking as such, but it is veeery delicious! Funny thing, the first time I ever cooked it Stratis was staring at his plate, as if asking "What the hell is THAT?!". Now he actually seems to enjoy it, yesterday he even asked for some extra! :)

Oven-baked giant Greek beans

Yesterday I posted a recipe of Greek superburgers that I served with oven-baked giant beans. Well, as I promised, here is the recipe of the beans.

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 kg giant white Greek beans
1 can (400 gr) diced tomatoes
200 gr tomato puree
2 large carrots, peeled and grated
1 medium onion, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
10 allspice grains
1 tsp dry basil
1 tbsp white sugar
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup water

1. Soak the beans in abundant water overnight. There should be a lot of water, as the beans will absorb it and if you only add enough to cover them after a couple of hours the ones on top will be uncovered.
2. The next day cook the beans for about 2 hours (or until the beans are soft) in unsalted water, taking care that there is enough liquid in the pot so that the beans don't burn. 10 minutes before the end add 1 tsp salt to the pot. Drain the beans and set aside.
3. In a large sauce pan heat half of the oil. Add the onions and carrots and stir fry until lightly golden. Add the diced tomatoes, tomato puree, garlic, allspice, basil, sugar and the rest of the oil, lower the heat and let the sauce cook for about 20 minutes. If the sauce becomes too thick gradually add the water.
4. Return the beans to the pot and mix well.
5. Place the mix in a baking pan, cover with foil and bake in the over at 180°C for about 10-15 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for another 5 minutes. Done!

I like serving it with some grated Parmesan or Myzithra (Greek cheese) as a side dish accompanying either grilled chicken breasts or burgers. A green salad is also a nice addition. If you decrease the amount of oil a bit, these beans are also nice for dieting as the carbs that they contain are the good, slow carbs that keep you full for a long long time.