Beef kebabs

This is a new experiment for us. We normally make kebabs on skewers with chunks of meat and maybe various veggies, but this is a ground meat style kebab without the skewer.

In a mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients well:

• Ground meat (we used beef, but want to try lamb sometime) - about a kilo will make six to eight kebabs.
• Minced garlic, half a red onion, a handful of parsley, and some mint.
• Large tablespoonful of cumin, corainder and paprika.
• Teaspoons of garlic powder, salt, and pepper. 

Don't be stingy with the spices, this mixture will absorb a lot before getting too overpowering.

Press the mixture out onto a lined baking tray, into a rectangle about 3/4" thick. Use a sharp knife to cut into strips an inch or so wide. No need to separate them, they'll pull apart once cooked.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until cooked through.

Serve with pittas, tzatziki, with toppings and salad.

Lamb pittas

Cook some lamb sausages, then slice thinly.

Warm the pittas so they are easier to fold. 

Spread pittas with tzaziki, then choice of veggies - shredded lettuce, sliced pepper, cucumber sliced into long thin strips, green onions, olives, tomatoes - then add slices of sausage. 

Fold into a parcel. Enjoy!

Pitta wraps

When we want a change from regular wraps (tacos, fajitas etc.) pitta makes a nice change with a Greek twist rather than Mexican.

Warm some pittas in the oven to make them more flexible. Spread a spoonful of tzatziki, then salad and meat, and roll it up. Eat with care  :)

For salads, you we use thinly sliced cucumber, pepper, tomato, onion, olives, and shredded lettuce.

For meat, a favourite is lamb sausages, fried then thinly sliced.

Creamy mustard chicken

This is similar in some ways to the creamy pepper pork, except that the sauce has a lot more taste of mustard and less of the pepper.

Rub some whole (i.e. including skin and bone) chicken thighs with a small amount of salt and pepper. Pan fry (starting with skin side down) on a high heat to sear and seal the thighs. Transfer them, skin side up, to a baking tray and pop in the oven for about 1/2 hour to finish cooking while you prepare the sauce. 

Drain off the excess fat, leaving a spoonful in the pan, and fry a couple of finely-chopped shallots until soft. Add a splash of white wine and let it evaporate. Stir in a cup or so of chicken stock, then a good tablespoon of whole grain mustard. Let that cook gently for a while, then stir in a tablespoon of mild yellow mustard *. Once that has all blended in, stir in a cup of heavy cream and simmer to thicken.

Serve the chicken and sauce with choice of carbs and healthy stuff.

* Brits take note - this is the stuff that Americans put on hot dogs, not what you would normally call mustard **.

** Unless, of course, you really do want to unclog your nostrils and lose all sense of taste for the next month.

Gnocchi with Pomodoro Sauce

We've gone full-on international this week! This is another first for us, and a very quick and tasty dish.

In a large saucepan, saute a few stems of fresh flat leaf parsley, oregano, rosemary, and basil until they become crisp. Lift out and discard the herbs.

Add chopped onion and garlic and cook gently until soft. Add a can of crushed tomatoes. Season with salt and black pepper. Simmer for 30 to 40 minutes until the sauce reduces and thickens. Stir in some thick cream and remove from the heat.

Meanwhile, cook a packet or two of potato gnocchi in salted boiling water until they float to the top. Drain them off and add to the sauce. Add some mozzarella balls and top with a handful of grated Parmesan.

Crab and sweetcorn soup

This has always been one of our favourites when we've gone for a full sit-down meal at a Chinese restaurant. But it is also amazingly easy to cook at home. We are always on the lookout for new soup ideas, so I'm surprised it's taken us this long to try this for ourselves.

Make up a pan of stock - either bouillon paste, or we often use home-made turkey stock as a soup base - and season it to taste. 

Bring the stock to the boil, then stir in some flaked crab meat (either fresh, or processed) and a drained can of corn. Thicken with a little cornstarch. Add some veggies if wanted - we used some small bok choy, or you could add green onions. Stir in several beaten eggs to finish off the dish, and serve.

Creamy pepper pork

A new and delicious twist on pan fried pork steaks.

Pat the steaks dry then dry-rub them with a mixture of salt, pepper, and paprika. Fry them until browned. De-glaze the pan with a splash of apple cider vinegar, a small amount of chicken stock and a dash of lemon juice. Stir in cream and a squirt of mild mustard (e.g. French or honey mustard). Simmer until the pork is cooked.

Dauphinoise potatoes

A remarkably quick & easy version if you want a slightly different (and tasty) way to serve potatoes.

Put thinly-sliced potatoes into a baking dish that can go on the stove top as well as in the oven. Add a layer of thinly-sliced red onion, garlic, salt and pepper, and grated Parmesan. Pour on a good slosh of cream and some water. Stir everything together, bring to the boil on the stove top, cover, and cook for 5 or 6 minutes.

Sprinkle on another generous handful of grated Parmesan and put in the oven, uncovered, for about 1/2 hour. It should be brown and bubbling. If necessary, brown it off under the grill

Penne and chicken

This has been such a staple of ours for so long I can't believe I haven't posted it here yet!

In a large pan of salted water, cook the penne.

In a separate pan, fry some diced chicken and bacon pieces - I like to make both of them small bite size - until cooked. Stir in some cream and bring to the boil to thicken. Serve over the pasta.

So simple!

Greek salad

Easy, tasty, and a perfect accompaniment to pork souvlaki.

Mix together in a bowl: 1 cucumber (peeled, seeded and chopped), 1 tomato and 1 red pepper (seeded and chopped), black olives, and a sprinkle of finely-chopped red onion. Crumble over some feta cheese and top with a simple vinaigrette.

Pork Souvlaki

A summery recipe we discovered this year ...

Combine 1/2 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup lemon juice, a couple of cloves of chopped garlic, 1 tsp dried oregano and 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper. Add cubed pieces of pork and leave to marinade in the fridge for a day.

Skewer and season the meat and grill.

Serve with tzatziki sauce, rice, salad, pittas, retsina, and sun. Also tasty at any other time of year :)

Cornbread

Cornbread is not something we ever encountered the other side of The Pond, and I only tried it relatively recently and decided to hunt down a recipe. I was delighted with how easy it was to get good results on a first try!

The recipe comes from this site: https://cafedelites.com/easy-buttermilk-cornbread/
But I'll repeat the basics here as the site is very cluttered with ads and you have to scroll down half a mile to get to the actual recipe.

In a bowl, combine 1 cup flour, 1 cup yellow cornmeal, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/4 tsp salt. Mix well to remove any lumps.

Make a well in the center and add 1 cup buttermilk, 1/4 cup honey, 2 eggs. Mix to combine ingredients, then add 1/2 cup melted butter. Whisk until the batter is smooth, but don't over-mix.

Heat the oven to 400F, and preheat a greased 9" baking dish. Pour in the batter and cook for about 25 minutes. The top should be slightly browned, and the toothpick test will tell you when the middle is cooked. Leave to cool a bit before cutting and serving.

Rice

Given that rice is such a staple for us, maybe even more so than potatoes, I thought I would share our easy, no-fuss approach to cooking plain boiled rice. This is adapted from a pilau rice recipe, but without the spices.

Heat a thin layer of oil in a pan, and add the rice. Stir around for a few seconds to coat the grains. Add salt and either stock or water. If you had the pan warm enough the liquid should hiss when you pour it in. You want about 1 1/2 to 2 times the volume of liquid to rice.

Bring to the boil, give one last stir, and put the lid on. If you're cooking on gas, you want to turn the heat really low for about ten minutes and then switch off for the remaining time. If you use an electric hob it's even easier - when you put the lid on, switch off the ring and just leave the pan where it is. The residual heat in the ring will do the rest.

Twenty minutes later, you have beautifully cooked, hassle-free rice. Don't be tempted to lift the lid and check on it. You need to keep the steam in the pan to cook the rice. Just trust the process.

If you are cooking brown or wild rice, increase the cooking time. You can also leave the pan on the stove for a while longer if you're not yet ready to serve. This approach is very forgiving.

Ginger beer

We just started making our own ginger beer this summer. Cost-wise I don't think it's much of a saving on shop-bought pop unless you buy bulk ingredients, but it's a darned sight tastier and recalls a less commercial age.

The recipe we use is here, but it's very easy.

This makes a 2-liter bottle. We usually double everything up.

Place 1 cup of sugar, 1/2 cup of water, and 2 tbsp grated ginger in a pan. Heat until the sugar is dissolved (yes, it looks a frightening amount, but it does dissolve, honest). Let the mixture steep for an hour or so until it cools.

Strain the syrup to remove the bits.

Get a cleaned-out 2-liter bottle and pour in 1/8 tsp dried yeast, the strained syrup, 3 tbsp lemon juice, and top up with cold water. Put the lid on and shake, then leave in a cool spot for a few days. Check it daily and crack the lid to let off pressure. There should be a bit of a fizz. It is now ready. Keep refrigerated to stop the fermentation.

Note - plastic bottles are probably safer than glass. Also you can feel the pressure building up by giving the bottle a squeeze. If there's no 'give' it's time to let off some steam!

Curried shrimp and spinach

A very simple side dish I made up on the fly last week, just to add a little something special alongside the more regular chicken curry that I made.

Fry a sliced onion long and slow until it caramelizes nicely. Add spoonfuls of ground spice (cumin, coriander, chili, and some curry paste), then a couple of chopped tomatoes. Cook until the tomatoes mash down and mingle with the spices. About 10 minutes from serving, add some generous handfuls of fresh baby spinach leaves. Stir carefully to bring them into contact with the heat and let them sweat down. Stir in a handful of shelled cooked shrimp and make sure everything is mixed in and coated with spices.

Baked and breaded chicken

I think this started as a camping dish, but it comes out once in a while at home for a change. A favorite with the kids.

Lay out chicken pieces on a baking tray. Coat with a few generous dollops of mayonnaise. Sprinkle a mixture of breadcrumbs and grated Parmesan over the top. Pop in the oven and bake until the chicken is cooked (about 40 minutes).