Does anyone know some good mediterranean dishes?!
Does anyone know some good mediterranean dishes?
Answers:
Some standard staples for those dieshes would enclude:
Black Olives
Spinich
Tomatos
Olive Oil
Lemon Juice
Garlic
Feta Cheese
Use your imagination!
Mediterranean Chicken Soup
Ingredients:
vegetables for soup (carrot, celery, turnip)
3 beef neck bones
2 chicken necks
2 chicken bouillon cubes
soup pasta
chickpeas
oil
salt
Fill a pot with water ( about 6 cups ). Add the vegetables mix ( you can find it in the supermarkets, already packed ), the beef bones and the chicken necks. Chicken necks could be replaced for a couple of drumsticks. Add also 1 bouillon cube and 2 tablespoons of oil, and let it boil all together for 2 hours. When you see that the meat is falling from the bones, turn the fire off.
Filter the mix to another pot, discarding the vegetables and bones, and just keeping the liquid, and some chunks of chicken.
Add a new chicken bouillon cube, soup pasta ( 1 handful ) and the chickpeas. Let it cook with slow fire until the pasta is cooked. Check the taste and add salt if necessary. There are several types of pasta for soup, from very small size to big ones. Pick the one you prefer, that won.t affect the taste of the soup.
Serving suggestion: you can top the soup with fried bread or shredded boiled egg.
Artichoke Appetizer (Spain)
Serve this as a vegetable side dish or as an appetizer in the manner of Spanish tapas.
Ingredients:
? 2 cans (14 or 16 oz. each) artichoke hearts, or 2 packages (10 oz, each) frozen artichoke heartsDressing:
1 clove garlic, crushed with salt
? 1/4 cup olive oil
? 2 tbsp. lemon juice
? 1 tsp. sumac
? 1/4 tsp. Aleppo pepper
? 1/4 cup minced cilantro
Preparation:
Drain and quarter the canned artichokes. Or, prepare the frozen artichokes according to package instructions, and quarter.
Combine the dressing ingredients and pour over the artichoke hearts.
Marinate for at least 1 hour. Serve at room temperature.
Dolmades
This is the famous Greek mezze.
Ingredients:
? 6 tbsp olive oil
? 2 onions, finely chopped
? 4 oz (115 g) rice, long grain
? 4 tbsp hot water
? 2 oz (55 g) currants
? 2 tbsp spearmint, dried
? 2 tbsp parsley
? 2 oz (55 g) pine nuts
? salt and pepper, to taste
? 6 dozen vine leaves, fresh, canned or vacuum packed
? lemon juice
Preparation:
Heat the oil and cook the sauté onions
Add the rice and stir until transparent
Add the water, currants, mint, parsley and pine nuts and simmer until the water is absorbed. Let the mixture cool and season to taste.
Blanch fresh vine leaves for 3 minutes, rinse and drain. Canned leaves should be rinsed and well drained. Lay each vine leaf shiny side down and place a heaped teaspoonful of the rice in the centre and roll up like a parcel.
Oil the bottom of a shallow saucepan and pack the vine leaves tightly together in layers. Add the lemon juice and just enough water to cover the Dolmades, cover and simmer for about an hour. Check occasionally if water needs to be added.
Allow to cool in the pan, chill and serve with lemon wedges.
Grilled Pepper and Tomato Salad (Chakchüka)
Ingredients:
? 4 medium-sized green bell peppers
? 2 x 28 ounce (550 ml) cans plum tomatoes, drained, seeded and diced
? 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
? 1 1/2 teaspoons
? Aleppo pepper
? sea salt
? 1 preserved lemon, peel only, cut into strips
? 3/4 cup fresh flat leaf parsley, minced
Preparation:
Grill the peppers over a charcoal fire, or cook under the broiler for 10 - 15 minutes, until the skin is charred and blistered on all sides. Leave until cool enough to handle, then peel them and remove the seeds and core. Cut the flesh into small strips.
Combine the tomatoes, olive oil and garlic in a large frying pan. and cook for 15 - 20 minutes, stirring occasionally., until the tomatoes have reduced and almost all excess liquid has evaporated.
Add the grilled peppers, preserved lemon peel parsley and the rest of the Allepo pepper to the tomato sauce. Cook for a further 5 -10 minutes, or until the sauce has become very concentrated. Remove from the heat and leave to cool. Serve at room temperature.
Yes Greek,
I personally love Moussaka: Baked meat with eggplant.
Moussaka can be any dish of layered vegetables and ground meat, and dishes with the same or similar names are prepared in several areas of the world. Other Greek versions call for artichokes, potatoes, and zucchini, or a combination, but this is the classic known worldwide.
Another favorite of mine is
Pastitsio: Baked Meat & Pasta Casserole
Serve either with Horiatiki Salata: Greek Salad
Flat bread and Cucumber, yogart sauce or Humas
and Dolmades
Lamb Gyros
Goats cheese bruschetta.
lightly toast french bread slices, or half breadcakes, or sliced bread. Chop up small succulent tomatoes like cherry or pomodorino or baby plum with a couple of cloves of garlic - the amount will depend on how many you are feeding. Mix with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, chop some fresh basil over it and leave to stand for at least one hour, stir every 15 mins or so. Turn on the oven to 190deg c. Put the toasted bread onto an oven tray covered with silicone or greaseproof paper and put the tomato mix on the top. At this point you will know how much mix you need to make as it all depends on the size of the bread and how many tomatoes you have used but it it easy to whizz some more up quickly at this stage. Cover the tomatoes with a few slices (1/4" thick) of goats cheese and pop into the oven for about 10 mins until melted. Serve with green salad or as an appetiser - delicious!
Another favourite with my friends and family is mixed med vedg. For about six people you will need:-
1 large punnet of tomatoes - quartered
3 cloves of garlic - minced or grated
2 large onions - preferably red (they are better for you) thickly sliced
1 aubergine, sliced 1/4" thick, rubbed with salt, leave to stand for 10 mins then rinse off all the salt to get rid of the black juice which is not good for you.
2 or 3 sweetcorn cobs chopped into 4 pieces each NOT TINNED too small
3 peppers any - colour except green. Deseeded and sliced into 1/4" strips.
Put all ingredients together into a large bowl and liberally sprinkle with a good quality olive oil, sea salt and ground black pepper. Mix well together and let the flavours infuse for at least one hour stirring every 15 mins - this can be made 24 hours in advance and stored in the fridge.
Preheat the oven to 190deg c put the vedg into a roasting tin and cook for about 40 - 50 mins turning periodically. Although we generally eat this on the day, i usually make far too much and the left-overs are fabulous cold or reheated and served as a bruschetta on toasted bread ! Two for the price of one and both extremely tasty and good for you !
My favourite stuffed peppers.
This is so simple, make lots of it , it will keep for days in the fridge. Mop all the juices up with crusty bread.
For 6 people.
6 red, yellow or orange peppers sliced lengthways. It looks even better if you can get 3 of each colour and mix them up in the roasting tin.
6 cloves of garlic chopped or grated
Cherry or Pomodorino tomatoes - allow at least 4 per slice of pepper.
Sea salt and ground black pepper to taste.
Good quality olive oil
Slice the peppers lengthways, remove the seeds and rinse out, turn upside down to drain.
Mince or grate the garlic, wash the tomatoes and add a pinch of garlic and 4 whole tomatoes to each half of pepper, season with salt and pepper and at least 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil over each pepper half. Leave to stand for 1/2 hour then put into an oven at 190deg c and cook for 20 mins. Remove, prick the tomatoes with a knife to burst them, drizzle a little more olive oil over each pepper and return to the oven for another 15 mins until very slightly charred on the edges. Chop some basil or corriander or both if you like over at this stage.
Serve straight away or let them go cold - either way this is a delicious dish.
Hope you enjoy them but if you have any problems let me know. P.S. I keep all my worksurfaces, cloths and implements clean with spray dettol which will not contaminate food nor alter its taste.