Beets with Scordalia

Scordalia is a very popular Greek side dish. Basically it's a garlic dip or spread made with either a base of mashed potatoes or bread. Both are delicious and add a lot of flavor to a meal.


Today, our scordalia is made with mashed potatoes and it accompanies  a dish of red beets.

Steam 2lbs. of beets until a fork goes through without effort(about 40 minutes)

Let them cool

Boil about 2lbs. of peeled and diced white potatoes

Chop 3-4 garlic cloves

Drain the cooked potatoes(reserving some liquid) and mash them. Add some of the reserved liquid if the mashed potatoes are too thick. Add the garlic, half a cup of extra Virgin Greek olive oil, salt and white pepper and, mix well.

 

I chopped some arugula and topped it with tomatoes and cucumbers, dressed with extra virgin Greek olive oil and vinegar. Of course, don't forget the sea salt.

Peel and dice the cooled beets. Drizzle some olive oil and wine vinegar. Sprinkle some Greek sea salt and dig in!

 

It was a fabulous meal!

 

For an easy, tasty, healthy, meal do try this. The beets and the scordalia can be made earlier in the day and kept at room temperature until mealtime. They also make great leftovers! Truth be told, though, the meal tastes best the same day.You won't be disappointed!

 

Enjoy!

 

 

Maria

Greetings from Greece!

All this talk about Greek food is great but what's even better is coming to Greece and tasting the real thing! The French call it "terroire" which means the soil, the air, the water, the DNA where food grows make up the special flavors that are Greek food. Things taste almost the same in another country but not quite.

Salute to the Sunset over the Saronikos gulf.

Greeks relaxing at the sea

Greeks are very generous with and proud of their own products. Cousin Yianni gave us a bag of figs from "Markopoulos,"as well as bags of tomatoes and cucumbers soon after we arrived.The figs were shared with friends who invited us to dinner, were eaten simply peeled with bread and cheese for breakfast and were added to a luscious salad for lunch. I cannot think of a more delicious thing!

Zucchini is ubiquitous in summer. It is not the dark green vegetable that we are used to in the US. It is light-green and softer, with softer seeds and a sweeter flesh. It shows up simply steamed with olive oil and lemon, grated into fritters with feta cheese, grated into pites(pies) similar to spinach pie, fried like potato chips served with tzatiki(yogurt dip), filled with meat or rice in stuffed veggies and on and on.

Eggplant may be one of the most versatile vegetables of summer. Fried, stuffed, baked, smothered in béchamel sauce, meat sauce, need I say more. Here, it's been baked with onion, garlic and tomato in olive oil and dotted with feta cheese. Served alongside is another very popular green called vlita. It is Greek amaranth and the Greeks eat the tender shoots of the plant while the Indians ate the grain. It is simply steamed and served with olive oil and lemon, served with meat or fish.

Consider. this a primer of Greek flavors and products. I'll be posting more as the summer grows long. Pack your bags and follow me! I'll be taking you on a journey!

Enjoy!
Maria

Garbanzo Beans over Fresh Mesclun Salad- Bounty from my Garden

I was raised in Cyprus at a time when people grew a lot of their food. My family grew their own olives, oranges, tangerines, lemons, plums, almonds, walnuts, herbs, chickens, my grandma had a donkey and a goat(we never ate the donkey, we rode him and grandma milked the goat). They baked their own breads, made their own halloumi cheese (you haven't lived until you eat freshly made, still warm hallouni cheese.)

They also preserved a lot of their crops. We gathered the olives, loaded them on dad's VW beetle  and took them to the mill for olive oil. Mom made walnut preserves, orange rind preserves, orangeade, lemonade, watermelon rind preserves, cherry preserves. She dried her herbs and kept them in jars for the winter. What can I say? I grew up eating a lot of preserves and olive oil and I love them!

But, I don't live in a Mediterranean climate so I only have a few things growing in my garden. Yet, those formative early years have made me a person who loves to garden and bake.

This week, it's lunch with salad greens from my garden:. I picked them, double washed them, dried them and ate them!

Serves 2
1 can garbanzo(chickpeas)beans drained
1 tablespoon chopped onion
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
juice of one lemon
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups mesclun greens
1 orange  peeled and cut into 8 pieces
4 tablespoons sautéed wild mushrooms
4 anchovy fillets

Place the garbanzo beans in a bowl. Add the onion, parsley, lemon juice and olive oil. Mix.
Divide the mesclun greens between two plates.
Top with half each garbanzo mixture. To that add half each of the sautéed mushrooms. Divide orange pieces between the two plates. Place two anchovies on each plate on top.
Grind some fresh pepper and sea salt, drizzle with good Greek extra virgin olive oil (I use Kalamata from Trader Joe's) and serve with some hearty multigrain bread.

 

Kali Orexi as they say in Greece and Cyprus!
Enjoy!
Maria