Greek is a Mediterranean cuisine that has much in common with the culinary traditions of Italy, the Balkan Peninsula, Israel, Turkey, Syria and Palestine. It has existed for more than 4 thousand years and is directly related to the history and culture of Ancient Greece.
Today, Greek cuisine, as in ancient times, is impossible to imagine without cereals, olive oil and wine, as well as vegetables (eggplant, zucchini), olives, cheese, fish and meat.
Features of Greek cuisine
In the Mediterranean cuisine of Greece, several characteristic features can be distinguished, which are based on the use of a certain list of products in the preparation of dishes.
- Olive oil is the ingredient that Greek cuisine stands on. It is impossible to imagine national dishes prepared without it. Olive oil is used as a salad dressing, added to vegetable, meat, fish dishes and pastries. It is made from olive trees growing in Greece, and makes national Greek dishes special in taste.
- Vegetables - fresh or baked, they are present in almost every dish. Especially often used are fresh tomatoes, eggplant, potatoes, green peppers, onions, as well as olives.
- Spices in Greek cooking are used more often than in any other Mediterranean cuisine. In Greece, the most common are oregano, thyme, garlic, bay leaf, basil, thyme and fennel. Interestingly, in the preparation of meat dishes, spices typical of desserts (for example, cinnamon) are used.
- Cheeses - feta, cashier, kefalotiri, ladotiri. They are served as a fresh snack, added to salads and popular casseroles of vegetables, meat and pasta.
- Cereals - most often in the preparation of dishes wheat is used, less often - barley. Thin filo dough is made from wheat flour , and the famous Greek desserts are baked from it.
Popular Greek dishes: names
Some Greek dishes have much in common with those cooked on the Mediterranean coast. These include pastitsio (pasticio). This Greek dish is an analogue of Italian lasagna, but long pasta tubes of ziti are used instead of dough layers. Or, for example, dolmades is an analogue of dolma (minced meat in grape leaves), which is widespread among the peoples of Transcaucasia.
But Greece has its own traditions in culinary. It is difficult to imagine Greek cuisine without the national dish of Chaniotiko Bureka. These are potato slices baked with zucchini, mizitra cheese and mint. Also in Greece, traditionally prepare pies, using the thinnest filo dough or puff pastry, in which a wide variety of filling is wrapped. The most popular pies in Greek cuisine are spinakopita
(spinach pie) and kotopita (chicken pie).
Love in Greece and soups. For example, often here is prepared lean bean soup based on white beans and tomatoes, or Magiritsa - a traditional Easter soup that the Greeks cook on Holy Saturday.
All Greek dishes, the recipes of which are presented below, are hearty and easy to prepare. The essential ingredients in their composition, such as olive oil and vegetables, make dishes not only tasty, but also healthy.
Greek cuisine: national dishes. Meze
All tourists who come to Greece, and especially to the island of Crete, are advised to try the meze. But not all of the visiting guests know what it is.
Meze - these are appetizers, that is, dishes of Greek cuisine that are not served to the table in portions, but in such a way that everyone can put any of them in his plate. Mesa usually includes olives and feta cheese, stuffed grape leaves (dolmades), meatballs, grilled octopus, pickled vegetables, etc. The list, as well as the number of dishes, can be very diverse.
Traditionally served as meze tahini (creamy sauce from sesame seeds), lucanine (Cypriot sausages with coriander), halumi (soft cheese from sheep or goat milk with mint), stifado (beef with spices in wine vinegar), soufflé (finely chopped barbecue) etc.
Traditional greek salad
Greek, or rustic, salad gained popularity not only in Greece itself, but also in most other countries of the world. It is prepared from tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, red onions, olives and feta. As a dressing, olive oil is traditionally used, as well as wine vinegar or lemon juice.
Light Greek salad is very popular among all adherents of a healthy diet.
Moussaka
Almost all Greek cuisine recipes use vegetables. Especially popular among the Greeks is the Greek eggplant dish - moussaka. It consists of baked layers: the first is eggplant with olive oil, the second is minced lamb and beef with tomatoes, and the third is a cheese sauce, reminiscent of the taste of bechamel. All layers (as in climbing) are stacked alternately.
A Greek eggplant dish is baked in the oven at 180 degrees for 30 minutes. Served warm.
Spanakopita (Spanakopita)
The preparation of this traditional Greek pie begins with the preparation of a juicy filling. To do this, onion is fried in olive oil. Spinach (250 g), parsley, green onion feathers, feta cheese (400 g), as well as salt to taste and nutmeg on the edge of a knife are added to it.
While the filling is cooling, it is necessary to divide and roll the dough into two thin layers. Distribute the first part along the bottom of the mold, greased with butter so as to cover not only the bottom of the mold, but also close the sides. Put the whole filling on top and cover with another layer of dough, cut exactly to the size of the form. Connect the edges of the dough with each other. The top layer of the pie, before being sent to the oven, chop with a fork in several places. Bake 40 minutes until golden brown.
Fasolada: Lean Greek Soup
This soup is especially loved by vegetarians, because it is prepared exclusively from ingredients of plant origin. The main components of such a dish of Greek cuisine are white beans, tomatoes or tomato puree, carrots and celery. All the ingredients for the soup are fried alternately in olive oil: first onions, carrots, celery stalks, then pre-cooked beans and tomato puree from 0.5 kg of tomatoes. After this, the vegetable harvest is transferred to the pan, poured with vegetable broth, and all together is cooked for another 10 minutes. The lean soup is ready.
Fasolada is served hot or cold. Before serving, the soup is seasoned with olive oil, black pepper and dried herbs.
Pastitsio, or Greek Lasagna
The classic pastitsio recipe is layers of ziti pasta with beef and lamb meat sauce, white bechamel sauce and cheese crust.
This Greek dish is prepared in the following order:
- Grease a 9x13 cm baking dish with butter.
- Cook the meat sauce. To do this, fry the onions (2 pcs.), Then garlic (4 cloves) in olive oil (3 tbsp. Tablespoons). After 1 minute, add 2 types of minced meat (beef and lamb) and fry it until browned. After that, you can add the rest of the ingredients: chopped tomatoes (4 pcs.), Tomato paste (2 tbsp. Tablespoons), parsley. And you will also need spices: salt (1 ½ tsp), pepper, sugar (½ tsp), cinnamon stick, bay leaf. The sauce will be ready when all the liquid has evaporated (after about 1 hour).
- Boil 450 g of pasta until half cooked.
- Cook bechamel by frying flour (½ cup) in butter first. Then pour 4 cups of milk into the pan and cook until it thickens for about 15 minutes. After that, remove the sauce from the heat, add salt (1 teaspoon), white pepper and nutmeg.
- Collect pastitsio in layers. The first layer is pasta mixed with egg and parmesan. The second layer is meat sauce, and the third is white sauce. Sprinkle the dish with Parmesan mixed with a small amount of breadcrumbs.
Pastitsio is baked in an oven preheated to 180 degrees for 45 minutes - 1 hour.
Galactobureko - semolina milk cake
As a filling for this pie, thick semolina is used. But it turns out so tasty that the semolina is not at all felt. To taste, it is more reminiscent of a soft custard with a light citrus note.
The filling for the pie is located between the layers of filo dough, the top layer of which, after baking in the oven, is filled with sweet citrus syrup made from lemon juice, sugar, water, cinnamon, clove inflorescences and honey. The cake is served in a cold form, previously cut into portioned square pieces.