Grilled Vegetable and Haloumi Salad

Summertime, and i can feel a theme coming on! With long work hours, late sunlight, and back to cooking for one, salads are becoming an imperative this summer season! To me, a good salad is about fresh ingredients, with one highlight yummy addition. That addition might be cheese, it might be bread, it might be meat. It doesn't matter, but it's the drawcard of the dish to me! In this instance it's haloumi.

For the first few times i tried to make grilled haloumi i was so disappointed. Gone was the melty, salty goodness i'd experienced at Greek restaurants, and in it's place was a squeaky (yes squeaky!!) rubbery mass. The key is in long cooking; really cook your haloumi until it's starting to lose it's shape. If it's still a nice brick, she ain't ready yet!

Fava with Thyme, Shallot & Red Vinegar Dressing

I recently invested in George Columbaris' second cookbook, and it did a wonderful job of bringing me back to memories of the delicious food served up at Hellenic Republic in Brunswick. Much more approachable than his first book, this one really gets down to good, flavourful Greek cuisine without the 'fancy stuff'.

This recipe comes from the book, and is a moorsih dip that i served with heated flatbreads. The base of the dip is provided by the split peas and olive oil, with hints of garlic and a twang of thyme and red vinegar.

Do make sure you taste for seasoning and remember that you need a little bit more salt than you might think when something is not being served hot.

Moussaka

Whenever my dad eats a meal, it's a running joke in the family that the quality of the food is judged by the amount of times in a row he says 'yum'. Well this dish got a 'yummo, yummo, yummo' so i'm happy to say it turned out pretty good!

Moussaka is a Greek dish, essentially an eggplant and lamb lasagne without the pasta. It's a very warming and comforting food, perfect for a rainy Autumn evening.

'Traditional' Tzatziki.... sorry George!

I've poached another recipe from George Calombaris, however i've changed it up a bit to suit my tastes! Tzatziki is equally my favorite dip, along with French Onion, and 'New Zealand Dip' which my friend Darryl introduced me to (ill see if i can nick the recipe sometime). 

George called this 'Traditional Tzatziki' and it certainly tastes markedly different from the stuff that i am used to. I actually prefer regular tzatziki, however this one is worth a try for something different. I was hoping that this would be the rich, creamy tzatziki that is served at Hellenic Republic. But i'm still on the hunt.

Ingredients

500gm greek natural yoghurt

1 cucumber

1/3 cup olive oil

1tbs white vinegar (though i prefer the zing of lemon)

1tbs maluka honey (George says double the amount, but it was too sweet for me)

1tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp salt

Method (kinda basic!)

Split the cucumber in half and scoop out the seeds with a spoon. Then dice into 1/2cm cubes. 

Add all other ingredients and mix

Refridgerate until very cold. 

The dip will improve overnight.

Serve with bread, crackers, or sticks of carrot and celery!

Melitzanosalata with Balsamic Onions

Okay so i kind of stole this recipe for greek eggplant dip from George Columbaris. Anyone who has been to Hellenic Republic knows this man knows his Greek food. I highly recommend you go there sometime in summer, i was incredibly impressed by the great unpretentious Greek food there, and piles of it there is too.

Anyway i made a slight change in substituting balsamic vinegar for the red wine he uses in his recipe. I feel that the end result will be pretty similar though.

Tahini is a sesame seed paste, available at most supermarkets. At times it is in the health food aisle. Like sesame oil, it's potent stuff, so don't go adding tonnes extra because you think you like sesame seeds. If you need to be convinced, try a teaspoon of the stuff. I did. 

Ingredients:

• 3 medium eggplants
• 2 teaspoons tahini
• 2 roasted garlic cloves
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 150ml extra virgin olive oil
• Salt
  
• 1 red onion
• 50ml balsamic vinegar
  

Method:

Melitzanosalata

Pierce the eggplants several times with a fork and bake in an oven at 180 degrees until soft and squishy.

Remove and set aside until cool enough to handle.

split the eggplants in the middle and scoop out the goopy innards into a bowl.

Process the eggplants in the food processor or blender until a fine paste is formed.

Add the tahini, garlic cloves and vinegar and season with salt. Blend until smooth.

Gradually pour in the oil whilst blending to create an emulsification. It should take about 3 minutes to add all the oil.

Place the melitzanosalata in the fridge until cold.

Balsamic Onions

Thinly slice the onions into rings

Place in a saucepan over medium heat with a 2 teaspoons of olive oil and saute until soft.

Add the balsamic vinegar and season with salt

Simmer with the lid on for approximately 5 minutes

Remove the lid and continue to simmer until most of the liquid has evaporated.

Transfer onions to a bowl and let cool.

Serve the melitzanosalata with a good bread (i used panna toscano) and garnish with the balsamic onions.

Beef Stifado

Stifado is a Greek dish of braised meat lavished with a rich heavy sauce. It is a bit similar to an osso bucco though the sauce is much stronger than the standard osso bucco, with buckets of wine and spice in the mix. It pairs best with tendon-heavy cuts of meat such as rabbit, or beef cheek as i use here. Failing either of these, go for oyster blade. 

As you can see, beef cheeks are tendon heavy and marbled. Through slow cooking, the cheek will become very tender, and the meat will remain moist and sweet.

Ingredients:

• 1kg beef cheek cut into 6 pieces
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 tbs smoked paprika
• 2 cans crushed tomatoes
• 2 cinnamon quills
• 4 cloves
• 1/2 tbs allspice powder
• 2 cups red wine
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• Salt 
• Pepper
• 1 small carrot, diced
• 3 stems celery, diced
• 12 shallots, peeled but whole
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 bay leaf
  

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius

Place the cinnamon, allspice and cloves into a dutch oven and into the oven for 5 minutes. Remove and set aside. Turn oven down to 150 degrees.

Place a saucepan over medium heat with 2 tbs olive oil. Mix the flour and paprika on a plate and coat each piece of meat in the flour mixture.

Transfer the pieces of meat, 3 at a time, to the pan, and brown on all sides.

Set meat aside. 

In the same saucepan, add oil if necessary then add shallots, browning for 3 minutes

Add garlic, carrot and celery and saute for a further 5 minutes.

Add sauteed vegetables to the dutch oven over the spices. Add meat.

Pour over the wine and vinegar and add the bay leaf and season with salt and pepper. 

Cook on the stove top on low heat for 1/2 hour or until the sauce has halved. 

Pour over the chopped tomatos, place the lid on the pot and place in the oven.

Cook for 2 hours or until meat is very tender.

Serve with mashed potatoes and lavishly pour on the sauce. Bon appetit! 

Spanakopita

You can probably pick which recipes i'm making for my weekly lunches! Spanakopita is a Greek dish of a yummy mixture of spinach and feta rolled up in flaky filo pastry.

Ingredients:

• 250gm spinach
• 150gm good quality feta, crumbled
• 75gm parmesan finely grated
• 1/2 cup pine nuts, roasted
• 10 sheets filo pastry
• 100gm butter, melted
  
• Pepper
• 2 eggs, lighted beaten
• 5 spring onions, chopped coarsely

Method:
Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsiuis.
Saute the spinach until soft and mushy and transfer to a sieve. When cool enough to handle, squeeze the spinach to remove as much water as possible.
Mix the spinach, feta, parmesan, eggs, pine nuts, onions and eggs together in a large bowl. Season with pepper. 

On a clean surface lay out the first piece of filo.
Brush entire sheet with melted butter.

Lay a second sheet of filo over the first, and also brush this with butter.
Fold the filo in half lengthways.
Place 2 tablespoons of the filling onto across the left of the pastry leaving about 5cm at each end, as per the below picture. 

Roll the filo into a log.
Curl the filo into a rough spiral, tucking the  ends of the filo underneath so that the shape stays put.
Place onto a baking tray and brush again with butter.
Repeat for the remaining 5 spanakopita. 

Bake in the oven for approximately 20minutes or until lightly browned.

Serve warm, i think it pairs well with a light caprese salad.