It's Greek to Me!

Is there anything more wonderful than plucking a sprig of rosemary from a bush and rubbing it between your thumb and forefinger?  That redolent smell lingers and lingers. 

I think one of the things I love the most about Greek food is the herbs:  oregano, mint, basil, dill, and, of course, rosemary.   Add lemons, fennel, cinnamon, garlic—ingredients that are as aromatic as they are delicious--and every course in a Greek meal is like taste-bud "perfume."  

With all those fresh flavors, a Greek menu seemed especially appropriate for spring.  (My sympathies are with all my northern relatives who are still struggling under snow—in April!). 

And spring with all its harbingers of new life seemed an especially appropriate time to celebrate a dear friend’s successful cancer treatment and his recent marriage to a wonderful woman! 

Rosemary Napkin Rings

To make the dinner party a bit more festive, I made rosemary napkins.  I cut 6-inch pieces of rosemary from our outside bushes, and stripped the bottom half of the leaves from the stem. 

I rolled each folded napkin into a cylinder and then tied the rosemary stem around the center of the cylinder.

Greek Menu

Rosemary Cashews

Purchased mixed Greek olives

Greek Spinach-and-Cheese Pastries with Tzatziki Sauce

Chilled and Dilled Avgolemeno Soup

Roasted Shrimp with Feta

Orzo with Everything

Sautéed Vegetable Strips

Lemon Torta

Rosemary Cashews

In her recipe, Garten toasts the cashews first then tosses them with the warm butter mixture.  I roast the cashews after coating them with the butter mixture.  Also, since I can never find unsalted cashews (in her original recipe), I use salted and add no extra salt.  I think Ina likes salt more than I do!

Source:  adapted from a recipe by Ina Garten

Ingredients:

1 pound roasted, salted cashews

2 T. chopped fresh rosemary leaves

¼ to ½ tsp. cayenne pepper

2 tsp. brown sugar

1 T. unsalted butter, melted

Process:

Preheat the oven to 350°.  In a medium bowl, mix the spices, sugar and butter.  Add the cashews and mix to coat.  Spread the cashews out on a sheet pan.  Roast in the oven until warm, about 7-10 minutes.  Serve warm if possible, but they taste great at room temperature. Refrigerate leftovers.

Greek Spinach-and-Cheese Pastries

Source:  an old clipping from Southern Living

Yield:  5½ dozen

2 (10-oz.) packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained

2 large eggs

 2 c. (8 oz.) shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

1 c. (4 oz.) crumbled feta cheese

¾ c. thinly sliced green onions

1 ½ T. dried or ½ c. chopped fresh dill weed

½ c. chopped fresh Italian parsley

½ t. salt

¼ t. pepper

1 (16-oz.) package frozen phyllo pastry (22 sheets), thawed

Vegetable cooking spray

Combine first 9 ingredients in a large bowl; set aside.  Unfold phyllo, and cover with a slightly damp towel to prevent pastry from drying out.  Place 1 sheet of phyllo on a flat surface covered with wax paper; coat with cooking spray.  Top with another sheet of phyllo; coat with cooking spray.  Cut crosswise into 4 strips.

Place 1 T. spinach mixture at base of each strip; fold the right bottom corner over to form a triangle.  Continue folding back and forth into a triangle (like a falt) , gently pressing corners together.

Place triangles, seam side down, on ungreased baking sheets; coat triangles lightly with cooking spray.  Repeat procedure with remaining phyllo sheets, cooking spray, and spinach mixture.

Bake pastries at 350 for 12 to 14 minutes or until golden.  Serve immediately.

Note:  Unbaked appetizers may be frozen up to 2 weeks.  Freeze on baking sheets until hard; then freeze in airtight containers.  Bake, unthawed, as directed above.

Tzatziki

Source:  Epicurious, Sept. 2012

Yield:  2 cups

Ingredients:

1 English cucumbers, peeled, seeded, and shredded

Kosher salt

1½  cups plain nonfat yogurt

1 T. white wine vinegar

1 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped

1 T. dried mint

6 to 7 leaves fresh mint, thinly sliced

Freshly ground black pepper

Process:

Place the shredded cucumbers in a medium bowl and toss with a few pinches of salt. Set aside for 15 minutes to draw some of the liquid out of the cucumbers.

Drain the excess liquid from the bowl of cucumbers. Add in the yogurt, vinegar, garlic, dried mint, and fresh mint. Mix well to combine. Adjust the seasoning as needed with salt and pepper. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Chilled and Dilled Avgolemono Soup

Source:  Gourmet, July 2009

Yield:  4 servings

Ingredients:

4 cups chicken stock, or 3 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth plus 1 cup water

¼ c. long-grain white rice

2 large eggs

3 T. fresh lemon juice

1 scallion green, thinly sliced

2 T. chopped fresh dill

Simmer stock and rice in a heavy medium saucepan, covered, until rice is very tender, about 30 minutes. Purée mixture in a blender (use caution when blending hot liquids). Whisk eggs together in a medium bowl. Gradually whisk in hot stock mixture. Return to saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until soup registers 170°F on an instant-read thermometer.

Strain soup through a fine-mesh sieve into a metal bowl. Stir in lemon juice, then quick-chill in an ice bath, stirring occasionally, until cold. Stir in scallion, dill, and salt and pepper to taste.  (Soup can be made 2 days ahead and chilled.)

Roasted Shrimp with Feta

I doubled this recipe and baked it in a very large gratin dish, keeping the shrimp in a single layer. 

Source:  Ina Garten’s How Easy is That

Serves:  4 

Ingredients:

4 T. good olive oil, divided
1½ c. medium-diced fennel
1 T. minced garlic (3 cloves)
¼ c. dry white wine
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can diced tomatoes
2 tsp. tomato paste
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 T. Pernod (I used Ouzo)
1 tsp. kosher salt  (I used half)
½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1¼ pounds (16 to 20 per pound) peeled shrimp with tails on
5 ounces good feta cheese, coarsely crumbled
1 c. fresh bread crumbs (I "whirred" 4 slices of crustless bread in the fod processor.)

3 T. minced fresh parsley
1 tsp. grated lemon zest
2 lemons

Process:

Preheat oven to 400°.  Heat 2 T. of the olive oil in a 10-or 12-inch heavy ovenproof skillet over medium-low heat. Add the fennel and sauté for 8 to 10 minutes, until the fennel is tender. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the wine and bring to a boil, scraping up any browned bits. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until the liquid is reduced by half. Add the tomatoes with the liquid, tomato paste, oregano, Pernod, salt, and pepper to the skillet. Simmer over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, for 10 to 15 minutes.

Arrange the shrimp, tails up, in one layer over the tomato-mixture in the skillet. Scatter the feta evenly over the shrimp. In a small bowl, combine the bread crumbs, parsley, and lemon zest with the remaining 2 T. of olive oil and sprinkle over the shrimp.

Bake for 15 minutes, until the shrimp are cooked and the bread crumbs are golden brown. Squeeze the juice of 1 lemon over the shrimp. Serve hot with the remaining lemon cut into wedges.  Perhaps because I doubled it, it took about 30 minutes for the shrimp to be done.

Orzo with Everything

Source:  Bon Appétit, July 1998

Yield:  serves 6

Ingredients:

1 ½ c. orzo (rice-shaped pasta; about 10 ounces)

1/3 c. (packed) chopped drained oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes

5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

¼ c. balsamic vinegar

¼ c. (packed) chopped Kalamata olives or other brine-cured black olives

1 c. finely chopped radicchio (about 1 small head)

½ c. pine nuts, toasted

½ c. chopped fresh basil

½ c. freshly grated Parmesan cheese

2 large garlic cloves, minced

Process:

Cook orzo in pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite. Drain well. Transfer to large bowl. Add sun-dried tomatoes, oil, vinegar and olives and toss to blend. Let stand until cool. (Can be prepared 6 hours ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature before continuing.)   Mix chopped radicchio, pine nuts, chopped basil, Parmesan and garlic into orzo mixture. Season salad to taste with salt and pepper and serve.

Sautéed Vegetable Strips

Source:  Kay Ewing’s Cooking School Cookbook

Yield:  6 servings

2 carrots, peeled                                          

2 zucchini, scrubbed                      

2 yellow squash, scrubbed

2 T. butter

Salt & pepper to taste

Cut vegetables in strips with a vegetable peeler (don’t include seeds).  Melt butter in a skillet over medium-high heat.  Sauté vegetable strips about 1 minute, just to heat.  (I sautéed the vegetables a little longer until tender and Salt & pepper and serve immediately.

Yield:  6 servings

Lemon Torta

Source:  Kay Ewing’s Cooking School Cookbook

Crust:

¼ c. butter

1 ½ oz. cream cheese

2/3 c. flour

½ tsp. sugar

Preheat oven to 350.  Cut up butter and cream cheese into a food processor and add flour and sugar.  Process just until mixture forms a ball.  Remove and roll out on a lightly floured surface. (I didn’t roll it out; I just pressed it into the pan). Press dough into the bottom and up the sides of a greased 9” shallow tart pan with a removable bottom.

Filling:

2 eggs
3 T. melted butter
3 T. lemon juice
2/3 c. sugar
Powdered sugar
Whipped cream
Lemon zest for garnish

Place eggs, butter, lemon juice and sugar in a food processor (Don’t bother to clean it out from the crust step) and process for about 30 seconds.  Pour filling into crust and bake for about 30-35 minutes until golden brown.  Cool completely and chill.  (I didn’t chill it, and I made it the day ahead—both seem fine.)  Before serving, sprinkle torta with powdered sugar.  Serve each slice with a dab of whipped cream and lemon zest for garnish

.