Cooker’s Pot

You’ll Need:

* 1/2 cup olive oil
* 3 cups of peeled boiled chestnuts
* 5 cloves of garlic
* vinegar
* salt

Procedure:

It is very important that chestnuts are still warm when starting the preparation. Smash the chestnuts until they become a smooth “pulp”. Add the mashed garlic and vinegar, and pour the oil while stiring with a spoon until it becomes a soft spread.

You’ll Need:

6 eggs
3/4 cup honey
1 1/2 cups cream of wheat (rice flour or fine semolina may also be used)
7 cups milk
1 Tbs lemon juice
3 Tbs butter
1 1/2 lbs pastry sheets (phyllo)
Vegetable or butter spray

1 1/2 cups honey
1 cup water
1 Tbs lemon juice

Procedure:

Beat the eggs with the sugar until thick. Add milk, cream of wheat, and flavoring. Cook over low heat until mixture thickens stirring continuously. Remove from heat; add 3 Tbs butter. Coat 9×12x2 baking pan with cooking/butter spray and lay 2/3 of pastry sheets, spraying each with butter spray. The edges of the pastry sheets should come up above the top of the pan. Spread milk mixture over pastry sheets and turn in the edges of the phyllo over the mixture. Cover with the remaining pastry sheets, spraying between each sheet. Spray top. Cut through the first 3 pastry sheets in 3 inch squares and sprinkle with water. Bake in a moderate oven for 45 minutes. Allow to cool. Boil the sugar, water and lemon juice for 5 minutes. Pour lukewarm syrup over ghalatoboureko. Can be served warm or cool.

You’ll Need:

* 500 gr. Greek fassolia gigantes, or butter beans
* 1 kg tomatoes
* 160 ml olive oil
280 gr. onions, finely sliced
* 1 tablespoon tomato puree
* 3 cloves garlic, peeled and finely sliced
* 1 teaspoon sugar
* Salt and black pepper
* 3 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
* 1 tablespoon oregano
* 1 teaspoon thyme

Procedure:

Pick the beans clean from stones and grit and soak them in cold water overnight. Drain and rinse them in a colander, put into a large saucepan or a pressure cooker, cover with plenty of cold water and boil them until they are cooked but still a little hard. This type of bean cooks quickly, so be aware until you get used to them. They take hardly 2 minutes in a pressure cooker and about 30-40 minutes otherwise. If they get overcooked, they get mushy and soggy and they do not taste at their best. This first step then is also the most important in this recipe. Drain the beans through a colander and keep aside. In the same saucepan, heat the olive oil and fry the onions, the garlic and the dried herbs, until they start turning pale golden. Add the tomatoes with all the juice from the cans or, if fresh tomatoes are used, add 150 ml water. Then add the tomato puree and sugar, break up the mixture with a fork, season with salt and pepper, cover and cook for 30 minutes or until the sauce thickens. Mix the parsley into the tomato sauce, add the beans and mix well. Spread the beans in an oven dish. Sprinkle a little oregano and black pepper on the top and cook in a pre-heated oven at 350 grades F / 80 grades C, for 30 minutes, without stirring, until they look slightly crisp on top and quite dry. Alternatively, add the beans to the tomato sauce, mix well, cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes.

You’ll Need:

- 1 kg of gilt-head bream
- olive oil
- Salt
- lemon juice

Procedure:

Salt the fish, baste it with oil and grill it. Serve in a long platter. Pour over some lemon - oil sauce. Use charcoal if you have. Gives better taste. Tip: In some regions of Greece they cover the fish with thick salt, they grill it and then they remove the crust of salt that has created and they eat it. With this procedure they do not burn the fish and they manage to give a salty taste to eat as well.

You’ll Need:

- 3 cups almond meal
- 1 cup caster sugar
- 3 drops almond essence
- 3 egg whites, lightly beaten
- 1 cup flaked almonds

Procedure:

Combine the almond meal, sugar and almond essence in a large bowl. Add the egg whites and stir until the mixture forms a firm paste. Do not overmix. Roll a tablespoon of the mixture into the flaked almonds, and then roll into an 8cm long roll. Repeat until all the mixture is used. Press the remaining almonds onto the rolls. Shape the rolls into crescents or other shapes, and place on baking paper-lined oven trays. Bake in a moderate oven (180c) for about 15 mins or until lightly browned. Cool on trays.

You’ll Need:

- 8 apples (should be cored, peeled and chopped. If desired, 2 cups canned apples (drained) may be substituted.)
- 1 tb Cornstarch
- 1/2 c Sugar
- 1/4 c Currants or raisins
- 1/2 ts cinnamon
- 1/2 c Walnuts
- 1/2 ts Allspice
- 1/2 c Butter; melted
- 1 c Powdered sugar
- 1 lb Commercial filo sheets

Procedure:

Defrost frozen filo to room temperature, 2 to 4 hours. Mix filling in a bowl tossing ingredients with a spoon. Set aside. Lay 5 sheets filo flat, one on top of each other, with a little melted butter brushed between the sheets. Spread 1 cup of filling along one end. Roll filo over the apple filling so you will have a long filled tube. Fold side edges over 1/2″ so filling won’t fall out. Continue rolling. Place in a buttered baking pan or cookie sheet. Brush tops generously with melted butter. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Sift powdered sugar over tops and sides as soon as it is taken out of the oven and while still hot. When cool, cut into 2″ pieces and serve.

You’ll Need:

Filling
- 500 gr. walnuts, coarsely chopped
- 60 gr. sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Pastry
- 500 gr. fyllo pastry
- 180 gr. unsalted butter, melted

Syrup
- 230 gr. caster sugar
- 300 ml water
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- some lemon peel
- 2 tablespoons honey

Procedure:

Mix all the filling ingredients in a bowl. Liberally butter the base and sides of an elongated or round baking dish. Measure the length of the fyllo against the baking dish roughly and, allowing 2 cm extra approximately for shrinkage, cut to length with a sharp knife. Brush each layer of fyllo with melted butter and spread over the base of the container as evenly as possible. Once you have used 5 layers of pastry, sprinkle a thin layer of filling all over the surface and add 3 more layers. Sprinkle a thin layer of filling and place 2 more sheets of fyllo on top. Sprinkle on all the remaining filling, spreading it evenly, and cover with 7-8 more layers of fyllo, brushing individually with butter. Fold any excess pastry on either of the sides over the filling and brush it with butter. Brush the top layer liberally with butter in order to get it crisp and golden. Trim any excess pastry with a small sharp knife, keeping in mind that it will also shrink. Cut the top layers of fyllo carefully, either diagonally into diamond shapes or straight, which will result in square or elongated pieces. Be careful not to cut right down to the base, but only the top layers. This is done in order to make cutting and lifting the pieces out, once it is cooked, much easier and efficient. Using the tips of four fingers, sprinkle drops of water all over the surface and cook it in a preheated oven, gas no.5/ 375 grades F / 190 grades C, for 15 minutes; lower the heat to gas no.4/ 350 grades F/ l80 grades C and cook for a further 20 minutes. In the meantime, prepare the syrup. Place all the syrup ingredients, apart from the honey, in a saucepan and stir to dissolve the sugar. Simmer for 6-8 minutes, add the honey and simmer for a further 5 minutes until it thickens slightly. Let the baklava cool down then pour the hot but not boiling syrup slowly all over, through a strainer. Let it stand and absorb the syrup.

You’ll Need:

2 cups chicken bouillon
1 cup pearl barley
1 red pepper, cut small thin strips
1/2 cucumber, cut into chunks
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1 large tomato, cut in wedges
1/2 cup pitted black olives
4 cups romaine lettuce, torn

1/2 cup olive oil
3 Tbsp lemon juice
1 garlic clove pressed
1/2 tsp whole oregano
1/4 tsp salt
pepper, to taste
1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled

Procedure:

Make up chicken boullion in water and add barley. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer for 40 minutes until tender. Refrigerate until cool. In the meantime, prepare vegetables and put into a large salad bowl. Add cooled barley. Whisk dressing ingredients together. Drizzle dressing on top, and toss. Top with feta cheese. Chill for several hours before serving.

You’ll Need:

150g eye fillet, cooked medium rare and thinly sliced
a crisp lettuce torn into bite-sized pieces
120g diced feta cheese
12 black olives
4 anchovy fillets, sliced
2 hard-boiled eggs, quartered
2 Tbs olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 Tbs lemon juice
ground black pepper
2 Tbs chopped parsley

Procedure:

Toss the lettuce, feta, beef and olives in a bowl and decorate with anchovy fillets and hard-boiled egg. Combine the oil, garlic, lemon juice and black pepper and drizzle over the salad. Garnish with chopped parsley.

You’ll Need:

1 1/2 lbs. stewing beef, cut in 1 inch pieces (675g)
1 cup chopped onion (250ml)
1 clove garlic, minced
3 tablespoons pure vegetable oil (45ml)
6-oz tomato paste(170g)
1 1/2 cups water (375ml)
1 cup thinly sliced carrots (250ml)
1/4 cup red wine (60ml)
3 tablespoons minced parsley(45ml)
1/2 teaspoon salt (3ml)
1/4 teaspoon pepper (1ml)
2 1/2 cups large corkscrew macaroni (625ml)
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (250ml)
1/4 cup butter or margarine

Procedure:

In Dutch oven or heavy skillet, cook beef, onion, garlic in oil until beef loses its redness. Stir in next 7 ingredients, cover and simmer 1 hour, stirring occasionally. cook macaroni as package directs. Drain. Toss hot cooked macaroni with cheese and butter. Arrange on large serving platter. Spoon Meat mixture over.