# THE AUGUST 2020 CHALLENGE IS . . . . . GREECE



## mike9 (Jul 13, 2012)

After enjoying some lamb souvlaki with pita points and Skordalia I think I'd like to keep the Mediterranean thing going since it is summer and gardens are coming in and it's healthy. Even if you don't have a garden markets are starting to see fresh, local produce rolling in. So this months challenge is GREECE - the mother to a lot of Western cuisine. Do a little history search and you'll see what I mean. So on that note - grill it, chill it, bake it, roasted, or raw - cook to your hearts content.

And now for the Bla, Bla, Bla:


The challenge begins on the 1st of every month. The last entry must be made by the last day of the month.
You may post multiple entries.
All entries must be cooked during the month of the challenge.
If you use a documented recipe, please cite your source.
Entries should include the name of your dish and a picture of the final product. Sharing personal recipes and pictures of the process are not mandatory but extremely helpful.
The winner is chosen by the person who posted the challenge, and is announced after the last day of submissions. The decision is final and falls entirely at the discretion of the challenger.
Submitting an entry makes you eligible to win. If you do not wish to be considered for the win you may still participate in the challenge, but make your wishes known to the challenger.
The winner's bounty includes praise, virtual high-fives, and the responsibility of posting the next month's challenge. That entails choosing a theme, posting a Challenge thread that includes the guidelines, checking in on the submissions regularly during the month, and promptly choosing a winner at the end of the challenge.
GOOD LUCK EVERYONE

Like


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## brianshaw (Dec 18, 2010)

OPA! Great challenge... Your on...


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## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

Nice choice! I mentioned egg and lemon soup in the Italian challenge, maybe I'll do a Greek version. And I did home made pita in the past, guess it is time to do it again.

mjb.


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## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

I like souvlaki and pita.
Got a charcoal grill.
Lets see what I can do


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## mike9 (Jul 13, 2012)

Maybe this challenge will coax @koukouvagia to throw down.


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## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

So inspired by this challenge I stopped by a place I've driven past a few hundred times, but never stopped to check it out.

http://www.blackcherrymarket.com/

So I went inside to give it a once over. I will be back, they have some pretty good stuff there. I just picked up a few things.










The sumac and aseppo are something I've wanted to try out for a while, they won't be part of this challenge. The Greek olives, though, will make an appearance within a few days.

mjb.


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

Blackcherry is tons of fun.


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## harpua (May 4, 2005)

teamfat said:


> So inspired by this challenge I stopped by a place I've driven past a few hundred times, but never stopped to check it out.
> 
> http://www.blackcherrymarket.com/
> 
> ...


Love sumac! Easy to use too. The easiest is to toss them with sliced onions and call it a condiment.


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## nicko (Oct 5, 2001)

Ok. Grilled Octopus.


Braise it
I was able to get some fresh/frozen large octopus at the fish market. About 4.5 pounds.








Braise it in red wine vinegar, lemon peel, herbs (thyme, rosemary, oregano) white peppercorns (toasted), Coriander seed (toasted).

















Braise at 275 - 300 (my oven runs hot). About 45 minutes - 2 hours. Check if it is tender after 45 min.








Step 2 Marinate it

White wine, white wine vinegar, sugar, white peppercorns, thyme, oregano, bay leaf



















Step 3. Grill It! (Here served with Pickled red onions, capers, green and black kalamata olives.









Or serve it pickled. (Garlic confit served with it).


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## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

Well, we are off ro a good start! 
Nice going, Nicko!


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## nicko (Oct 5, 2001)

Thanks guys it may not be fair for me to compete since I cook Greek food all the time and have a HUGE collection of Greek cookbooks.


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## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

Wow, quite an impressive first dish. I have more humble plans, a soup and salad to begin.










Got some chicken stock going, should be tasty.

mjb.


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## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

nicko said:


> Thanks guys it may not be fair for me to compete since I cook Greek food all the time and have a HUGE collection of Greek cookbooks.


Doesn't matter at all.
We like to see what you cook and come up with 
After all, it's fun to see, inspirational and so on


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## nicko (Oct 5, 2001)

GIGANTES PLAKI (Large white beans in tomato sauce)
Finished with dill 









Greek white beans soaked over night








Cook the beans with onion, bay leaf and carrot. Note never salt your beans while they are cooking always after they cook. Be sure to save the cooking water it is the best vegetable stock you will use.

















Made a simple tomato sauce (tomato, onion, garlic with bay leaf. Gets finished with olive oil and Greek oregano)








Greek Oregano









Saute a little more onion and garlic then add the tomato sauce and beans.








The finished product.


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## mike9 (Jul 13, 2012)

nicko said:


> GIGANTES PLAKI


Oh - goin' all Greek Fu on us now huh???

Just kidding - both dishes look great @nicko . I would never thought of braising octopus in red wine vinegar. I usually cook it dry in a heavy pot on low heat for an hour depending on the weight. I'm always amazed at how much liquid they give up.


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## nicko (Oct 5, 2001)

@mike9 I have tried both methods and this is the latest one. Previously I put nothing in the pot but now liquid (vinegar, wine) and spices. You can definitely taste the difference.


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## mike9 (Jul 13, 2012)

I will try that.


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## nicko (Oct 5, 2001)

A part of any Greek table is the spreads here are four I made for a gathering with friends this weekend.

Spicy Roasted red pepper with feta (the favorite of the evening)
Tzatziki - Classic yogurt. cucumber and dill
Skordalia - Classic potato and garlic (LOTS OF GARLIC) with white wine vinegar. ( A family favorite).
Melitzanosalata - Roasted eggplant spread.


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## nicko (Oct 5, 2001)

Hoping to see some entries soon right now I feel like I am competing with myself.


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## mike9 (Jul 13, 2012)

The other dip I love is Taramsalata. We have so many cucumbers this year I'm making Tsatziki every week - it really is refreshing. I made Skordalia the week before last after my garlic dried.

Come on people - it's not Rocket Science!!!


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## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

I'm working on it. Will post the soup and salad in the next day or so, have a couple of lamb dishes in mind, as well as some ideas about fish. And I sort of remember a funny video about pronouncing 'gyro' as year-oh or jai-ro that I was going to post if I can find it again.

mjb.


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## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

After that last post I remembered if had Jimmy Fallon in it, made the web search easier.

Gyro


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## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

Are there any good greek recipes with goat in it?
I'll be getting some soon and may as well try to prepare it the Greek way.
Gotta be on grill or a stew though. Got no oven


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## mike9 (Jul 13, 2012)

I use goat any way I use lamb, or game. Unfortunately the only goat I can get around here is Halal so it's chunked and frozen. I'd love to get some whole joints.


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## Iceman (Jan 4, 2011)

_Spanakopita Rolls _







[JUSTIFY]The little ramekin has parsley. You can also use dill and/or mint. The clients this time only wanted the parsley. [/JUSTIFY]






[JUSTIFY]It wouldn't have been regular for me if I didn't have some ingredient miss the _Team Pic_. The zest of this beauty goes in with everything else.[/JUSTIFY]















[JUSTIFY]Everything goes into the stand-mixer. _NO ..._ I don't cook the spinach. Before blitzing it looks like a really crowded party. Afterwards ... the volume is way reduced.[/JUSTIFY]









​[JUSTIFY]Before assembly the fillo had an issue. It didn't make any difference for the end-product. I pre-sprayed the counter with the oil and then sprayed the fillo after being laid out. A serving-spoon of spinach-cheese goes in the middle and is spread halfway up. the sides are folded in and it gets rolled up sorta like a burrito. _DON'T_ roll too tite because it's gonna expand.[/JUSTIFY]

[JUSTIFY]







[/JUSTIFY]








​[JUSTIFY]The second from right on top is/was the nicest roll. [/JUSTIFY]

















​[JUSTIFY]I get the idea that maybe I should not have tried to cut it until it relaxed just a little bit. I couldn't find the white smaller plates. They were served on smaller plates, I just didn't like the look for these pics. [/JUSTIFY]

[JUSTIFY]_There were NO leftovers. _[/JUSTIFY]

_"We work in kitchens. ... It ain'te rocket surgery."._​


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## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

butzy said:


> Are there any good greek recipes with goat in it?
> I'll be getting some soon and may as well try to prepare it the Greek way.
> Gotta be on grill or a stew though. Got no oven


I agree with @mike9 about just replacing lamb with goat. In truth, I'd bet that many lamb recipes actually started out as goat or mutton based back in the day, And I, too, have trouble find goat other than cut up into frozen, bone in cubes here in Salt Lake. I have heard there is a farm in the area that raises goats and you can buy whole animals, but I've not really looked into doing so.

mjb.


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## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

Thanks!! Got a leg of goat and some ribs.
Going to browse recipes for something nice and Greek. Gotta find some lemons!!!!!


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## nicko (Oct 5, 2001)

@Iceman very nice looks tasty!


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## brianshaw (Dec 18, 2010)

butzy said:


> Thanks!! Got a leg of goat and some ribs.
> Going to browse recipes for something nice and Greek. Gotta find some lemons!!!!!


Marinate with olive oil, lemon, garlic, and oregano. Roast with open fire. Instant winner! 

I can mail you some lemons if you don't mind that they are Meyer, my tree is still loaded.


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## abefroman (Mar 12, 2005)

I plan on making these Greek beans for the challenge, could someone translate the recipe please?


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## nicko (Oct 5, 2001)

@abefroman that is funny can't wait to see your entry!


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## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

So I mentioned soup and salad the other day. Finally getting around to posting.

*The Players*

For the salad, basic Greek salad stuff.










Red bell and green tomatoes. Usually these types of salad have green bell and red tomatoes. The green tomatoes are Lucinda, a type of green zebra, and fresh out of my garden. The little red ones are Sweet 100s, also from the garden. No usable cucumbers yet, so the cuke and the red onion are store bought. Also making an appearance are feta cheese, peppers and kalamata olives.

For the dressing:










Olive oil, red wine vinegar, dijon mustard, garlic and some oregano.

For the soup, I previously posted a pic of the stock underway.










You can't make avgolemono without eggs and lemon, of course, accompanied by chicken and rice. For this batch I used a short grain white arborio style rice. And a bit of fresh dill to help brighten it up.

*The Process*

The chicken stock was made by poaching a couple of bone in, skin on thighs, along with a neck and a backbone from the stash of bits in the freezer. No chicken feet in this batch. Pulled the thighs out after about 45 minutes, let them cool a bit. Took the meat off, bones back into the pot, along with the usual onion, carrot, celery mix, bay leaf and black peppercorns. Another hour or so, then strained and stashed in the garage fridge until show time.

Did the salad first.










Whisked together the olive oil, vinegar, a pinch of salt and ground black pepper. Finely minced the garlic and added it, along with the oregano, then let it sit and have the flavors get to know one another.

Large dice on the tomatoes. Peeled and seeded the cucumber, also large dice. Onion thin half rounds. Thinly slice the pepperoncini.










Veggies into a bowl, tossed with some of the dressing, topped with chunks of the feta. Set the salad aside, on to the soup.

Fine dice more onion, sweated it in a generous splash of olive oil for a few minutes. Added the rice and sauteed for about 5 - 6 minutes until the grains were starting to get translucent. Poured in about a quart of the kitchen stock, threw in the bay leaf, brought to a boil then down to a slow simmer.










Shredded the chicken into bite sized bits.

Cracked the eggs into a cup, juiced half the lemon.










Gave it a good whisk. Added the chicken to the pot along with some of the fresh dill. Rice was sucking up more liquid than I thought, added more stock. Gave it a good stir. Checked on the rice, it was done. Took the soup off the heat, tempered the egg and lemon sauce with some of the hot broth, whisking a lot, did not want to turn this into an egg drop soup. Dumped it into the pot, giving a few good stirs.

*The Product*

Soup in a bowl, some salad on the plate, ready to go.










I had meant to cook up a cardboard tube of a pasteurized, processed, bread like food product to serve with it, but my wife had shuffled a few things around in the fridge and I couldn't find the tube of dough. Oh well.

It was good. I should have juiced the whole lemon, and used maybe 2/3 the amount of rice I did. It looks like a cream soup, but no cream in it. The salad was a nice, fresh crisp counterpoint to the rich soup. It was an enjoyable meal.

mjb.


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## abefroman (Mar 12, 2005)

Greek Gigante Beans - Yia Yia's method

Soak the beans overnight:









Put all the ingredients into a slow cooker:









Top it off with some onions:









Let that cook for 10 hours, stirring occasionally:









0%









50%









75%









100%









Add sliced loukoniko, grated Greek cheese, and toast:


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## mike9 (Jul 13, 2012)

@abefroman - I like the time lapse - great looking beans.


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## MitroP (Feb 23, 2020)

mike9 said:


> After enjoying some lamb souvlaki with pita points and Skordalia I think I'd like to keep the Mediterranean thing going since it is summer and gardens are coming in and it's healthy. Even if you don't have a garden markets are starting to see fresh, local produce rolling in. So this months challenge is GREECE - the mother to a lot of Western cuisine. Do a little history search and you'll see what I mean. So on that note - grill it, chill it, bake it, roasted, or raw - cook to your hearts content.
> 
> And now for the Bla, Bla, Bla:
> 
> ...


What a honor to pass the challenge on Greek cuisine. I am a Greek as well.


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## nicko (Oct 5, 2001)

@abefroman I also like the time lapse thanks for going the extra mile.


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## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

A little past the halfway mark, and I'm hoping to get in at least two more dishes. Several of the possibilities I am considering require tzatziki. So I made some.










Greek yogurt, a cucumber ( first one out of my garden ) garlic, mint, dill and some lemon juice.










Cucumber peeled and seeded, ready for grating.










Into a strainer, a sprinkle of salt, let it sit for a while. Lot of water came out of it. Squeezed fairly dry, then into a bowl with the herbs and garlic, all finely chopped. Added the yogurt, about a tablespoon of lemon juice and a drizzle of olive oil.










Gave it a good stir, taste test. That cucumber is quite bitter,more than I expected. Added a small pinch of salt, put it all into a small container.










I'm going to let it sit in the fridge for a few hours, take another taste. Maybe the bitterness will ease up a bit, perhaps I'll add more herbs, garlic level seems fine. It was a pretty small batch, we'll see if it is enough for what dishes I end up making.

Currently mulling over options like gyro, of course, as well as souvlaki. Perhaps a grilled rack of lamb with spanakorizo. Some sort of fish dish, baked in tomato perhaps, or another octopus dish, inspired by @nicko 's wonderful submission. I'd like to try my hand at making some loukaniko. I ordered some casings on line, but they may not get here in time to do the sausage before time runs out. I could do an uncased version, like Bulgarian cevapi, and serve them wrapped in a pita. So many choices!

mjb.


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## nicko (Oct 5, 2001)

@teamfat a wonderful entry. It is amazing how differently the cucumbers taste depending on the time of the season isn't it? I love the idea of making loukaniko that put some wheels in motion for me.


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## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

@teamfat : your loukanika would fit in the slow food challenge


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## Iceman (Jan 4, 2011)

*Baklava* _(Saragli)_








​



















[JUSTIFY]I lay out the phyllo, butter the bageebies out of it and spread nuts out on half. I pull down the no-nuts half over the nuts. I spread out more nuts. The nuts are 50/50 pecans and pistachios blitzed gently with a regular decent pinch of cinnamon. I would have also added a pinch of ground cloves ... but I couldn't find any and I wasn't going back to the store. ... I did however, find about 6-lbs of cumin ... for whatever the whatever I'm ever gonna need that for.[/JUSTIFY]














​[JUSTIFY]I roll it up into a cylinder then re-butter and roll with another sheet. Each cylinder gets squished into the casserole until it's full. All the extra butter gets brushed on and all around. I cut them into four(4) sections just before shoving it into the oven. [/JUSTIFY]

[JUSTIFY]I thought I took a pic of everything going into the syrup ... but NO ... I didn't. It's better than 3-cups sugar; just shy of 2-cups water; a big squirt of honey; and zest of the lemon. Simmer that up until everything is all dissolved. Add juice from half of the lemon and a capful each of the rose-water and the orange-blossom water when it has cooled down. I made this while the rolls were cooking.[/JUSTIFY]









​[JUSTIFY]It comes out and immediately the syrup goes on. I used one of those plastic squirt bottles like I used for the tiramisu. It worked really nice except that I had to shake it a lot because of the tiny bits of lemon zest. It was good exercise. [/JUSTIFY]
[JUSTIFY]My experience is to let these guys sit for a good eight(8) hours before serving. ... That means you'll all hav'ta wait for tomorrow to get a piece. ... _I'll see'ya when I see'ya. _[/JUSTIFY]

*Here it is ... *

*







*​
_"We work in kitchens. ... It ain'te rocket surgery."._​


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## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

Boy, some good looking stuff so far!

One dish that I was thinking of making was pork based souvlaki.

*The Players*

For the pork part:










Pork loin, about a pound and a half, maybe 650 grams. Oregano, garlic, lemon, red wine vinegar and olive oil. And for a side dish, spanakorizo:










Lemon and garlic again, onion, spinach and rice.

*The Process*

First the marinade for the pork.










The oregano coarsely chopped, as was the garlic. A few sections of lemon peel sliced off and added, as was the juice from half of the lemon. Olive oil and red wine vinegar, whisked together. Actually I added the lemon peel after whisking.

Then I got to thinking. Rather than cutting the pork into bite sized chunks, why not try doing a whole roast? So the hunk of pork was seasoned with salt and pepper, and into a bag with the marinade.










I think I only peppered the other side of the meat. Oh well. Bag was in the fridge for about 16 hours. When ready to make the meal, pulled it out and let it sit on the counter.

Got a chimney full of hardwood lump started for grilling. Meanwhile, on to the rice. Onion and garlic prepped as usual. Onion goes into a couple tablespoons of olive oil over medium low heat to sweat. About 5 minutes later garlic and about a half tablespoon of tomato paste added, stirred around a bit, cooked for maybe 2 minutes.










Added juice from half a lemon and the washed, rinsed, washed, rinsed and drained spinach.










As soon as I took this picture, I realized I had not chopped the spinach as planned. Grabbed the tongs, went on a little fishing expedition. Got most of it cut into manageable bits. Of course spinach cooks down so much I might have been able to get away with leaving it as it was. Added half a cup of rice and about a cup and a half of chicken stock, some salt and pepper. Brought to a boil, reduced to a simmer.

Put the now hot charcoal on the one side of the Weber Kettle, cleaned, sort of, the old grate, got the pork cooking, indirect style. Back inside, checked the rice, added a bit more broth. about 5 minutes later declared the rice had cooked ling enough, off the heat. CHecked on the pork.










Starting to look GOOD!

Pulled the pork out of the Weber at 128F, let it rest. It ended up coasting to 150, about 5 degrees more than I wanted, but not a big deal.

*The Product*

So sliced up the pork, topped it with a bit of that tzatziki I made previously, dished up some rice with spinach. Does that count as a salad over there on the upper right?










The rice was very nice! The pork was still moist and juicy, even though a bit over temp for my liking. All in all a good meal.

But I think that doing bite sized bits on a skewer would have been better. Marinating the smaller chunks of meat would have gotten more flavor into it, the whole slices just had the flavor around the edges. And the skewers, if cooked over direct heat, would have given more of that char grilled, crusty texture to the meat.

Next time.

mjb.


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## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

Sweet! The sausage casings I ordered have arrived. I was mulling over a timetable for making the orange and leek flavored loukaniko. Grinding the ingredients, mixing, letting the flavors blend overnight, stuffing the casings, drying, smoking and such. Seemed like I could do it by the end of the month, no sweat.

Then I remembered it is the last week in August. Which means going to Cedar City in southern Utah for a few days. Normal years that would mean attending the Shakespeare Festival, perhaps the second best in the United States behind Ashland, Oregon's efforts. So celebrating our anniversary ( 33 years of wedded bliss come August 31st ) will preclude me getting any Greek sausage done. Oh well, I'll still do it, but post in the Slow Food thread, as Butzy suggested.










This pic is from one of the several online recipes I've been looking at for inspiration.

I'll try to work in another dish, one that can be done in a day or two, before the deadline for this challenge. We shall see.

mjb.


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## mike9 (Jul 13, 2012)

Boston Butts are on sale for .99/lb. starting tomorrow - I might just make this as I have leeks that need to be used and casings from our last sausage enterprise. Yes folks end of the month is a week from Monday. *TIME TO GET YOUR GREEK ON . . .*


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## Hank (Sep 8, 2015)

White fish, tomato, zucchini, garlic, herbs, and lemon. Marinated the fish in lemon juice and herbs. Gave the vegetables a head start in the oven, then added the fish and baked a little more.


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## Hank (Sep 8, 2015)

teamfat said:


> Then I remembered it is the last week in August. Which means going to Cedar City in southern Utah


I love that area. Nearby Cedar Breaks Monument is spectacular. Often over looked but on par with Bryce and Zion. Have fun and congrats on 33 years of wedded bliss and .... "33 years of wedded bliss* come* August 31st" .... time travel!


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## nicko (Oct 5, 2001)

@teamfat you are just rocking it. The sausages look awesome!!! Here is what I made yesterday. MOUSSAKA!!!!!!!!!!!!

Meat sauce (Onions, ground sirloin, tomato paste, water, Metaxa brandy and cinnamon sticks)








Our neighbor has a wonderful garden and gave me a beautiful eggplant. Fried the slices with a little garlic and thyme.








A classic bechamel. I added some Graviera cheese and some pecorino I had.








I whipped the egg whites and after beating in the yolks I folded in the whites. This is not a traditional step but it makes the topping so much lighter.








I started by layering with the eggplant, then the sauce, then sprinkled with mint and more Graivera cheese.








Graviera is a dry squeaky cheese.








Bechemel on top with some grated nutmeg








Baked it at 400 for about 35 min








This was really tasty.


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## nicko (Oct 5, 2001)

@teamfat Congratulations BTW on the 33 years of marriage. That is truly a milestone in today's world.

@hank your fish looks beautiful! It reminds me of something you would get at a seaside taverna in Napflio


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## nicko (Oct 5, 2001)

This is the first time I added Mint and cinnamon to a moussaka and it really made such an impact. Sigh... still learning after all these years. You would think I had figured some of these dishes out by and perfected them.


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## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

Wow I've stayed away too long it seems. Even @abefroman is back hiya! @nicko your dishes are top notch. I'm definitely going to try that egg white thing in my bechamel next time, looks so fluffy. Did you put it in while the sauce was hot?
You all amaze me, I'm going to have to think of something very special for this.


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## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

I was thinking of doing some sort of fish dish, like baked in a tomato sauce or something, but somehow gravitated to shrimp. So a shrimp souvlaki.

*The Players*

First off, the shrimp.










Poorly focused, I know. But those are shrimp. I usually go for the 21-25 size, but these 16-20s looked good, so I got those. And making pitas for this one, need flour and yeast.










Maybe I need to clean the lens on my phone camera. Pretty simple ingredients.

*The Process*

First off the pitas. Making the dough, letting it rise and such will take some time. Marinating the shrimp won't take long, so pitas first.










Yeast, water and flour whisked together, left to sit for about 25 minutes or so. The packet of yeast I had was sort of old, but did the trick.










That's some serious bubbling going on. Added more flour, salt and some olive oil, took it for a spin in the mixer with the dough hook. Got a nice, soft, supple dough, just a bit sticky still. Turned it out onto a floured board, gave it a bit more kneading, than back into the bowl after a light coating of olive oil. I let it rise about two hours, gave me time to sit at the computer, watch more of Hulu's "Taste the Nation" with Padma L. and sip a bit of wine.

Then on to cleaning the shrimp. And getting some wooden skewers soaking in water. The marinade for the shrimp is pretty much exactly what I used for the roast pork dish, but double the lemon. I thought about doing a lime juice marinade and making ceviche souvlaki simply because it's fun to say it. But I stuck with the basic olive oil, lemon juice, oregano and garlic Got it all in a bag in the fridge, back to the pita dough.










Punched it down, cut into 8 portions, formed into balls and let it rise another half hour or so.

Threaded the shrimp onto skewers. Two styles, single skewer doubled or two skewers.










Also some red onion bits, and not shown here some sweet 100 maters from the garden.

So I fire up the old offset rather than the Weber, as I want to use a baking stone off to the side of the direct fire. First time to use the old thing since it got hit by the falling tree, took some cleaning but worked well.

Fire hot, stone hot, a couple of pitas go on.










Lookin' good, starting to get some puffage, so to speak. Hot summer day, grill in direct sun, side table in direct sun, cell phone set on table in direct sun, overheats and shuts down. So no further photos from the grill.

Onions done, shrimp done. Pita taken off the stone and over direct heat for about 20 seconds per side. Into the house for assembly.

*The Product*

Kind of an odd looking picture, not all that appealing to the eye.










So the pita on the plate, some of that tzatziki I made, a few shrimp, the red onion and some of the grilled tomatoes. Between the time the pita was pulled off the grill and ready to be eaten, it had become fairly hard. I was hoping for soft and pliable, so I could roll this up and eat like a gyro. That was not the case, shucks. But it was tasty. The extra lemon juice gave a nice kick to the shrimp. A nice dinner, not perfect but quite happy with it.

mjb.


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## nicko (Oct 5, 2001)

@teamfat you have really made an awesome dish that looks amazing!!!!! I have never made pitas and you have inspired me to try it. Thank you for such a detailed run down of how you made this! Great Job!


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## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

nicko said:


> @teamfat you have really made an awesome dish that looks amazing!!!!! I have never made pitas and you have inspired me to try it. Thank you for such a detailed run down of how you made this! Great Job!


It's actually pretty simple. First time I tried it results were not that great. This time the stone was hot enough to get some browning on the bread and that characteristic pita puffing. I made 8, did 4 on the stone in the grill, and 4 on the stovetop. The stone was dry, the cast iron griddle on the stove was very lightly oiled. Maybe next time I'll experiment with lightly bruching the dough with olive oil before putting it on the baking stone in the grill, see if that makes any difference.

mjb.


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## mike9 (Jul 13, 2012)

There was a place back home that would make pita fresh for every order and they used a batter. They would pour the batter on the flat top and flip it once like a pancake man were they good!!! There has to be a recipe out there on the web.


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## Iceman (Jan 4, 2011)

[JUSTIFY][/JUSTIFY]
[JUSTIFY][/JUSTIFY]
[JUSTIFY]I've made pitas and flatbreads in the oven using a regular clay flower pot. You stick the dough to the sides and invert the pot over a larger water tray. It works really kinda cool. I guess you could call it a bread tagine. What I mean is the tray that goes under the flower pot. Not a tray filled with any water. [/JUSTIFY]


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## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

That sounds interesting @Iceman!
Do you have some pictures?
I make pita bread in either a cast iron skillet on the stove (ungreased) or in my uuni (ooni) pizza oven.


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## nicko (Oct 5, 2001)

Lately I have been reading Pano Karatassos book "Modern Greek Cooking" which I highly recommend. He has a recipe for grilled lamb chops that you marinate for three days. I thought it was interesting to do that so I tried it and served it with Tzatziki.


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## nicko (Oct 5, 2001)

Only a few days left in the challenge so here is another entry. Keep thinking it isn't all that fair since I am Greek and cook this way most of the time. Anyway it has been great to interact with everyone more than I usually do and at the very least I hope you have enjoyed my posts. @teamfat I hope some day we can get together in person and have a Big Fat Greek Cooking fest.

*Tiropita Mushroom, Zucchini*

*Alwasy serve Greek food with wine.*








Mushrooms have a lot of water so I dried them in the oven and did the same with the zucchini








This is what they looked like after a couple hours of drying in the oven. Not only does this reduce the amount of water the release but it concentrates their flavor.








No recipe here just mixed in a bunch of dill, mint, feta cheese, sauteed onions, the mushrooms and the zuchinni.








I had a little bechamel left over from the moussaka so I added a few spoonfuls to bind the mix along with egg yolks. I whipped the egg whites and folded them in which made it lighter. 








I used country style Phyllo which is much thicker.








Lined my dish with two sheets and brushed butter between








Added the mix and topped it off with more mint, dill and grated gaviera cheese.








I baked it at 400 degrees for 35 minutes it was nice and brown and the egg whites really caused it to puff up.


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## Iceman (Jan 4, 2011)

[JUSTIFY]I had a sign in my classroom that said ... _"There are NO stupid questions. The only stupid question is the one you don't ask."_[/JUSTIFY]

[JUSTIFY]OK ... I'm gonna ask a question. ... Will one of you _"GREEK"_ guys please explain the "#" on boxes of fillo? I gotta think that it's got to do with thickness. I've seen #4, #7 and #10 on the shelf at the store I use. [/JUSTIFY]

*TIA.*

_***__ edit_ ... I'm not only asking people who are Greek for an answer. Just someone who know what they're talking about. ... Thanks


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## nicko (Oct 5, 2001)

Yes I believe that the #10 refers to the size which is extra thick. 
https://www.fillofactory.com/phyllo-dough-s/122.htm

#4 is very thin to #10 which is country style and very thick. I like the country style as it is more tradtional


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## mike9 (Jul 13, 2012)

Here is where I spent a lot of time in my 20s. Greektown in Detroit circa 1970's. Most of that time spent at The International Restaurant and I learned a lot from Guss who owned the place. The only other place we ate was the Hellas who had octopus in wine sauce to die for. Good times . . .


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## nicko (Oct 5, 2001)

@mike9 WHOA what a COOL photo!!!! I wonder what it looks like today? One of the truly sad things about the rising taxes and debt in Chicago is Greek down has been been dwindling. Many long standing restaurants have closed and there isn't much left it makes me very sad. There was the pan Hellenic pastry shop and you could get wonderful fresh baked Greek pastries, Athen's grocery, and here is a list of restaurant's that have close. Pegasus, Roditys, Parthenon, Venus, Costas. Sadly only a handful of restaurants and shops are left.

Thanks for sharing that photo. Here is a shot of Greek Town in Paris 2007


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## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

I live in Greektown aka Astoria in Queens, NY so I'm in the heart of it here. There are people that drive up in group tours from other towns and states to shop at our mediterranean specialty stores and I live within 5 minutes walking distance from at least 3 of them. The area is quite gentrified now with fancy condos and hipster coffee shops popping up everywhere but there are still plenty of old timers living here who don't speak a stitch of english.

Ok so I only found out about the challenge a few days ago and haven't been able to cook much in the last few days. But I searched around through my IG and my phone (because I annoyingly take pictures of everything I cook haha) to see if I had cooked any greek food this month. Of course I have, I'm greek. So here's my stuff.

First up is Pastitsio

Now remember, I eat gluten free so this heavily impacts this dish. I cannot find a gluten free version of the traditional bucatini noodles so I had to use these elbows by Jovial (by far the best GF noodles I have found, made of 100% brown rice). I cook the noodles and dump them into the bottom of my casserole dish, toss them with butter, a little bit of the ragu, and heaps of cheese. Normally I would use kefalograviera cheese but I only had parmesan on hand.









Next I layer on the beef ragu which is scented with cinnamon and clove. Then I gently pour on a bucket of bechamel. I use a half liter of milk to make this sauce, plus one egg and one whole grated nutmeg.









This next step is a bit disputed in our community. Most people leave the top layer of bechamel as is when they stick it in the oven. This results in a glossy, waxy, kind of burnt skin to form on the top. For some this is very desirable. I instead like to top with a thin layer of grated cheese and bread crumbs. It gives a really nice crunch.









And voila. Sorry, Didn't take a picture of a cross slice. It was very good.


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## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

Earlier in the month I made dolmades. These are completely vegan, with rice, onion, zucchini, scallion, tomato, finely diced artichoke and eggplant, chopped parlsley and mint. I also added a dash of cumin and paprika.

I line the bottom of the pot with slices of seasoned potato and a good bit of olive oil. This keeps the dolmades suspended while they poach. I add another layer of potatoes on top to bare weight on the dolmades, otherwise they can unravel as they poach. Some people weigh them down with an oven proof plate. I add enough water to come up to the potatoes, a bit more olive oil, and allow them to gently poach until the rice is cooked through.


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## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

Last but not least, and this is the big project of the month, Gemista. I will stuff any vegetable that crosses my path, in this case I stuffed tomatoes, different colored bell peppers, eggplant, onions, and potato. I had a few grape leaves left over from making dolmades so I stuffed those too and stuck them in the pan in between the peppers.

I normally make these vegetarian but hubby begged for meat in them so I cooked up some italian sausage to add a little protein. The stuffing is similar to the dolmades, with the addition of tomato sauce and parmesan, and scraps from the cored vegetables.

Vacating the insides is the big job.








You can't fill them all the way because the rice is raw and needs space to expand.









After the caps go back on I stuff slices of potatoes in every nook and cranny between the vegetables. Then I drizzle olive oil, salt, and oregano all over the tops. I do not add water to the pan. By covering with foil and cooking it in the oven the rice steams inside the vegetable, the vegetables give off plenty of water. It takes over an hour. Then I uncover and allow them to pick up a golden color for another 45 minutes or so.


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

This is as close as I'm getting this month. Lemon, garlic, rosemary fusion pie.

Cut up some boneless skinless chicken thighs. Season







Sear and season the other side.







Add vegies, season, stir, add flour. Stir a bit.
Add milk, bring to a boil.








Make olive oil biscuit topping. Lemon olive oil, garlic olive oil, regular extra virgin. And chopped fresh rosemary. Mix keeping oil clumps small.

Clabber milk with fresh lemon juice. Mix in and form dough




















Add zuchinni just before adding biscuits, stir to mix.







Roll out infloured hands then press a bit flat. Top pie. Bake








I'll be back with the final pics and to clean up formatting


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

Just Greek flavors. Not Greek food. Lemon olive oil has a stronger flavor than the garlic oil by volume. Note that for next time.


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## brianshaw (Dec 18, 2010)

I didn’t dare contribute this month but I’ve sure salivated a lot!


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## mike9 (Jul 13, 2012)

I love this last minute rush - it's exhilarating !!! Being the last day I thought I'd throw a dish together with a couple of the things I mentioned in the "Value Added" thread.

Loukaniko grilled with hickory, grilled pita, marinated tomato and red onion, fire roasted artichokes, tsatziki and Jasmine rice cooked in tomato essence (also from the Value Added thread). It was worth the late meal as it was an unexpectedly busy day.










And yes that is the smallest sausage in the world - :lol:


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## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

I made some beef souvlaki with sourdough (pita style) bread.
Alas, no pictures.
Marinated the beef fillet with salt, oregano, garlic and oilive oil. Added some ground chili pepper as wel (gotta have some heat)
Sprinkled with lemon juice before grilling over charcoal.
Kept drizzling with lemon juice.
Was nice, but almost like it was missing something....


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## nicko (Oct 5, 2001)

@koukouvagia BEAUTIFUL thank you for sharing. Your dishes have me so hungry right now and it is lunch time so I better go eat. What type of rice do you use for your stuffed peppers etc?


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## nicko (Oct 5, 2001)

@phatch That looks like some good down home cooking right there. Wonderful dish and thanks for sharing.


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## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

nicko said:


> @koukouvagia BEAUTIFUL thank you for sharing. Your dishes have me so hungry right now and it is lunch time so I better go eat. What type of rice do you use for your stuffed peppers etc?


I use Carolina. Rice


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## nicko (Oct 5, 2001)

@koukouvagia thanks. In an article I published a long time ago I tried a different try of rice a short grain very similar to Aborio.

https://cheftalk.com/blog/stuffed-tomatoes-and-peppers-not-my-usual-preparation/


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## mike9 (Jul 13, 2012)

All of a sudden we had a race and a lot of really good entries over the corse of the month. If I had to put a catered meal together for a party it would be *Nicko's* lamb chops, *Koukouvagia's* stuffed vegetables, a side of *Abefroman's* gigantic beans and *Iceman's* Baklava along with plenty of good Retsina and maybe an Ouzo, or two with a demitasse. Hmmm . . . now I'm getting hungry.

Anyway I have to choose and the August 2020 winner is . . . @nicko . . . Your dishes are truly inspirational - congratulations!!!!


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## brianshaw (Dec 18, 2010)

Congratulations Nicko... well deserved! I’ll raise a glass of ouzo (might have to substitute Pernod, though) and offer a loud “opah “ in your honor. Since I’m not the least bit Greek (that I’m aware of) I’ll refrain from breaking a glass or plate!


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## fatcook (Apr 25, 2017)

mike9 said:


> Here is where I spent a lot of time in my 20s. Greektown in Detroit circa 1970's. Most of that time spent at The International Restaurant and I learned a lot from Guss who owned the place. The only other place we ate was the Hellas who had octopus in wine sauce to die for. Good times . . .


Those cars!

Hellas was where I had my first octopus during a school trip to Greektown about a decade after that picture. I was a young pup and ordered it becasue it was something I'd never had. It was on a salad of some sort, and is the only thing I remember about that trip with any clarity. It was so good, and subsiquent octopus elewhere was always disappointing as a result.


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## fatcook (Apr 25, 2017)

nicko said:


> This is the first time I added Mint and cinnamon to a moussaka and it really made such an impact. Sigh... still learning after all these years. You would think I had figured some of these dishes out by and perfected them.


When I try something new, and delicious, with a dish I've made for ages; I usually wonder "why have we never tried this before now" (with the alternate "now we know why we don't do" this if it is not a success).

But I think it is good thing - think of how boring cooking would become if we stopped improving and discovering for the rest of our lives. Keep learning, and keep enjoying 

And congratulations!


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

Good job Nicko!


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## mike9 (Jul 13, 2012)

fatcook said:


> Those cars! Hellas was where I had my first octopus during a school trip to Greektown about a decade after that picture. I was a young pup and ordered it because it was something I'd never had. It was on a salad of some sort, and is the only thing I remember about that trip with any clarity. It was so good, and subsiquent octopus elewhere was always disappointing as a result.


In my day it was served on rice with a wine sauce and it was superb. Was your's grilled?

@koukouvagia - I remember going to Astoria in the early 80's as you couldn't get a decent Greek meal in Manhattan. It wasn't a trendy neighborhood then and one could move about freely. I remember one place in particular we used to get grilled octopus at and it was excellent.

I'm looking forward to see what @nicko comes up with for the September challenge.


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## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

Excellent choice for winner, @nicko it was nice to see you step up to the plate with such fantastic dishes. Super impressive entrées from everyone. @mike9 thanks for hosting, this was a good challenge but I'm biased haha.


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## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

"All of a sudden we had a race and a lot of really good entries over the corse of the month."

Indeed, it was a great challenge, good to see such a level of participation. Wonder if I would have done better had I used Greek olive oil instead of Italian in all my entries?

Looking forward to @nicko's choice of theme for September.

mjb.


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## Iceman (Jan 4, 2011)

_NICE JOB_ *nicko.*


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## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

Congratulations @nicko and to everyone else. Some great dishes here that I really want to try!


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## nicko (Oct 5, 2001)

WOW I am so thankful! Thank you @mike9 for selecting me as the winner. It really was a lot of fun to get back into the forums and hang out with everyone and share our dishes. Now I have to come up with a topic for this month let me give this some thought.

Here are a few photos of my travels to Greece. If you have never visited Greece I sincerely hope you do it is a beautiful place.

This is my view from my families home in Leontari Λεοντάρι Greece.








This is the seaside town of Lemeni Greece which is in the South on the Main Peninsula.








Our family in the village visiting with an old family friend.








In the village square enjoying a wonderful meal at Allotino








Me and My Beautiful Wife Colleen at Brettos Distillery in Athens (oldest distillery in Athens).








Thanks again it really made my day to find out I won.


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## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

So some Facebook friends of mine were talking about paellas. You know, with Italy, then Greece, Spain might be a logical next step for the challenge.

mjb.


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## nicko (Oct 5, 2001)

@teamfat that is a good idea I was looking back at the challenges they go all the way back to 2013!!!!!! We have done some topics twice.


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## mike9 (Jul 13, 2012)

A couple few years ago we did Sunday Compound Dinners and after going part way through the alphabet decided on doing countries instead to get a sense of focus. Ever Sunday each participating family would make a dish from the country chosen out of the bag the week before and the grand kids had to draw & paint a colored map and do a presentation on that country before we all ate. It was really good fun and it broadened cooking for most everyone.

Damn - those were good times. Sadly compound dinners aren't what they used to be. Now, to be fair our neighbor has been a professional cook and we natter about stuff like that. My DIL, however not so much and she has Hmmm . . . lets call it *"time management issues"* when it comes to getting something to the table on time.


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## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

nicko said:


> @teamfat that is a good idea I was looking back at the challenges they go all the way back to 2013!!!!!! We have done some topics twice.


Yep, 7 years, looking forward to the 100th challange. Some of the common ingredients like eggs, tomatoes, poultry are worth redoing every now and again. If I had been selected I was going to go the poultry route, Fowl Play for the theme.

When you pick a theme for September, I'll update wasatchfoodies.com/ct_challenge.html with the info, and work on filling in some of the blanks currently there.

mjb.


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## nicko (Oct 5, 2001)

We have done some topics twice now like Tomatoes etc but I think it is fine to repeat. Although we have done seafood as a whole I wanted to get more specific and thought *Shellfish *would be a great challenge. Would that be ok with everyone? This would also give @teamfat a chance to do his Paella.


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## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

Sounds good to me! In truth, I usually have an idea or two for a challenge in my head. As I mentioned, I was thinking of poultry. But when I did the shrimp souvlaki, I also thought shellfish might be a good one to revisit. And then Friday night dinner in Cedar City the folks at the next table got a lobster tail, where the shell is split and the meat pulled out and set on top of the shell, like this:










She thought it looked pretty fancy. Again I thought of a shellfish challenge.

So I certainly vote YES on shellfish!

mjb.


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## mike9 (Jul 13, 2012)

It's not a consensus - you are the winner therefor you issue the challenge. We are the willing participants.


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## nicko (Oct 5, 2001)

Ok great I was actually thinking to keep it very focused to Mussels but then though it might be better if it was all shellfish. I love seafood so lets go with that. Shellfish.


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## niketas (Apr 22, 2020)

A few days late and more than a dollar short, but I thought I'd share anyway!

My Yiayia cooked a big Greek dinner last night and asked my mother and I to bring a few things.









Started with some homemade Tzatziki sauce. I used a Tzatziki mix I picked up in Thessaloniki a few years ago.

Next, Zucchini Fritters:













































I like them crispy!



















I am surprised I don't see these fritters on more Greek menu's, I find them delicious


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## niketas (Apr 22, 2020)

Lastly, we decided to try our hand at making boughasta. We had never made it before, and it is one of my favorite dishes. It is considered both a dessert, and a breakfast pastry, so how can you not love that!



















Making the filling.



















Handle phyllo with care

















Added some Metaxa for flavor



















Fresh out of the oven










Forgot to take a picture of an individual piece, but it turned out great! 
Had it for dessert, and for breakfast the next morning.


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## nicko (Oct 5, 2001)

@niketas Great shot with the bottle of Metaxa. Nice dishes the fritters look awesome.


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