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THE AUGUST 2020 CHALLENGE IS . . . . . GREECE

18K views 94 replies 14 participants last post by  nicko 
#1 ·
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

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#32 ·
So I mentioned soup and salad the other day. Finally getting around to posting.

The Players

For the salad, basic Greek salad stuff.

Food Bottle Liquid Tableware Ingredient


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:

Food Plant Bottle Liquid Ingredient


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

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

Food Tableware Rangpur Ingredient Cuisine


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.

Tableware Food Dishware Kitchen utensil Liquid


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.

Food Ingredient Recipe Cuisine Dish


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.

Food Frying pan Ingredient Recipe Cookware and bakeware


Shredded the chicken into bite sized bits.

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

Egg yolk Food Egg white Ingredient Fluid


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.

Food Tableware Dishware Ingredient Recipe


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.
 
#37 ·
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.

Food Plant Rangpur Ingredient Natural foods


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

Space bar Office equipment Input device Finger Automotive lighting


Cucumber peeled and seeded, ready for grating.

Food Kitchen utensil Recipe Ingredient Staple food


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.

Food Ingredient Recipe Staple food Cuisine


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.

Food Ingredient Recipe Condiment Cuisine


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.
 
#40 · (Edited)
Baklava (Saragli)

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[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]

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[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]

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[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 ...

Food Ingredient Recipe Baked goods Cuisine

"We work in kitchens. ... It ain'te rocket surgery.".
 
#41 ·
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:

Food Bottle Ingredient Tableware Natural foods


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:

Food Plant Ingredient Natural foods Leaf vegetable


Lemon and garlic again, onion, spinach and rice.

The Process

First the marinade for the pork.

Food Rangpur Ingredient Recipe Fluid


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.

Food Ingredient Recipe Cuisine Dish


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.

Food Plant Ingredient Recipe Fluid


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

Food Liquid Ingredient Recipe Fluid


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.

Food Tableware Hood Ingredient Kitchen appliance


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?

Food Ingredient Tableware Recipe Dishware


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.
 
#42 ·
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.

Plant Branch Wood Tree Twig


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.
 
#45 ·
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!
 
#46 · (Edited)
@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)
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Our neighbor has a wonderful garden and gave me a beautiful eggplant. Fried the slices with a little garlic and thyme.
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A classic bechamel. I added some Graviera cheese and some pecorino I had.
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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.
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I started by layering with the eggplant, then the sauce, then sprinkled with mint and more Graivera cheese.
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Graviera is a dry squeaky cheese.
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Bechemel on top with some grated nutmeg
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Baked it at 400 for about 35 min
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This was really tasty.
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Food Tableware Ingredient Recipe Cuisine
 
#48 ·
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.
 
#77 · (Edited)
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!
 
#49 ·
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.
 
#50 ·
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.

Food Recipe Ingredient Tableware Seafood


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.

Font Ingredient Gas Food Publication


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.

Whisk Food Tableware Kitchen utensil Ingredient


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.

Whisk Food Tableware Kitchen utensil Ingredient


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.

Food Ingredient Dough Dish Cuisine


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.

Food Tableware Scampi Ingredient Recipe


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.

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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.

Food Tableware Ingredient Recipe Plant


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.
 
#52 ·
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.
 
#54 ·
[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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#56 ·
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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#57 ·
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.
Food Banana cream pie Tableware Bottle Recipe


Mushrooms have a lot of water so I dried them in the oven and did the same with the zucchini
Food Outdoor grill rack & topper Ingredient Recipe Kitchen appliance


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.
Food Ingredient Recipe Cuisine Roasting


No recipe here just mixed in a bunch of dill, mint, feta cheese, sauteed onions, the mushrooms and the zuchinni.
Food Ingredient Staple food Recipe Leaf vegetable


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.
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I used country style Phyllo which is much thicker.
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Lined my dish with two sheets and brushed butter between
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Added the mix and topped it off with more mint, dill and grated gaviera cheese.
Food Plant Ingredient Cuisine Dish


I baked it at 400 degrees for 35 minutes it was nice and brown and the egg whites really caused it to puff up.
Food Tableware Ingredient Recipe Baked goods


Food Tableware Ingredient Recipe Bun
 
#58 · (Edited)
[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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