Lazy Girl's Pasta

Lazy Girl's Pasta

A popular greek saying goes like "a greek mum knows everything except for tonight's dinner" 😂😅, and who am I to disagree?

When it comes to desperation the best solution is pasta and an especially quick version for working (or lazy) girls like me, is this "pastitsio".

I was given the recipe by my late aunt Ifigeneia (I will always remember Robin Williams in "Mrs Doubtfire") when I was very young and just learning how to cook. It was a hit from the very first day!

This is an all-in-one pan recipe. The ingredients are for 6, or 4 very hungry people!!!

We'll need
500 grams of  big tube-like pasta such as rigatonni, raw, not cooked!
300 grams of crumbled feta cheese or similar goats cheese
150 grams of grated hard cheese such as "kefalotiri" or "pecorino"
5 medium size eggs
3.5 glasses of milk (about 1lt)
3.5 glasses of water

The original recipe didn't include it, but you can add 100 grams of chopped salami or bacon.


Preheat your oven at 180C. Put some oil or melted butter in a baking pan and throw inside the pasta, the cheeses, the salami and the water and 2 glasses of milk. Beat the eggs with the rest of the milk and pour it also in the pan. Use a big laddle spoon to mix them all and put it in the oven. Wait for about 45 min to 1 hour until the top is set and it's got a nice golden brown color. Ready!

Enjoy!

Beef Burgers and Potatoes

The daily nightmare is back What shall I cook today? First glance in the freezer: Only beef minced meat.Now in greek cuisine this may result in many different dishes from the most complicated, such as "mousaka" to the most simple ones such as "spaghetti bolognese". Today I'll go simple and make beef burgers and potatoes roasted in the oven.

- 500 grams of minced beef
- 1 large chopped onion
- 300 grams breadcrumbs*
- 1 cup water
- 1 full tablespoon of each: chopped mint, chopped parsley
- a pinch of thyme leaves and rosemary
- 100 ml olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt and a pinch of black pepper.

* For a gluten-free recipe replace the bread with 8 tablespoons of oats.

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl until you have a soft mixture. Add more water if you have to. Put the bowl in the fridge for half an hour so that the flavours develop. Meanwhile, peel the potatoes, cut them into large chunks, add some salt and, if you like, paprika.

In a well-oiled baking tray, form burger patties, place the potatoes around and add 1 glass of water. Sprinkle with olive oil and put in a pre-heated oven at 220C for about an hour.

A glass of wine and greek salad with feta cheese would be the best company.

Enjoy!

Greek comfort food

Makaronia me kima

Everyone and each of us have a favorite primitive memory of his favourite comfort food. Food that consoles, bringing back warm memories of motherly hugs and sweet kisses. Of Sundays around the family table and of the tantalizing smell of a home-cooked meal, wafting in the air at least fifty metres before arriving at the house door.

Although each home has its own specials, there must be a national memory rooted deep inside our genes which characterizes our crave for certain dishes. Those cooked by our mothers or grandmothers and which are registered in our subconscious mind as our safe haven from exterior threats.

Pastitsio

For many years, during the “speaking session” in my classes, I’ve been asking my students the same personal question: “Which is your favourite food?” Seven times out of ten, the answer was “Makaronia me kima”, that is spaghetti with minced meat sauce. The eighth was “pastitsio”, the more elaborated version of the same dish but this time topped with beschamel sauce and gratined. The ninth was either “souvlaki” or”pizza. Finally the tenth was usually the food that their mum used to cook best for the Sunday family reunion, such as roast lamb or chicken and potatoes.

Yemista

But the most interesting of all were the answers I got when I probed them a little more. Sometimes I got answers like “yemista” (stuffed tomatoes) “spanakopita” (spinach pie) or even “lahanodolmades” (cabbage leaves stuffed with meat, rice and herbs).

Patsas Soup

Surprisingly, “chicken soup” was not among them at all. On the other hand some of my students mentioned “patsa” a soup made with the legs and the stomach of an animal (mainly beef or pork) or “trahana”.a soup made with a traditional pasta, consisting of bulgur wheat and milk. The traditional “fasolada” (bean soup) is not so popular though a necessary evil, tolerated during the fasting weekdays (Wednesday and Friday) when

neither meat nor fish is permitted by the Christian Orthodox Church. Many a times when I mentioned it, I found myself confronted with grimacing faces.

So, which is your favourite comfort food? What reminds you of "mum"?