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!

Stuffed vine leaves "Dolmadakia"

Stuffed vine leaves with ground beef and rice

It is a different flavor. It is true that not everyone likes them, especially if your first try is with preserved vine leaves which sometimes are very tough and leave the impression that chew a package along with its string!
But the fresh leaves are tender and melt in your mouth. Their sour taste raises the usually indifferent ground beef and make them memorable.
For a few days a year, April and May, when I find fresh leaves in the market, I wash, drain and put them in the freezer. From there directly to scalding and I have fresh leaves for another three months at least. I like to stuff them with a mixture of ground beef and rice but there is also the vegetarian alternative, only with rice.
For 4 people we need:250 grams of grape leaves
1 large onion, chopped1 1/2 cup of olive oil 1 cup of rice300 grams of ground beef1 shot of ouzo (optional)1 cup warm watersalt, pepper, a handful of fresh mint, choppedthe juice of a large lemon
Wash the leaves and add little by little in salted boiling water. Let stand 3 minutes, then put into a bowl with cold water. Once you finish the process put them in a colander until you prepare the filling.
In a small bowl put the minced meat, onion, rice, 1/2 cup oil, mint, salt, pepper and ouzo. Mix to make a mixture soft enough, and if necessary add a little water.
With a spoon take a bit stuffing and place on the base of the leaf. Fold both ends and then wrap them in a 
roll. The truth is that at the beginning it needs a little effort to get down to the point but after the 4th or 5th dolmadaki you'll have no problem.
We throw the remaining oil to the pot and place each dolmadaki in concentric circles from the outside to the center. Depending on our pot we will make one or two layers.
Sprinkle with a little more oil to the surface and cover into the pot with a plate upside down. This will help to keep them firmly in place and not unfold with cooking. Add enough hot water to reach the middle of the dish, cover the pot and simmer for about half an hour.
Once ready, remove from heat and pour the lemon juice. Cover again and leave to cool completely. So it is better to start cooking early.
We can accompany with extra egg-lemon sauce or even with tzatziki.
Good appetite.

You can find the recipe in Greek here.
 

"Red" Giouvarlakia

Few tourists in Greece ever get to know the dishes that make us bow to our "mama's" comfort food.
One of these, is "Giouvarlakia", that is meatballs with rice, either in the form of a soup or with a thick egg-lemon (avgolemono) sauce.
Actually I prefer the second version - that's the way my mum used to cook it - so I like to pay homage to her cooking many times during the winter.
However, I'm such a fun of the dish that I experimented with this summer alternative, using fresh tomato instead of the egg-lemon sauce. The result was a fusion between "giouvarlakia" and "soutzoukakia" which made us all clean our plates with big chunks of freshly baked bread.
I thought you would like this version which is much easier, since it doesn't require the tricky "avgolemono".

- 750 grams of beef mince (or any kind of mince)
- 1 cup of rice, the type you usually buy for soups
- 1 thinly chopped onion
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 of a teaspoon grounded cumin
- 1 crashed garlic clove
- 1/2 cup red wine
- 500 grams finely chopped fresh tomatoes or tomato juice
- 1/2 cup of olive oil
- a pinch of each: grounded pepper, cinnamon, clove
- 1 fresh or dry bay leaf.

In a large bowl, we mix together the minced beef, the rice, the onion, the spices, half the olive oiland the wine. While mixing, add some spoonfuls of water until you have a very soft mixture. Put the bowl in the fridge and let it rest for about 1 hour.
In a large cooking pot we put the rest of the olive oil, 4 cups of water and the tomato and we let come to the boil. Then we add some salt, and the bay leaf and we turn down the temperature to medium. We form small balls with our mixture, the size of a walnut, and we drop them carefully into the simmering sauce.
Cover the pot and let it simmer until the rice is well cooked (about 1 hour). In the meantime you can add some hot water if you thing it is needed.
The final consictency should be that of a thick soup as it will become thicker when it cools. It can be eaten warm or in room temperature, after all that's why I cook it in the summer.
You can also experiment with your favorite spices, either inside the mixture or in the broth.
Finally if you want the original version, don't add tomato in the beginning but when the food is cooked add the "avgolemono" sauce.
You can see my step-by-step tecnique here.

You can also find the recipe on my sister Greek blog here.



Kali orexi!

Seftalies (Σεφταλιές) from Cyprus

Seftalies

 

It's a quite simple recipe, just burghers wrapped in caul of fat. Half a teaspoon of cinnamon powder gives that extra kick in the mix. The size varies from burghers to meatballs but I prefer the the latter since the feeling of the fat is minimum. The best option is to grill them in your BBQ, but yesterday it was a rainy day here, so I put them under the grill in my oven ant they were equally great. The caul of fat I had was rather small, so I made small meatballs with the rest of the stuffing.

Now, the ingredients:

- 750 grams mince (I used 500 grams lamb ans 250 beef, but you can also use pork)
- 1 large onion
- half a loaf stale bread, without the crust, soaked in water and then squizzed
- 1 bunch of parsley
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
- 2 level tsp salt
- caul of fat

caul of fat

Put the mince in mixing bowl.
Add the bread, the onion and the parsley finely chopped, the egg, salt, pepper and the cinammon.
Mix well and let it rest in the fridge for half an hour.

Take the coul of fat and put it in a bowl with tiepid water and two tablespoons of wine vinegar.
Rinse it and strain it wit a clean kitchen towel.
Put it on your working surface and cut strips of 8 cm in diameter.

Take a small quantity of your stuffing and wrap it with the caul of fat, just as you would with spring rolls.

Grill them until the fat gets a golden brown colour and serve them with fried potatoes (This time of year we have plenty of Cypriot potatoes) and a green salad.

We like finely chopped lettuce with spring onions and dill, drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and wine vinegar.

If you want to be more authentic, serve also some fried haloumi cheese.

Good Morning Cyprus!