How to cook: Youvetsi

Ingredients

* 450gr (1 lb) Barley-shaped pasta (Kritharaki)
* 1/2 Cups of butter
* 1 Onion
* 2 cups tomato juice
* 1 tablespoon tomato paste
* 100gr grated parmesan cheese
* Salt
* 1Kg (2 lbs) Lamb
* Pepper


Directions

1. Cut lamb to several medium sized pieces (its important not to cut the meat to small pieces).
2. Peel and dice onion to small pieces
3. Peel and chop garlic cloves to slivers.
4. Heat some butter in deep frying pan or medium sauce pan and lightly sute the lamb pieces along with some chopped onions and the garlic.
5. Add the tomato juice and tomato paste in the pan and mix.
6. Add water in the pan (enough so that the meat is fully covered in sauce) along with some salt and pepper and stir well.
7. Cover the pan and reduce the heat to low setting (or very low depending on your stove).
8. Allow enough time for the lamp to become tender.
9. In a pot boil water and add the Barley-shaped pasta.
10. After pasta is ready (check pasta box for cooking time), drain and add about half of it in a baking pan.
11. Add the meat to the baking pan and then add the rest of the pasta.
12. Pour the tomato mixture over the baking pan and use a spoon to even the pasta in the pan.
13. Sprinkle some grated parmesan over the pasta.
14. Bake (in a preheated) oven for 15 minutes at medium heat.
15. Serve hot.


Note: You can use a diferent pasta if you can not find the one mentioned here, if possible, try to find pasta that is aproximately the size of two grains of rice.

Greek Coffee!

Greek coffee is easy to make. First, measure the required cups of water into the briki. The measure should be one of the cups that the coffee is going to be served in. It is advisable not to make more than 3-4 small cups of coffee at a time.
Greek coffee can be made in four different ways. He can be sketos (without sugar, strong and bitter), metrios (medium, usually with one teaspoonful of sugar), glykys or vari glykos (almost honey-sweet) and glykys vrastos - sweet but boiled more then once so it loses most of its froth. Depending on which art of Greek Coffee you like, measure and add into the briki the coffee, a teaspoonful of coffee per cup, and the sugar. For a medium coffee the best balance is to add the same amount of sugar as coffee. Put the briki on a low heat and stir its contents a little, until the coffee is diluted in the water. Hold the briki by the handle all the time as it boils so quickly and spills everywhere. Watch it starting to rise with a bubbly foam. Let it rise - and don't panic! - until it reaches the lips of the briki and then immediately withdraw from the heat. Once the coffee has been made, let it stand for one minute to allow the coffee grounds to settle at the bottom of the briki. Pour a little in each cup, to distribute the froth in all the cups. Then proceed and just fill them up to the brim.
Greek coffee is never stirred once it has been made and served and is drunk slowly. Serve it together with a glass of cold water.

How to cook: Feta and Tomato Slices

Ingredients

* 1 Loaf of bread
* 6 tablespoons Olive Oil
* 2 tomatoes
* Dried Oregano
* Ground Pepper
* 250gr (.5 lbs) Feta Cheese
* Salt

Directions

1. Cut 5 thick slices from the loaf.
2. Brush a little bit of olive oil on the slices.
3. Crumble the feta cheese in a bowl.
4. Add a little bit of olive oil, oregano, pepper and salt in the bowl and softly mix it with the crumbled feta.
5. Chop the tomatoes into small cubes and add to the bowl, again mixing softly with the cheese mix.
6. Top each slice with the mix and serve as a cold appetizer.

"Fast" recipes No2

Cauliflower casserole with tomatoes and spices
Clean and cut a large cauliflower to pieces, sprinkled it with the juice of 1-2 lemons and add salt and pepper.
Brown the pieces in a frying pan with heated olive oil and place them one by one in a boiling pot. When they are finished, slowly brown in the same oil a medium onion thinly cut and add a tablespoon of tomato puree thinned in water.
After it has gone through a couple of boils, empty the frying pan contents in the boiling pot, add a glass of water and let simmer until all liquids but the oil are absorbed.


Pork with spinach
Brown 4 portions of pork meat in virgin olive oil.
In a bowl, thin a tablespoon of tomato puree in 2 glasses of water and add the thinly cut skin of an orange, salt, pepper, and all of use this mixture to sprinkle the meat.
Wash 1 kg of spinach and a bunch of celery. When the meat is half done, add the greens.
The dish is ready when it is left only with its oil.

Tabulee
In a bowl, put 100 g of crushed grain in a little cold water so that it puffs up.
Wash 2 bunches of parsley, a bunch of mint and fresh onions, drain them and slice them.
Drain the crushed grain by hand, put it in a salad bowl and add salt, pepper, the juice of half a lemon and virgin olive oil, stirring slowly.
Add the cut greens, the rest of the lemon juice and a large tomato, cut in pieces.
Serve with bread and freshly washed lettuce leaves.

"Fast" recipes

Granny's fried potatoes
Peel and cut two large potatoes in thick pieces, salt them, sprinkle them with the juice of half a lemon and stir them well. Cover them and leave them for about 45 minutes.
In a deep frying pan, heat up 2 cups of virgin olive oil. Drop the potatoes in the hot olive oil and let them fry with no cover until they get golden.
Take them out with a strainer-ladle and place them on kitchen paper towels so that they totally drain from the excess oil. They are eaten hot.

Fried olives
How to prepare the pap: an egg, salt, pepper, a little hot pepper grated, flour.
Use black olives. Take out the stones and stir them in thick pap that you have prepared earlier. With a spoon, take from the mixture and fry in hot olive oil.

Eggs with tomato
Put in a frying pan a couple of big, ripe tomatoes, skinned and thinly cut, salt them and simmer them for about 6-7 minutes, until they absorb their liquids.
Add 6 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and stir for 2-3 minutes. Add 4 eggs, sprinkle with pepper and fry in low fire for a few minutes, occasionally stirring around with the sauce.
If you wish, you can add a bit of grated feta cheese.
Serve with their sauce and oil.
Yoghurt pie with olive oil
In a bowl, whisk together a cup of olive oil and two cups of sugar. Add gradually the yolks of 6 eggs, the shavings of the skin of a lemon, a small-medium bowl of yoghurt, 3 teacups of flour (in which you have added 3 teaspoons of baking powder) and the whites of the eggs that you have previously whisked them into meringue.
Place the mixture in a no. 34 baking tray and bake in medium fire.

Olive-bread with rosemary
In a bowl, stir 1 kg of flour with 2 spoonfuls of dry yeast and a spoonful of oregano.
Add a spoonful of sugar, 2 teaspoons of salt, 80 g of olive oil, 2 cups of warm water and knead until the dough goes soft.
Leave the dough covered in a warm place until it puffs up. When it does, lay it and spread it on an oiled baking tray, pressing it lightly so that it is flat and even, oil it and make little cavities by pressing the dough with your fingers, where you then place 150 g of Kalamata olives (without their stone) and leaves of rosemary.
Bake in medium fire for about an hour. Serve hot.
Cauliflower casserole with tomatoes and spices
Clean and cut a large cauliflower to pieces, sprinkled it with the juice of 1-2 lemons and add salt and pepper.
Brown the pieces in a frying pan with heated olive oil and place them one by one in a boiling pot. When they are finished, slowly brown in the same oil a medium onion thinly cut and add a tablespoon of tomato puree thinned in water.
After it has gone through a couple of boils, empty the frying pan contents in the boiling pot, add a glass of water and let simmer until all liquids but the oil are absorbed.

How to cook: Lamb and Spinach in Egg and Lemon Sauce

1 Kilo Lamb (on the bone)

3 Spring onions, roughly chopped

1 –2 tbsp. Olive Oil

900 gm Fresh Spinach

2 tbsp. Fresh Chopped Dill

1 Egg

Salt to taste

Juice of a Lemon

Heat the oil in a heavy-based saucepan and add the lamb and spring onions. Brown for 5 minutes over a medium heat, turning frequently. Add enough cold water to just about cover the meat. Bring to the boil, turn the heat down and simmer covered for 40 minutes.

Meanwhile wash the spinach and roughly chop together with the dill. Add to the lamb with salt and black pepper to taste. Push the spinach down firmly on top of the meat, cover the saucepan and leave to simmer again for 15 minutes. Mix the spinach thoroughly into the meat, turn up the heat and bubble for 5 –10 minutes to cook the spinach and reduce the sauce.

Beat up the egg with the lemon juice in a small bowl. Turn off the heat and leave the lamb to stand uncovered for 10 minutes. Using a soup ladle, add one ladle of lamb sauce to the lemon mix. Beat in with a fork. Repeat a second and third time. Then, if you can get help at this point, all the better. Hold the saucepan with both hands and tip the sauce to one side of the pan. Ask a friend to quickly add the lemon mix straight onto the sauce then rotate the sauce quickly round and round by moving the saucepan in a circular motion. This prevents curdling, and ensures the lemon reaches every part of the pan.

Reheat almost to boiling, then serve with fresh bread and salad.

Serves 4 - 6