Only Recipes, by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Still in yogurt mood, and why not, it is hot and summery and I feel like eating refreshing food. I love making this yogurt sauce, I call it raita when I serve it with Indian food, and tzatziki when I serve it with Greek-Turkish food. The only difference is that when I make tzatziki I like to add mint. You just need some thick yogurt (otherwise strain it) salt to taste, finely chopped cucumber, and if you like, a few leaves of mint, broken with your fingers. So yummy on salad and hot or spicy food, and as a dip.  Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

Yesterday I had another record page views: 2,040. Funny, as I don't have much time to post these days, but I like to thank you all for visiting! Fregola with zucchini and halloumi Ingredients: 2 zucchini 1 garlic clove 2 tbsp olive oil 1 block of halloumi cheese 1 cup fregola pasta 500 vegetable stock chopped parsley lemon to decorate Wash the zucchini and cut into thick strips. Peel the garlic and cut into two pieces. Heat the olive oil and the add the garlic, zucchini and the block of halloumi. Sauté stirring constantly and turning the halloumi often. When the houllumi start to become golden remove from the pan and set aside. Add the fregola and stir with the zucchini until toasted. Add a little vegetable stock, lower the heat and cover. Stir from time to time, adding more stock when necessary, until cooked (about 20 minutes). Cut the halloumi into slices and place back over the fregola, then add chopped parsley and lemon slices. Serve hot. I...

I though a lot about this, I am not the type to 'deconstruct' dishes, but I wanted to try.  The resulting spinach puddings are really soft but perfectly set and stable, the feta sauce easy and yummy, and the filo 'crackers' complete the dish perfectly, so you will make an impression with your guests! Ingredients For the savory spinach mini puddings: 500 g chopped frozen spinach Water 100 ml milk 2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese 3 eggs Salt to taste Salted butter to grease the ramekins For the Feta Sauce: 100 g feta A sprig of oregano (or a pinch of dried oregano) A little milk and hot water For the Filo Crackers: 5 sheets of film pastry Salted butter, melted, to brush Boil the spinach with water, then drain but do not squeeze. Put the spinach in a bowl and blend with an immersion blender. Add the milk and blend again. Add the parmesan and eggs and blend again. Taste for salt then add salt. Grease 8 ramekins with butter...

The first time I used filo, long time ago now, I learned to spread melted butter every two sheets of pastry. It seemed a lot but I didn't have the courage to skip this step. Then I started to put less and less (only for baklava I keep using lots of butter, but then you only get a tiny piece so that is ok, I guess :-), or to use olive oil, which felt more 'Mediterranean' than butter. But filo pastry is very low fat in itself and I wondered if I really needed to use fat... this version has no butter or oil, and yet it tastes great!  Generally I use feta, spinach, garlic and cumin, or oregano. But while the  onion weed  abounds I thought "why not?", and made it with it. I picked, washed and chopped some onion weed, using the bulbs, stems, leaves and flowers. I mixed with 600 g of frozen chopped spinach (defrosted at room temperature) and a big block of goat feta. I used about 180 g of filo for this pie, half in the bottom, covered with the...