Keftedakia, Traditional Greek Meatballs

Traditional Greek Meatballs

A new Mediterranean restaurant opened up in our hometown. The dishes are mostly Greek inspired with some Italian flair and pizza. I really, really love Greek food. Until this place opened, we had to drive 2 hours to get anything resembling authentic Greek. I am overjoyed.

The first time we went, I ordered the Gyro Pizza: Gyro meat, purple onions, tomatoes, and feta. The crust is oiled and not covered in tomato sauce. It is thin and chewy and delicious. The second time we went I ordered Keftedakia, Traditional Greek Meatballs. My dinner was so good, I almost cried.

I went home immediately and began to research Keftedakia. After trying various incarnations, I came up with these. They might not make you cry, but they sure will make you happy.

You can substitute lemon juice for the red wine vinegar. You can also add a little oregano and/or coriander. But I did this, and it was love.

 

Servings: 20 meatballs
Time:  Prep:  10 minutes; Cooking: 20 minutes; Meatballs in about 40 minutes
Hardware:  Measuring spoons and cups, a food processor, a silicone spatula, a mixing bowl, un-powdered latex gloves, a large heavy pan, a large shallow bowl (or a pie plate), slotted spoons, paper towel covered plate

Ingredients:

• 1-pound ground beef
• 1 small onion (4 ounces)
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 5-6 mint leaves
• 1/3 cup fresh parsley
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon of red wine vinegar
• ⅓ cup breadcrumbs
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ cup flour (maybe more)
• Enough olive oil to fill the pan halfway
• Toasted flatbread (pita or naan), feta, lemon, fresh slices of mozzarella , tomatoes and fresh chopped parsley, large grain salt for serving

1. Put the onion, garlic, mint, parsley and black pepper into the food processor. Pulse until they are very finely chopped, but not liquefied. Add the egg, salt and vinegar and pulse a few more times. If you don’t have a food processor, chop the onions and herbs as fine as you can. Beat the egg and then proceed.
2. Scrape everything from the processor into the mixing bowl. Add the breadcrumbs and meat. Put on latex gloves. Mix all the ingredients in the bowl with your hands. Make bite-sized (1 inch)meatballs.
3. Heat the oil on medium high.  Place the flour into the shallow bowl. Lightly dredge the meatballs.
4. Brown the meatballs for about 4 minutes and then turn. Don’t crowd the pan. You may need to fry them in batches. Remove them to the plate. You can keep them warm in the oven on the lowest setting until they are all finished.
5. To plate you should place slices of tomato, mozzarella and toasted flatbread on the plate. Place the meatballs beside them and squeeze a little fresh lemon juice of them. Sprinkle on feta, fresh chopped parsley and a little finishing salt.

Greek Rice Bowls

Rice bowls are fun to make for dinner. You cook up a few different elements and everyone can make his own bowl as if he were at a buffet. Therefore, rice bowls are great if say your husband is a picky eater (I’m looking at you, Jeff) and you are not. They are also lovely and that means you can serve them to company. Finally, if done properly, they are delicious.

Greek Rice Bowl

To do a rice bowl (or any dish for that matter) properly, you must have the correct balance of bitter, salty, sweet, sour and umami. Umami is the taste of protein. Spinach, cucumber salad, hummus and a beef mixture made with a perfect blend of herbs (including mint) creates the perfect bite.

At first glance this recipe probably appears overwhelming. There are many elements to this dish and you are making them all at once. To tackle this, you should 1. Make the cucumber salad. 2. Then slice and measure everything else. 3. Put the rice water onto boil and then begin to cook the meat. 4. Cook the rice while finishing the beef. 5. When you have about 4 minutes left on the rice cooking time, wilt the spinach. Read through the recipe completely before you get started. It took me 40 minutes to make this, but I am practiced. If you are a novice, I would guess this might take an hour, but it is so worth it.

Rice bowls are their own entrée, sides and salads. I served mine with Hummus and Creamy FetaDressing. You can make these yourself or buy your favorite brand at the grocers. Give all your guests a wedge of lemon to squeeze over the whole dish before eating.

Servings: 4-6

Time:  Active time 40 minutes; Cook: 30 Minutes, Rice bowls in about 40 minutes (maybe longer)

Hardware:  Measuring spoons and cups, a cutting board and knives, a vegetable peeler, a large storage container with a lid, a large microwave safe bowl covered by a plate, a large sauce pot, a deep skillet, a strainer, a wooden spoon, small bowls for pre-measuring, a serving bowl for the rice and a slotted spoon for the salad 

Ingredients:

• 1 large Spanish onion (8 oz)
• 2 large tomatoes (1 lb.)
• 2 large cucumbers (1 1b.)
• ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
• Cold water
• 1 + 1 tablespoons fresh dill
• 1 + 3 tablespoons fresh parsley
• 1 ½ cups rice
• 1-8-ounce bag of baby spinach
• Olive oil to cover pan
• 1 ½ pounds ground beef
• 2 cups beef broth
• 1 small yellow onion (4oz)
• 4 garlic cloves
• 8 mint leaves
• 1 tablespoon oregano
• ¾ teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 + ¼ teaspoon salt
• Hummus, toasted pita or naan bread, Creamy Feta Dressing, lemon wedges, sliced olives

Garlic, dill, parsley, mint, oregano and cinnamon make this delicious

1. Slice the Spanish onion into rings. Roughly chop the tomatoes. Peel and slice the cucumbers. Place these veggies, 1 tablespoon dill, 1 tablespoon parsley, ¼ teaspoon salt and the apple cider vinegar into the storage container. Add enough cold water to cover the veggies. Stir and put the salad into the fridge until dinner.
2. Chop the yellow onion and garlic. Measure and roughly chop the herbs (you can mix them and the spices together in a small bowl until you need them.) Measure the rice. Set everything aside.
3. Fill the sauce pot with salted water and place it over high heat. When it comes to a boil, stir in the rice. Boil for 20 minutes, stirring only often enough to keep it from sticking. Strain the rice and place it in a serving bowl. Adjust the salt.
4. As soon as you put the water on to boil, begin cooking the meat. Heat enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan over medium high heat.
5. Add the garlic and onion and sauté for 5 minutes or until the garlic is fragrant.
6. Add the herbs and cook for a minute or two more. Stir in the ground beef and salt. Cook and crumble until the meat is no longer pink.
7. Add the beef broth and allow everything to come to a boil. Turn the heat down to a low simmer. Simmer until you are ready to serve, stirring only often enough to keep the beef from sticking.
8. When the rice is almost finished, place the spinach in the large bowl. It doesn’t matter if you need to smash it down a little to fit it all in. Sprinkle to with a tiny bit of water and a tiny bit of salt. Cover the bowl with a plate. Microwave the spinach on high and leave it under the plate until you are ready to serve. When you begin to wilt the spinach, you can also toast bread if you are serving it.
9. To plate (bowl?), fill each bowl with rice. Then visually divide the bowl into quarters. Fill one quarter with drained cucumber salad, one with spinach, the 3^rd with Hummus and the 4^th with meat. Place a tablespoon of Creamy Feta Dressing on the meat. Give each guest a quarter of a lemon to squeeze over their entire bowl right before eating.

Gyros

Gyros are popular, fast food sandwiches that are difficult to make at home.  The meat used for most gyros is made from a loaf of compressed meat (tastes better than it sounds) with a distinct taste and texture.  I have tried many times to recreate them with varying degrees of success.

This incarnation is the best. Very good, in fact. Cooking the meat the second time makes the texture very close to the gyros we get from our favorite, local, Middle Eastern restaurant, Falafel King.  You can make the loaf a day or two ahead and just brown the slices when you are ready to use them. When making this recipe you can change the ratio of lamb to beef, if you want.  You can also skip the mint.  However, I have made and remade this and you should try it my way first.

I remember the first gyro I ever ate.  When I was in high school, I was in all advanced classes and made VERY good grades, but school was boring and if I didn’t feel the need to be there I would, upon occasion, take my education into my own hands.  I would ride the school bus into town, ditch class, and then catch the city bus for my own adventure.  I visited museums or went to the movies.  Sometimes, I went to the local record store and had music appreciation day. I think these excursions were as educational as the stuff I learned in school.  Often on these outings, I ate at a little, family-owned, Greek restaurant that was close to the record store.  It was there that I had my first gyro, spanakopita (spinach pie), and baklava. The couple that owned the place were friendly and often talked to me about their children or the food I was eating or what it was like in Cyprus, the island they were from.  A Taco Bell now stands where Little Athens used to be. I’m glad I have an adventurous soul. I feel sorry for the kids who ditch class and go to Taco Bell.

Servings: 6 gyros

Hardware:  Cutting board and knives, food processor, measuring spoons, baking sheet, foil, a skillet, a spatula
Time:  Prep:  10 minutes    Cooking: 1 hour

Ingredients:

• ¾ pound ground beef
• ½ pound ground lamb
• 1 medium onion (½ cup)
• 3 cloves garlic
• Fresh parsley (about 2 tablespoons chopped)
• ½ tablespoon ground marjoram
• ½ tablespoon dried rosemary
• 6 mint leaves
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 2 teaspoons olive oil

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• 6 flat breads (I like naan) or pitas 
• 2 Tomatoes
• 1 Onion
• 2 Cucumbers
• 1 cup Tzatziki sauce

1. Preheat the oven to 350˚.
2. Peel and quarter the onion.  Peel the garlic. Place them in the food processor.  Pulverize until they are almost a liquid.  Drain the liquid from the hopper.
3. Roughly chop the parsley and mint. Add the herbs and salt to the food processor and pulse a few times just to mix.
4. Add the meat to the food processor and grind until it is very fine, almost a paste.
5. Line the baking sheet with foil. Shape the meat into a loaf about 3 inches by 8 inches.  Bake for 45 minutes.
6. While the meat is baking, slice and seed the tomatoes, peel and slice the cucumbers and onions.  Set aside.
7. Remove the meat from the oven and allow to rest until it is cool enough to handle.
8. Heat the olive oil on high heat in the skillet.  Slice the meatloaf into thin pieces.  Make the slices as thin as you can without the meat falling apart.  Brown the slices on both sides. Remember the meat is already cooked, you are just crisping the outside.
9. To build the gyro, warm the bread, add a little Tzatziki sauce, add the meat, then the veggies, and then more sauce.

Homemade Gyros

Tzatziki Sauce

Tzatziki Sauce: creamy cucumber dip

Tzatziki sauce is perfect for Gyros or other grilled meat.  It also makes a nice dip for warm slices of pita.  You can change the sauce up by using mint or parsley in addition to or instead of the dill.  Always serve this cold.

Servings:  1 ½ cups

Time:  prep: 15 minutes, rest: 30 minutes + 2 hours
Hardware:  Cutting board and knives, veggie peeler, spoon, strainer, a bowl,  measuring cups and spoons, a whisk, a container

Ingredients: 

• 1 large cucumber
• 1 ½ cups Greek yogurt
• 3 garlic cloves
• 2 tablespoons of fresh dill (or 1 dried)
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• Salt & pepper

1. Peel the cucumber.  Using the spoon remove the seeds.  Slice it and place it in the strainer over the bowl.  Heavily salt the cucumber and allow it to rest for 30 minutes. This will make the cucumber release much of its liquid.
2. Squeeze as much water as you can from the cucumber.  Discard all the liquid.  Dice the squeezed cucumber and the garlic.  The smaller the better. 
3. Whisk the remaining ingredients together.  Taste and adjust the salt.
4. Allow to sit in the fridge for at least 2 hours.  Grind a little black pepper into the sauce right before serving.  This will keep in the fridge for 4 days.

Greek Chicken

This chicken is very easy to make. If you can chop the ingredients, then you possess the necessary skills to create this dish. It also tastes great, which is important because chicken can get boring. The lemon and parsley are fresh and bright.  The sundried tomatoes add a sweet, tangy note.  The herbs and garlic are earthy.  Together these ingredients produce the perfect bite. 

You can serve this over rice or couscous. If you want the sauce to thicken, simply dissolve a tablespoon of corn starch in ½ cup of water and add to the boiling sauce after you have removed the chicken.  You could also chop the chicken, stir in yogurt or mayo, add diced green onions, and chopped black olives to make chicken salad. I toasted pitas, chopped up tomatoes and cucumbers, made Creamy Feta Dressing and made sandwiches. 

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Marinade

Hardware: Measuring cups and spoons, a cutting board and knives, a glass (or some other non-reactive) bowl, wooden spoon or a whisk, a large plastic Ziploc bag, a container for saving a cup of liquid (a plastic Glad container, an old jelly jar), and a refrigerator

 Ingredients

• 2 cups olive oil
• 1 cup lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons sundried tomatoes packed in oil
• 1 tablespoon of the oil from the sundried tomatoes
• ¼ cup finely chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
• 2 tablespoons Greek seasoning
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast

1. Mince the tomatoes, garlic, and parsley. Cut the chicken into large chunks (About ½ the size of your fist.) 
2. In a large glass bowl, mix all of the ingredients except the chicken.
3. Reserve one cup of the marinade making sure to get some tomatoes.  It will later become the cooking sauce.  Store it in the fridge until you need it.
4. Put the chicken into the Ziploc.  Pour the remaining marinade into the bag too.  Place that in the fridge.  (I always put this in a bowl, bag and all, because sometimes those zippers unzip.  Then you have a huge mess.)
5. Marinate from 2-4 hours, turning the bag over every once in a while. Don't marinate for much longer or the chicken will get mushy.

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Greek Chicken

Servings: 4-6
Hardware:  A large skillet, tongs, a cutting board, knives, a plate, a wooden spoon, measuring spoons, a slotted spoon
Time:  Prep:  5 minutes    Cooking: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• Olive oil to cover the bottom of the skillet
• 1 ½ pounds marinated chicken
• ¼ cup chopped onions
• 1 cup reserved marinade 
• 1 teaspoon Greek seasoning
• 1 tablespoon flat leaf parsley for garnish
• Salt & Pepper

1. Chop the onion.
2. Drain the chicken.  Salt and pepper the chicken and set aside.
3. Heat the oil in the skillet on medium high.
4. Add the onion, chicken, and reserved marinade to the pan.  The chicken should be sizzling.  Cook for 8 minutes and turn.  Cook for 8 minutes more.
5. Remove the chicken from the pan with the slotted spoon.  Sprinkle with the Greek seasoning and the parsley.
6. Serve warm or cold.

Greek Chicken

I used Greek Chicken to make sandwiches. I toasted pitas and naan.  I chopped  grape tomatoes, cucumbers, spinach, and green onions for sandwich toppings.  I added Creamy Feta Dressing and a little extra feta on top.  Yummy and healthy.