I would like to host a Greek Thanksgiving for my sister-in-law. Where can I find real Greek recipes?

c if this helps


http://www.greek-recipe.com/I would like to host a Greek Thanksgiving for my sister-in-law. Where can I find real Greek recipes?
Google it, sure, but don't forget the local library -- they have plenty of ethnic cooking books. Likewise, see if there are any Greek social organizations or clubs in town.I would like to host a Greek Thanksgiving for my sister-in-law. Where can I find real Greek recipes?
Yoghurt dip - (Tzatziki)





INGREDIENTS





* 1/2 kilo strained yoghurt


* 1 cucumber


* 4 garlic cloves (more makes it with stronger taste)


* salt


* oil


* vinegar





METHOD





Grate the garlic and mix it with salt and vinegar. Peel the cucumber, grate it and squeeze it until all its water is removed. Put the yoghurt into a bowl and add the cucumber into it. Then mix the yoghurt with the mixture of grated garlic. Whiz the content until all the ingredients are well mixed. Add some oil. Yoghurt dip can be served in a normal temparature but it is rather prefered cold.











Spinach pie with cheese - (spanakopita)





INGREDIENTS





* One pack of very thin filo pastry (obtained from a specialist deli)


* 1 Kg / 2 lb of spinach, either frozen or fresh


* 1 kg / 2 lb of fιta cheese


* 250g / 1/2lb of butter or margarine


* 2 cloves of garlic or garlic power





METHOD





If the spinach is raw, cook and slice thinly. If frozen, defrost. In either case, mix the feta cheese with the spinach to make a mixture, adding the chopped garlic. Spread some butter on an oven tray. Open the filo package and place each thin pastry (it is as thin as paper) on the tray, buttering each one using a brush. After you have done 8 filo slices, place the spinach/feta mixture and spread over the entire oven tray, covering the 8 pastry slices. On top of this, place the remaining pastry slices, buttering each one of them as well. Notch the last one creating 2 inch (5 cm) on a side, squares. Place in a medium heat oven and cook till brown.











Moussaka (2) - (Mousakas)





INGREDIENTS





* 1 kg aubergines (large or/and elongated variety)


* 160 ml vegetable oil (about 1 teacup)


* 1 large onion, finely sliced


* 450 gr. minced beef


* 1 glass white wine (not retsina, but aretsinoto)


* 350 gr. fresh tornatoes, 1400 gr. tomatoes, drained of some of their juice and chopped


* teaspoon ground cinnamon


* teaspoon ground allspice


* salt and black pepper


* 1 teaspoon oregano


* 25 gr. grated parmesan, kefalotiri, or Gruyere cheese


* some chopped parsley





Bechamel Sauce


* 80 gr. butter


* 80 gr. flour


* 600 ml warm milk


* salt and white pepper


* 30 gr. grated Parmesan or Gruyere cheese


* 2 egg yolks





Topping


* z 60 gr. grated Parmesan,Gruyere or kefalotiri cheese


* 4 tablespoons toasted breadcrumbs





METHOD





Moussaka should be baked in the oven. Use a roasting container, eitber square or oblong, approximately 25x25 cm or 39x28 cm. It is recommended that you spread the work involved over two days for your convinience; one can easily cook the meat the day before, witbout the Moussaka suffering at all. Do not do the same with the aubergines; they should be fried on the day.





Aubergines


Top and tail the aubergines, without peeling them. Rinse them, cut them lengthways in 75-mm thick slices and immerse them in salted water, for 30 minutes.Take them out, squeeze gently, rinse, then squeeze them again. Drain them in a colander and pat dry. Fry them in hot vegetable oil until they become pale golden on both sides; you can either deep-fry them, which is easier but they absorb a lot of oil, or shallow-fry them. In either case, drain them on absorbent paper on a flat platter before serving, so that most of their oil will dribble away.





Meat


Sautee the sliced onion in 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, until it looks glistening. Add the meat and sautee together, stirring, until all the lumps are broken down and the meat starts to change colour. Pour in the wine, add tomatoes, sliced finely, the spices, salt and pepper and the oregano. Cover and cook for 20 minutes, stirring from time to time in case it sticks. Then mix in the grated cheese and parsley.





Bechamel Sauce


Melt the butter and, away from the heat, gradually add the flour and stir to amalgamate. Return to the heat and gradually add the milk and seasoning, stirring continuously. Simmer for 9-10 minutes, stirring, until it has thickened considerably. Withdraw the pan from the heat, let it stand briefly, then add the cheese and the egg yolks. Stir to amalgamate them. Do not let the sauce boil after this. It should by now be a thick bechamel, to enable it to sit on top of the meat mixture and form a kind of crust.





To assemble, cover the base of the roasting dish with half of the fried aubergines, then spread half of the meat mixture evenly on top of them and cover neatly with the remaining aubergines. Spread the remaining meat and sauce evenly over the top and cover neatly with the bechamel sauce. Sprinkle the grated cheese all over the top, and the breadcrumbs. Moussaka from Macedonia may contain a layer of thinly sliced roun potatoes which have been fried first. Bake in a pre-heated oven, gas no.4/ 350 grades F/ 180 grades C, for 1 hour, untit a golden crust is formed all over the top. Let it stand for 5 minutes before serving, in order to be able to cut it more easily. To serve, cut into square or oblong-shaped pieces, about 8 cm thick. It should be quite dry by then and the pieces should ideally stay intact.











Easter Lamb on the Spit - (Arni Pashalino tis Souvlas)





INGREDIENTS





To serve 6-8 persons, you need a lamb that weights about 5 kg!





METHOD





On Easter Sunday Morning, the fire is started at about 7.00 am to ensure that the wood is reduced to glowing embers by the time the roasting starts. The lamb or goat, having been properly cleaned, is rubbed with lemon all over his skin and seasoned with salt, pepper, oregano and thyme both outside and inside. Then the souvla, the long round iron stick, having also been properly cleaned and rubbed with lemon, is passed through the animal from one end and out through the head. The back feet are secured by passing one through the muscle of the other and are then tied with wire. It is also recommanded to tie with wire the spine of the lamb on the spit.


Two iron poles with forked ends are inserted in the earth by the fire. At the beggining of the roasting session the lamb is at about 60-70 cm from the fire. Later the poles are lowered so the meat rests at a distance of 30-40 cm from the fire.


The long iron spit ends in a handle and members of the family take it in turns to sit and turn it almost continually (Now there are machines doing that for us!). While the meat is cooking they brush on a mixture of olive oil, lemon juice and oregano.


A lamb roasted like this takes about 4 hours or less, presuming that it is of the desirable weight of 5 kgr maximum. It is vital that the lamb cooks very slowly, even if it takes longer than three hours. A clear indication that it is nearly cooked is when the flesh shrinks away from the bones. Please note that the fleshy parts (legs and shoulders) take longer to cook, so they draw most of the glowing embers to the two ends, making two small piles of them under the fleshy parts which gives those parts the extra heat they require, while the thin body is cooking at a slower speed.


Serve with a lot of fresh season salad, taramosalata, melitzanosalata and Scarlet Easter Eggs.











Greek baklava - (Baklavas)





INGREDIENTS





Filling


* 500 gr. walnuts, coarsely chopped


* 60 gr. sugar


* 1 teaspoon cinnamon





Pastry


* 500 gr. fyllo pastry


* 180 gr. unsalted butter, melted





Syrup


* 230 gr. caster sugar


* 300 ml water


* 2 cinnamon sticks


* 2 teaspoons lemon juice


* some lemon peel


* 2 tablespoons honey





METHOD





Mix all the filling ingredients in a bowl.


Liberally butter the base and sides of an elongated or round baking dish. Measure the length of the fyllo against the baking dish roughly and, allowing 2 cm extra approximately for shrinkage, cut to length with a sharp knife. Brush each layer of fyllo with melted butter and spread over the base of the container as evenly as possible. Once you have used 5 layers of pastry, sprinkle a thin layer of filling all over the surface and add 3 more layers. Sprinkle a thin layer of filling and place 2 more sheets of fyllo on top. Sprinkle on all the remaining filling, spreading it evenly, and cover with 7-8 more layers of fyllo, brushing individually with butter. Fold any excess pastry on either of the sides over the filling and brush it with butter. Brush the top layer liberally with butter in order to get it crisp and golden. Trim any excess pastry with a small sharp knife, keeping in mind that it will also shrink. Cut the top layers of fyllo carefully, either diagonally into diamond shapes or straight, which will result in square or elongated pieces. Be careful not to cut right down to the base, but only the top layers. This is done in order to make cutting and lifting the pieces out, once it is cooked, much easier and efficient. Using the tips of four fingers, sprinkle drops of water all over the surface and cook it in a preheated oven, gas no.5/ 375 grades F / 190 grades C, for 15 minutes; lower the heat to gas no.4/ 350 grades F/ l80 grades C and cook for a further 20 minutes.


In the meantime, prepare the syrup. Place all the syrup ingredients, apart from the honey, in a saucepan and stir to dissolve the sugar. Simmer for 6-8 minutes, add the honey and simmer for a further 5 minutes until it thickens slightly. Let the baklava cool down then pour the hot but not boiling syrup slowly all over, through a strainer. Let it stand and absorb the syrup.











Stuffed Turkey - (Galopoula Yemisti)





INGREDIENTS





* 1 turkey, 3 kg


* 2 kg potatoes


* salt and black pepper


* juice of 2 lemons


* 4 tablespoons olive oil


* 1 tablespoon oregano


* 1 tablespoon thyme


* 30 gr. butter


* 200 ml water





Ingredients for Stuffing I


* 3 medium onions, finely sliced


* 1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed


* 5 tablespoons olive oil


* chicken liver and heart, rinced and thinly sliced


* 90 gr. long-grain rice, rinsed and drained


* 200 ml hot water


* salt and black pepper


* 90 gr. pine nuts, browned in a frying pan


* 45 gr. sultanas (optional)


* 1 teaspoon oregano


* 1 teaspoon thyme








Ingredients for Stuffing II


* 1.5 glass white wine, or juice of a lemon


* 120 gr. pine nuts


* 270 gr. lean beef, minced


* 150 ml water


* salt and black pepper


* chicken liver and heart, rinsed and finely sliced


* 5 tablespoons chopped parsley


* 1 medium onion, finely sliced


* 1 piece cinnamon stick


* 45 gr. long-grain rice, rinsed


* 5 whole grains allspice





METHOD





Rinse and dry the turkey. Season the turkey with salt and black pepper all over, as well as in its cavity. Prepare the stuffing.


Place the turkey in the middle of a roasting tin, breast up. Peel and quarter the potatoes lengthways (quarter-moon shape), rinse them and arrange evenly around the turkey. Pour the lemon juice and olive oil over the turkey and potatoes, then sprinkle with most of the herbs. Dot the butter all over and carefully pour the water into a corner of the pan. Roast in a pre-heated oven, gas no.5/ 400 grades F/ 200 grades C, for 2.5-3 hours. A little water may be added if it looks as if it is drying up, no more than 6 tablespoons. The turkey should be golden brown by the end and the potatoes a little less so.





Stuffing I





Sautee the onions and garlic in the olive oil. Add the giblets and sautee for 5 minutes, then add the rice and sautee for a few minutes until it looks glistening. Add the hot water, salt and pepper and simmer slowly for 3 minutes untit most of the water is absorbed but the rice should remain hard. Take off the heat, add the pine nuts, the sultanas (if used) and the herbs. Mix well and stuff the turkey, leaving a little room for expansion.


There is no need for sewing up the opening of the turkey; in fact, you can seal this opening with half a potato, which seems to work well. In any case roast the stuffed turkey breast side up and avoid turning it too much.





Stuffing II





Put the pine nuts in a dry frying pan and roast them over a medium heat, shaking or stirring almost continuously for 3-4 minutes until they look nicely brown. Keep aside.


Sautee the minced meat, which should produce its own fat so there is no need to add more, and the giblets for a few minutes, breaking down any lumps. Add the onion and the spices and sautee for a further 3-4 minutes. Pour over the wine or lemon juice and, when the steaming subsides, add the water. Season with salt and pepper, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from the heat, add the rice, pine nuts, parsley and mix well. Stuff the turkey and roast as above.











Greek salad - (Horiatiki)





INGREDIENTS





* 3 – 4 tomatoes


* 1 onion


* feta cheese


* 1 cucumber


* olive oil


* salt


* olives


* oregano





METHOD





Cut the tomatoes, the onion and the cucumber in slices. Mix them, add salt and some pieces of feta cheese, oregano and at the end pour some olive oil.














Fricasse of lamb - (Arnaki frikasse)





NGREDIENTS





* Two large KOS LETTUCE or HARD lettuces


* Six lamb chops


* Some olive oil


* Fresh dill


* Four eggs


* Juice from two lemons


* Two sliced onions





METHOD





Put the oil in a pot and cook the onion slices until soft. Put the salted lamb chops in the hot oil, and brown both sides. Clean the lettuce leafs with water and without removing all the water from them, place them over the lamb chops. Add the fresh dill, cover, and let cook turning the lamb chops over (medium/high setting). When the lettuce is cooked (should be very soft and look wilted) and the lamb chops feel very soft (about 30-40 minutes), remove from the fire and let cool for about 5 minutes. In the meantime, mix the eggs using a mixer and slowly add the lemon juice. Using a ladle, pick up some of the juice from the pot and add to the eggs/lemon mixture while the mixer is continually beating them. Keep on adding the juice until most of it is in the egg mixture (which by this time should be the same temperature as the pot). Empty the egg mixture into the pot and using a big wooden spoon, mix them vigorously to avoid curdling.








Bon Appetit!!!!
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www.authentic-greek-recipes.com/
allrecipes.com or recipes.com
http://allrecipes.com/recipes/world-cuis…





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