long shot - any Greek cooks here?!

by dobbie 7 Replies latest jw friends

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  dobbie

  Okay i doubt it but thought it worth a try - when me and hubby were just the 2 of us we used to go to a greek island once or twice a year (sigh i miss it) but my two all time favorite dishes were greek. I have tried to look in internet for recipes but they all seem to differ. Just wondering if anyone has the recipes for these:

  1. Stuffed tomatoes/peppers, my own don't taste the same, i just can't work out what herbs they used also what sort of rice it was.

  2. Briam, roasted veg dish , only had once was the best thing i ever tasted!!

  Please help! Thanks
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  Clam

  Hiya Dobbie. I've had Briam on a holiday in Halkidiki. Lovely stuff! Here's a recipe for it.

  1 large aubergine, sliced in ½ inch rounds
  2-3 ripe tomatoes, thickly sliced
  1 clove garlic, sliced or crushed
  salt and pepper and dried thyme (or fresh if you can find it)
  2-3 medium sized potatoes, in ½ inch slices
  approx 50ml good quality olive oil ( I always use Greek oil for Greek food - it makes a difference)
  1 small onion, sliced

  Pour half a cup of water into a casserole dish. Layer aubergine slices in the dish. Slosh on some olive oil and salt and pepper. Sprinkle the onions, garlic and pinches of thyme here and there amongst all the layers.

  Layer on the tomatoes, add a little more oil. Add the potatoes, a good dollop more oil, more salt and pepper. Then add another layer of aubergine and more oil, salt and pepper.

  Cover and bake, according to a sliding scale of cooking time versus temperature. An authentic briam should cook for at 3 or 4 hours in a low oven, say gas mark 4. but it will cook well in 2 or maybe even 1½ hours on gas mark 6 or 7. Either way, it needs no further attention.

  Eat with fresh crusty bread, perhaps a green salad, some olives, and definitely a glass of red.

  Clam
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  Mulan

  for those in the U.S., Aubergine is called Eggplant here
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  dobbie

  Hi Clam thats great thanks so much will be buying all the ingredients tomorrow!I wondered what herbs they used, did'nt think of thyme. Thanks v much off the wine at the moment but definately need some crusty bread to dip in it!
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  Scully

  My family loves my stuffed peppers, although they aren't Greek cuisine by any means. I stuff them with a curried rice pilaf that I just kind of throw together myself and bake them. In addition to the rice, I put in some curry, minced vegetables like onion, celery, mushrooms and red pepper, raisins and seasoned slivered almonds. I make a big batch about once a week for my vegetarian teen and she'll take them to school and pop it in the microwave for lunch.
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  greendawn

  I am not a cook but I am sure that there is no such thing as a standard fixed dolma recipe each housewife or restaurant have their own tricks and variations on the basic recipe, cooking is an art not a science with strictly fixed amounts and ingredients.
  
  Having said that Greeks typically use Carolina long grain rice for dolma fillings and small quantities, around 15 gr, of chopped parsley, dill and mint in the mix, (Some also use raisins and/or pine nuts).
  
  The total mix would be approx. 200 gr each chopped onions and rice, 5 table spoons of olive oil, the juice of one lemon, the above mentioned herbs, salt and pepper to taste.
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  dobbie

  thanks yes i think you can taste the mint in the stuffed toms Greendawn,thats what makes it taste so different.
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  tula

  they use a lot of thyme and oregano because thats what grows so abundantly on the hillsides in Greece.