Cooking With Kryten
In Comments Kryten42 has been sharing his Grandmother’s recipes and they deserve to be seen by all:
Mediterranean Chilled Stuffed Tomatoes (Serves 4)
Fresh tomatoes are often prepared simply to bring out their natural flavor around the Mediterranean. To make this, use the reddest, juiciest, freshest tomatoes you can find (organic fresh picked have the best flavor). This is an excellent side dish, or snack, on a hot day.
Ingredients:
4 medium or large tomatoes
3 cloves fresh garlic
4 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
3/4 tsp. ground rock or sea salt
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
3 to 4 cups fresh parsley and/or basil, shredded or chopped (the proportions are up to the individual).
Preparation:
1. Cut the tops off tomatoes and use a spoon to scoop out the seeds and pulp inside. Be careful not to break through the tomato skins.
2. Using a large mortar and pestle, or a medium bowl and the back of a spoon, mash the garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper together. Add parsley and/or basil and mash to combine well.
3. Fill tomatoes with garlic and herb mixture. Refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours and serve cold.
Bon apetit! 😀
25 comments
mmm … garlic. i’ve got cherry tomatoes handy right now. i might have to try cutting them in half, setting them on a bed of lettuce, and topping it all off with the garlic/herb ‘stuffing.’
It’s hard to go wrong with tomatoes, garlic, and olive oil. I might try them without the salt, and crumble some feta into the mix.
Thanks Bryan! 😀
And experiment away friends! That’s the correct ‘Mediterranean’ attitude to cooking. 🙂 I have had it with fetta Bryan, and it was good. 🙂 Have to get the right one though… I think My Gran used fetta from Cyprus. 🙂
I’ll post more as I find them, I’m trying for things that you may not have come across or that are just too good NOT to share! 😀
Cheers and enjoy!
I spent a lot of layovers in Glyfada outside of Athens, and the local feta was more than salty enough for any salad, but the tomatoes weren’t as good as those from the local farmers in upstate New York.
Alas, our Asian food tends to be fresh, but the Euro stuff really wimps out. The local feta in the Greek community is too “American”. They bring food into this country and make it tasteless.
Yeah, that happens here in the mainstream shops also. Luckily, we have a very diverse population so there are many *specialists* deli’s around to supply the real deal! 🙂 Luckily, I have a good authentic Italian one (most products imported from various parts of Italy and other Med countries) not far from me.
everything goes betta with fetta.
i’ve been buying my olive oil in metal cans, the outside of which is printed almost entirely in greek. a couple of the local stores buy feta in quantity, and sell retail size portions in generic plastic containers, so i have no idea how authentic it is or isn’t.
You are probably getting it through New Orleans, whereas, I’m sure the stuff available here is either local [Alabama farm] or through Miami at Publix.
i’ve been buying it from the small local independent [non-chain] stores in town. i should ask them about it.
as far as grocery store chains go, publix is one of the better ones i’ve found.
and i do drive over to a farm in alabama once a year or so to stock up on specialty cheeses, mostly for gifts for other people [sigh].
Hi all,
Here’s another Italian family recipe for you. 🙂 I love this dish! 😀
Note that I have added alternatives in brackets to the ingredients to make it easier, but the original ingredient is best! 😉
Bisignano Spinach
Ingredients
1-1/2 lbs. fresh spinach, cooked and finely chopped (or 2 10oz. packages frozen chopped spinach, cooked)
1 16oz. ricotta (or cottage cheese) (reduced fat cheese may be used)
1 cup bread crumbs (or packaged herb stuffing)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup sliced fresh mushrooms (or canned sliced mushrooms, drained)
1/2 cup chopped green capsicum (pepper)
1 cup sour cream (light or reduced fat cram may be used)
1/4 cup homemade (or bottled/canned) spaghetti sauce
1 lb. mozzarella cheese, thin sliced
1 tsp. choped basil
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese.
Preperation
1. In a large bowl, combine spinach, ricotta or cottage cheese, bread crumbs, eggs, mushrooms, and capsicum (green pepper).
2. Preheat the oven to 350F.
3. Pour mixture into a buttered 9 x 13in baking dish and spread sour cream on top.
4. Pour on a layer of spaghetti sauce, using most, but not all, of sauce. Cover with a layer of mozzarella cheese slices.
5. Spread remaining spaghetti sauce over cheese slices. Sprinkle with basil and Parmesan cheese.
6. Bake for 30 minutes.
Your Recipe is up top, Kryten. It is very similar to my Dad’s lasagna recipe with the main differences being the spinach is switched for parsley and there are no pasta layers.
The sauce is a very thick Roma tomato version with mild Italian sausage, garlic, anise, oregano, etc.
Hipparchia, the farms you visit are probably a bit more world-connected that those due North of me. There are strong North-South connections here, and many locals originally came from Opp and Andalusia, Alabama.
very possible. i’m mostly driving west along the coast, instead of north.
Those farms would be supplying Mobile and Pensacola, as well as the beach crowd, so they are probably working harder on authenticity than blandness, and are surely more expensive.
expensive, yes, which is why i only do this for presents for other people, and they have to be people i really really like. 🙂
Je comprends
i’ve tried most of these, and a few of their non-regular ones too. i don’t think i’ve tried their feta yet.
Feta is really a goat cheese in Greece, but the enzymes should produce a close product.
i thought feta was from sheeps milk. i could easily be mistaken though, because in my world, all cheese comes from a refrigerator section at the store.
Nope! Feta is goats cheese. 😉
Southern Italian Minestrone
Minestrone is one of those dishes with a thousand different recipe’s! It was originally a poor family meal made up of whatever ingredients could be found. This particular recipe has been used extensively through Southern Italy, though it’s probably used all over with some variations. 🙂
Ingredients:
1 kg soup potatoes
1 kg vegetables (onions, leeks, fresh or dried kidney and soup beans, green beans, carrots, celery, turnips, pumpkin, spinach) or whatever vegitables are in season or easily found. Fresh is best.
4 cloves of crushed garlic (or up to individual taste)
150gr Swiss air-dried pig chest bacon (or similar thick, lean bacon)
1 pig trotter (secret ingredient #1)
1 Parmesan crust (secret ingredient #2)
1 large slice of pig skin (pork rind from the bacon) (secret ingredient #3)
4 Bay leaves
Fresh chopped parsley, basil, 1 twig of thyme and 1 of rosemary (proportions up to you)
6-8 Cloves (number of cloves up to individual taste)
6-8 Peppercorns (used for cooking soup beans)
Rock Salt, ground black pepper (Up to individual taste.)
Freshly grated Parmesan and Pecorino cheese. (again, amount depends on individual taste. however, Parmesan should be a wedge with the crust on for use later).
NOTE: 1kg = 2.2lbs. No need to be exact in the measures for the vegetables. And it depends how big a pot you have and how much you want to make. Just try to keep all the proportions relative. 🙂
Preparation:
1. Cook the soup beans separately (otherwise they’ll taint your soup black) in a little water with a bay leaf, peppercorns and two cloves.
2. Saute the finely diced bacon. Add finely chopped onions and leek and continue to saute over medium-high heat until the onion and leek starts to brown slightly.
3. Add the first secret ingredient, her majesty the piggy trotter! They pack a large amount of gelatin that helps thickening the soup. You might be able to use a marrow bone instead, but it would not be so authentic anymore. Elderly Italians swear that this helps relieve arthritis. 🙂
4. Add the diced potatoes and other root vegetables (carrots, turnips, celery, turnips etc…). Also add the cubed pumpkin at this stage. Cooking time is not so vital here since the soup will cook for about 3 hours and every vegetable will fall apart. Cover with water, mineral water is preferable if you have it. Bring to a boil and then decrease the heat to simmer the soup for hours.
5. Now for the secret ingredient #2, a slice of pig skin (recycled from the chopping of the bacon piece). Remember to remove it from the soup at the end), it will add a nice flavor. As for secret ingredient #3, the most important and most Italian ingredient is the Parmesan crust, cut from a piece of Parmesan used later. Kids in Italy will fight over who gets to eat that, and it adds nice flavor to the soup.
6. A twig of rosemary and thyme will cook with the soup. Add the bay leaves (you can sew everything in a leek outer skin for a nice flavor touch – a little French technique learned from a Cordon Bleau Chef).
7. Add the freshly cut green beans and zucchini. Do not worry about overcooking the zucchini, they are meant to be so overcooked they’ll turn into a puree that will help thicken the soup.
8. After 20 minutes spent washing, stemming and cutting spinach leaves, they are finally ready to be added to the soup. The cooked beans are filtered from their black cooking broth and added.
9. Cover and simmer until most vegetables start falling apart without your needing to really crush them – usually about 3 hours.
10. Remove the pig skin, bay leaves and herbs. Add some finely chopped parsley and/or basil. Correct the seasoning with ground rock salt and ground pepper as needed.
11. With a potato crusher crush the vegetables. Serve the soup hot with grilled bread, raw olive oil and a sprinkling of freshly grated mix of Parmesan and Pecorino cheese.
12. A squeeze of lemon juice or vinegar can be added for zest if you like.
You can reheat this soup the next day and the day after and even eat it cold. Since most ingredients are dissolved in the soup, the texture remains fine and palatable. It can be frozen also. People swear it tastes better when it’s a day old. 😉
BTW, Heres the ‘Maltese Kitchen Prayer’ (often found hanging on a kitchen wall in a Maltese home). 😉
Help Yourself to Whatever is Before You
Take Enough For Your Hunger And Thirst
Heap Your Plate and Enjoy to the Fullest
Just Remember to Thank the Lord First.
Goda di (Enjoy!) 😀
Drats! I forgot to close the STRONG tag at the end of ‘Preparation:’
Could you fix that for me Bryan. 😉 Ta! 😀
Fixed here, and recipe posted.
Hipparchia, there are few places in Greece level enough for sheep, but Feta is made with most types of milk, and you like what you like.
ha!
i never met a feta i didn’t like, but someone plese enlighten me: what is parmesan crust?
and i can vouch for that gelatin helping achy joints.
A wheel of Parmesan has an outer crust on the rim. If you buy a wedge, you’ll see it.
I don’t know where they are hiding sheep in Greece, but then I hung around Athens and the hills behind.
Parmesan crust is the outer crust you get when you buy a real wedge of Parmesan cut from the wheel of cheese. 🙂 If it has a wax outer layer, it’s not authentic! (And don’t add the crust if it has wax on it. Duh!) 😉 😀 It’s basically a hard outer crust of Parmesan, like the crust on baked bread.
PS. All the feta I’ve had was goats cheese. But I rarely eat Greek feta. 😉 And anyone in the EU will tell you… Greek’s are weird! AFAIK, in Italy, Cypress, and Malta… feta is goats milk mostly. 🙂