Greek Cucumber and Chickpea Salad

Blogging Marathon# 62: Week 2/ Day 2

Theme: Salads

Dish: Greek Cucumber Salad

Today's salad is extremely easy to put together, very filling and absolutely refreshing. I made this salad along with Greek Lemony Dill rice that I posted last month. It is a great to serve as a side dish or on its own for a light meal.

Recipe is from Cooking Light magazine. I wasn't a big fan of dill for a long time. I thought it had a very strong flavor that was overpowering. But recently I started liking it quite a bit, especially when used in Greek style dishes like tzatziki sauce or Spanakopitas.

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Greek Style Lemon Rice with Dill

Blogging Marathon# 61: Week 2/ Day 3

Theme: Meal Ideas

Dish: Greek style Rice with Dill

For the last day of this week's marathon, I have a simple meal with Greek style Lemon rice with dill. This is a popular side dish served in many Mediterranean restaurants and is very similar to our very own Indian Lemon rice except for the addition of dill. This recipe is from Vegan Eats World cookbook by Terry Hope Romero. 

Lemon rice is the first thing that comes to my mind when I have leftover rice. In fact I even make lemon flavored oats, barley and quinoa. So today's recipe is on the same lines but with dried oregano and fresh dill that add delicious Greek flavor to the dish.

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Spanakopita Triangles (using Frozen spinach)

Blogging Marathon# 60: Week 2/ Day 3

Theme: Take-Away dishes from Metropulos, Santa Barbara

Dish: Spanakopita Triangles (with frozen spinach and no egg)

For the final day of this week's BM, I made these addictive Spanakopita. It is a very popular savory baked Greek pastry. Filling made with spinach, onion & feta is enclosed in a flaky filo/ phyllo pastry and then baked till golden. This has been on my to-try list for a very long time and I'm glad I can now strike it off of my list :-)

Filo sheets are a little difficult to work with. They are temperamental and if not treated properly they tend to tear apart. So make sure to keep them covered with a damp kitchen towel or paper towels to avoid that. My filo sheets came out of the box with rips, but once I buttered, layered and folded them, they looked just fine. So don't worry if your sheets start ripping, just keep going and all will be well in the end, you just have to trust me on this :-)

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Vegetarian Gyros with Jackfruit

Blogging Marathon# 60: Week 2/ Day 2

Theme: Take-Away dishes from Metropulos, Santa Barbara

Dish: Vegetarian Gyros with Jackfruit
Gyro (pronounced as jiro) literally means 'turn' in Greek. But basically it is a dish made of meat cooked in a vertical rotisserie and then served wrapped in a pita with toppings. Gyro is out and out meat centered dish and this vegetarian version is far far away from it's origins.

All this talk about Gyro is because I'm cooking from a Greek take-out restaurant, Metropulos, in Santa Barbara for this week's BM and Gyro happens to be one of their specialties. But they make it meat and I made mine with jackfruit.

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Greek Orzo Salad

Blogging Marathon# 60: Week 2/ Day 1

Theme: Take-Away dishes from Metropulos, Santa Barbara

Dish: Greek Orzo Salad
My theme for this week's blogging marathon is very interesting. Valli gave us a list of 10 best take-out restaurants in 3 travel destinations. We had to pick a destination and a restaurant from that list and cook 3 dishes for the week.

After a lot of browsing, I chose Metropulos restaurant from Santa Barbara. It is a fine foods market that sells amazing sandwiches, paninis and a ton of gourmet specialty food items. After reading about the place I have added it to my bucket list of places to visit :-)

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Skordalia (Greek Potato-Garlic Dip)

Skordalia is a traditional Greek appetizer dip made with whipped potatoes flavored with fresh garlic, almonds and olive oil. Serve at room temperature or slightly warm with warmed pockletless pita triangles or with crispy oven-roasted eggplant and zucchini.

This recipe is from 'Vegan Eats World' cookbook. I was so excited to see this creamy potato dip recipe that I made it right away for the Buffet on Table -- Condiments week, only to realize that I already had a dish from Greece, so moved this over to this week's Cooking from Cookbook Challenge.

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Greece -- Loukoumades (Greek Donuts with Honey syrup)

BM# 44: A-Z Cooking Series -- Around the World in 30 days

Country: G for Greece

Dish: Loukoumades (Greek Donuts with Honey syrup)
We are going to Greece today and I just found out that it is officially know as the 'Hellenic Republic'. That is my geographic tidbit for the day :-) Greece is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia & Africa.
Greece is the home to the first advanced civilizations in Europe and is considered the birthplace of Western civilization. Greece has a rich culture that has evolved over thousands of years. Modern democracies owe a debt to Greek beliefs in government by the people, by the jury and equality under the law.
Greek cuisine is characteristic of the healthy Mediterranean diet. Greek cuisine incorporates fresh ingredients into most of its dishes. With the rich culture it has, some of the dishes can be traced back to ancient Greece.

The most characteristic and ancient element of Greek cuisine is Olive Oil, which is used in most dishes. Wheat is the basic grain, though barley is also grown. Greek cuisine uses flavorings like oregano, mint, onion, garlic, dill more than other Mediterranean cuisines. They also, especially in the northern parts of Greece, use sweet spices like cinnamon and cloves with meat dishes.

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