Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Greece!

I'm a little late updating, but we visited Greece for our last cooking club.  On the menu:


Easy Greek Salad
Oven Roasted Greek Potatoes
Spanakopita
Baklava

Everything was very tasty.  We found that phyllo dough is rather tricky to use, but yummy when it bakes and puffs up.

Only a few kids actually tried the Spanakopitas (spinach-feta cheese puffs) - but those who did thought they were pretty yummy (for spinach).

Overall, I'd consider our Greek cooking successful.

Up next is Japan!

On the menu for Japan :

Chicken Teriyaki
Rice
Stir-Fried Veggies
Tea
and Homemade Ice Cream (just for fun -- not really for Japan!)

Oven Roasted Greek Potatoes

I loved the lemony, Mediterranean flavors.  The kids voted that these were very good, they would definitely eat them again. 

Oven Roasted Greek Potatoes

Ingredients:
8 baking potatoes
1/2 c. extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp oregano
2 cloves garlic, minced (we pressed ours - I love my garlic press)
juice of half a lemon (this was fun, because the kids loved the citrus juicer)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.  Scrub and peel potatoes then cut into quarters.  Boil potatoes in water for about 7 minutes, then drain.  Mix together the olive oil, salt, pepper, oregano, and garlic.  Place cooked potatoes in a large baking dish.  Pour oil mixture over the potatoes, tossing to coat. Sprinkle with lemon juice.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Stir potatoes.  Bake for another 15 to 20 minutes until potatoes are soft inside and crispy on the outside.  Enjoy!

Yummy.

Easy Greek Salad

We loved this salad - Easy Greek Salad (and it really is easy!)

Ingredients:
4 Tomatoes (chopped)
3 Cucumbers (unpeeled and sliced in quarters)
Purple Onion (sliced or chopped - you choose)
Greek Kalamata Olives (we used a whole jar, you could use less or none if you don't love olives)
Feta Cheese (about 4 oz - we may have used more, the kids just dumped it in!)

Dressing:
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar (you could substitute white wine or balsamic vinegar)
1 tsp oregano
1 clove garlic, minced

Mix ingredients together in a large salad bowl.  Mix together dressing ingredients in a small bowl or cup.  Shake or stir well, then pour over salad and gently toss.  Enjoy!

This is quickly becoming one of our family favorites!