Let's Go Greek!

[frigilux]

I have friends who have never had Greek food, so tonight we're having pastitsio and spanakopita. I haven't cooked in the week since my unfortunate ENCOUNTER WITH THE COMMERCIAL SLICER, so I'm taking things very, very slowly and being meticulously careful.

So let's go Greek, beginning with the pastitsio.

 

[frigilux]

I've double-bagged the hand (one latex glove, one deli glove) for everyone's protection---especially mine! I was careful, but still managed to tap the side of my thumb on pans/bowls a couple of times, which almost sent me through the roof. Overall, it wasn't too bad. Just very, very slow and tedious.

 

[frigilux]

I bought Kefolatiri cheese (similar to parmesan, but made with, in this case, sheep's milk) and special, hollow, pastitsio noodles at my favorite little Greek grocery in Minneapolis. Laying the noodles out is time-consuming, but it looks great on the plate, so it's worth the effort.

 

[frigilux]

A layer of rich cream sauce is followed by a layer of meat/tomatoes.

 

[frigilux]

After another layer of carefully placed noodles, it's more cream sauce. To top it off, there's a layer of very thick cream sauce with grated Kefolatiri. It will provide a souffle-like top layer when it's baked.

 

[frigilux]

With two cream sauces, sauteed meat and pasta, there are a lot of pans to wash! The LG's SOAK cycle with STEAM option will fill the bill. The big question is this: Will everything fit in one load?

 

[frigilux]

The utensil rack has it easy with this load; not much up there.

 

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Upper rack.

 

[frigilux]

And finally, the lower rack. The pots/pans are heavily crusted and I didn't even scrape out the excess food before loading. The LG's filter is going to be put through a tough test. And I'm not going to choose the EXTRA RINSE option, either! We'll see how things turn out...

 

[frigilux]

SOAK cycle with STEAM option. (It automatically chooses a 160-degree final rinse and maximum spray force with that cycle.) The water is going to be extremely turbid, so it may just take the full 3+ hours, today. I'll find out.

 

[mattl]

I love Greek food too! Not any good Greek restaurants around here, but we did make our annual (35th and counting...) trek to the Detroit Auto Show and always stop in Greektown for our favorite meal. Please pardon the spelling, but we always have the combination Greek Salad, Avgolemono soup, skordalia, and one of the many main courses, usually stuffed grape leaves with lemon sauce.

I can make a good Avagolemono soup, but have yet to find a good recipe for skordalia. I only have gotten it without beets but the waiter always asks if I want it with beets.

Just had it last Sunday but now I'm ready for more!

 

[frigilux]

It's a couple of hours later and time to make the spanokopita. It makes use of phyllo dough, the paper-thin sheets of dough which make for a crackly, buttery casing for the dish. Here's the recipe:

 

[frigilux]

Here is a package of phyllo unrolled, ready to lay into the baking dish. One generally brushes each leaf with melted butter to make the 'crust' flaky and, of course, tasty!

 

[frigilux]

I've put about six sheets of the dough into my baking pan. They are overlapped, and the edges are allowed to hang over the sides of the pan, to be folded in at the end of the process.

 

[frigilux]

The bowl on the left contains the feta/Parmesan/egg mixture; the one on the right holds spinach, mushrooms, onions and garlic. They will be combined and poured into the dish.

 

[frigilux]

Here's what it looks like before the final 10 (or so) sheets of phyllo are stacked on top.

 

[frigilux]

It's ready for the oven. I usually reserve one phyllo sheet to lay over the top to make the presentation a little neater; I forgot!

The overhanging edges of the phyllo sheets have been folded over onto the top and brushed with butter.

And there's our Greek food for the dinner. What Greek delicacy did I make for dessert, you may wonder? I'll tell you: Southern-style Banana Pudding, with vanilla wafers, of course!

I know, I know...but after asking my guests to try two new, unfamiliar foods---one with spinach, no less---I decided to make something comforting and familiar for dessert.

My last tasks are to make a French-style loaf of kalamata olive bread and some homemade croutons for the green salad. Dinner at 6:00, everyone!

 

[frigilux]

Matt-- I've never had skordalia. In fact, I had to Google it to find out what it was. I haven't been to a Greek restaurant in years, and when I did go, I generally stuck to the 'staples'---Moussaka, Spanokopita, Pastitsio, various salads. I'll look in my Greek cookbook to see if there's a recipe for skordalia in it.

 

[autowasherfreak]

Looks Delicious!

I've never had Greek food before but those two dishes you made look absolutely delicious!

I have an idea, why not make a AW.org cook book?