(Real) GREEK VILLAGE SALAD

I've been posting recipes on this blog for a few years now, and I just realized I've never shared a recipe for a traditional Greek Village Salad with you yet. Hard to believe since it's a salad I grew up eating and which I enjoy so very often every summer. Please note I said summer. That's because this is a summertime salad, the time when tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers are in season and when they taste good. Nothing kills me more than eating in a Greek restaurant in January and being served this salad made with bland tasting imported  un-ripe tomatoes and flavourless cucumbers. As with all good food from around the world, the key is to eat seasonally and locally for optimum nutrition and flavour. Period.

I just realized I forgot to add some olives to this salad. No worries, it's still a great salad without them!

GREEK VILLAGE SALAD

ripe organic tomatoes, cut into wedges

fresh local organic cucumbers, cut into pieces

fresh local organic green peppers, cut into pieces

fresh organic red onion, cut into thin pieces (optional)

fresh or dried organic Greek oregano

organic feta cheese

Greek black olives

Greek extra virgin olive oil

sea salt and pepper

Method: Place all the cut vegetables in a large plate. Crumble the feta cheese on top. Sprinkle with cut fresh oregano, or sprinkle with dried Greek oregano. Season to taste with sea salt and pepper. Add a few olive. Then drizzle liberally with olive oil. Stir gently and allow to marinate for at least 30 minutes before eating a with a nice hunk of sourdough bread. Don't forget to mop up all the olive oil with bread too.

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TODAY'S TWEETABLE: As with all good food from around the world, the key is to eat seasonally and locally for optimum nutrition and flavour. Period.

LAZY PERSON'S GUIDE TO TOMATO PRESERVATION

After two people suggested I just freeze my tomatoes instead of canning them, I decided to give it at try.  I have no idea if I did it right because I did absolutely no research, but common sense tells me it will probably work out just fine.  Some of the tomatoes were pureed and then frozen in mason jars, while the rest were quartered and frozen.  I don't have enough tomatoes to last me the whole winter or anything, but it will be very nice to reach into the freezer in the dead of winter and pull out a nice sampling of the summer's harvest, frozen in time.

A TIME FOR TOMATOES

So I'm just warning you now, there might be a lot of talk on here about tomatoes for a little while.  My source at the Farmer's Market (don't ask who, I won't be revealing, in fear the mass hordes of Halifax will descend and rob me of my precious produce) came through with a basket of organic tomatoes for preserving.  I had hoped for 3 bushels, and came away with one, but there is talk of more being available next week perhaps. In any case, there is going to be some major tomato action going on in the kitchen.  So much so that I've enlisted the assistance of my mother in law to come by on Monday to help by watching the wee ones while I mess up the kitchen.  But until then, my little red lovelies are laid out on the spare bed upstairs ripening as we speak.  

If anyone has a kick ass salsa recipe, please share.....thanks!

BASIL BONANZA: Fresh Tomato Basil Sauce and Basil Vinaigrette

I wait all year for the fresh local tomatoes and basil.  We all know how bland and tasteless out of season imported tomatoes are, so why bother eating them?  

This week at the market I bought a huge, HUGE bouquet of fresh basil.  It has been sitting on my counter in a cup of water until I felt inspired to make something beautiful with it.  Normally I just make my favorite Hempseed Miso Pesto and freeze it in glass jars in the fridge so we can enjoy it all winter.  Seeing as I've already made about four jars of that, I decided to try something different - Fresh Basil Vinaigrette.  I found this recipe in my favorite cookbook "REbar" so decided to try it out.  Why did I wait so long?  It's amazing!  So good in fact, I made a double batch and intend to enjoy it all week long.  For tonight though, it is going to be featured on a fresh salad next to a huge plate of pasta with my Fresh Tomato Basil Sauce.  Norbert Kungl was selling organic paste tomatoes (those are the little tomatoes that are just a wee bit bigger than grape tomatoes) and I've been wanting to make some sauce from fresh tomatoes for a while.  What a difference fresh tomatoes make!  So sweet and delicious, it makes you so glad you waited all year.

FRESH BASIL VINAIGRETTE

adapted from "Rebar Modern Food Cookbook" by Audrey Alsterberg and Wanda Urbanowicz

Yields 1 1/4 cups (300 ml)

2 cloves organic garlic

1 1/2 Tbsp grainy organic mustard

2 Tbsp local honey

1/4 cup local apple cider vinegar

1 Tbsp organic balsamic vinaigrette

45 g fresh organic basil leaves

1/2 tsp sea salt

2 tsp cracked organic pepper

1 cup e.v olive oil

Method:  Combine all ingredients except oil in the blender.  Slowly add olive oil in a slow, thin stream until thick and creamy.  Season to taste and refrigerate up to 3 days.

FRESH TOMATO SAUCE with Basil

Yields 6 cups

2 Tbsp e.v olive oil

5-6 clove organic garlic, minced

12-15 fresh organic tomatoes or 30-40 small paste tomatoes, diced

sea salt and pepper

20 g fresh organic basil

Method:  Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Add the garlic, stir and then add the tomatoes and basil.  Season with a few pinches of sea salt and pepper.  Cook covered for 5 minutes, then remove lid, reduce heat to medium low, stir and let liquid reduce until sauce reaches desired consistency. Adjust seasoning as required.  Serve over pasta or on pizza.

This can also be made with 2 cans of organic tomatoes.

CORN BREAD SLOPPY JOE

     Every now and then I feel like I am stuck in a rut when it comes to the ingredients I buy to cook with.  Our freezer is chock full of frozen organic meats which is very nice and very handy, but when it comes to chicken all we have are whole chickens which can be limiting when you're in the mood for something different.  So this weekend I decided to pick up some Holdanca Farms Pastured Perfection Ground Chicken.  I have to say I think this is the first time I've ever bought ground chicken if you can believe it. 

    Flipping through my cookbooks I came across this recipe and man was it ever good.  After making it though there are a few things I'd change in addition to my interpretation of the original.  I didn't have any tomato sauce so I used half tomato salsa and pureed canned tomatoes for the other half.  I also added the spinach and carrot and omitted the green pepper because they're not in season and I didn't have any.  Since I love my own cornbread recipe so much I substituted making it from scratch rather than using a boxed corn muffin mix, while at the same time omitting the fresh corn kernels because I didn't have any of those either.  The original recipe also calls for way more cornbread, as you can see in the photo.  Scott and I both ended up cutting the bottom crust off so we could have thinner pieces and it was way better that way so the recipe I've included uses a smaller batch.  Enjoy!

 BBQ SLOPPY CHICKEN PAN PIZZA

(adapted from Rachel Ray 365: No Repeats)

1 cup organic finely ground cornmeal

1/2 cup organic unbleached flour

1/2 cup organic whole wheat flour

2 Tbsp coconut sugar or maple syrup

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 cup organic milk

2 organic eggs, lightly beaten

3 Tbsp melted organic butter

2 Tbsp e.v olive oil

1 pound ground pasture raised and/or organic chicken

3 cloves organic garlic, smashed and chopped

1 organic onion, chopped

4-5 cups organic frozen or cooked and chopped fresh spinach

1 organic carrot, shredded

sea salt and pepper to taste

1 Tbsp organic chili powder

1 1/2 tsp ground organic cumin powder

2 tsp hot sauce

1 Tbsp worcestershire sauce

1 cup tomato sauce or salsa

3 Tbsp local honey

10 oz shredded organic cheddar

3 Tbsp chopped organic cilantro

Method:  Preheat oven to 400*.  In a large bowl, combine the cornmeal, flours, baking powders, sea salt and sugar.  Mix in the eggs, milk and butter.  Rub some olive oil into a large cast iron skillet, pour in batter and bake until the cornbread becomes light golden in colour 12-15 mins.

     Place a second skillet over medium high heat and the 2 Tbsp of olive oil.  Add the chicken and break it up with a wooden spoon.  Once the chicken begins to brown, add the garlic, onion, spinach, carrot and season with salt and pepper, chili powder, cumin and hot sauce.  Cook for 5 minutes then add the worcestershire, tomato sauce, and honey.  Stir to combine and reduce the heat to low.  Simmer until the cornbread is ready.  Adjust the seasonings to taste.

     Remove the cornbread from the oven and cover it with the chicken, then sprinkle with the cheese.  Put the pan back into the hot oven and cook for 5-10 minutes longer to melt the cheese. Remove from oven and top with cilantro and serve.

Our Own Chicken

Our brood of chickens needed to be thinned out.  When we picked up our chicks in the summer, we weren't sure how many hens there were, as they were unsexed.  And so we waited patiently as they grew until the day came that we realized we pretty much had a 50/50 split of roosters and hens.  It was also at this point that the hens were due to start laying.  I figured there was no way they were going to start laying eggs unless we got rid of some of those aggressive males that were crowding the hen house.  So Scott spent one Saturday afternoon learning how to butcher chickens.  We said a little prayer to remind ourselves of the sacredness of all life, and by the end of the day we found ourselves with a whole lot of chicken meat, and very little freezer space!

     Since then, we've made three attempts at eating the meat.  The first I used for stock and soup, the second Scott roasted which only resulted in a very tough bird, and tonight I tried out an Italian inspired Chicken Stew which was the best one yet.  We give thanks.

ITALIAN CHICKEN STEW with Black Olives, Capers and Rosemary

1 organic chicken, cut into 8 pieces

1 bottle of organic red wine

8 organic bay leaves

2 sprigs of fresh organic rosemary

4 cloves organic garlic, smashed

1/4 cup e.v olive oil

1 cup organic all purpose flour

7 anchovies

2 Tbsp capers

1/2 cup black olives, pitted

1 can diced organic tomatoes

sea salt and pepper

Method:  Place the chicken in a bowl, sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Cover with the wine, bay leaves, rosemary and 1 clove of the garlic.  Let sit for one hour.

    Preheat the oven to 350*.   Heat a dutch oven over medium high heat.  Reserving the marinade, pat dry the chicken and dredge in the flour.  Add the olive oil to the pot and brown both sides of each piece of chicken (about 5 minutes). Remove each piece of chicken and set aside until they are all done.

     Add the garlic and anchovies to the hot pan.  Stir quickly and then add the olives, tomatoes, chicken and the reserved marinade.  Bring to a boil , cover and bake in the oven for about 2 hours.  Serve over polenta with some grated romano cheese.

CREAMY POLENTA

2 cups organic chicken stock or broth

1 cup organic whole milk

sea salt and black pepper

1 cup organic cornmeal

2 Tbsp organic butter

1/4 cup grated romano cheese

Method:  Combine the stock and milk in a saucepan, stirring in some sea salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil and reduce to low.  Whisk in the cornmeal and cook, stirring for about 15 minutes. When it almost reaches desired consistency, stir in butter and cheese.

Tonight we ate this with the curly endive/escarole salad from an earlier post......with added orange segments!

Winter Salad

Lately our salads have been coleslaw type salads made with cabbage because that's what is available this time of year in Nova Scotia!  To switch things up a bit I decided to use up an avocado that was perfectly ripe on our counter to make a salad using frozen green peas.  Last year I actually froze some local green peas, but I have to admit these ones are regular supermarket peas, prepared in an unusual manner.  Can you believe I was able to buy tomatoes this time of year at the Farmer's Market?  Norbert is amazing.  He had yellow, green and red peppers too!

PEA SALAD with Grated Carrot, Avocado and Tomato

2 organic carrots, grated

1/2 organic avocado, cubed

1/2 organic tomato, cubed

1 cup frozen peas, cooked

1/2 Tbsp umeboshi vinegar

1/2 organic lemon, squeezed

drizzle of organic sesame oil

black pepper

Method:  Combine all ingredients and toss.

I've started a new business called Earth's Oven Organic Bakery (www.earthsoven.etsy.com).  I sell at the Halifax Farmer's Market on Saturday mornings.  We offer lovely baked goods, and as a special item, Organic Whole Wheat Pizza dough.  I had one left over at the end of market day so we are having it for supper......this is just a picture of the basics.

Pea Soup and Real Deal Greek Salad

Counting down the days when fresh ripe tomatoes and cucumbers will still be available from our lovely garden. Tonight we savoured a village style Greek salad, knowing that we probably won't eat another one for a whole year.  That is the bittersweet reality of eating seasonally and locally; enjoy it while it lasts.  I cringe when I go to a Greek restaurant and see items on the menu that were only meant to be eaten when things are fresh and right from the garden.  A real Greek salad (the way I like it) is made using only a few simple ingredients: ripe tomatoes, thinly sliced onion, crisp cucumber, peppers, black olives, feta, oregano, the best olive oil, sea salt and pepper.  That's it.  And you can only pull this off with the freshest ingredients because that is where the flavour comes from.  So that is the recipe.  Place all ingredients in a shallow bowl, drizzle with LOTS of olive oil because that is what you will be dipping lots of crusty bread in!

PEA SOUP with Roasted Garlic

2 cups organic dried split peas

8 cups broth or water

1 organic onion, diced

1 Tbsp olive oil

2 organic bay leaves

2 tsp sea salt

1 large organic carrot, diced

3 organic celery stalks, diced

2 cloves organic garlic, minced

1 head of organic garlic, roasted

black pepper

Method:  Saute onion, carrot, celery in the olive oil over medium heat until soft.  Add bay leaf, salt, garlic, split peas and water, bring to a boil then reduce heat and cook until peas are soft, about 1 -1 1/2 hours.

     Squeeze the roasted garlic into the soup, remove the bay leaves, cook until soup is the consistency you like.  Serve with crusty bread.

Pumpkins and Tomatoes

My grape tomatoes have been super producing lately and we've had bowls of them ripening on the counter for days.  Faegan has been enjoying watching his Mommy cook.  He pulls up a chair right up to the counter and gets up to watch me as I work.  He has been fascinated with these bowls of tomatoes.  Occasionally popping one in his mouth, but mostly he likes to play with them. Before they start to rot I thought I'd make some tomato sauce with them. 

     While I was in the kitchen I also decided to start getting ready for the Thanksgiving Feast I am preparing on Monday.  I am thinking about making a pumpkin pie so I decided to bake 2 pumpkins in the oven so I don't have to worry about it this weekend.  I froze the extra puree to have on hand for the winter.  I am drying the pumpkin seeds to plant in the spring.

FRESH TOMATO SAUCE

3 cups organic tomatoes, chopped if they are large, otherwise the mini ones can go in whole

2 cloves organic garlic, chopped

handful of fresh organic basil, shredded

sea salt and pepper

1 Tbsp olive oil

Method:  Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat.  Add the garlic and heat for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes and basil, sea salt and pepper.  Simmer until sauce is thickened, about 30 mins.

PUMPKIN PUREE 

                        

2 small organic pumpkins

Method:  Preheat oven to 350*.  Cut the pumpkins in half, scoop out the seeds and place face down in a roasting pan or cast iron skillets.  Bake for about 45-60 mins until the pumpkins are nice and soft.  Let cool slightly and then scoop out the flesh.  Puree in a food processor.  Use in baking or freeze.

Soup Season has Begun

When I was speaking to my mother this morning she was in the process of making this soup which inspired me to copy her.  A hearty Greek dish that reminds me of my childhood meals that mom always lovingly prepared for us.

FASOLADA (fasolatha)

2 cups  dried organic navy beans 

water

2 tbsp olive oli

1 onion, chopped

3 large tomatoes diced or 1 1/2 Tbsp organic tomato paste

2 stalk celery, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

2 cloves garlic, smashed and finely chopped

6 cups stock or water

1/4 cup parsley

about 1 tsp salt and black pepper

Method: Soak beans in water overnight or for at least 6 hours.  Drain the water and either precook in a pressure cooker until soft or boil in a pot for a couple of hours until soft.  Drain the beans and reserve.  

In a large soup pot saute the onions, carrots, and celery in the olive oil.  Add the garlic, beans, stock or water, tomatoes, salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil and then lower to a light simmer and cook for about 30 minutes or until the soup thickens and the beans are nice and soft.  Add parsley in the last 5 minutes, reserving some for garnish.  Serve with feta cheese and a hunk of really good bread.

Prep Time: once the beans are soaked it takes 10 mins to pressure cook the beans.  Otherwise the actual soup takes about 10 minutes prep time.

The same question every night..."What shall I make for dinner?"

Last night I roasted an organic chicken.  We like to do a whole chicken every now and then so we have left overs for sandwiches or soup.  There is this neat trick when roasting a chicken where you lift up the skin on the breast and even the the legs if you want and stuff it ... in our case I just gathered some fresh herbs from the garden (parsley, marjoram, thyme and basil), chopped them up and stuffed it under the skin.  It is also a good idea to sprinkle the cavity with salt and pepper and rub some on the skin with olive oil.  Around here we use my grandfather's spice blend (I will post the recipe tomorrow) which is white pepper, granulated garlic, sea salt, onion powder and mustard powder.  We use it on everything.

     Anyway so we needed to eat tonight and I knew I wanted to cook a spaghetti squash from the garden.  I needed something that would go with that......this is what I came up with.

SPAGHETTI SQUASH SORT OF SALAD

1 medium organic spaghetti squash

1 organic green onion, sliced

1 organic red pepper diced

1/2 organic jalapeno pepper, chopped fine

1 cob of organic corn, decobbed

1/4 cup chopped parsley

2 Tbsp organic sesame oil (not toasted sesame oil, the raw stuff)

1.5 Tbsp brown rice vinegar

1/2 Tbsp honey

salt and pepper

Method: Preheat oven to 350*.  Split the squash in half, seed it and place in face down in a large cast iron skillet or other pan.  Roast for about 45 mins or until you can easily prick the skin with a fork.  Let cool slightly and then scoop out the filling and let it drain in a colander.  Place in a bowl with all the other ingredients.  Toss and serve.

CHICKEN MELTS

1 cup leftover chicken, in small pieces

5 slices homemade whole wheat bread (or if you must, store bought :S)

3 Tbsp basil pesto

3/4 cup grated organic cheese

10 slices organic tomato (we used a lovely yellow one)

1/2 sliced onion

grandpa's spice blend

Method: Slather the bread with pesto.  Layer with onion first, then chicken, tomato, spices, and finally with cheese.  Melt in 350* oven for 15 mins.