Black-eyed pea salad (Σαλάτα με μαυρομάτικα φασόλια)

~ miakouppa ~ 9 Comments

Black-eyed pea salad

Black-eyed pea salad

Perhaps you remember reading that black-eyed peas with spinach is one of our absolute favourite meals.  It’s true, and that, of course, meant that our parents would make it often; they still do, and now we do too!  Over the years, being the efficient cooks that they are, they learned that if they soaked and boiled extra black-eyed peas (more beans = same amount of time and effort as fewer beans), they could use them in different recipes.  It was black-eyed pea surplus that led them to whip together this salad.

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Rose flavoured lemonade (Λεμονάδα με τριαντάφυλλα)

~ miakouppa ~ 7 Comments

Rose flavoured lemonade

Rose flavoured lemonade

We just got a little bit smarter.  In preparing this post, which features our parents’ delicious and oh, so refreshing, rose flavoured lemonade, we learned that roses are herbs!  Did you know that roses are herbs?  You did?! Really?!  Then you are were smarter than us!

For those of you who didn’t know…it’s true!  Roses are herbs, just like rosemary, mint and oregano!  This makes sense, when you consider that herbs are simply plants used for food, to enhance the flavour of food, for medicine, and for their aromatic properties. Herbs are either the leafy green or flowering parts of a plant.  Enter the rose.  Who would have thunk it? Although we have known that roses are edible for a long time, we never thought to wonder about their classification, until now.  And so, dear friends, a rose by any other name…is basically, an herb.

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Pork fillet appetizer (Χοιρινό φιλέτο μεζέ)

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Pork tenderloin fillet appetizer

Pork Fillet Appetizer, Greek meze

We try really hard to be good people, and that includes living in a way which helps respect and protect our environment.  We compost, we recycle and re-use, we try and limit our carbon footprint and we re-purpose whenever and whatever we can. Therefore, in the spirit of making something old, new again, we’ve decided to re-share a recent recipe.  By presenting it in a different way,  it serves a new, delicious purpose.

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Frappé coffee (Φραπέ)

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Greek Frappe Coffee

What wonderful memories we have of summer trips to Greece, and what additional, vivid memories we have about the preparation to travel.  In particular, we remember the care that our parents put into the gifts they would bring over for family.  Suitcases were packed full of items which they felt would be appreciated, either because they were costly in Greece,  or difficult to find.  Often in the gift rotation were bedsheets,  fabric for our uncle, a priest, to be used to make his everyday robes (ράσα), and thick, plush, bath towels.  Yes, those towels in particular took up a lot of space, but they served an additional purpose; they were used to wrap and protect the many, many, jars of Nescafe instant coffee that we were lugging overseas.  As we sat on the suitcases, trying our best to squish things down enough so that our folks could close them, we remember asking, “Why in the world are we bringing our family instant coffee?”, and the answer was always, simply, “For frappé!”.

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Roasted chicken thighs

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Roasted chicken thighs

Are you looking for something easy, inexpensive and delicious? We always are!  Good thing that our parents have shown us how to make their delicious chicken thighs.  If you have a nicely organized spice drawer, you can probably get this meal in the oven in less than 5 minutes.  If, however, your ratio of spice jars to available spice storage space is a problem, causing your spice jars to be piled up, one top of one another, which makes opening the door to retrieve the oregano a cause for alarm…it might take you 10 minutes. For the record, we have NO idea how you could live like that.

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Omelette with feta and sun-dried tomatoes

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Omelet with feta and sun-dried tomatoes

Greek Omelette with feta and sun-dried tomatoes

Our parents often say that if you have eggs in the fridge, you always have something to eat.   That is so true!  Whether you choose to fry up an egg in olive oil, so that you can enjoy it’s crispy edges, or opt to make an omelette, a delicious, nutritious and simple meal can be assembled in just a few minutes.

Omelettes are like the little black dress of food; you can accessorize them in so many different ways. Theoretically, you can have an omelette every day of the week and not feel as though you are re-living the same meal over and over.  Feeling casual? Make your omelette with some grated cheddar.  Feeling adventurous?  Use quail eggs and add wild game meat.  Feeling extravagant? How about some shaved truffles and caviar (which, by the way, we have never, ever, actually done…but doesn’t it sound fancy!?).  Finally, if you are feeling Greek, try this recipe.  Loaded with Mediterranean flavours, we are pretty sure you are going to flip over it.

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Pork tenderloin and rice (Χοιρινό φιλέτο με ρύζι)

~ miakouppa ~ 7 Comments

Pork tenderloin with rice

Pork Tenderloin with rice

Marinades are marvelous.  They are usually quite easy to mix together and once you do, the only thing left, is to wait.  Typically, the longer something marinates, the tastier, juicier and more delicious it is.  Our parents have a delicious, simple,  marinade that they use for pork fillet. Instead of keeping a piece of pork tenderloin whole, they slice it into thick-ish pieces, which means that there is more surface area for the marinade to cover.  This is a good thing.

Helpful hints

Our parents usually choose to fry their marinated pork fillets, probably because of how delicious they are this way.  If you would prefer not to fry them, you can always grill them on the bbq or even bake them in the oven.  You’ll save a few calories and grams of fat to be sure, but maybe instead you can simply avoid dessert (at least for today).

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