Category: Main dishes

Green beans baked with chicken and potatoes (Φασολάκια στο φούρνο με κοτόπουλο και πατάτες)

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Green beans baked with chicken and potatoes

A classic Greek one pan meal of fresh green beans baked alongside chicken and potatoes in a rich tomato sauce

Our parents’ garden is full of delicious things to eat, including a large section devoted to a few varieties of green beans. Growing tall, these plants are secured by using things like long bamboo shoots, old broken hockey sticks (because, Canada) and thin planks of wood that our dad has found, somewhere. Perhaps not the most elegant set up, but certainly functional. Like many things in their garden (old feta buckets as planters) practicality and availability supersede beauty, always.

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Gluten-free pasta with vegetables

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Gluten-free pasta with vegetables

Vegan meal of quinoa and rice pasta tossed with vegetables and a bit of chili heat.

There are so many special diets out there these days. Aside from all the ways that people are trying to either lose weight, or get fit, there are also medical reasons and lifestyle choices that can sometimes make cooking for guests a little challenging. But we love a challenge, and we love coming up with recipes that will probably satisfy every food restriction you may host.

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Spanakoquinoa (Σπανάκοκινόα)

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Spanakoquinoa

A new take on a classic Greek recipe: spinach and quinoa cooked in a rich tomato based sauce.

Quinoa is not a grain we grew up with, and it is not traditionally used in Greek cooking. The grains you will more commonly find in Greek recipes include semolina, corn, barley, bulgur and whole wheat berries. All delicious and all used to make incredible foods and desserts.

But we do love quinoa. Our first introduction to this super grain was while one of us was an undergraduate in university. Walking through the neighbourhood around campus, trying to find dinner to carry us through an evening spent in the library, we came across a health food store. Although quite commonplace now, at the time natural food stores which sold things like vegan mayonnaise, tofu, nori, and quinoa were rare. Optimum was a two floor shop; the first floor on street level sold aromatherapy oils, incense, books and herbal medicines. The basement level was the grocery store and it was here that one could wander the aisles and see things that were foreign and fascinating.

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Greek chicken and quinoa salad

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Greek chicken and quinoa salad

A healthy and delicious combination of chicken, quinoa and Greek flavours.

Sometimes a salad is a wonderful side to a meal, like our fresh and simple maroulosalata and our fennel salad. Sometimes a light salad can be a meal, as is often the case during the summer months when our garden tomatoes are ripe and our Greek horiatiki or village salad is on repeat 7 days a week. And sometimes, like with this recipe, a salad can be a hearty meal, one that you can happily serve to a hungry family, and one which is substantial enough to serve guests invited to dine with you under the summer stars.

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Pan-fried pork chops (Χοιρινές μπριζόλες στο τηγάνι)

~ miakouppa ~ 2 Comments
Pan-fried pork chops

Simple yet delicious way to prepare tender and flavourful pork chops

We feel that we need to apologize. Close to 300 recipes later, we still haven’t shared what is probably one of the most popular family meals in many Greek homes. Yikes!  What were we thinking? (Well, we guess we were thinking about moussaka, youvetsi and baklava…but still!)

Growing up we ate a lot of pork chops, called hoirino bridjoles, (or brizoles) in Greek.  The word bridjola actually means steak, and can be either pork or beef. However, in our home, if our mom said we were having bridjoles, we automatically knew she was referring to pork chops.  Steak from beef was simply called steik!  

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Focaccia with tomatoes, olives and feta

~ miakouppa ~ 2 Comments
Focaccia with tomatoes, olives and feta

A focaccia full of Greek flavours

Want to taste a slice of Greece? This focaccia, topped with tomatoes, herb-infused olive oil, Kalamata olives and feta will help you get there! Not bad for an Italian flatbread!!

Focaccia is quickly becoming one of our favourite things to prepare and eat. Once you find the perfect dough recipe (and this one might be it), you have a blank canvas to work with! Top the focaccia dough with anything your heart and palate desires, and you can create a personalized focaccia to suit any taste.

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Cedar planked salmon

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Cedar planked salmon

An elegant and delicious way to serve grilled salmon

Isn’t it lovely when you can present a meal to family and friends that makes it look like you either spent hours in the kitchen, or possess master culinary skills? We love that! And we also love to explain to impressed eaters that sometimes looks can be deceiving. Like this cedar planked salmon. The beautiful presentation of this salmon is so simple and so elegant that it can be served on a busy weeknight as easily as it can be served at a fancy weekend dinner party.

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Pasta with Nea Fytini (Mακαρονάδα με Νέα Φυτίνη)

~ miakouppa ~ 6 Comments
Pasta with Nea Fytini

Pasta tossed with the classic Greek vegetable shortening and kefalotyri cheese

Mediterranean cooking prides itself on wholesome, nutritious food. Fresh ingredients, balanced diets heavy on fresh vegetables and just the right amount of animal protein. We love that we have been able to offer you so many of these healthy meal options, foods like Greek lentil soup, green beans and potatoes and spanakopita. Vitamins, minerals, and goodness, oh my!

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Roasted bone marrow

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Roasted bone marrow

A luxurious spread for crackers and crostini

If you consider the current bone broth craze you might conclude that deriving food from animal bones was a new phenomenon. It’s not. Bones, and more specifically bone marrow, have been consumed in Europe and Asia long before their present popularity in mainstream North America. Even within our continent however, Native Americans and the Indigenous people of Canada have included bone marrow in their diets for ages. And long before this there is evidence that our paleolithic predecessors chomped on animal bones; it’s no surprise that proponents of the bone broth movement are following the Paleo diet.

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Spinach and potato stew (Σπανάκι με πατάτες)

~ miakouppa ~ 10 Comments
Spinach and potato stew

A hearty vegan stew made with potatoes and greens in a tomato based sauce

This spinach and potato stew, also called Bonamatsi (Μποναμάτσι), is a dish common in the northern part of Greece, and not necessarily where our parents our from. Still, this was a meal that we would occasionally have growing up, particularly on fasting days. In fact, it was most often served in the days before Christmas, probably because a bowl of bonamatsi was filling and warming, perfect for the December in Canada. Holiday fasting periods aside, this was also a dish often made on Fridays, competing with the other simple vegan meal, fakes. By Friday, we now understand that our parents were relying on simple and straightforward meals to end the work week with.

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