Asparagus Salad With Mushrooms

Ingredients:

1 bunch asparagus, cut off and discard the thick end about 2 cm, peel, cut in 2 cm long chunks
1 cup mushrooms, brushed, cut
50 ml extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, chopped
3 tablespoon water
1/2 lemon zest
Salt
Pepper

How to cook:

Saute the mushroom with salt and olive oil for 3 minutes in a skalet. Add in the garlic and saute until the smell of garlic comes out. Then add the asparagus and water. Cook for 15 minutes. Turn the heat off. Sprinkle salt, pepper and lemon zest on top and pour the remaining olive oil, then toss. Let it cool down and place on a service plate. Kali oreksi!

Aubergine Salad

Ingredients:

1 eggplant
2 garlic cloves, smashed
1 tomato, diced
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoon yogurt
2 tablespoon lemon juice
Salt
Pepper
Parsley

How to cook:

Place the aubergines on an oven tray and roast for about 35 minutes on broil. Alternatively, you can barbecue it until softened. Then peel it, remove any seeds and place in 2 cups of water with 1/2 lemon juice. Leave in for about 10-15 minutes. After draining, cut into small pieces with a knife. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix with a spoon. You can also add parsley to season. 

Fried Calamary

Ingredients:

350 grams calamari rings

Salt

Pepper
5 tablespoons all purpose flour1 cup sunflower oil
1/2 cup beer
5 tbsp all purpose flour




How to cook:

Put the thawed calamari rings on a paper towel to soak up extra water, dry them well. Season with salt and pepper. 

In a bowl, mix beer, flour, sunflower oil and add the calamary rings inside. 

Heat up the oil. Place the rings into the oil one by one. Fry them only for 1-1.5 minutes. Put the rings on a plate with a paper towel to soak up extra oil. 

This recipe is the Turkish style and i like it a lot. The calamary becomes very soft. You should try it. Kali oreksi!

Steak With Wine and Cranberry Sauce

Ingredients:

1kg braising steaks
3 onions
300 ml red wine
300 ml stock
3 rounded tablespoons cranberry sauce

How to cook:

Cut the meat into large slices. It can be square or like fingers. Mix 2 tablespoons flour with some salt and pepper into a large food bag, add the beef and shake to coat the pieces. Slice the onions.

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a pan. Add the beef and fry on both sides until browned. Then you can remove them to a plate.

Heat 1tablespoon oil in the pan ( I would rather use the same pan), then add the onions and fry for 5 minutes. Return the beef to the pan and add the wine and stock. Bring to the boil, then let the juices go away. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Reduce the heat, cover tightly with a lid and cook at a gentle simmer for 1 1⁄2 hours until the beef is tender. Stir in the cranberry sauce. Simmer for a further 5 minutes and serve parsely. Kali oreksi!

Quick & Easy Aubergine Pizza With Greek Feta

Ingredients:

4 pitta breads

330 grams roasted aubergines

100 grams feta cheese, crumbled

Mint leaves, chopped

How to prepare:

Toast the pitta breads in batches until lightly golden. Drain the aubergines, reserving some of the oil, and whizz half in a food processor until smooth.

Spread aubergine paste over each pitta. On top, you can put the remaining aubergine slices and also do not forget to scatter on feta.  Sprinkle over mint, put the reserved oil. Kali oreksi!

Squash Soup

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1/4 cup unsalted butter

Sea salt

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 medium yellow onions, chopped

2 medium garlic cloves

450 grams potatoes, cut into cubes

1 kg yellow summer squash, cut into slices

950 ml vegetable stock

1 cup buttermilk

1 bunch of chives, chopped

How to cook:

In a skillet, toast the cumin seeds until they are fragrant. This will take 1 or 2 minutes. Then turn the seeds into a fine powder. In the same skillet, melt the butter and cook until it's brown.  Remove from heat, stir the cumin into the butter with pinches of salt, then set aside in a warm place. 

To make the soup, heat the butter in a large. Add the onions, garlic and salt. Saute for a few minutes. Stir in the potatoes and squash and cook for another 10 minutes. Stir in 3 1/2 cups of the stock. It should cover the vegetables. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until the potatoes are tender, about 25 minutes. Remove the soup from heat, puree completely with a hand blender, then stir in the buttermilk. If you need to thin the soup out with a bit more stock, you can do so. Serve each bowl topped with plenty of the cumin butter and a sprinkling of chives. Or you can also serve each bowl topped with cream and a sprinkling of rose mary. Kai oreksi!

Pumpkin Salad

Ingredients:

3 cups of pumpkin, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
extra-virgin olive oi
sea salt
12 tiny red onions or shallots, peeled
2 cups cooked wild rice*
1/3 cup sunflower seeds
1/3 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons warm water
1/2 cup cilantro, finely chopped

How to prepare:

Preheat oven to 375.

Toss the pumpkin in olive oil with a couple pinches of salt, and turn out onto a baking sheet. At the same time, toss the onions also with live oil, sprinkle with salt, and turn out onto a separate baking sheet. Roast both for about 45 minutes until squash is brown and caramelized. The same goes for the onions, they should be deeply colored, caramelized, and soft. 

Now it is time to make the dressing. With a hand blender or food processor puree the sunflower seeds, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and honey until creamy. You may need to add a few tablespoons of warm water to thin the dressing a bit. Stir in the cilantro, saving just a bit to garnish the final plate later. 

In a bowl mix them all. You can use cilantro on top. Kali oreksi!