All posts tagged: cheese

Tirokroketes (Fried Cheese Balls)

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Gooey on the inside, crunchy on the outside, tirokroketes (fried cheese balls) is an  irresistible appetizer that will leave guests wanting more. For this dish, I use three different types of cheese: feta, graviera, and gouda. The three types play well together and creates great flavor. Eat plain, dunk in your favorite dipping sauce, or squeeze a lemon on top before serving and enjoy! Save Print Tirokroketes (Fried Cheese Balls) Author: Eleni Saltas Recipe type: Meze/Appetizer Serves: 14-16 balls   Ingredients 3 oz feta cheese, crumbled 3 oz graviera cheese, grated* 3 oz gouda, grated 1 egg and 1 egg white ¼ cup milk ½ teaspoon paprika pepper, to taste all-purpose flour, for dredging vegetable oil, for frying Instructions In a mixing bowl, add the feta, graviera, gouda, eggs, and milk. Combine mixture well and season with pepper and paprika. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, to allow the mixture to firm up. When the cheese mixture is ready, add some flour to a bowl or plate. Form the mixture and …

“Greekified” French Onion Soup

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Introducing: French onion soup with a Greek twist! I was inspired by a photo I saw on Peter Minaki’s aka “Kalofagas” page and decided to give it a try myself. For my version, I added Greek flavors I enjoy at home, like garlic and oregano, plus tested batches with both Kasseri and Halloumi cheeses. I preferred the Kasseri version, as it melted better, but the Halloumi also created a nice flavor. The result was excellent and just what you want from a typical French onion soup—caramelized onions, warm broth, a thick baguette, and gooey cheese. What a comforting meal that will certainly hold a favorable spot at my dinner table. Save Print “Greekified” French Onion Soup Recipe type: Soup/Greek Soup Serves: 4-6 bowls   French onion soup with a Greek twist! Ingredients 6 medium yellow onions, thinly sliced (about 1 ½ lbs) ½ cup unsalted butter 1 Tablespoon oregano 2 bay leaves 3 garlic cloves, minced 1 teaspoon sugar 1 teaspoon salt 6 cups beef broth ½ cup white wine salt and pepper, to taste ¼ cup …

Mizithra Pancakes

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During the weekdays, my breakfasts consist of coffee or a protein shake. Sometimes, as I’m rushing out the door for work, I grab a muffin or a banana. Truly, I don’t care for breakfast, and have noticed I function better at work by putting off eating until lunch time. When the weekend comes around I’m ready for all the breakfast foods–eggs, bacon, cottage cheese, and toast. Pancakes are a special item I like to make at home, especially because I get to make them how I like them–stuffed with mizithra cheese. Mizithra pancakes have become an instant hit at my home. We love them so much we’ve even had them for dinner one night. Adding mizithra cheese to the batter ups the creaminess factor to the pancakes that you’ll notice with just one bite. These light and fluffy mizithra pancakes will certainly stand out for your next breakfast–or dinner–whenever you need a pancake fix. Can’t find soft mizithra cheese? Learn how to make your own here. You can also substitute mizithra for ricotta cheese. Save Print …

Fried Feta with Sesame Seeds

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Fried feta with sesame seeds is combination of salty and sweet that creates maximum flavor. Save Print Sesame Coated Fried Feta Recipe type: Meze/Appetizer Serves: 2 pieces   Sesame coated fried feta is one of the easiest dishes, ready in minutes. Ingredients 8 ounce block of feta cheese 2 eggs ½ cup of flour ½ cup sesame seeds Olive oil, for frying Honey, for drizzling Instructions Cut the feta into squares or rectangles about ½ inch thick. Crack the eggs in a bowl wide enough to fit the feta and beat lightly with a fork. Add the flour on a plate. On a second plate, add the sesame seeds. Coat each piece of feta in the flour, and then the eggs, and then the sesame seeds. Be sure to coat well with each step, so all sides are covered. In a frying pan, heat olive oil (enough to shallow fry) over medium to high heat. Carefully add the feta and fry until nicely golden colored, and then flip and fry on the other side. Drain the feta …

Talking Greek Food and Festival on KUTV

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I am excited to share I was asked to talk about the upcoming Salt Lake City Greek Festival on KUTV2 while cooking one of my favorite Greek dishes, Bouyiordi. I was interviewed by KUTV’s Fresh Living Hosts, and later cooked alongside Chef Bryan Woolley, an American celebrity chef. Find more of his wonderful recipes at: http://cookingwithchefbryan.com/ Find the video of us cooking here: https://kutv.com/features/food/recipes/cooking-with-chef-bryan-bouyiourdi-spiced-baked-feta For those in Utah, stop by the Greek Festival happening Sept. 7-9. Info here: http://saltlakegreekfestival.com/

Roka (Arugula Salad)

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Roka (arugula) is one of the most underestimated leafy greens, despite packing lots of antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. It’s numerous health benefits are well known. Arugula is native to the Mediterranean and is definitely a green that should be added to more plates worldwide. The Greeks eat plenty of arugula as a “Roka Salata” and is traditionally served as just roka, topped with thin slices of local cheese and dressing. To add more essence to the salad, it is common to add walnuts, pine nuts and sundried or fresh tomatoes to the mixing bowl. This is a common salad throughout Greece. Because the strong peppery taste of arugula can be a turn off to some, simply add romaine lettuce to the salad to temper the arugula. I make mine solely with arugula, and just add extra toppings like walnuts for extra crunch, and tomatoes for a juicy bite. The best thing about the Roka Salad is that it takes no time at all to put together, and still stands out on a dinner table. The …

Greek Spaghetti

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Twirling long strands of spaghetti around a fork is one of my guilty pleasures. Every time I eat a plate of spaghetti, no matter where or why, I get some sweet “guilt” satisfaction. It’s an added bonus when the spaghetti has been prepared with a guilt inducing creamy garlic butter sauce and covered with two of my favorite types of cheese, grated mizithra and crumbled feta. Freshly diced tomatoes—my super secret guilty pleasure—round out the flavor of this simple dish, and the twirling begins. It doesn’t take much to create your own GREEK SPAGHETTI, the only difficult part comes from trying to figure out the correct amount of spaghetti to boil. Do you boil eight ounces or maybe you count out 157 strands of spaghetti? Sometimes the best answer is to boil an entire package of your favorite pasta—fettuccine, linguine, angel hair, whatever—just boil it all. No matter your measuring method, there always seems to be too much as a result. But that’s what friends with appetites are for. Invite your buddies over and indulge …

Dakos (Cretan Rusk)

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Of all the different regional foods I’ve tried along my travels in Greece, Cretan cuisine is by far my favorite. From the most rural villages to cities like Chania, you’ll find dishes layered with fresh herbs, cheese, vegetables, and plenty of olive oil—these key ingredients create simple but flavorful dishes. One of the best representations of the Cretan cuisine is dakos, a traditional meze (appetizer) that I could eat daily and never get tired of. Similar to Italian bruschetta, dakos is made with a twice-baked bread rusk that is hard as nails, meaning before serving you must reconstitute with water or olive oil to soften it. In Crete, rusks are most often barley based, but wheat or rye based is also common. It’s the toppings that make the dish so memorable. For Cretan dakos, the rusks are topped with juicy tomatoes (preferably fresh from the vine), plenty of cheese (Cretan mizithra, feta or other soft cheese) and garnished with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and oregano. Complete the dakos with a Kalamata olive …

Make Your Own Cheese

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Everything tastes better in Greece. Maybe it’s because when I’m there I can take the time to sit back, sip some Greek coffee and savor the food. Or maybe it is because the tomatoes truly are juicier, the fish is always fresher, and all the pites (pies) are locally baked. Whatever it is, whenever I return to the States it seems my taste buds go dormant until my next visit. I miss the tastes of Greece. Most of all, I miss all the varieties of fresh cheese. Cherished throughout Greece, cheese makes an appearance at nearly every meal: cheese for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, served as mezes, plain or with olives, fried, or baked in pies. While feta has already won over the culinary world, many Greek regional cheeses have yet to be championed. Set your sights (and your taste buds) on Graviera, Kasseri, Kefalotyri, Kefalograviera and halloumi—all are versatile cheeses for nearly any occasion. Then there’s ANTHOTYROS, a soft Greek cheese that’s similar to ricotta cheese and often associated with the island of Crete. …