It’s All Greek to me!

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Koulourakias


We are having a Greek feast!

I love having different themes when we invite a few folks over for dinner ... something we have not done for a long time (Can I blame it on the covid pandemic?)

I asked an enthusiastic friend, who is married into a Greek family, for some ideas.

Menu

Avgolemono soup - try saying that a few times.

It has lots of chicken, rice, eggs and lemon juice. It sounds filling so there will be small portions. 

Horiatiki salad

Traditionally, salad in Greece has no lettuce. This has all the ingredients we non-Greeks put in a Greek salad without the lettuce. The dressing is very European- oil and vinegar. 

Greek-marinated Pork tenderloin with Tzatziki
It will be marinated and grilled outdoors because the forecast says it will be 50-60 degrees on Friday. I hope it won’t rain! Tzatziki is a cucumber and yogurt sauce. 

 Potatoes - plain-old oven roasted with oregano instead of rosemary.

Fasoulakia - my friend says these are “to die for” ! We’ll see!!

A musical name for green beans in tomato sauce 

Spanakopita

Spinach and other good things in phylo dough pie...

Koulourakias and baklava!

These should be served with traditional Greek coffee but that won’t fly with our older guests. I found a sweet dessert wine.

As I looked at all the options from soup to dessert, I realized that much of this prep work and some of the cooking could easily be done the day before!  That was an exciting realization! I think I might have a relaxing day before dinner (especially if I get the house clean on Thursday as well!)

Dessert was made first! We are having Koulourakias.

I baked those today! It was a challenge. The dough is thick and hard to handle. They can be formed into many shapes so besides the traditional rope twists, I did a bunch of Greek letters and the fish! They are very tasty!





I bought some baklava because that’s a bit intimidating and time consuming to bake. Greek to Go to the rescue.

Avgolemono soup
The second day I cooked a chicken.  The broth is so good and will be the base for the soup.  All the components will be put together just before serving! The lemons have been squeezed: 2 cups so that’s a lot of lemons. Praying it won’t curdle...yikes!

Horiatiki salad
All set to go on Thursday morning- flavor should be amazing tomorrow!

Greek-marinated Pork tenderloin with Tzatziki
The Tzatziki made on Thursday morning as well, while the tenderloin is thawing and the simple marinade and will be made tomorrow.

Fazoulakia
Cleaning 2.5 lbs of green beans was a bit time consuming but the rest went together easily. It’s all set to be warmed up just before serving! Interestingly, even though the dish cooks for 1 hour, it did not result in mushy beans!

Spanakopita
This will need to be baked just before serving but the complicated filling can be made a day ahead. 

Keeping with the theme, we shopped for Greek beverages and came up with some Greek beer and 3 wines!  Greece is not known for anything except OUZO but we will save that for another day! I hope the beer and wine are passable but if not, we'll offer lots of good filtered tap water with lemon!

All this prep and cooking in advance of the day of the gathering  certainly will make for a stress free day tomorrow!

Stay tuned...photos will be taken as the food is served!




It was a great evening!



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