What is the national Greek dish. The most popular national Greek dishes: recipes

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Greek is a Mediterranean cuisine that has much in common with the culinary traditions of Italy, the Balkans, Israel, Turkey, Syria and Palestine. It has existed for more than 4 thousand years and is directly related to the history and culture of Ancient Greece.

Today, Greek cuisine, as in ancient times, cannot be imagined without cereals, olive oil and wine, as well as vegetables (eggplant, zucchini), olives, cheese, fish and meat.

Features of Greek cuisine

In the Mediterranean cuisine of Greece, there are several characteristic features that are based on the use of a certain list of products in cooking.

1. Olive oil is the ingredient that powers Greek cuisine. It is impossible to imagine national dishes prepared without it. Olive oil is used as a dressing for salads, added to vegetable, meat, fish dishes and baked goods. It is made from olive trees growing in Greece and makes national Greek dishes special in taste.qualities.
2. Vegetables - fresh or baked, they are present in almost every dish. Fresh tomatoes, eggplant, potatoes, green peppers, onions, and olives are especially common.
3. Spices are used more in Greek cooking than in any other Mediterranean cuisine. In Greece, the most common are oregano, thyme, garlic, bay leaf, basil, thyme, and fennel. Interestingly, when cooking meat dishes, spices are used that are typical for desserts (for example, cinnamon).
4. Cheese - feta, kasseri, kefalotiri, ladotiri. They are served fresh as an appetizer, added to salads and popular vegetable, meat and pasta casseroles.
5. Cereals - most often wheat is used in cooking, less often barley. Wheat flour is used to make thin phyllo dough, and famous Greek desserts are baked from it.

Popular Greek dishes: Names

Some Greek dishes have a lot in common with those prepared on the Mediterranean coast. These include pastitsio (pastizio). This Greek dish is similar to Italian lasagna, but instead of layers of dough, long ziti pasta tubes are used. Or, for example, dolmades - an analogue of dolma (minced meat in grape leaves), which is widespread among the peoples of Transcaucasia.

But Greek cuisine has its own traditions. It is difficult to imagine Greek cuisine without the national dish Chaniotiko Boureki. These are potato slices baked with zucchini, myzithra cheese and mint. Also in Greece traditionallypies are prepared using the thinnest filo or puff pastry, in which a variety of fillings are wrapped. The most popular pies in Greek cuisine are spinakopita (spinach pie) and kotopita (chicken pie).

Love in Greece and soups. For example, lean fasolada soup based on white beans and tomatoes is often prepared here, or magiritsa is a traditional Easter soup that the Greeks cook on Holy Saturday.

All Greek dishes below are hearty and easy to prepare. Essential ingredients such as olive oil and vegetables make meals not only tasty but also he althy.

Greek cuisine: national dishes. Meze

All tourists who come to Greece, and especially to the island of Crete, are recommended to try meze. But not all of the visiting guests know what it is.

Meze are appetizers, that is, Greek cuisine dishes that are served to the table not in portions, but in such a way that everyone can put any of them on their plate. Meze usually includes olives and feta cheese, stuffed grape leaves (dolmades), meatballs, grilled octopus, pickled vegetables, etc. The list, as well as the number of dishes, can be very diverse.

Traditionally, meze is served with tahini (creamy sauce made from sesame seeds), lukanina (Cypriot sausages with coriander), halloumi (soft cheese made from sheep's or goat's milk with mint), stifado (beef with spices in wine vinegar), soufflés (finely chopped shish kebab), etc.e.

Traditional Greek salad

Greek, or rustic, salad has gained popularity not only in Greece itself, but also in most other countries of the world. It is prepared from tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, red onions, olives and feta. Olive oil is traditionally used as a dressing, as well as wine vinegar or lemon juice.

The light Greek salad is especially popular among all adherents of a he althy diet.

Moussaka

Practically all Greek recipes use vegetables. Moussaka, a Greek eggplant dish, is especially popular with the Greeks. It consists of baked layers: the first is eggplant with olive oil, the second is minced lamb and beef with tomatoes, and the third is a cheese sauce that tastes like bechamel. All layers (as in climbing) are stacked alternately.

Greek eggplant dish is baked in the oven at 180 degrees for 30 minutes. Served warm.

Spanakopita

The preparation of this traditional Greek pie begins with the preparation of a juicy filling. To do this, onions are fried in olive oil. Spinach (250 g), parsley, green onion feathers, feta cheese (400 g), as well as s alt to taste and nutmeg on a knife edge are added to it.

While the filling is cooling, it is necessary to divide and roll out the dough into two thin layers. first partspread over the bottom of the mold, greased with butter so as to cover not only the bottom of the mold, but also close the sides. Put all the filling on top and cover with another layer of dough, cut exactly to the size of the form. Connect the edges of the dough together. The top layer of the pie, before sending it to the oven, prick with a fork in several places. Bake for 40 minutes until golden brown.

Fasolada: Lean Greek Soup

This soup is especially loved by vegetarians, as it is prepared exclusively from ingredients of plant origin. The main components of such a Greek dish are white beans, tomatoes or tomato puree, carrots and celery. All ingredients for the soup are fried alternately in olive oil: first onion, carrot, celery stalk, then pre-cooked beans and tomato puree from 0.5 kg of tomatoes. After that, the preparation of vegetables is transferred to the pan, poured with vegetable broth, and everything is cooked together for another 10 minutes. Lean soup is ready.

Fasolada is served hot or cold. Before serving, the soup is seasoned with olive oil, ground black pepper and dried herbs.

Pastitsio, or Greek lasagna

The classic pastitsio recipe is layers of ziti pasta with beef and lamb meat sauce, white bechamel sauce and cheese crust.

This Greek dish is prepared in the following order:

1. Break a 9x13 cm baking dish with butter.
2. Prepare meat sauce. To do this, in olive oil (3 tablespoons), first fry onions (2 pcs.), Then garlic (4 cloves). After 1 minute, add 2 types of minced meat (beef and lamb) and fry it until browned. After that, you can add the rest of the ingredients: chopped tomatoes (4 pcs.), Tomato paste (2 tablespoons), parsley. You will also need spices: s alt (1 ½ tsp), pepper, sugar (½ tsp), cinnamon stick, bay leaf. The sauce will be ready when all the liquid has evaporated (after about 1 hour).
3. Cook 450g of pasta until tender.
4. Prepare bechamel by first frying flour in butter (½ cup). Then pour 4 cups of milk into the pan and cook until thickened, about 15 minutes. After that, remove the sauce from the heat, add s alt (1 teaspoon), white pepper and nutmeg.
5. Assemble pastitsio in layers. The first layer is pasta mixed with egg and parmesan. The second layer is meat sauce and the third layer is white sauce. Top the dish with Parmesan mixed with a little breadcrumbs.

Pastitsio is baked in an oven preheated to 180 degrees for 45 minutes - 1 hour.

Galaktobureko - semolina milk cake

Thick semolina porridge is used as a filling for this pie. But it turns out so tasty that semolina is not felt at all. It tastes more like a delicate custard with a hint of citrus.

The filling for the pie is located between the layers of filo dough,the top layer of which, after baking in the oven, is poured with sweet citrus syrup made from lemon juice, sugar, water, cinnamon, clove inflorescences and honey. The pie is served cold, pre-cut into portioned square pieces.