OLIVE OIL · PAN · OVEN
The Greek kitchen
Learn the logic behind a dish: what gives taste, where does the bond come from and when is something really ready?
FLOOR · 4 CHAPTERS · COOKING & WATCHING
FILE · 01
Ladera: vegetables given the lead
Ladera is a family of preparations in which vegetables are cooked with olive oil into a coherent dish. It is not simply a shot of oil afterwards. Onion becomes soft, tomato supplies moisture and acid, and the vegetables give off their own juice during the yarn. The sauce should eventually hang from the vegetables. A pan full of water gives a different result than quietly stew and let it boil in at the end.
The most useful distinction is pan opposite oven. Fasolakia becomes gradually soft in a pan; briam also gets color in the oven at the top. Choose a large bowl with briam and cut the potato thinner than zucchini. When missed, you just guard the ratio between rice, filling and moisture. The vegetables are the cooking jars, but the rice still needs space to turn off.
Taste separately for pastries, salt and acid. A weak tasting sauce sometimes requires cooking, not extra salt. Add lemon gradually. Put bread or a small portion of cheese on the table if you want it; the vegetable dish does not have to be a side dish with meat.
Source and read on . . . · Cooking advice and menu are its own editorial effects.
FILE · 02
The legume pan: whole, tied or pureed
A lentil soup, a white bean soup and fafa have all three legumes as their basis, but ask for a different structure. Brown lentils may remain recognizable. At fasolada you can crush a spoon of boiled beans to bind the liquid. Fava is just a smooth puree.
The new fast bean cards explicitly come from already cooked beans. Thus, the times are useful for a weekly meal. Dry beans require their own weekly and cooking process; directly in an acidic tomato sauce yarn is not an equivalent shortening. Therefore, treat a can as another starting point, not as a secret ingredient that replaces the traditional method invisible.
Build contrast at the table: soft-boiled beans with something fresh, a thick mashed potatoes with raw onion or capers, lentil soup with vinegar to your own taste. Start with one accent. If each bowl contains garlic, lemon, cheese and chili, a meze table quickly becomes one general flavor.
Source and read on . . . · Cooking advice and menu are its own editorial effects.
FILE · 03
Filo and pita: the filling determines the soil
Pita is a broad word family; not every pita is a flat bread. In these recipes it is about pasties with a filling between dough layers. Purchased filododough is thin and dries out quickly. Keep the unused sheets covered and work with a cooled filling. Hot, wet green makes it difficult to get a crispy bottom.
After squeezing, you squeeze it out well. Leeks stew until the moisture is largely gone. Then cheese, herbs and possibly egg are added. Fat between the dough skins keeps the layers recognizable; large puddles of fat are not needed. The dimensions of the bowl influence the height: a thick pie needs longer than a low version.
Also look at the bottom and let the pie rest before you cut. A dark top does not prove that the bottom is cooked. Turn the top brown too quickly, cover loosely and let bake further. Puff pastry is a possible variant of its own, but gives a different crust and asks for the instructions of that product.
Source and read on . . . · Cooking advice and menu are its own editorial effects.
FILE · 04
Sweet: syrup, milk and the art of waiting
Baklava and portokalopita both use filo, but build a different structure with it. Baklava keeps loose layers around a nut filling; portokalopita divides dry filos chips by a batter. Wet clotted dough gives heavy spots. At rizogalo the binding comes from the starch of rice in milk.
Syrup cake is not ready as soon as it comes out of the oven. The syrup must be able to distribute. In the cards you pour cooled syrup on hot cakes; then an explicit resting time follows. Cutting, baking and withdrawing are therefore separate operations. Too short planning often results in a dry top and a wet bottom.
Plan small portions after a large meal. For a test comparison, put a piece of baklava next to a small bowl of rice pudding and describe what the texture does: crisp, juicy, grainy or creamy. The term Greek indicates a culinary context; many of these sweet families also exist in surrounding cuisine.
Source and read on . . . · Cooking advice and menu are its own editorial effects.