Biftekia is a traditional dish that’s often described as a cross between burger patties and slightly flattened meatballs. The patties are made with a combination of ground pork, beef, or lamb, and the meat is mixed with onions, breadcrumbs, eggs, and aromatic herbs such as mint and oregano.
Moussaka is a layered dish of eggplant, ground meat, tomato sauce, and béchamel sauce. It is a popular dish in Greece and is often served as a main course. The eggplant is thinly sliced and then baked until soft. The ground meat is cooked with onions, garlic, and tomatoes. The béchamel sauce is made with milk, butter, flour, and cheese. The layers of eggplant, meat, and sauce are then baked until golden brown. Moussaka is a delicious and hearty dish that is perfect for any meal.
Souvlaki, a beloved Greek dish, features skewered and grilled cubes of pork, chicken, lamb, or beef. This popular fast food is commonly enjoyed at souvladzidika, small eateries where you can also find gyros and similar grilled meat offerings.
Grilled lamb chops, or paidakia, are a cherished Greek dish, enjoyed across the country as a main course. These chops are typically marinated in a flavorful mix of olive oil, lemon juice, and fresh herbs before being grilled over traditional charcoal barbecues.
For as long as I can remember, zucchini patties have been a summer favorite for our family. They can be prepared as an appetizer as well as a side dish, and everyone agrees that these things taste great. They’re easy to make, low calorie, and a great way to enjoy lots of veggie goodness!
It took us a while to feature a gyros recipe because we focused recently on more vegetarian dishes, but the time has come for one of the most iconic Greek street-food dishes ever – homemade pork gyros! We feature pork tenderloin as the main ingredient, and we made sure to achieve extra tenderness by marinating the meat in a blend of herbs, oil, vinegar, and honey. The pork is prepared in a frying pan and served inside a pita bread with tzatziki, onion, and tomato.
We were having our weekly Sunday family dinner, this time at Joanna’s. She wanted to make something quick, easy and healthy. She had some chicken breasts on hand so she started looking around the kitchen trying to find ideas of how to prepare quickly, that didn’t require much effort. Thinking about how much I love balsamic, she decided to make the chicken with some balsamic sauce. Glad she did! Check out how easy this recipe is. Makes for a great quick meal.
Just in time for Valentine’s Day. We put our spin on “engagement chicken”, (link) and combined it with Kota Limonata (Greek style lemon chicken). Make this for someone you love. It’s sure to be a hit!
Ahhh our beloved fakes soupa! How many plates of this dish have we eaten over the years? Not enough! It’s tasty, healthy, and reminds us of home. It’s such a classic Greek dish, but we created it with a spin! Try our delicious recipe for Coconut Curry Lentil Soup. We like it, actually we love it, and we think you will too!
We decided to make a healthy soup recipe before the weather really starts to warm up. We figured a nice soup to warm the soul is fitting right about now. We mentioned healthy but did we mention how delicious this recipe is? Well, now you know! Kali orexi!
Eggs Benedict is an American breakfast dish that generally consists of an English muffin, topped with ham or bacon, poached eggs, and Hollandaise sauce. But we decided to “Greekify” it, bringing the best of both food worlds together! Instead of an English muffin, we used potato cooked in some Greek olive oil with salt, pepper and oregano. We added some sautéed spinach, Hollaindaise sauce made with Greek yogurt and our favorite cheese, feta! We didn’t use meat in our recipe but feel free to add some if you like. Traditionally, Canadian bacon is used for Eggs Benedict but if you can’t find Canadian bacon, you can use ham.
We put a little twist on an all-American favorite, mac and cheese, and we loved the results so we decided to share! We think you’ll enjoy this as much as we did! We used whole grain pasta for some added fiber and some wonderful Greek cheeses we bought at the local Greek market and added some grass fed ground lamb and made it a one pan meal. Great for these cold winter days!
In keeping with the theme of Lent, we decided to take a traditional Greek dish, Moussaka, and make it vegetarian! We didn't just omit the meat sauce and call it vegetarian, we made the red sauce with chopped Portobello mushrooms instead of ground beef or lamb. The result was... well... super delicious! This dish has multiple steps but it is so worth it. It yields a lot and can be enjoyed with just a salad as a complete meal in itself. Try it during this Lenten period and you will have a filling and healthy meal!
Since one of the Greek Sisters (Joanna) is a vegetarian, she’s always coming up with ways to make Greek dishes without meat. This recipe takes a couple of components from Greek favorites but is prepared like a quiche, which makes it easy to omit meat and easy to make. So we have potatoes from moussaka, spinach and feta from spanakopita, and eggs to hold it together like a quiche. Interesting… and delicious!
Using Greek yogurt anywhere and everywhere isn’t really a new concept for us, we’ve been doing it for as long as we can remember. But in a casual conversation the other day, we mentioned our super easy pancake recipe using Greek yogurt and the response was so enthusiastic that we figured maybe we should just post it for all. We love these pancakes and make them all the time. We can put our guarantee that you will love them too!
It was always a special treat for us when our Cretan mom would make “papoutsakia” which translates into “small shoes”. We imagine their size, shape and color contributed to this cute little nickname. This dish is so delicious and juicy and will hit any craving you have for a fresh Greek / vegetable / light meat meal you may have! It has some similar flavors and ingredients to a traditional moussaka dish so if you’re a fan of that, you will love this!
Pastitsio is a lot of work, we all know it. So when my sisters make it, it’s definitely a treat, and there’s nothing like homemade pastitsio! You don’t really need to make anything with it, besides maybe a salad. And it is so good as a leftover. Go ahead, give it a try. It may be a lot of steps but boy is it worth it. You’ll be glad that you did and pretty proud of yourself, I’m sure. You can brag about it to your friends… but you’ll probably have to share!
Here is our favorite, easy to make spanakopita (spinach pie) recipe Here is our favorite, easy to make spanakopita (spinach pie) recipe that was taught to Joanna by one of her favorite people, Lisa, who has been making this recipe for years, per the request of anyone that’s tasted it. Being Greek we almost always have phyllo dough and feta on hand. Feta is easy to find these days but if you can’t find phyllo, you can use store bought pie dough. The greatest thing about Lisa’s spinach pie? She makes it with love! Make this with love and we’re sure you and your family will truly enjoy it!
Stuffed peppers, called yemista in Greek, are traditionally made with rice and/or ground beef. Here we improvised to make them vegetarian (vegan if you don’t use the feta) and gluten free, using in season eggplant from the neighbor’s garden! They are also traditionally baked in the oven, but we couldn’t bear the thought of turning the oven on in this heat and humidity, so we tried them on the stove top and we loved the results. You can use this filling to stuff anything from eggplant to zucchini or serve it on its own as a delicious appetizer.
