Calamari – καλαμάρια σαλάτα

Calamari - καλαμάρια σαλάτα

So easy to cook we have a recipe here that you can do at home, celebrate summer,  the sea, and perhaps a bottle of ouzo!

Ingredients:

• about 1 kg of fresh squid preferably but frozen will work.
• 1 cup of white wine
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1/4 teaspoon of pepper
• 2-3 pinches of oregano
• extra virgin olive oil
• red wine vinegar
• 1-2 tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley
• thinly sliced onion

Preparation:

Clean the squid, or ask the fish monger to do it for you.

Place the whole squid, wine, and bay leaf in a small stew pot or dutch oven.
Bring it to the boil, then simmer, covered, for 35-40 minutes.
Drain, the cut the squid into rings.
Place on a serving platter or in a shallow salad bowl.
Add salt, pepper, and oregano.
Add olive oil and vinegar.
Top with parsley to garnish.

I hope you ENJOY!

Chroniá Pollá! – Easter Blessings

Greek foods and traditions mark the Easter season as uniquely Hellenic.  Wonderful foods and celebrations are such an intricate part of Greek heritage, and Easter especially to those of the Greek orthodox faith can celebrate this joy with all friends and family. Why not add some Greek Easter into your home this year.

Here is a recipe I found for traditional Greek Easter bread.

 

Tsoureki – Greek Easter Bread
Number of Servings: 10-12 Prep and cooking time approx 5 hours
Ingredients:	1 cup of milk 1/2 cup butter package dry yeast 1/2 cup sugar 1 teaspoon Salt 2 eggs, beaten 4 tablespoons orange juice 1 tablespoon grated orange rind 2 teaspoons ground anise seed or 1 tablespoon mahlepi 5 1/2 cups flour Red-dyed Easter eggsGlaze: 1/4 cup Slivered almonds 2 tablespoons sugar 3 tablespoons orange juice
Instructions:	1. In a small saucepan, combine the milk and butter over medium heat. 2. Stir until butter melts, then pour into a large mixing bowl. 3. Allow to cool until just warm, then add yeast and sugar, mixing well. 4. Add the salt, eggs, 3 tablespoons orange juice, orange rind, anise seed or mahlepi. 5. Sprinkle in the flour, stirring constantly, until the mixture is moist, but not stiff. 6. Turn out onto a lightly floured board and knead well for about 10-15 minutes. 7. Place dough in a grease bowl and brush the dough with melted butter. 8. Cover bowl and place for a few hours until dough is doubled in bulk. 9 Punch the dough down and divide into 2 loaves. Divide each loaf into 3 parts and roll each into a long rope about 10″ x 2″. Braid the three ropes together; pinch to seal the ends if leaving long, or join together to form a long round loaf. “Nest” the Easter eggs in the center of the dough. 10. Repeat with the other half of the dough to make a second tsoureki. 11. Place loaves on a cookie sheet, cover, and let rise another hour until doubled in bulk 12. To prepare the glaze, mix orange juice, sugar, and slivered almonds in a small bowl. 13. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and bake loaves for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and brush with prepared glaze. 14. Return to oven and bake for another 20 minutes until golden brown.

Κυδώνια – Καρποί των θεών: Quince – fruit of the gods

Κυδώνια – Καρποί των θεών

Quince – Fruit of the gods

Fruit of the gods

The  quince is unique, in fragrance  and flavour either fresh or cooked. Quince trees have been cultivated for thousands of years and ancient civilizations including the ancient Greeks prized them for their taste and beauty in the garden.

In Ancient Greek legend it was a quince that Paris awarded to Aphrodite as the most beautiful goddess at wedding celebrations on Mount Olympus. He had to choose between Aphrodite, Athena and Hera. They  tried to bribe him to choose among them – Hera offered ownership of all of Europe and Asia,  Athena offered skill in battle, and wisdom,  and Aphrodite offered the love of the most beautiful woman on Earth, Helen of Sparta.  Paris chose Aphrodite and in so doing choose Helen, and so began the story of Helen of Troy.

So you could say in it’s own way the might quince was instrumental in the creation of the Trojan wars. A recipe for a family dinner party, a romantic dinner or just the perfect desert for Melbourne in Spring. Enjoy, celebrate and love.

 

Ingredients – Serves 6 people (half a fruit each)

• 3 quince , peeled, halved and cored
• zest of one lemon
• 2 cups of sugar
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 3 or 4 cloves
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon of vanilla sugar

Preparation

Peel, halve and core the Quince, and place in a baking tray. Combine all other ingredients, making sure you mix them well and add enough water to cover the fruits.

Cover the baking tray with foil and cook for 45 mins to 1 hour. Check by pressing the fruits to see if they are nice and soft.

Remove the fruits from the tray, and reduce the syrup on top of the st0ve for 15 minutes.

Pour the syrup over the quince and cover until you are ready to serve them.

Rabbit Stifado – Our Greek dish to wish the Chilian Miners peace, hope and happiness

I have been reading a lot today about Chilean customs because of the amazing rescuing of the miners. And have discovered that Chilean families, like Greek families , eat together. Celebrating, sharing and supporting each other through life’s ups and downs.

When the  Spaniards arrived in Chile in the mid 1500′s  they had a huge impact on Chilean cuisine. They introduced  grapes, olives, walnuts, chestnuts, rice, wheat, citrus fruits, sugar, garlic, and spices. And they also introduced the farming of  chicken, beef, sheep, pigs, rabbits, the producing of milk, and cheeses, and the making of sausages.

I was thinking about the celebrations of the Chilean families tonight and the dishes that will be served to honor the courage and stamina of the hero’s whom have survived, and those who were so essential in the rescue attempts and rescue success.  So I have picked a Greek  rabbit stew, that for me, tastes better as is ages, gives strength to those who eat it and creates a dish on the table that can be shared by all.

The rabbit is also such a fast and resilient animal that I felt it was perfect to honor the amazing strength and courage of the Chilean miners, their rescuers, and the Chilean people

I looked through our menu and felt our Rabbit Stifado was the perfect Greek present to a table of hero’s. I have included our restaurant’s  recipe with the help of our amazing chef , listing the ingredients to serve 4 at your dinner table.

I hope that when you sit down tonight, and over the next few days you can spare a thought and if it is within your faith a prayer for those souls and especially their families. May their first meals give them the love and family support that they will be in such desperate need of.

Rabbit Stifado

• 1 rabbit
• 1/2 a small bucket of pickling onions (cleaned) enough to cover the base of a large baking dish
• 5-7 bay leaves
• 3-4 whole cloves of garlic
• 1/2 tablespoon of peppercorns
• olive oil for frying
• 1 cup of red wine
• 1 cup of crushed tomatoes, and 1/2 a cup of water
• 1 tablespoon of salt

Prepare the rabbit:

• Cut off the legs leaving the tail bone
• Take out insides of carcass and chop off the small neck-bone
• Cut the body into 2 and remove any fat
• Then cut through the breast bone back and front and remove the rest of the neck
• Trim through the rest of the body and cut in 2

In the meantime, Saute the onions in roughly 1/2 a cup of olive oil with the herbs and spices, Once the the onions are olden brown, add the rabbit and saute. Add the wine, allow to evaporate then add the crushed tomatoes. Season with the salt to taste. Bring the stew to the boil then simmer for 2 hours.

Rabbit Sifado - a dish for hero's

 

From all at Pireaus Blues, we wish the miners, their families and all the rescue workers our heart felt admiration and hope they are in the arms of their families as soon as possible.

εορτασμός, χιούμορ και αθλητισμός – celebration, humor and sport

With the weekend ahead of the second, AFL grand final, the NRL grand final and the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games, I was thinking of writing about some of the ancient Greek gods of competition, battle and war…but then I found this

and my thoughts quickly found their way back to celebrating…

Our first fan photo on facebook!

Lemon Lamb by Pireaus Blues, photography by Elliot Kathreptis

τροφή για μάχη – Food for Battle

Lazaros and his team in the restaurant, while looking through the different ideas that have being coming our way, and the discussion they have been having over the last week,  have created this group of special dishes for Grand Final night at Pireaus Blues. He has of course also be putting all his positive energy into Collingwood winning!

τροφή για μάχη – Food for Battle

Entre:

Baked Okra
Silverbeet Dolmades
Scallop Saganaki
Stuffed eggplant with goats cheese
Stuffed Squid with spinach and feta

Mains:

Baked lamb
Braised Kid Goat
Charred Baby Snapper
Farmed Rabbit Stifado

Dessert

Baked Quince in Cognac
Galaktoboureko in Almonds

For friends and families celebrating at home here are a few ideas:

Lamb on a spit, or a goat – so you can feed the army for the whole day

A range of dips like:
Tzatziki,   Taramosalata,  Skordalia,  Eggplant and Beetroot
with a huge or several big spitiko psomis (homemade bread).

I found this recipe for this yeast bread which I tried this morning so I could honestly tell you it is easy to make at home:

You make it entirely by hand, it is really quite quick, I was shocked as I have tried recipes for yeast breads before and I found them quite laborious.

You can use a bread mix flour from the supermarket but I used an all purpose flour I had in the pantry and it tasted great.

Ingredients:

• 3 3/4 cups of bread (or all-purpose) flour
• 1 1/2 cups of lukewarm water
• 1 packet (1/4 oz) of dry yeast
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 teaspoon of salt

Dissolve yeast in warm water.

In a mixing bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups of flour, salt, oil, and yeast with water, and mix until thoroughly blended. Cover tightly.  Let the dough sit for 30 minutes.

Add 1 1/2 cups of flour to the yeast mixture and combine with your hands to form the dough. Turn out onto a floured work surface and knead in as much of the remaining flour as needed until the dough is smooth and doesn’t stick to your hands.

Shape into two loaves, place them on a nonstick baking tray, and put on the middle rack in a cold oven for 15 minutes.

Turn on oven to 220°C and bake for 30 minutes or until golden.

If you can, cool on a rack that lets the air move around the whole loaves.
To create a more crusty top, just before baking score the loaves 2-3 times diagonally across the top.

I would really like to thank GourmetRabbit for the suggestion of the spitiko psomi (homemade bread), because I think it is something that can be so easily incorporated into regular evening dinners too, just not celebrations.

We had a great response of ideas for things to add or incorporate into the menu’s and over the next few weeks and months I hope to interview and write about some of these amazing people and their ideas about food and community. But I will leave it there for now.

Please enjoy the Grand Final and all the festivities that come with it and…I just have to get it in…GO THE PIES

αγάπη της ζωής αγαπούν τον αθλητισμό – Love Sport Love Life

We have been supporting the Collingwood football teams for many years and it is almost impossible to express the high level of pleasure and enjoyment we have gained from being able to support our local community in such a way.

Even though Collingwood’s VFL season ended at the hands of the Northern Bullants on that fatal Saturday afternoon in late August, we were proud and elated that our community team had achieved so much.

With the Pies coming up against the Cats tonight at the MCG in the AFL preliminary final, we thought it would be interesting to put together a menu fit for the grand final, that celebrates our great culture, love of sport and love of life and we would like your help in finalising the menu.

We will gather every-bodies ideas over the next week and on Friday 24th September we will post

τροφή για μάχη – Food for Battle

A menu we will specially prepare for grand final night at the restaurant – SO book NOW if you are interested in celebrating with us our love of food and sport

and a menu that you can present at home, as you celebrate with  friends and family.

So please  put on your thinking caps and help us create these two different menu’s totally fit for a grand final.

Email your ideas and or recipes to enquiries@pireausblues.com.au

or post and share your ideas and recipes on our facebook fan page.

φαγητό, κρασί και συζήτηση – Food, wine and discussion

There is nothing better than sitting around a table with good friends, delicious food,  beautiful wine and active discussion. And Greek culture celebrates it.

With Aristotle, the legendary Greek philosopher, teacher to Alexander the great, ancient Greek culture was alive with debate on politics, ethics, music, poetry, family life and moral consequences.

He was instrumental in writing the foundations that many western modern thought is now based on, especially in morality and aesthetics.

Ἀριστοτέλης, Aristotélēs

Spring is the time, to gather your friends, loved ones and celebrate, and I hope you enjoy each others opinions, thoughts and philosophies.

Η άνοιξη είναι στον αέρα – Spring is in the air

We welcome spring with open arms, a warm smile and the excitement of all the spring seasonal vegetables that will be made into the most delicious dishes and especially salads.

Our favourite Greek spring recipes are based on the freshest seasonal ingredients and on tradition. One of our most requested salads in spring is – Σαλάτα παντζάρι – (Beetroot Salata)

I have found a recipe similar to ours that you can easily make at home and puts the most beautiful rich red colour on your dining table.

• 2 bunches of fresh beetroots
• 2 -3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup of olive oil
• 1/4 cup of red wine vinegar
• sea salt (optional)
• fresh ground pepper (optional)

Remove leaves, leaving about an inch of stem. Wash gently (don’t break the skin), and place in a pot of cold water to cover. Bring to a boil and cook until done (firm but cooked, about 40-50 minutes). Drain the beets, cool under running cold water, and remove skin with fingers. Slice.

Combine beets, garlic, oil, and vinegar in a bowl and toss. Add salt and pepper to taste, and refrigerate covered for several hours before serving.

You can try this salad with a dollop of thick yogurt on top or on the side.

Have a look at our salad menu