Traditional Greek Recipes from the island of Lesvos

Last October on our Greek Muse Tour we spent a lovely afternoon with Helen, at her outdoor kitchen in the harbor town of Molyvos.  During this fun hands-on cooking class, Helen shared with us the secrets of traditional Greek cooking.  After all was prepared, we feasted on an amazing meal complete with local wine!
Below are recipes for some of the dishes we learned to make. καλή όρεξη (good appetite in Greek)!
We'll be going back to visit Helen this fall, so if you'd like to learn Greek cooking hands-on, please join us!

Lamb of Lesvos

2 legs of lamb  [in our case they weren’t fresh; 20 days after the kill to ensure that they were soft]. 

Marinade for 24 hours in red wine (reserve marinade).

Place ingredients in a pressure cooker:

Lamb and onions

1/2 cup olive oil

1 onion chopped and sautée

Next add 1 cinnamon stick

Once onion is translucent add leg of Lamb

Add 1 onion studded with about 20 whole cloves

About 1 tsp. of cumin, paprika & chilli powder

2 bay leaves

Add marinate

500 gr tomato sauce

1 tbsp. tomato paste

3 tbsp. fig syrup (or sugar)

Add enough boiling water to cover

Add 1 cup washed rice

Stuffed Peppers

Cook on stovetop in a pressure cooker for 45 minutes or with normal boiling cook 2 hours.

Peppers stuffed with Feta cheese

Small sweet red and yellow peppers

Cut off the tops (keep for later) 

and remove seeds

Stuffing:
Feta mashed with a fork mixing in

One tsp of oregano, thyme sage, and mint

Finally chopped tomato

Finally chopped onion

¼ cup olive oil

Stuff peppers, place in a glass baking dish, and bake ¾ hour at 350-374 F

 

Stuffed Eggplant Lesbian Style

Cut off the tops and bottoms

Peel down 2 sides

3 or 4  cuts down each unpeeled sides so as to create squares at the top of long pieces but make sure to leave the last couple of centimeters of the narrowest end in tact/uncut.

Filling Eggplant with stuffing mixture

[Looking at from the bottom]

Stuffing:

Finely chopped red onions

Finely chopped tomato

Finely chopped zucchini

Parsley, garlic, cinnamon, paprika, cumin, mint

Add stuffing into the cuts and bake covered with water until cooked

Add olive oil towards the end

Stuffed onions- “savanya”

Peel and cut ½ way thru lengthwise

Boil until tender

Onion layers stuffed and ready to cook

Cool while preparing stuffing,

½ beef and  ½ pork 300 gr

Add mint, cumin, salt, and parsley

1/4 cup Raki - you may need to go the Greece for this one!

¼ cup uncooked rice

Once cooled remove hearts and chop up into the stuffing mixture

Before rolling meat into the onion layers, remove film from in between the  layers

With cut at bottom, place in saucepan

Add 1 cup of beef stock

Olive oil

Make sure they’re covered with liquid; add plate to keep them down; add saucepan lid

Boil for ½ hour

Reminder: January 15 is Greek Dinner Around the World Day!  

So, try one or two of these delicious dishes.  I recommend the Savanya (or stuffed onions) . And for a tasty Greek wine try Domaine Gerovassiliou 2012 White Wine from Epanomi, Greece.  καλή όρεξη!