Greek Theme, Part 3: Lemon Olive Roast Chicken

Continuing on with my recent Greek theme...

So far, all I've posted were the appetizers. Honestly, you could make a whole meal off of the appetizers. I brought the leftover Greek dips to work with me and my staff raved about it. But, Miss T and I also fixed a wonderful main dish, Lemon Olive Roast Chicken. So tasty! The chicken is moist and flavorful, tasting of lemon, time, and garlic. The pan drippings taste fabulous over rice. Served with a green salad topped with tomatoes, cucumber, olives and feta this would make a perfect family Sunday night meal.

LEMON OLIVE ROAST CHICKEN
INGREDIENTS

1 whole chicken cut up
1/2 c Greek olives, I used a mixture of black and green
1 lemon, sliced
8-10 garlic cloves, cut in half

1/2 c white wine
2 T lemon juice
1/4 c olive oil
Fresh thyme sprigs
Salt and pepper to taste

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2) Rinse chicken and pat dry. Place in a roasting pan and sprinkle with salt and pepper on both sides. (I had trouble getting my chicken to brown. It may be a good idea or brown the outside in a pan before placing in the roasting pan. I'll have to try that next time myself.)
3) Lay sliced lemon over chicken. Scatter

olives throughout the pan. 
4) Pour white wine and lemon juice into bottom of pan. Drizzle olive oil over top of chicken. Lay thyme sprigs over top of chicken.
5) Place chicken in 375 degree oven. Bake for 35-45 minutes, until a meat thermometer read 165 degrees when stuck into the thickest piece of chicken. Let cool for 10

minutes before serving.
6) Serve over rice or couscous. 

Greek Theme Part 2: Roasted Peppers Stuffed with Feta Cheese

The last appetizer Miss T and I made for our Greek Day was a fabulous stuffed pepper filled with feta cheese or herbed goat cheese and farmers' market tomatoes. I'll have to say, I liked the ones stuffed with herbed goat cheese best. The goat cheese was creamier and richer, and the herbs added a nice layer to the flavors the feta ones lacked. But all around wonderful, easy to fix, and a pretty appetizer for any party.

PEPPERS STUFFED WITH FETA
INGREDIENTS 
12 small, sweet peppers, I used mini-bell peppers
8 oz feta cheese, block not crumbled (or goat cheese; Feel free to use a flavored cheese too. The herbed goat cheese was wonderful.)
1 large tomato
2 T olive oil
1/4 cup water
Salt to taste
1) Preheat over to 350 degrees.
2) Boil water in a medium-sized pot. Gently put pepper into boiling water and simmer for 5 minutes to soften.
3) Remove peppers from water. Set aside to cool until easily handled.

4) Meanwhile, slide tomato in half through the middle (not through the stem). Squeeze gently to remove seeds. Slice tomato into strips.






5) Cut feta into strips just long enough to fill each pepper.
5) Slice peppers length-wise down one side only. Do not slice in half. Remove stem and seeds.

6) Stuff with cheese and a strip or two of tomato.

7) Place stuffed peppers into a baking dish that will pack them in so they are touching. Carefully pour water into the bottom of the pan and drizzle olive oil over the peppers. Sprinkle with salt. (You can sprinkle other herbs over the top if you wish as well; thyme, oregano, dill or rosemary would all work well.)


8) Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes until the peppers are tender and the cheese is soft. Let cool a little before serving. You don't want the hot cheese to burn someone's mouth.

Greek Theme Part 1: Quick and Easy Greek Dips

My friend, Miss T, and I decided to have a Greek themed day of cooking. We fixed all sorts of Greek food, watched "My Big Fat Greek Wedding", and talked about travel to Greece. (She's been. I haven't. Lucky her!) We cooked Baba Ganoush, Tatziki, Peppers Stuffed with Feta, Lemon Olive Roast Chicken, Broiled Figs, and topped the day off with Lemon Sorbet (not homemade, but very refreshing). Greek food is remarkable easy to prepare and very tasty. The flavors are fresh and varied. I'll be posting our delicious Sunday cooking spree recipes over the next few days. There's no promise these are truly authentic Greek recipes, but they speak Greek to me.

Try a few recipes out and as you are enjoying the fruits of your labor, close you eyes and imagine the aqua-blue Mediterranean, white washed stucco buildings, hot sun, and millennia of history.

BABA GANOUSH

Couple of notes before we start: 

Miss T wanted to try Japanese eggplants, too, so we included a couple of those in our recipe. I don't think they are necessary for the recipe but you'll see them in the pictures. If you want to use Japanese eggplants, you'll need quite a few (maybe a dozen) to equal one large regular eggplant. 

Tahini is a ground sesame seed butter, like peanut butter but with sesame seeds. It can be found in most large grocery stores these days, either with the peanut butter or in the Mediterranean section. I bought mine at Albertsons. It does separate. It's okay if there is a layer of oil on top and a really thick layer of nut butter on the bottom. Just stir is up good before measuring.


INGREDIENTS
1 large eggplant 
1-2 T olive oil
1/4 cup Tahini
2-4 large garlic cloves
Salt to taste
1-2 T lemon juice

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2) Cut the stem off the eggplant and split it down the center length-wise. Brush the flesh with a little olive oil. Not too much, it will absorb all the olive oil you brush on.
3) Place the eggplant, cut side down, on a foil lined baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes until the insides are soft.

4) Set aside and let cool. When cool enough to comfortably handle, peel back the outer skin. If it sticks, scrape off gently with a spoon. Discard the skins.

5) Place the roasted eggplant flesh in a blender or food processor. Add tahini, garlic, lemon juice to taste, and salt to taste. Blend until smooth.

That's it! Simple!

Serve with cut up veggies or soft pita as a dip. Use on sandwiches, pita pockets, or wraps. 



You can add other things to the Baba Ganoush just like you can with hummus. Try parsley, dill, or a little thyme and oregano to make it an herbed dip. Or add more garlic, or roast the garlic first. Add cayenne or red pepper flakes to make it spicy.




TATZIKI
INGREDIENTS
2-3 pickling cucumbers, or 1 regular cucumber
8 oz plain Greek yogurt
2-3 T chopped dill
2 T lemon juice
1 clove garlic minced
Salt to taste

1) Peel, seed and dice the cucumber, the finer the better.

2) In a bowl, mix the cucumber with all of the remaining ingredients. Add salt to taste.

That's it! Super simple!

Serve with veggies, soft pita, or pita chips a a dip. Or serve with a spicy meat dish to help cut the heat. It could be blended and used as a salad dressing. It's also good in wraps and pita pockets.

Baba Ganoush on the left and Tatziki on the right

Turkish Stuffed Eggplant

I've been craving Turkish Stuffed Eggplant for months now. I'm not even sure how the idea popped in my head but it's been there, like a catchy song you just can't shake. Then last week at the Farmers' Market I found the perfect little round eggplants for making the Turkish recipe. Score!

TURKISH STUFFED EGGPLANT
INGREDIENTS
4-6 baseball-sized (but egg-shaped) eggplant

1 cup diced onion
4 T olive oil
6 oz ground lamb
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 t oregano
1 t dried pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste
1 or 2 T crushed garlic
14 oz can petite diced tomatoes
1 cup water

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2) Trim the stems and little leafy-parts but don't cut them off entirely. Cut each eggplant in half length-wise. Salt the inside flesh and set aside. The salt acts to draw out any bitterness in the eggplant.

3) Use two tablespoons of olive oil in a saute pan to cook the diced onions. When onions are tender, add ground lamb, spices, garlic and salt and pepper to taste.
Cook until lamb is browned through.

4) While lamb is cooking, rinse and dry the eggplant. Slice out a little of each center to create a cavity for the lamb stuffing. Dice the eggplant centers to add to the stuffing.

5) Add diced tomatoes, liquid and all, and diced eggplant to the pan. Cook together for about 5 minutes. Add salt is needed.

6) Arrange eggplant cut side up in a baking dish so they are touching and won't tip over. My dish was a little too large so I filled the extra space with crumpled foil. Scoop the lamb mixture carefully into the centers of each eggplant. Divide evenly. Pour cup of water into the bottom of the baking dish.

7) The recipes I researched online had a slice of tomato and a slice of mild pepper laid on top. I did this, but I don't think it's necessary; it's more for decoration.

8) Cover the pan with foil and bake in 350 degree oven for 45-60 minutes. Until the eggplant are very soft. Remove foil and bake an additional 15 minutes.

Yummy and luscious. Even though eggplant are summer produce, this recipe reminds me of warm, soothing, winter comfort food. You can top it a bit if you like with a little feta or parsley.