Courgettes in Olive Oil

 
Another summer recipe! If you haven't tried this, believe me you are missing a lot!

Very easy to make, very healthy and light and very tasty. This dish always reminds me of my English mother-in-law because last summer when she was staying at ours, I would make a whole lot of this and we would finish it between the two of us.

It is very yummy when warm, but also can be eaten when it is cold. So it is very practical. You can keep it in the fridge for 3 or 4 days. Have it as a light lunch with a slice of bread and some feta cheese, or eat it as a side dish for dinner.

Ingredients:
4 medium size courgettes
4 tomatoes
1 big onion
4 cloves of garlic
A handful of rice (or bulghur)
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
Sugar (optional)
A handful of dill to decorate

How to:
1. Wash and scrape the courgettes, cut them into small chunks.
2. Wash the tomatoes and chop them by hand. Then chop the onions and garlic.
3. Start heating a pan and add some olive oil. Put the onions and garlic and start stirring. Once the onions are soft and transparent, add the tomatoes and cook for about 2-3 minutes.
4. Put the courgettes on top and mix everything thoroughly in high heat. Add some more olive oil at this stage. This dish is an 'olive oil' dish, so you have to have a generous amount.
5. Spread a handful of rice (not more than that because as they cook, they get bigger and then you end up with a courgettes in rice).
6. Lastly, add some salt and pepper, mix and sprinkle a teaspoon of sugar on top. Sugar gives it an extra sweetness and taste. You can skip this stage but if you try it once, you can never go without! Add 1 or 2 cups of boiling water. Turn the heat down and leave to simmer.
7. Once the courgettes and rice soak up the water and cook, your dish is ready. Decorate with fresh chopped dill and serve warm or cold. Eat and enjoy!

 This one was made with bulghur but to be honest, it is always better with rice.

Fresh Tomato Salad or Koukouvagia

 

This Cretan recipe is my favourite. As a person who doesn't like eating raw tomatoes in a salad or anywhere, I am a big fan of this dish! So, you can tell it is really very delicious. It can be a very nice salad for any table or alternatively, it can make your breakfast or lunch on its own. The bread is high in fiber, so it is pretty filling. Personally, I like to have it for my breakfast in the summer and I don't need anything else.

It is the combination that achieves perfection and is very common in both Greek and Turkish cuisines: Cheese, tomatoes, bread. Plus, of course, olive oil, olives and thyme/oregano. In Turkey we generally use thyme in salads and dishes, whereas on Crete, they have more oregano from the mountains. It is more pungent, stronger and thus, a very small pinch goes a long way.

The important element in this recipe is rusk. It is not any ordinary rusk bread, it is a specialty in Crete, it is called 'dakos' and it is made from a very heavy rye bread. It is not easy to find elsewhere, so my suggestion for the rusk bread is either buy a thick sliced one, if you can find it, or make your own rusk bread at home. Buy a big loaf of rye bread or whole wheat bread. Cut it into an inch thick pieces, put them in the oven and bake in low temperature until it loses its water and becomes very crunchy. 

One tiny but very important note, you have to grate the tomatoes. Putting them in a blender or chopping with a knife won't do the trick. You have to grate it, so that it gives out its water but still keeps its pulse.

Ingredients:
3 medium size tomatoes
2- 3 pieces of rusk bread
1 slice of feta cheese
5-7 black olives
A generous amount of olive oil
A pinch of oregano

How to:
1. Put your rusk bread on a flat serving plate. Grate the tomatoes and slowly add them on top of the bread, soaking the bread with the tomato juice as much as possible.
2. Crunch some feta cheese on top and wash the plate with extra virgin olive oil. The bread should soak up the tomato juice and olive oil.
3. Add some olives on top and sprinkle with oregano (or thyme). Eat and enjoy!

Home Made Fresh Pesto Sauce

Basil is plenty in this season. It is fresh, it is tangy, it is delicious. We all know the Italian pesto sauce. The basic ingredients are basil, pine nuts, garlic, olive oil and cheese. Pesto sauce is sold all over the supermarkets in small jars and they are not bad. But I like to do my own sauce at home, without any chemicals or preservatives and without too much salt in it. Plus, this sauce is so easy to make, you will feel proud of yourselves! =)

The only thing is that I don't add any cheese to this sauce because I don't want it to go bad. We will keep the sauce in air tight jars that have been sterilized in boiling water. It keeps for at least 4 months unopened in the fridge. After you open your jars, I recommend you to try and consume it in 5-6 weeks at most. That is why when I make this sauce, I put them in small jars.

This is my second year in making pesto sauce and this time it is better than my last year's sauce. So, I will write the recipe that makes two small jars. If you want to prepare more than this, just double the ingredients.

We need a big blender with chopping blades. After we boil our jars that is. This step is very important as it will affect whether your sauce will go bad or not. Do not neglect this step. Believe me, I learned the hard way! Now we're ready to go.

Ingredients:
3 big bunches of fresh basil
75 gr pine nuts (can be more)
1/2 - 1 glass of extra virgin olive oil
6 big cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon of salt

How to:
1. Wash your basil properly and drain them. Peel the garlic and chop them into two-three pieces. Put your basil, garlic, pine nuts and salt into the blender and start mixing.
2. While the blender is on, pour the olive oil from the top slowly until it reaches the perfect consistency. It takes approximately 5 minutes and almost a glass of olive oil to achieve it.
3. Taste your pesto sauce and maybe add a little bit more salt or nuts or oil. It is up to your taste to decide at this step. For me, the ingredients above made the perfect mixture.
4. Pour the sauce into the jars and seal with air tight caps. Put them in the fridge.

SOME DISHES YOU CAN MAKE WITH YOUR PESTO SAUCE:
1. Fettucini with pesto and parmesan cheese.
2. Serve with grilled chicken or beef.
3. Bake chicken pieces with pesto sauce and some milk/cream.
4. Add milk/cream and cheese to your pesto sauce and cook your chicken breast pieces inside it.
5. Spread over bread slices, put some tomatoes and feta cheese on top and toast in the oven for a delicious snack/appetizer in dinner parties.