Greek Meat Pie (Kreatopita) From Corfu

This delicious meat pie is a speciality of Corfu. Traditionally it is only made in the Carnival period (Apokries) leading up to Clean Monday, which is the beginning of Lent. We are in that period now - Clean Monday is next Monday 7th - so, true to tradition, we made the pie. At the bottom of the post you can see the proud cook (none other than my mother-in-law!) holding the pie just after it was taken out of the oven.

Ingredients

For the Pastry

500g all purpose flour

1 free range egg

120ml extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp vinegar

1 level tsp salt

Tepid water – enough to make a pliable dough

For the Filling

1½ kg leg of lamb cut into small pieces (bitefuls)

400g Carolina rice

9 free range eggs

580g condensed milk

580g water

200ml extra virgin oil

1 tbsp flour

1 clove garlic finely chopped

½ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp ground cloves

Salt and pepper to taste

5 free range eggs for the eggwash

Preparation

Pastry

Put the egg in a mixing bowl and beat for 1 minute.

Add the oil and vinegar.

Mix the salt into the flour and add to the liquid in the bowl.

Adding enough water, make a pliable dough.

Cover in clingfilm and set aside to rest for 1 hour.

Filling

Put the water in a pan and bring to the boil.

Add the rice and boil for 1 minute.

Remove from the heat and stir in the oil and milk.

In a mixing bowl beat the 9 eggs for 2-3 minutes.

Put the meat in a large mixing bowl and add the rice mixture.

Add the beaten eggs to this mixture.

Add the flour, garlic, cinnamon, cloves, salt and pepper, mix well and set aside.

Pastry

Butter an oven dish 40cm diameter and set aside.

Take the dough and with a rolling pin open it out on a flour-dusted surface.

The pastry should be large enough to cover the base and sides of the oven dish plus another 15cm approx. extra around the edge.

With the help of the rolling pin, place the pastry in the oven dish so that it fits tightly along the base and sides – this is important as there should be no bubbles left.

Add the filling.

Fold the edge of the pastry inwards over the filling, making sure that no liquid gets in between the pastry and the inside of the oven dish.

Lightly spread the liquid from the filling evenly over the top with your fingers, again making sure none goes down between the pastry and the dish.

Place in a preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius for 1 hour.

Beat the remaining 5 eggs well and spread over the whole pie when you remove it from the oven.

Put the pie back into the oven for another 5-10 minutes approx.

 

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Greek Polisporo Soup

This 'multi-grain' or 'multi-seed' soup (sporos is the Greek word for seed) is really a kind of broth. It is traditionally made in villages on November 21st. The reasons for this are that it is the end of the planting season and so any grains / seeds that were left over would be cooked as a soup and this would also be 'offered' to the Virgin Mary (November 21st is one of her name days) in the hope that their crops would do well. It really is a delicious broth and very easy to prepare.

Ingredients
100g lentils
100g chickpeas
100g haricot beans
100g corn
100g broad beans
200g whole wheat
100 ml olive oil
Juice from 1 lemon
Salt


Preparation
Soak the broad beans in cold water from the morning of the previous day.

Soak the chickpeas in tepid water with 1 level tablespoon of salt from the previous day.

Next day, rinse the chickpeas thoroughly in plenty of water.

Drain the broad beans and with the help of a sharp knife remove the upper black parts.

Put all the ingredients in a heavy bottomed pan with enough water to more than cover them.

Bring to the boil and then simmer for 10 minutes.

Drain them and then put them back in the same pan and add boiling water – enough to cover them plus 4 cm.

Simmer for 2 hours.

Add salt to taste.

Beat the olive oil and lemon juice together well and pour on top of the soup.

Serve hot.

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Butterbeans Plaki (Gigantes)

This delicious dish can be eaten at any time, but is especially associated with Clean Monday (March 10th this year), when Lent begins before Easter.


Ingredients

½ kg Butterbeans, soaked overnight
2 medium onions finely chopped
1 can tomatoes finely chopped
1 fresh red chilli pepper
½ fresh red sweet pepper finely chopped
1 cup celery leaves and stem roughly chopped
1 cup carrots in thin slices
1 cup olive oil
1 teaspoonful oregano
Salt & pepper to taste


Preparation

Boil the butterbeans in a large pan for 15 minutes, removing the foam that rises to the top of the water with a wooden spoon before the beans come to boiling point.

Transfer the beans to another large pan and add enough boiled water to cover them.

Add the finely chopped onions and cook slowly until they are soft but not over boiled.

Transfer the beans and onions to a shallow oven dish and add all the other ingredients apart from the olive oil. Add just enough of the water from the pan to cover them.

Add the olive oil and seasoning to taste.

Bake in a pre-heated moderate oven for 40 minutes or until they colour nicely and the sauce has thickened.

Serve with plain pilaf rice or as a side dish. 

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Traditional Greek Pickles (Toursi)

Greek pickles can be eaten as a side dish at any time, but are usually associated with Clean Monday, when Lent begins before Easter. They are delicious with Gigantes (see recipe under Side Dishes) which is also traditionally eaten on Clean Monday. The pickles can be prepared in 1 day, so there is time to get them ready for Clean Monday, which is on March 10 this year.

Ingredients

1 medium size cauliflower
2 medium size turnips
6 carrots
6 small cucumbers
6 long sweet red peppers
6 long spicy green peppers
1 celery stem
1 litre wine vinegar
1 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons thick salt
5-6 well sealed ½ litre jars


Preparation

Rinse the vegetables well.

Peel the carrots.

Cut the cauliflower up into small florets.

Cut the turnips into approx. 1cm x 2cm cubes

Chop the rest of the vegetables, apart from the green peppers, diagonally into 1cm slices.

Place all of the vegetables in a basin with the salt and leave overnight.

Next day, sterilise the jars by placing them for a few seconds in a pan of boiling water.

Fill all the jars with the vegetables only and not any remaining liquid.

At the top of each jar place the long spicy green peppers.

Fill the jars with ¼ water and ¾ vinegar and then cover the vegetables with olive oil at the top.

Seal the jars.

Fill a large pan just over half full with water and bring to the boil.

Place a cloth at the bottom of the pan and place the well-sealed jars upside down on top of this.

Simmer for 20 minutes.

Remove the jars and leave them to cool.

Once they have cooled, you can store them for later use or eat immediately.

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Cuttlefish with spinach (Soupies me spanaki)

This is a dish traditionally eaten on Clean Monday, which is the beginning of the Lent period before Easter - March 2 this year. Of course, it can also be a delicious side dish at any time of the year.


Ingredients
1 kg cuttlefish
1 kg spinach
1 onion grated
1 tablespoon tomato paste
3 cloves garlic
100 ml olive oil
Salt and pepper

Preparation

Clean the cuttlefish, removing the ink, the eye and the hard white bone inside the stomach. Keep just the white fillet and tentacles.

Cut the fillet into approx. 4cm pieces.

Put the oil in a shallow pan, add the onion and fry for 3 minutes.

Add the chopped garlic and continue frying for another 1 minute.

Add the cuttlefish and continue frying for another 5 minutes.

Dilute the tomato paste in a glass of water, add to the mixture and simmer for 40 minutes.

Add the spinach, along with salt and pepper and stir.


With the pan uncovered, allow the mixture to simmer until nearly all the water is absorbed.

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Greek Taramosalata

This is another dish that is traditionally eaten on Clean Monday at the beginning of Lent before Easter. It is also well-known worldwide. It is made from taramas, which is the fish roe from cod (mosy common) or carp. You may know Taramosalata as being bright pink in colour, but this is usually due to food colouring being added. It should be a colour varying from beige to light pink, depending on the fish roe.

Ingredients

200g taramas
1 chopped spring onion
1 kg white bread
1 ml extra virgin oil
Juice from 2 lemons

Preparation

Cut up the bread, soak it in water and then drain.

Put the taramas and lemon juice in the blender for 5 minutes.

Add the bread and remaining ingredients and blend for another 3 minutes.

Garnish and serve as a side dish.

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