My Big Fat Greek Recipe Collection

In honor of Greek Easter on Sunday, I thought I'd compile and share my Greek recipe posts! Greek Easter as a youngster for me meant celebrating with loads of family, loads of food, and an Easter egg hunt with hundreds of eggs filled with candy and cash (not just coins my friend, bills. The Greeks don't mess around with Easter).

Even if you don't celebrate Greek Easter (or Easter at all), look at Sunday as an excuse to eat Greek food! It's also Cinco de Mayo - What's a girl to do? Greek for lunch, Mexican for dinner probably. Check out my Cinco de Mayo Pinterest board for recipes and entertaining ideas!

Pictured to the left is little-me and my Papou :) Some of my fondest memories of him are of him coming over to my house and cooking for us, dictating the recipes to my parents. My parents gifted me with those written recipes a few months ago, and I was so happy I was brought to tears.

I feel the most connected to my Greek culture when I'm cooking! Below are some recipes from my family, some from me, and there is a whole recipe book full of more to come! Enjoy!

  Not only is Greek Salad undoubtedly DELICIOUS, but Greek Salad Dressing is extra virgin olive oil and vinegar based, do it's healthy! I love making a chunky salad with cucumbers, tomatoes, feta, and red onions. One of my go-to pot luck/tailgate/picnic dishes is Greek Pasta Salad, which is just the normal salad with rotini pasta and chicken! It's wonderful with or without the chicken.

One of my favorite dishes of all time is a Chicken Souvlaki with Tzatziki Sauce. For me, the more garlic, the better, which is why I could pretty much eat tzatziki sauce plain by the spoonful. There's only one time in my life when I uttered the words "Well that's just too much damn garlic." I was eating skordalia at a restaurant and my dad (the only full-blooded Greek at the table) was the only one who could eat the seemingly half potato, half garlic spread, which is usually very tasty, but had gone a little overkill this time. Anyway, the point is, if you love garlic, you will love tzatziki sauce! Try it if you haven't already!

These 3 recipes are straight from my grandparents' recipe book. Tiropita is a savory cheese pie, which is enticing enough I think! The phyllo dough is buttery and flaky and the cheese filling is hot and creamy... You can't beat it. You just can't. 

Dolmades are stuffed grape leaves, and just about every recipe for the filling is different. Ours is ground beef and rice based, but there are quite a few vegetarian versions out there too! These little bite-sized meaty bundles are the perfect hor d'ouevre!

Last but not least, for dessert - the simple, understated perfection that is Rice Pudding. It's nothing fancy, but it's my FAVORITE. I even like it better than baklava! I know, I know, where's the baklava? It's still in the book! Coming soon though :) don't worry.

Check out My Big Fat Greek Recipe Board on Pinterest! 

I hope you all enjoy my family's recipes :) It makes me happy to be able to share the love and share the food. It's the Greek woman in me - I need to feed people. Now go eat some Greek food!

Greek Salad Dressing

This salad dressing tastes like home to me :) I didn't have lettuce in my salads growing up, just chunks of cucumber, tomato, red onion, and feta like so, covered in dressing like this.

I'm warning you all, this dressing is tart. I wouldn't have it any other way, but if you want to dial down the vinegar and lemon and add more olive oil, my feelings wouldn't be hurt. The garlic and oregano round out the classic Greek flavors, and I'm doing my happy food dance.

I LOVE making a meal out of a big Greek salad with this dressing and grilled chicken on top. We do this for dinner at least once a month! I hope you all enjoy this recipe straight out of my family's kitchen.

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Greek Salad Dressing

by Saucy Jocey's Kitchen March-7-2013

A tart, light vinaigrette that brings together classic Greek ingredients like lemon, garlic, oregano, and extra virgin olive oil.

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1 clove garlic
• 3/4 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 tsp salt

Instructions

Whisk together all ingredients, and enjoy!

Details

Prep time: Cook time: Total time: 5 mins Yield: 1/2 cup

Rice Pudding

I get CRAVINGS for this rice pudding. It's so simple, nothing fancy or exotic. But it feels like such a treat when I get to eat it, which is usually just at a bakery in my little Greek home town in Florida, until now! My parents gave me my gradparents' recipe book and I was beyond excited to find the rice pudding recipe in it. I usually eat it cold but it's FANTASTIC warm as well. And the cinnamon sprinkled on top is a must! Just to give you an indication of how addictive this rice pudding is - my boyfriend almost ate the whole batch before I got a chance to photograph it! I had to restrict his rice pudding intake, which he was not happy about :P We all have to make sacrifices haha but now I can share the recipe with everyone! Enjoy!

Rice Pudding

Makes 5 cups of pudding

Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes

Ingredients

1/2 gallon whole milk

1 cup sugar

1 cup rice

2 eggs

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

Cinnamon for sprinkling

1. Stir milk and sugar in a large pot over medium heat. When milk comes to a boil, add rice and reduce heat to medium low. 

2. Let mixture boil uncovered for an hour and 20 minutes, stirring lightly (trying not to scrape the bottom) every few minutes.

3. Turn the heat off and let cool for 10 minutes. Mix eggs and vanilla and slowly pour into the rice mixture while stirring quickly. *warning – eggs are only cooked by the residual heat in the rice mixture. Turn the heat to low and cook for another 5-10 minutes if cooking the eggs longer is desired. Sprinkle with cinnamon, chill and serve cold (or eat warm!) and enjoy!

WOW a whole 1/2 gallon of milk seemed like a ton to me, but I was surprised at how much it reduced. It needs to be a pudding after all, not just cooked rice. Stir a half gallon of whole milk with a whopping cup of sugar in a large pot over medium heat!

When the milk comes to a boil add the rice and reduce the heat to medium low. Stir every few minutes for an hour and 20 minutes, being careful not to scrape the bottom. The bottom gets a little toastier than you might like haha.

The milk reduces quite nicely! It will thicken up well. Just keep stirring! 

Turn the heat off on the rice mixture and let cool for 10 minutes. Whisk together 2 eggs and a tablespoon of vanilla.

Slowly poor in the egg mixture and stir vigorously so you don't just end up with scrambled eggs. The eggs will cook a little from the heat but to be honest, I don't know if it's hot enough for them to completely cook! This doesn't bother me, but if it bothers you, turn the heat back on to low and cook for another 5 - 10 minutes.

Let cool (or not!) and sprinkle with cinnamon. You get all of the wonderful sweetness and that little extra something from the cinnamon. And the creaminess is just divine. Mmm. I wish we weren't fresh out because I want more now! 

Tiropita

This is another recipe from my Papou! It's a Greek savory cheese pie called Tiropita, and its wonderful. It's made with phyllo dough, the pastry used in baklava! The mixture of textures from the flaky, crunchy phyllo dough and the creaming cheese is absolutely divine. It's almost like a savory version of cheesecake, if you can imagine that. It's commonly made in a triangle shaped version with the cheese wrapped in the phyllo, but my Papou's recipe said to make it in more of a pie form, so I listened! Straight from my Papou's recipe book - rich, crispy, cheesy goodness!

Tiropita

Makes 8-10 servings

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour and 15 minutes

Ingredients

1 (8 oz) block cream cheese, softened

16 oz ricotta cheese

1 tsp salt

3 eggs

8 oz phyllo dough, thawed

1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick)

1. Melt butter in a bowl. In a separate bowl mix cream cheese, ricotta, salt, and eggs.

2. Carefully unroll phyllo dough. Wet and ring out a dish towel and lay over phyllo dough. Spray casserole dish with cooking spray.

3. Uncover phyllo dough and peel one layer away. Lay sheet of phyllo in casserole dish. Cover unused stack of phyllo with damp towel immediately. Brush phyllo dough with melted butter. Repeat for 8 sheets of phyllo dough.

4. Pour cheese mixture on top of phyllo dough layers. Repeat phyllo layering process for 8 more sheets on top of the cheese mixture. Brush the top layer with melted butter. Bake at 325 degrees F for 1 hour. Cut into individual servings and enjoy!

Melt butter in a bowl. You will need a brush for the melted butter. The phyllo dough is SO delicate. I think trying to spoon the butter and spread it with anything else would probably be a bad idea.

Mix ricotta cheese, cream cheese, salt, and 3 eggs. Every other tiropita recipe I looked at online had feta cheese in it but my Papou's recipe didn't. But I dare not question the wisdom that is written in front of me! I followed his recipe exactly and it turned out beautifully. Maybe some other time I will experiment with some feta in the mixture!

Unroll the phyllo dough VERY CAREFULLY. It is extremely delicate.

Place a damp paper towel over the phyllo dough. It dries out very quickly because the sheets are so thin. This will help keep it from cracking! Spray a casserole dish with cooking spray.

Uncover the phyllo dough and gently peel a single layer off and place it into the casserole dish.

Immediately cover the unused phyllo dough with a towel again! It will crack quickly if you don't.

Repeat the layering process until there are 8 layers.

Fill with the cheese mixture!

Add another 8 layers of phyllo dough on top with the same layering process as before.

Does it get much better than cheese and pastry and butter?! I don't think so. Melt in your mouth filling with delicate flaky pastry - I could eat this every day. I would weigh 12949135 lbs, but I really wouldn't mind eating this every day of my life :P

Stuffed Grape Leaves (Dolmades)

This is a very special post for me! My parents recently gave me my grandparents' handwritten recipe book and it brought me to tears! I've mentioned so many times how much I regret not writing my family members' recipes down while they were still with us, and little did I know, someone already did! Why my parents neglected to tell me about this book until now, I have no idea, but I'm sure grateful it's finally mine! 

This picture is of me with my Papou :) my Dad's father, and the little card box he gave me. He used to come to our house and cook for us a few times a week. Food is pretty much the only tie I have to my Greek heritage so I am thrilled to have the recipe book of memories and traditions to pass on to my family some day! These Stuffed Grape Leaves, or Dolmades (I'll admit we only ever called them stuffed grape leaves) are my Papou's recipe and I am delighted and proud to share them with everyone :)

Stuffed Grape Leaves (Dolmades)

Makes about 30 stuffed grape leaves

Preparation Time: 20 minutes

Cooking Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour and 20 minutes

Ingredients

1/4 cup chopped red onion

1/2 Tbsp parsley

1/4 cup canned diced tomatoes

1/4 cup Uncle Ben’s rice (Papou’s recipe said specifically Uncle Ben’s)

1/4 tsp pepper

3/4 lb ground beef

30 grape leaves (about half of a 1 lb jar)

1 lemon

1. Chop onions, parsley, and tomatoes as finely as possible.

2. Mix ground beef, chopped onion, parsley, tomatoes, rice, and pepper.

3. Pat grape leaves with a paper towel to dry slightly. Place the shiny side of a grape leaf down and spread open. Place about 1/2 to 1 Tbsp of ground beef mixture at the base of the grape leaf. Fold the bottom part of the grape leaf around the ground beef mixture and roll up tightly. Place in a large pot seam side down. Repeat until all of the ground beef is used. Make one tightly packed layer in the pot before creating another layer.

4. Squeeze 1/2 lemon juice over the top of the grape leaves. Place a glass plate upside down on top of the grape leaves (to hold them down while they cook). Add water to the pot until it just reaches the edge of the plate. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to low and simmer for 45 minutes. Cut one grape leaf open to see if the meat is fully cooked and no longer pink. Cook longer if necessary. Serve with lemon wedges. Enjoy! 

Chop the onions, parsley, ....

... and tomatoes as finely as possible.

Mix chopped onions, parsley, tomatoes, ground beef, pepper, and rice. The rice must be Uncle Ben's rice! Why? Papou said so apparently. And I listened. Hah!

The grape leaves come in a 1 lb jar and this recipe used about half of it. You can find them in the ethnic section of your grocery store, or by the pickles. Pat them with a paper towel to dry them a little. 

Place 1/2 to 1 Tbsp of the meat mixture at the base of the grape leaf in a little cylinder shape.

Wrap the bottom parts around the meat.

Wrap the sides in.

Roll up!

Wrap it tightly! Some of mine fell apart when they cooked and I think it was because I didn't roll them rightly enough. 

Repeat until all the meat is used. Place them seam side down in a large pot in a tightly packed single layer before you start a second layer. 

Squeeze the juice of half a lemon over the top and add water to just cover the grape leaves.

Place a glass plate on top of the grape leaves upside down. There should be just enough water in the pot to come to the edge of the plate. The plate is to hold the grape leaves down as they cook! Bring the water to a boil and reduce the heat to low. Simmer for 45 minutes. Cut one open to make sure they are done!

Serve with lemon wedges! It is kind of hard to describe how grape leaves taste to someone that's never tried them before. I attempted to explain them to my boyfriend and couldn't think of something to compare them to. I told him to just trust me! And he ended up loving them :) The jarred grape leaves are salty and have a very unique texture, definitely leafy but sturdy. The meat mixture contains all standard ingredients everyone has had, but the grape leaves are very unique. I found them in my grocery store, so stop by the ethnic section next time you're shopping and enjoy some Greek finger food!