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!

Stuffed Pepper Soup

I am so DELIGHTED to be finally sharing this recipe! Stuffed Pepper Soup is a staple in my kitchen and in my family but it's been so HOT outside that I haven't been able to make it until now! Lucky for me, North Florida has a lovely fall season and I finally got to bust out this classic :) As I said, I've been eating this meal as long as I can remember. My mom is not a huge fan of cooking but she LOVES making this, and everyone loves eating it. The French bread and butter is an ABSOLUTE NECESSITY. The soup is just not the same without it. Don't skip that step. It really doesn't get much more simple than this! So few ingredient, but so much flavor, it amazes me really. The beef, peppers, and tomato flavors blend beautifully together with just one standard seasoning - salt. That's it, but I promise the basic ingredients come together in a wonderful way.

Featured in La Petite Fashionista Magazine!

Stuffed Pepper Soup

Makes 4 Servings

Total Time: 1 hour 45 minutes

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs ground beef

1/2 cup rice

1/4 cup water

1 egg

46 fl oz tomato juice

46 fl oz water

3 green bell peppers

1 loaf French bread

1/4 cup butter

Salt to taste

1. Mix tomato juice and water in a large pot and turn heat to high. Mix ground beef, rice, water, and egg in a large bowl.

2. Slice off the top third of two of the bell peppers. Cut around and discard the stems. Discard any seeds. Tightly pack meat mixture in the hollowed out bell peppers.

3. Cut the remaining bell pepper and top pieces into 1 1/2 inch cubes, discarding stems and seeds. Form the remaining meat mixture into meatballs 2 inches in diameter.

4. Add stuffed peppers, meatballs, and pepper chunks to the pot. When the pot comes to a boil, cover and turn heat to low. Simmer for 1 hour and 30 minutes. Add salt to taste. Serve with sliced French bread and butter. 

Mix the tomato juice and water in a large pot and turn the heat to high. To make your life easy simply pour the tomato juice in, fill the tomato juice container with water, add that to the pot, and mix!

Mix the ground beef, rice, water, and egg. Simple ingredients.

Slice the top third off of two bell peppers. The larger bases will hold some of the stuffing! Discard any seeds and stems. Don't waste the pepper pieces around the stems though!

All clean.

Tightly pack the meat mixture in the hallowed out bell peppers and add them to the pot.

Chop up the other bell pepper, discarding the stems and seeds like before.

Form the remaining meat mixture into 2 inch meatballs and add all meatballs and peppers to the pot!

When the pot comes to a boil, cover and simmer on low for an hour and a half. This is another one of those meals that makes your house smell scrumptious!

Salt to taste and serve with French bread and butter. This recipe is perfect for feeding large groups of people! Depending on the size of your pot, you could fill it with more stuffed peppers and meatballs for a larger crowd. I've even had two pots going on the stove at the same time for large groups! It's definitely hungry-man approved - my boyfriend puts in requests for this soup! The flavor tastes as if you put 49189173679 times more effort into the recipe than you really did, which is always good! Enjoy this easy and hearty family recipe :)

Spicy Chicken Stir Fry

 This stir fry recipe is VERY versatile. The sauce has a great mixture of flavors that would taste great on whatever vegetables and meat you wanted to use! Salty soy sauce, rich sesame oil, some zesty lime juice, a kick from red pepper flakes, garlic, and ginger. You really can taste each element individually. Once the sauce is done, switch up the veggies and meat as you like! I'm in LOVE water chestnuts and bell peppers so they always make it into my stir fry. Go with whatever you're in the mood for and whatever is fresh!  

Spicy Chicken Stir Fry

Makes 4 servings

Total Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups rice (brown rice if you'd like)

3 cups water

2 tsp chicken bouillon 

3 1/2 Tbsp soy sauce

2 Tbsp sesame oil

1/2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 cloves garlic

1 tsp fresh grated ginger

1 tsp lime juice

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

1 chicken breast

1 bell pepper

1/2 onion

1 head broccoli

8 oz water chestnuts

1. Mix water, rice, and chicken bouillon in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cook covered for 20 minutes.

2. While rice is cooking, chop florets off broccoli head and set aside. Slice bell pepper, onion, and chicken breast. Slice skin off ginger and grate. Chop garlic.

3. Mix soy sauce, sesame oil, olive oil, garlic, ginger, lime juice, red pepper flakes, chicken, bell pepper, onion, and water chestnuts. Set aside.

4. Bring a pot of a few cups of water to a boil and add broccoli florets. Cook for 2 minutes and strain. Return pot to the stove and turn heat to medium high (or use a wok instead if you have one!).

5. Add strained broccoli and chicken and vegetable mixture to the pot and cook until chicken is fully cooked, about 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Serve with fluffed rice and enjoy!

First, get the rice set up because it takes a while to cook. Bring rice, water, and chicken bouillon to a boil, reduce the heat to low and cook covered for 20 minutes. Chop the florets off the broccoli and set  aside. These will have to cook for a few minutes before getting stir fried with everything else! 

Slice the skin off of the ginger before you grate it.

Mmm is smells delightful!

Slice up the veggies and chicken! 

Mix together everything but the broccoli and (obviously) the rice mixture.

Bring a few cups of water to a boil in a pot and cook the broccoli for two minutes. Strain the broccoli and return the pot to the stove on medium high. 

Return the broccoli to the pot along with the chicken and veggie mixture. Stir constantly and cook until the chicken is done! About 5 minutes. By this time the rice will be about done!

Serve stir fried veggies and meat over the fluffed rice and enjoy! Switch it up with steak instead of chicken and use your favorite vegetables. The spicy sauce will season your favorite stir fry ingredients beautifully!

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! 

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!