Once upon a time there was... Tomato and Feta Fritters

These are also called ntomatokeftedes, which is a long Greek word that means tomato fritter.  We found this recipe over at Closet Cooking, where Kevin the blogger makes all kinds of delicious and beautiful food.  We definitely recommend checking out his site.  Anyway, Greek fritters...

I was super excited about making them, Cal was less convinced.  Once we finished them, Cal loved them, too.  They definitely take a little time, and aren't great for reheating.  Perhaps these would make a better party food than weeknight dinner, but you should still make them.

Once upon a time there was... Mediterranean Couscous

This is one of our all-time favorite easy recipes to whip up for weekday lunches.  We bought a pre-made package of a similar couscous at Wegmans one time and thought it was good - but needed work.  So a few attempts later, we made up our own recipe.  This is a Castle Farm original!

All the stuff you put in it can be adjusted of course.

Once upon a time there was... Sweet and Savory Sweet Potatoes

The sweet potato is one of nature's most versatile foods (and we would know). Also, some people call this a yam. We think that's a funny word, so we go with sweet potato in any case. Some people hated yams from their childhood side dish dramas, so we will say this is a sweet potato (even though the orange-fleshed ones taste better). Deal with it!

Here's a great recipe we invented for Yams Two-Ways - or as we like to call it, Sweet and Savory Sweet Potatoes.

Once upon a time there was... Mediterranean Salad with Green Beans and Feta

So since we are trying to eat healthier we went looking for new, interesting salads.  We came across this one from Martha Stewart that seemed simple and interesting.  It's a good way to sneak in some beans for an extra nutritional benefit, too.

ingredients
1 head of romaine, chopped
8 oz green beans
2 naval oranges
1 1/2 c feta cheese
1 small red onion, sliced
15 oz can of white beans
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp white wine vinegar
salt and pepper

instructions


1. prepare green beans. in a saucepan, boil water, and simmer green beans 4-6 minutes until slightly tender. rinse with cold water.

2.  prepare orange.  peel and slice fruit.

3. prepare lettuce and other veggis.

4. prepare dressing.  whisk together oil and vinegar.  add salt and pepper to taste.

5. create salad.  toss together all ingredients. serve!

Here are our thoughts on this:  The dressing needs something, but we're not sure what.  (It's just a little boring.)  We still don't like white beans even when we hide them in a salad. Green beans in a salad is do-able.  Feta makes everything better.

So, we're not ready to reject this salad, but we think it needs a little work.  We would love to hear your ideas, Castle Farm Cookbook blog readers!

Here's the nutritional info:

pig, out!

Once upon a time there was... Feta Stuffed Chicken

Cal and I sort of made up this chicken as we went along.  We've done similar things before (i.e. stuffed meat with cheese) but we were not exactly in a recipe following kind of mood.  We paired this with a rice pilaf (see the next post for instructions).

ingredients
8 oz chicken breast
1/3 c feta cheese
2 Tbsp tomato based spread (this is the one that we used, we think a bruschetta filling would work well too)

1 Tbsp olive oil

mint, oregano, salt and pepper to taste

instructions
1. preheat oven to 400.
2. butterfly chicken breast.  spread your spread inside.

3. stuff with feta.  1/3 c is a guess.  we recommend putting as much as will fit into your chicken.

4. drizzle with olive oil.  sprinkle with seasonings.  we weren't exactly using measuring devices on this one.

5. bake 20-30 min, until juices run clear and the chicken will no longer cause you to die.

6. also be making rice pilaf (see next post). eat that too.

of course it was delicious! no further comments.  pig, out.

Once upon a time there was... Greek Salad

As you may know, Cal and I are world traveling farm animals. We have been to Greece - twice. So you could say we know a thing or two about Greek food. For example, here is us at a cafe in Athens enjoying wine and baklava.

What we have decided about Greece is that they have the best food in the entire world. So, we dabble in Greek cooking, and you will see us post many more Greek recipes in the future. Recently, we discovered a food blog we love, Elly Says Opa! Today, we are making a big Greek salad using Elly's Greek Dressing recipe and her chicken gyro recipe. We wish we still had some of our authentic Greek olive oil to use for this, but our house extra virgin will have to do. We do however have some greek salad seasoning that we brought back with us and will use then in place of just oregano.

ingredients

for the dressing

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/3 c red wine vinegar

2 heaping Tbsp greek yogurt

1 tsp greek seasoning mix (or oregano)

1/4 c extra virgin olive oil

salt, pepper

for the chicken

4 cloves garlic, smashed

juice of 1 lemon

2 tsp red wine vinegar

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 heaping Tbsp greek yogurt

1 Tbsp greek seasoning mix (or oregano)

salt and pepper

1 lb chicken

for the rest of the salad

lettuce

cucumber

feta cheese

pepper

whatever you want to put in it: olives, tomato, etc

instructions

1. marinate chicken. whisk together all the chicken ingredients in a small bowl. Add chicken. cover and refrigerate at least an hour.

2. make the dressing. whisk together all of the ingredients except the olive oil. Add the oil in a steady stream, while whisking to combine and emulsify. add salt and pepper to taste. refrigerate an hour.

3. preheat broiler. sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. broil until cooked through, about 5 min per side.

4. toss salad ingredients and dressing.

5. when chicken is cooked, slice and top the salad.

We really liked this salad. It was light and filling and yummy. Conveniently, we still had some leftover homemade pitas to complete the meal. Once again thanks to Elly Says Opa! for the excellent and authentic greek recipes!

Pig, out.