Pastitsio, Greek Pasta Bake

After 14 years of driving to the South of France every summer, due to my eldest daughter's access and equipment needs, last week we treated our younger two now adult children to a last minute package holiday.  My son likes history and Greek mythology, my middle daughter likes sun and sea, and we all like food, so we settled on Rhodes.  They tried their best to eat most of the popular Greek dishes, but the one of the dishes they didn't try was Pastitsio, a layered lasagne like pasta bake, so I introduced them to it.

Serves 4-6

500g long pasta tubes, pastitsio no.2 aka bucatini, or penne
2 tbsp olive or sunflower oil
1 large onion, finely diced
2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 courgette grated, or a bag of baby spinach leaves (optional)
500g beef or pork mince, or a mixture of both
150ml red wine
500g passata
1 tsp dried mint

1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp cinnamon

1 bay leaf
2 eggs

500g greek style yoghurt

1/4 tsp nutmeg
100g grated halloumi, cheddar, or parmesan

Gently fry the onion in 1 tbsp olive oil in a saucepan. 

When the onion starts to look translucent add the courgette if using.  Fry for 5-10 minutes until soft.  Add the garlic and mince, breaking the mince up as you cook it.  When broken up and with very few raw pink bits, add the passata, rinse the carton out with the wine and add this, and the herbs & spices, apart from the nutmeg.  Cover and bring to the boil then turn down to a simmer, stirring from time to time, whilst you cook the pasta.

Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the packet.  

Just before the pasta cooking time is up, check the pasta sauce. It should be slightly thick, like single cream. If still too watery, take the lid off and continue to simmer whilst you drain the pasta.

Drain the pasta, tip into a large high sided baking dish, and stir through 1 tbsp olive oil. 

Turn the oven on to 180C.  

Beat the eggs into the yoghurt together with a pinch of salt and nutmeg.

Pour the meat sauce evenly over the pasta (if being traditional the pasta should be lined up all the same direction in the baking dish, but I have yet to bother to do this), then evenly cover this with the yoghurt and egg mixture.  Top with the grated cheese.

Bake for 45-60 minutes at 180C in the middle of the oven or until golden brown and bubbling. You may wish to turn the grill of for a couple of minutes to brown the top, but keep a close eye on it - the cheese burns quickly! 

Serve with a big green salad.

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Greek Style Spinach & Feta Pasta Salad

This pasta salad was inspired by the flavours of Spanakopita, the less well known pasta bake Makaronopita, a big bag of freshly picked rainbow chard (which use like spinach), and the need to make a pasta salad in half an hour for a neighbourhood barbecue.

Fried courgette or roasted squash can be used instead of spinach.

Serves 10 as an accompaniment 

500g spinach or chard

500g pasta

200g feta

4 heaped dessertspoons plain yoghurt

1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed

4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp dried mint

1/2 tsp chilli flakes (optional) 

Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions.  Drain when cooked, and rinse with cold water to cool and prevent sticking.

Wash the spinach and steam in the pasta pan. The water on the leaves from washing should sufficient to steam it in.  Cook over a medium high heat with the lid on for about 5 minutes until the spinach has wilted.

Whilst the spinach is cooking mash the feta with a fork in a small bowl to the consistency of cottage cheese.  Stir in the yoghurt, garlic, mint, and chilli if using.

Drain the spinach and squeeze the water out.  Spread it out on a chopping board and chop in it fairly finely.

Tip the pasta back into the pasta pan, stir through the olive oil, then mix in the feta mixture and chopped spinach.

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Maroulosalata, Greek Chopped Lettuce Salad

The Greek Salad most of us think of is generally tomato, cucumber, onion, feta cheese, and olives.  However, much to my delight with a lettuce glut at the allotment, I have learnt there is Greek lettuce based salad, Marousalata.  

All the recipes I looked at online just used lettuce, spring onions (scallions), and feta. I don't know if these are traditional Greek ingredients, or have been adapted to US tastes.  I personally prefer to use red onion, add cucumber, and sometimes use halloumi instead of feta.

Serves 4 as a side

1 Cos or Romaine lettuce

1/2 small cucumber (optional)

4 spring onions or 1/2  medium sized red onion 

100g feta or halloumi cheese

2 tbsp chopped fresh dill or mint

4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp lemon juice 

Slice the lettuce into 1cm strips, turn through 90 degrees and slice again so you have little squares of lettuce and place in a salad bowl.

Chop all the onion, and cucumber if using, to a similar size and place on top of the chopped lettuce

Crumble the feta over the top, followed by the olive oil, lemon juice, and herbs.

Toss the salad before serving.  As feta is quite salty, I prefer to let everyone season their own to taste once served.

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Feta & Walnut Dip

Needing last minute nibbles for a get together with the girls, I was inspired to add some walnuts to whipped feta to serve on homemade sourdough crostini.  It went down well so I'd better write up the recipe before I forget

Makes a small 150g pot

100g feta

25g walnuts

1 small garlic clove, peeled and crushed

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Zest of half a lemon (optional)

1-2 tbsp whole milk or greek yoghurt

Whizz all the ingredients together in a mini food processor, adding milk or greek yoghurt to get your preferred texture (stiffer for spreading on crostini, looser for a dip).

This was made with half a block of feta as the other half had been eaten in a salad at lunch.  A whole 200g block would serve a small gathering better. Just double the ingredients.

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Stuffed Spaghetti Squash

An unexpected spaghetti squash arrived in our Riverford vegbox last week.  We had such a meaty cooked breakfast for yesterday morning for one of my daughter's birthday meals, that my partner half jokingly said we should eat the squash for dinner, before he went out for the day to his elderly mother's.

Googling 'spaghetti squash recipes' brought me back to Riverford's recipes, and their Pesto Stuffed Spaghetti Squash with Breadcrumbs & Mozzarella. As we did not have any mozzarella to spare (today's homemade pizza is the last birthday meal) I thought I'd use feta, which sent me off on a Greek inspired filling.

Serves 2

1 medium to large spaghetti squash

200g feta

50g pine nuts

1 tbsp chopped or dried mint

1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed

1/4 tsp chilli flakes (optional)

1 handful breadcrumbs (1 thin slice of bread 'liquidised)

Extra virgin olive oil

Pepper & salt

Preheat the oven to 180C whilst you split the squash in half from top to bottom.  Scrape out the seeds, and reserve for roasting.  Rub a little olive oil, salt,and pepper on the flesh of the squash.

Bake cut side down with 1 tbsp water under each half for 25-30 minutes until the flesh can pulled into shreds easily with a fork.

Scrape the flesh into a bowl with the feta, pine nuts, mint, garlic, chilli if using, and 1 tbsp olive oil.  

Mix well and refill the two squash shells.  Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the filling and drizzle over a little olive oil.

Bake for another 8-10 minutes until the breadcrumbs are a golden brown.

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Alevropita, Greek Feta Bake

I love Spanakopita, but cannot be bothered with brushing innumerable sheets of filo with olive oil.  So this simple 'toad' in the hole style traybake has all the flavour and none of the hassle.  The traditional Alevropita recipe has just feta, but I thought to add spinach (and a few more flavourings) to make it healthier.

Serves 4

250g wilted baby leaf or chopped spinach (optional)

2-3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

150g plain or self raising flour

200ml milk

2 free range eggs

1/4 tsp salt

150g crumbled feta

1 clove of garlic, peeled and crushed (optional)

1 tsp dried Greek oregano or thyme (optional)

Wilt spinach in a little water, pour into a sieve and leave to cool and drain.

Preheat the oven to 170C Fan/190C together with a baking dish with 1 tbsp of olive oil.

Whisk flour, milk, eggs, and salt together into a smooth batter.  Add garlic and oregano if using and mix thoroughly

When the oven has reached temperature, take out the baking dish and carefully swirl the hot oil around the sides.  Pour the batter into the hot oil, then scatter over the feta and spinach. Swirl this into the batter and drizzle over another tablespoon of olive oil.

Bake for 40-45 minutes until golden and crispy on top.  Serve with a Greek Salad (minus the feta).

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Makaronopita, Greek Macaroni Cheese

Quite simply, Makaronopita is Greek macaroni cheese made with feta, to which I added some chard.

Serves 4

250g macaroni

250g chard or spinach

1 clove of garlic

600ml milk

50g plain flour 

1/4 tsp nutmeg

300g feta

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 free range eggs, beaten 

100g cheddar cheese, grated 

Cook the macaroni according to the instructions on the packet.  Drain, return to the pan and toss in 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil.

Clean and roughly chop the chard or spinach. Heat 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil in a saucepan and wilt the chard, adding the crushed garlic just before turning off the heat.  Stir the wilted chard into the cooked pasta.

Whisk milk, flour, extra virgin olive oil, and nutmeg together in a saucepan.  Heat gently, stirring with a spatula until it starts to thicken.  Once it starts to thicken, turn the heat down to the lowest and continue stirring until it starts to bubble.  Stir in the beaten egg, then pour over the pasta, chard & feta, and mix thoroughly.

Pour into an oiled high sided baking dish, sprinkle over the grated cheddar, and bake for 40-45 minutes at 180C until golden brown.

The greek recipe website I based this on said to let the dish rest for 30 minutes before serving, but we are all too impatient/hungry so served it immediately!

19/10/24 I made a cheats version of this, using a pot of cottage cheese instead of the white sauce, and omitted the egg as I thought there was enough protein. It worked really well.

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Kolokythopita, Greek Butternut Squash Puff Pastry Pie

This one pan Greek butternut squash pie is made a lot easier replacing filo pastry with puff pastry.

Serves 4

1 pack puff pastry
1kg butternut squash, peeled & cut into small cubes

2 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, peeled and diced

1 red chilli, seeded & finely diced

1 tbsp greek oregano or thyme 

1 large garlic clove, peeled & crushed

200g feta cheese, drained & cubed

Preheat the oven to 200C

Place the butternut squash on a large baking sheet. Toss with the olive oil and roast for 30 minutes until the squash is tender then remove from the oven to cool.  

When the butternut squash is cool enough to handle turn the oven bacon to 180C, and  mix the onion, garlic, chilli, herbs, and feta together on the baking sheet.

Unroll the pastry, keeping it on the greaseproof paper. With a long side facing you, slide/pull the pastry away from you so that 1/3rd of the greaseproof paper is showing at the front. Carefully tip your mixed filling along the middle of the pastry then pull the top long edge down over the filling to line up with the bottom long edge (like a long sausage roll), and crimp closed with a fork. Make diagonal slashes in the top with nothing more than the weight of a very sharp knife. But don't worry you puncture the casing.

Wipe the baking tray with some kitchen roll then lift the pie on it's greaseproof paper onto the baking tray. bake at 180C for 40 minutes until golden brown.

Serve with a crisp green salad.

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Quick Easy Homemade Pitta Bread

Wow, homemade pitta pockets are so easy (and relatively quick) to make.

I've been reading a lot about Ultra Processed Food over the summer. More than half the calories the average person in the UK eats come from ultra-processed foods. 

Ultra-processed foods contain ingredients that you wouldn’t add when cooking homemade food such as chemicals, colourings, sweeteners and preservatives. Recent studies suggest an association between diets high (85%+) in ultra-processed foods and obesity, cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease, and cerebrovascular disease. 

The most commonly eaten ultra-processed foods in the UK are: industrialised bread (11 per cent), pre-packaged meals (7.7 per cent), breakfast cereals (4.4 per cent), sausages and other reconstituted meat products (3.8 per cent).

So, top the list, time to get making homemade bread.

Makes 6-10 pittas

350g strong bread flour, I used 100g wholemeal + 250g white

210ml water

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp quick yeast

1.5 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

Mix all your ingredients in a bowl (food processor with a dough hook, or bread machine). Knead the dough for 10 minutes, then cover and leave to prove for 30 minutes.  I used the dough cycle on my bread machine which runs for 45 minutes including kneading.

Tip the proved dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knock back. Divide into 6 or 10 equal pieces, depending on whether you want normal or small pittas, and shape into a ball.

Cover the balls a large bag, ensuring the plastic does not touch the dough by using strategically places tall glasses or similar. Leave to rest for 10 minutes.

After resting, turn on the oven to 230C and place 2/3 baking sheets in to heat up. Whilst the oven is heating up, flatten  then roll out each dough ball to an oval pitta shape about 5mm thick. Place the rolled out pitta on a piece of baking paper the size of your heating up baking sheets.

When the oven is up to temperature, carefully slide the baking paper with the pittas on onto the the hot baking sheets. Bake for 5-6 minutes until puffed up and golden brown. Remove to a wire rack until cool enough to handle.

We made gyros out of my first ever batch. My next batch is destined to to be used for koftas, and possibly pitta crisps.

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Whipped Feta Dip

Whipped feta is oh so simple, and a great quick dip.

Not sure how/why I stumbled across whipped feta, but it makes a great quick dip with a choice of several flavours. I didn't add anything more than garlic to mine today though, as I was using it as a cheesy white sauce for a Greek Courgette Lasagne.

200g feta, drained and broken up 
4 tbsp greek yoghurt

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed

1 tbsp chopped fresh basil or chives (optional)

½ tsp smoked paprika, plus extra to serve (optional)

Blend all ingredients until smooth in a mini food processor. Serve with toasted pitta.

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Spanakopita, Greek Spinach & Feta Filo Pie

A surfeit of chard at the allotment led me to make this recipe. It is not the kids favourite ingredient, but feta and garlic are. And the filo pastry gave it a surprise crisps like topping. What's not to like?

Serves 4 

1 pack filo pastry

500g spinach or chard

300g feta

4 large free range eggs

1 onion, peeled and finely diced

1 large garlic clove, peeled and crushed

1 tsp dried Greek oregano or thyme

1 coffee cup olive oil

Wash the spinach and roughly chop. Heat 1 tsp of olive oil in a saucepan, cram the spinach in and wilt it. Turn off the heat and leave to cool whilst you prepare the rest of the filling.

Beat the eggs into a small mixing bowl. Crumble in the feta, and stir in the diced onion, garlic, and oregano.  Roughly chop the cooled wilted spinach some more if you like, and stir into the egg and cheese mixture. Season with pepper, and sparingly with salt as the feta is quite salty.

Brush a lasagna type baking dish, just smaller than your filo pastry sheets, with olive oil. Place the remaining filo sheets on a clean work surface and smear the first one with about 2 tbsp of olive oil. I started off brushing on oil but found didn't spread easily and found by far the most effective method was to smear the oil with my hands.

Smearing the top of each filo sheet one at a time, line your baking dish with about 1/3rd of the pastry. Overhanging pastry is fine, even desirable.

Once the baking dish is lined with about 1/3rd of the pastry, fill it with the spinach mixture. Then continue to oil the remaining filo sheets one by one and place them on top of the filling, wrinkly them up if necessary so they don't hang over the sides of the dish. Fold up any overhanging pastry and brush the top with a little extra oil.

Bake for 40 minutes at 180C, or until the top is a deep golden brown.

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Beef Moussaka with Potatoes & Spinach

There was a bit of a Greek theme yesterday. We had Gyros for lunch, followed by Moussaka.

Wanting to use up a lot of homegrown chard and potatoes, I roughly followed Akis Petretzikis How to Make Greek Moussaka video on Jamie Oliver's Food Tube, using wilted chard instead of aubergine and potato, and mature cheddar instead of parmesan.

The children's verdict was, tasty but not as good as lasagna because there was no pasta in it.

Serves 6

1kg potatoes
Bag of spinach, washed 

500g beef mince

2 onion, peeled 

1 large garlic clove, peeled & crushed

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 clove

1 tbsp tomato paste

1 tin chopped tomatoes

100g butter

100g plain flour

750ml whole milk

1 large free range egg

50g grated cheddar

Olive oil

Fresh thyme

A pinch of nutmeg

Salt & pepper

Preheat the oven to 200C

Slice the potatoes into 2cm slices. Toss the potatoes and one onion (sliced) in about 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp of thyme leaves, and a large pinch of salt. Spread in an even layer or two over the base of a high sided baking dish and bake uncovered for 40 minutes.

Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large saucepan and wilt the washed spinach.  Splash a little water in if the spinach is not dripping with water when you add it. When wilted, remove with tongs to a plate.

Wipe the saucepan out then add 1 tbsp of oil and fry the remaining onion (chopped) over a high heat until it starts to brown. Add the garlic, stir fry for minute, add the cinnamon and clove and fry for a further minute, then add the tomato paste and fry again for another minute.  Add the beef mince, breaking the mince up with a wooden spoon then add the chopped tomatoes and seasoning and cook for 5-10 minutes until most of the liquid has evaporated. Remove from the heat and leave to one side.

In a separate saucepan add the cold milk, butter, and flour.  Whisk over a medium heat to incorporate the flour, then switch to a wooden spoon or spatula with a flat bottom and continually stir the white sauce, checking it is not setting/sticking to the bottom of the pan. When the sauce starts to thicken, turn the heat down low but continue to cook and stir for a further 5 minutes until it starts to bubble. Turn off the heat, stir in the egg,  and season with pepper and nutmeg. Add 1/3rd of the sauce to the cooked mince.

When the potatoes have had 40 minutes in the oven, take them out and start layering the moussaka. Spread the wilted chard over the potatoes, then the mince with the sauce mixed in, then the remaining white sauce. Sprinkle with grated cheddar and bake for 25-30 minutes or golden brown and bubbling.

Akis Petretzikis said to leave this for at least 1 hour before serving, to allow the sauce and meat to set! We managed about half an hour, and then tucked in with a green salad on the side.

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Greek Roast Chicken Salad Gyros Wraps

A friend posted a holiday photo of her and her son eating gyros on holiday in Greece a few weeks ago, so faced with leftover chicken, salad, and wraps for the kids lunch I attempted a gyros kind of thing.

Serves 1

1 wrap
1/2 lettuce leaves

Half a tomato sliced

Small handful cooked chicken

Sliced red onion

2-3 tbsp tzatziki 

Ground cumin

Chilli powder or hot paprika

Pitted olives

Lay the lettuce leaf(s) down the centre of your wrap in a strip, then a strip of tomato slices, then the other ingredients. Sprinkle with cumin, chilli, salt, and pepper to taste. Fold up the bottom of the wrap to catch any juices, then roll, and tuck in without putting it down.

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Greek Salad

My 10 year old son discovered Greek Salad in the spring, so we have taught him how to make it.  He gets very excited when I tell him there's feta in the fridge.

We were lucky enough to make it from homegrown tomatoes and cucumbers this summer.

Serves 4 as a side

200g feta, cubed
2 large beef tomatoes, roughly chopped
1/2 a large cucumber (or a small homegrown one), halved lengthways & sliced
1/2 a red or white onion, thinly sliced

Kos/Romaine lettuce (optional)
20 black olives
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp oregano
Large pinch of sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Simply mix all the ingredients together, and leave as long as you can to allow the flavours to mingle.  We managed 10 minutes whilst I insisted my son empty the dishwasher.

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Cucumber Raita or Tzatziki

I love raita or tzatziki.  It's probably because I love garlic, and plain yoghurt.

I googled the difference between the both, and whilst tzatziki is often spoken off as a dip, apart from that the ingredients are pretty much the same.

1/2 a cucumber, grated
4tbsp greek yoghurt
1 small garlic clove, crushed
Large pinch of salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp chopped mint, dry or fresh

Mix all the ingredients together and leave the develop for 30 minutes or more.

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Cheats Moussaka or Greek Pasta Bolognese

I love moussaka but never seem able to make it quite as tasty as my Greek Cypriot friend. And anyway, Dad always demands carbohydrate with this so I end up making two dishes. So this pasta loaded dish is loosely based on a Greek dish Pasticcio which is a macaroni and lamb mince in a tomato sauce baked with a moussaka style topping.

Today I had just 20 minutes to get the bulk of it cooked and mixed together in a baking dish. The yoghurt & egg topping will go on when I get back from the school run this afternoon. I love grilling the aubergines rather than frying as this gives them a lovely smokey flavour that comes out in the dish. Serves 4, heartily.

450g lamb mince or leftovers
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tbsp olive or sunflower oil
2 tins chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp fresh chopped mint or 3tbsp dried
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp red wine
2 large aubergines
2 eggs
1 tub greek yoghurt
100g grated strong cheddar
400g pasta

Preheat the oven to 180°C, 350°F, gas mark 4.

Slice the aubergines in half longways and place flesh side down on a baking tray. Place under a medium grill, until the skins are crisp and blackened. Remove and leave to one side to cool. When cool enough to handle, scrape the flesh out and roughly chop.

Cook the pasta according to pack. Drain, rinse in cold water and set aside.

Whilst the pasta is cooking and the aubergines are under the grill, gently fry the onion and garlic in a large casserole dish big enough to hold the meat and pasta. When the onions and garlic start to brown, add the lamb mince and fry until just cooked and the large lumps are broken down. Add the tins of tomatoes, the herbs, and seasoning. The mixture should be quite loose.

Add the pasta and aubergines when ready and mix thoroughly. Pour into a large enough high sided baking tray to hold the mixture and layer of creamy topping. Beat the eggs then mix thoroughly into the yoghurt. Pour over the pasta mix and sprinkle with cheddar cheese.

Bake for 35 minutes or until golden brown and bubbling. Serve with a big green salad.