It's all Greek to me -- a fun evening of food, wine and Greek cuisine
Greek Night
As I've mentioned before on Nest, bringing guests into our home can be a stress-free and relaxing time if you prepare ahead and enjoy the experience. Especially in these times when we have access to detailed and tried and true recipes with a click of a computer key, making complicated recipes is easier than ever to pull together. I like to utilize the many resources in my neighborhood and will often make a homemade dish when hosting a dinner party, but pepper specialty store bought items into the mix. Having good sources at your fingertips is crucial for the home cook to pull off entertaining with ease.
Pot Luck Dinners are a throwback to another era but with many of us juggling busy lives, I think it's about time they come back into favor. Not only is the host left without all the mess and work, but both host and guest can focus on one aspect of the evening and contribute something special to the occasion.
Our Culinary Club is a fun adventure as we investigate and learn something new about our surrounding neighborhoods as well as the cultural nuances that help make each dinner unique. What I love about Greek food is the clean freshness of the food. If I could break down the cuisine to five key ingredients it would be lemon, oregano, fresh seafood, feta and tomato. Of course there are many more items that define Greek food -- olives, parsley, spinach, lamb and philo dough come to mind.
The color blue seems synonymous with Greek cuisine, and I'm reminded of the crystal clear Grecian waters and spectacular skies. Our special Greek Night was a wonderful cerulean blue experience spent in a beautiful blue/green jewel box colored dining room, complete with flickering pale candles, blue, cream and green flowers and delicious food and spirits. Let's not forget the fabulous company and gracious host and hostess.
First, a trip to Astoria, Queens
to taste some local made Greek food.
we walked along Ditmars Boulevard in Astoria, Queens and stopped in for
an authentic Greek Sunday lunch. Irene scooped up dandelion greens after reading about them being used in many Greek dishes.
an authentic Greek Sunday lunch. Irene scooped up dandelion greens after reading about them being used in many Greek dishes.
Spring is a perfect time to start experimenting with Greek food because many of the ingredients can be found at most farm stands and markets:
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photograph taken by Gabby Stephenson from last June's Round Swamp Farm market in East Hampton |
Feta Cheese
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| Lemon photo from a recent trip we took to California - fresh off the vine! |
garden herbs, like oregano
Freshly caught seafood
Titan Food Shop is a large supermarket rather than a small specialty food shop. It is one stop shopping for Greek food and ingredients. In addition to freshly baked pita, Baklava and other pastries, they make Spanikopita daily as well. In the back of the store there is a big selection of feta cheeses from sharp to low salt varieties. There is also an olive bar, yogurts, and many Greek dips. Another smaller shop we enjoyed was Greek Village on 3127 Ditmars Blvd.
Titan Food Shop is a large supermarket rather than a small specialty food shop. It is one stop shopping for Greek food and ingredients. In addition to freshly baked pita, Baklava and other pastries, they make Spanikopita daily as well. In the back of the store there is a big selection of feta cheeses from sharp to low salt varieties. There is also an olive bar, yogurts, and many Greek dips. Another smaller shop we enjoyed was Greek Village on 3127 Ditmars Blvd.
we left for home prepared to host our own Greek dinner.
THE MENU
Four Greek dips with toasted pita
Olives
Chicken Souvlaki with cucumber, red onion, mixed greens and tzatziki sauce
Shrimp with Feta
Rice Pilaf
Spanikopita
Greek Salad
Greek White Wine
Tastings of Baklava
Ouzo
I poked around some of my favorite food blogs and have linked to several of them below. What is particularly interesting about trying a recipe from a blog, is you get the whole illustration and explanation of how to prepare the dish, as well as beautiful photography. I love Ladyberd's Kitchen and came across their Chicken Souvlaki recipe. Because I was making it ahead of time and transporting to the party, I opted to saute the chicken rather than grill it to keep it as moist as possible. I hoped to replicate Ladyberd's juicy chicken with the buttery yet tangy Tzatziki sauce, fresh pita, sliced onions, tomato and feta.
Chicken Souvlaki Recipe
Chicken Souvlaki Recipe
chopped cucumber, thinly sliced red onion and greens
we arrived to sparkling Prosecco
waiting for the guests...
host and guest enjoying the evening
Dips are an important part of Greek cuisine from Hummus to Tzatziki. They are a
perfect accompaniment to pita and vegetables as an appetizer or to add alongside grilled meat and fish. Here are simple to follow dip recipes:
A Mingling Of Taste's Greek Dip recipes
The Melange market (64th & First Avenue in New York City) sells many prepared foods such as Hummus, olives, Baklava and stuffed grape leaves.
I enjoy Jamie Oliver's recipe for Greek Salad as well because
he adds fresh dill, mint and oregano
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| photograph courtesy of Garden of Yum blog |
each specialty market we stopped into makes a slightly different version. How wonderful that Garden of Yum provides a printable recipe -- how inclusive!
another example of quick and easy recipes -
Our hosts Melissa and Barry prepared this delicious shrimp and feta dinner
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| photograph courtesy from A Good Appetite blog Baklava comes in many shapes and sizes, so we sampled several. Diana and Enriques brought a mix of these honey sweet desserts from Poseidon Bakery in Hell's Kitchen. If you are feeling ambitious, A Good Appetite blog's Sweet Potato Baklava recipe |
stop back next week for
Spring Holiday inspirations...
