Spiced lamb burgers served with charcoaled aubergines and anthotyro cheese

These Greek style burgers are delicious and full of Summer flavours and taste! Of course for a special burger, one that is closer to your preferences, you can add various spices or herbs in the meat mixture but don't overdo it so not to ruin the meat's flavour

Baked stone fruits flavoured with mastic liqueur

Easy, fast and delicious fruit recipe to serve as a light dessert during Summer months! You can use any fruit you might like according to season following the same pattern. Peaches and apricots, two of the most popular Summer fruits come together nicely and get an extra flavour and aroma thanks to the precious mastic

Summer potted chicken with green beans and peas

Another delicious and very homely dish for the whole family to enjoy and very easy to prepare! Take advantage of the season and use fresh green beans and peas for better taste

Potatoes and aubergines Summer stew

This is a classic example of Summer-time Greek cooking! Based on the idea of the "ladera" (oily) Summer dishes, which in Greece are very popular, this recipe in its simplicity is one of the best! Just a few ingredients,this is the traditional Greek way to cook potatoes with aubergines and you end up with a most delicious vegetarian meal. If you can find the "Tsakonikes" aubergines (see which ones I mean clicking on this link) or a similar type of the long, thin and light purple aubergines then these are preferable but any type is appropriate for this dish

Linguine with ouzo flavoured tomato sauce and crab

Another Summer dish to enjoy with the family! Crab maybe is not as popular as other sea food but its meat is very tasty and in this recipe goes perfectly well with the rest of the ingredients

Greek salad with anthotyro cheese, rusks and capers

A different version of the Greek salad that most of you know or are used to in a recipe inspired by the Cretan cuisine. Anthotyro cheese replaces the classic feta and makes the salad less salty and lighter. Capers are added to enrich the aroma and the taste and barley rusks are also there to "help" mopping up the oil and vinegar dressing

Peach meringue mousse and caramelised peaches

A delicious Summer dessert to enjoy in the hot evenings after a rich meal! Peaches at their best with this special recipe which needs some of your attention and time but it is really worth the trouble!

Chickpeas mash with sesame and capers

This mash is an ideal side dish (but also a dip/spread) to small fried or baked fish like fresh anchovies (gavros) or larger ones cut in slices. It is also a good company to lamb kebabs

Asparagus tart with Kefalotyri cheese

Very tasty tart and easy enough since you save time using a store-bought pastry. Of course if you wish you can follow your favourite recipe or to use one of the recipes off this blog. Here I have a small tip in case the pastry cracks while baking. It has happened to me and I would like to share this tip with you. All you have to do is to brush the bottom and the sides of the pastry with a beaten egg yolk and bake it for another 2 minutes

Beef in fragrant herbs and wine sauce

Another simple but so tasty recipe to enjoy with your family. Ideal for a Sunday dinner to have something different than the classic roast meat. Nature generously offers some of its best raw materials for this delicious dish. It can be served with pasta, rice or potatoes

Vanilla ice cream on a bed of crunchy phyllo with nuts

An easy and delicious dessert to enjoy the warm Summer evenings with friends and family. It doesn't take long to put together. Having already in the freezer some homemade or a good quality of store bought vanilla ice cream saves a lot of time. The crunchy phyllo goes so nicely together with the velvety ice cream and everybody will be thrilled!

Fully herbed fried chickpeas balls with refreshing yoghurt and tahini sauce

This is another delicious meze or first dish recipe to enjoy anytime in the year but during the Summer months it is ideal to share with friends accompanying it with a chilled glass of ouzo

Easy Summer pasta dish with peppers, courgettes and feta cheese

So simple but so tasty this Summer dish and quite filling too! Ingredients that more or less are already in our fridge, some pasta and you end up with a nice meal for the whole family

Fully herbed individual courgette flans with sweet pepper sauce

A nice idea for a light first dish or as a dish for your Summer buffet! Fresh seasonal herbs give their aroma and taste to these cute flans which go perfectly well with the lightly spiced raw pepper sauce

Easy refreshing strawberry smoothie with spearmint

What is better than a healthy and refreshing smoothie? Not much time is needed to enjoy this Summer fruity drink. Feel free to replace strawberries with another berry of your choice

Mixed salad with avocado, cheese and spearmint

Great flavours come out of these tasty ingredients to enjoy a delicious and refreshing Summer salad

Lamb fricassée with romaine lettuce

One of the most classic meat dishes of the Greek cuisine, fricassée never fails to please! This version is a more Summery one thanks to the romaine lettuce and the other herbs. Of course, when in season, other greens can replace the lettuce

Savoury cake with anthotyro cheese and mixed olives, served with feta cheese creamy dressing

A delicious and filling savoury cake to serve as a snack but also as a light lunch if you combine it with some green salad or steamed vegetables. During the Summer months we don't need much to satisfy our appetite during the day and this is an ideal recipe

Summer vegetable stew with courgettes, potatoes and fennel

This is an ideal recipe during the Summer months so to be able to enjoy these vegetables as a light main meal or as a side dish to various poultry and fish dishes. Aromatic fennel makes the difference giving an extra flavour to the rest of the ingredients

Phyllo pastry tartlets with strawberry cream and raspberry sauce

A clever, very presentable and delicious dessert full of Summer flavours and aromas! Impress your guests with these cute tartlets taking advantage of some of the most popular Summer fruits

Chicken meatballs in fragrant tomato sauce

Easy and delicious this recipe will satisfy the kids and the whole family! Lighter in taste and in calories than the classic meatballs, this will become one of your favourite Weekend recipes. Quite a versatile dish since it can be served with rice, pasta or fries

Beef escallopes with fragrant tomato sauce

Easy and simple and without spending too much of your time in the kitchen, this recipe will please you and your family to the full. The tender escalopes smothered in this delicious, sweet tomato sauce will become one of your favourite Sunday meals

Refreshing yoghurt and cheese dip with spearmint

We call it a "salad" but actually it is a dip/spread which you can serve along with breadsticks or toast bread or to serve next to various grilled and BBQ meat and poultry

Palamida "plaki" - Atlantic Bonito fish fillets baked with potatoes and tomatoes

This is a very tasty fish to cook and one of the favourites during Spring and Summer when Atlantic Bonito passes through Mediterranean Sea every year. In Greece "Palamida" is very popular because it is so tasty and meaty but also quite versatile in cooking since it can be found grilled, baked and even pickled, the well known "Lakerda". A pickled dish served as an ouzo meze or as a side dish next to lentils, haricots and other dried pulses soups. Well known and popular in Turkey as well

Pasta au gratin with spinach and bacon

A dish with simple ingredients and without a lot of preparation. An au gratin dish is always welcomed in most households because of the numerous combinations of ingredients, the "not-too- much-time-spent" in the kitchen idea and of course the delicious taste the recipe offers in the end

Souvlaki with marinated octopus

Summer is definitely the season for grand BBQ gatherings but not everybody is lucky enough to have a garden or a spacious veranda if living in a block of flats... Following though the wise "where there's a will there's a way" we can all enjoy any type of "souvlaki" ("on the skewer") cooked in our house's oven or grill! Like this delicious octopus recipe to enjoy along with green, crispy salads and of course a chilled glass of ouzo

Chilled tomato soup

Tomato is one of the most common but also essential ingredients in the Greek cuisine as it is more or less all around the world. Unfortunately nowadays the tomatoes regardless if they are organic or not don't have the same taste and aroma as they used to. The problem of tasteless tomatoes seems to get bigger every year as most of them end up in the markets having a large, hard stem right in the middle, offering little in the way of juices and almost completely lacking in flavour. One of the main reasons behind the demise of the tasty tomato is that producers are increasingly turning to hybrid varieties. “Hybrid” does not mean genetically modified, but, rather, varieties that are crossed with others in order to achieve a desired result so to have a longer shelf life. Also the farmers like tomatoes to be homogenous in terms of size and shape so that they can be packaged easier and also to have hard skin so that they don’t suffer damage during transportation when they sell to big chain Super Markets.... In Greece there are so many local varieties (Vravrona, Makedonia, Areti, Artemida, Santorini, Olympia are just a few of them) people could buy and they should stick by them because regardless if nowadays it is harder to find them, they are varieties with excellent aroma and flavour which definitely would enrich any food. The recipe of this Summer tomato soup demands  the fresh soft cheese "Katiki" from Domokos town in Fthiotida region. It is a great traditional cheese, very low in fat comparing to others but I don't expect you to find it easily abroad. Instead  you could use another type of fresh and creamy cheese or Cottage cheese for this recipe

Brownies and ice cream frozen sandwiches

Clever and delicious recipe to enjoy this Summer! The combination of the classic brownies and the ice cream turned out into these cute sandwiches which will impress kids and adults the same!

All-in-one rice pilaf with chicken and vegetables

This is one of the most tasty dishes you can prepare for the family in almost no time!! A few ingredients, easy to put together and with a great taste in the end. And quite versatile too because if there is any left you can turn it into a nice salad adding in some mayonnaise and thick yoghurt! Delicious really and for any day or season

Open sandwich with Haloumi cheese, omelette and oil/lime dressing

Delicious idea to have this open sandwich as a snack or a light meal along with a green salad. Very Summery meal saving you time off cooking during the hot days. In my opinion the recipe plain as it might look, is excellent but of course if you'd like to enrich it you could add some luncheon meat or other cured meat cut in cubes and give an extra taste

Open-topped moussaka tart with phyllo pastry

Not much to say about this famous Greek dish and if you ask any tourist what Greek dishes they know probably the first thing that comes to mind is Moussakas. Unfortunately, what used to be the pride of every Greek household through the years turned out to become a rather greasy pile of potatoes and tomato sauce with a spattering of ground meat and aubergines. As for the restaurants and tavernas, things got worse with the topping of the dish becoming a quivering layer of fake béchamel sauce.... It seems that it’s unlikely that any of these taverns cooks have ever taken the trouble to follow the recipes of chefs such as Nikos Tselementes, once the foremost authority on Greek food (who, in fact, is credited with introducing the béchamel sauce in general in the Greek cuisine back in the '20s, as I have mentioned in a previous post). Older versions of moussaka demand aubergines, ground lamb, onion, garlic, chopped tomatoes, herbs and spices like cinnamon and allspice. As the years were passing potatoes were intended to be added in the recipe as a variation in an attempt (and an easy way) to increase bulk and cut the costs.... The today's recipe is a tasty variation and you could think of it as a pie using most of the ingredients of the original moussaka while adding crunchy phyllo pastry