April was a really busy month for us and I must admit I have not been cooking very much. Our son was home on leave for about 20 days and embarrassingly, I only made a few home-cooked meals for him.
My husband is retiring from teaching at the end of May and I wanted to have a party for him with the family while Adam was home, but it is very difficult to keep anything a secret from him. He wanted everyone to attend a reception at school held before the last musical performance he co-directed and he said that would be enough. They were very supportive and turned out in full force on the night of the show. I mulled it over and came up with a plan to tell him we were having an open house for our son so that the family could come over and visit and share a meal. Everyone was in on the plan. He never suspected and he even helped clean and prepare for the party thinking he was doing it all for our son. On Sunday afternoon guests began arriving and he still did not have a clue. I was outside grilling and my daughter came out and told me to come inside because he still didn’t know what was going on. I pulled a copy of the invitation we’d sent to everyone out of my apron pocket and handed it to him. Then the light bulb went on. He said that he told me he didn’t want me to do anything. I said “I know, this is for you, today is for you”.
I chose recipes that I could make ahead of time. I marinated Chicken Souvlaki Saturday night and put together the make-ahead dishes the day before. I put a salad together Sunday morning and divided the ingredients in half so that I could make a second salad when we ran low. My daughter took care of picking up the cake and bringing it with her when she came. I tried a new dip recipe that I think may be a new favorite. It came out of the Helenic Cuisine Cookbook from the Ladies of St. Nicholas Church, St Louis. This was really, really good with Stacy’s Naked Pita Chips with Sea Salt (Sam’s Club purchase). It was also pretty and appetizing.
Mediterranean Eight-Layer Dip
2 cups hummus
1 1/2 cups olive tapenade
2 medium tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1 cup cucumber, seeded and chopped
3 tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped
4 tsp. fresh mint, chopped
2 tsp. lemon juice
dash salt and pepper
2 cups shredded fresh spinach
4 ozs. feta cheese, crumbled
1/4 cup sliced green onions (2 onions)
1/4 cup pitted Kalamata olives, chopped
Pita bread, cut into wedges, or pita chips
In a medium bowl, combine tomatoes, cucumber, parsley, mint, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Set aside. To assemble dip, spread hummus on a 12-inch serving platter, arrange spinach on top of the hummus layer, leaving a 1-inch border of hummus. Spoon tapenade over the spinach, leaving another 1-inch border of spinach. Drain the excess liquid from the tomato mixture; discard liquid. Spoon tomato mixture over the tapenade layer, leaving a 1-inch border of tapenade Sprinkle the feta cheese over the tomato mixture. Top with the green onion and olives. The dip may be made up to an hour before serving, then covered and chilled until you are ready to dig in.
I’ve posted the Souvlaki recipe before and you can find it in the archives. I did try a new salad that was delicious.
Greek Islands Spinach Salad
1 lb. raw baby spinach
2 hard-boiled eggs, sliced
1 medium tomato, cut into 6-8 wedges
1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 of a medium cucumber, cut in half lengthwise then thinly sliced (remove seeds if desired)
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
12 pitted Kalamata olives
Salad Dressing
6 tbsp, olive oil
2 tbsp. red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
Clean the spinach well and discard any brown or damaged leaves. Place in a large salad bowl. Add the eggs, tomatoes, onion, cucumber, feta cheese and olives. Combine the dressing ingredients in a jar with a tight-fitting lid and shake well until the dressing is emulsified. Pour the dressing over the salad, toss well and serve immediately.
I made a favorite pasta salad that has been posted a few years ago, but here it is again.
Mediterranean Pasta Salad
1 lb. shaped pasta, such as spirals, wagon wheels, or novelty shapes
8 ozs. Feta cheese crumbles
1 4-oz. Can sliced black olives
1 pint grape tomatoes
1 green pepper, cut in 1/4-inch dice
1/2 cucumber, seeded, cut in half, then sliced in crescent shapes
1 14-oz. Can Artichokes hearts, quartered
2- ozs. Hard salami, sliced in thin strips
1/2 small red onion, cut in half and sliced thinly
10-15 Kalamata olives, pitted
Dressing
1 cup olive oil
1/3 cup red wine vinegar, St. Julian, if you can get it
3 cloves minced garlic (the bottled kind works just fine)
3/4 teaspoon oregano
3/4 teaspoon salt
Pour the olive oil and red wine vinegar into a two-cup measuring cup, add the remaining dressing ingredients and whisk until the mixture emulsifies. Set aside. Cook the pasta according to the package directions, drain and rinse with cold water. Don’t over cook or the noodles will fall apart and turn to mush. Put the drained pasta in a large serving bowl and sprinkle with a teaspoon or two of red wine vinegar to keep the noodles from sticking to each other and tearing when you mix all the ingredients together. Add the remaining ingredients and stir gently to coat with the dressing. Refrigerate until serving. Chilled olive oil solidifies, so the texture is better if the salad is at room temperature for 15-20 minutes before serving. This salad also seems to improve in the refrigerator for a couple of days, if it lasts that long.
I wanted a hot side dish and found this dish in the St. Nicholas Adventures in Cooking cookbook.
Cretan Style Green Beans
3 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 lb. fresh green beans, washed and tips removed ( 1 used canned)
1 cup canned diced tomatoes
1 tbsp. tomato paste
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/2 cup water
Heat the olive oil in a heavy saucepan. Add the onions and garlic and cook until golden. Add the remaining ingredients. The juices should just cover the beans in the pan. Cover and cook over low heat about 45 minutes if using the fresh beans. Reduce the time if using canned beans just until the vegetables are heated through. Serve immediately. I put the heated beans in a crockpot on low heat to keep warm while serving.
We were able to pull off a surprise after all and the rain held off so we were even able to go outdoors and dine on the patio!
Some Enchanted Eating 