Chicken with Artichokes and Mushrooms in Avgolemono Sauce

My best friend married into a Greek family, and every time we go and visit them in Chicago, we often end up at a Greek restaurant. And let me say Chicago has amazing Greek food. Don't get me wrong...I have love for our own Greektown on the Danforth here in Toronto, but every time I go to Chicago and eat Greek food there, I'm always surprised at the different variety of dishes I find on the menu. Sometimes I even have to ask...is this really Greek food? Because when I think Greek, I have to admit that I think of roast lamb, souvlaki, feta and garlic. I have since learned, that there are other delicate, milder flavours used in Greek cooking. When I discovered avgolemono sauce, I think I fell in love. The creamy, lemony, savoury flavour is both tastebud awakening and light and mellow at the same time.
In discussion with my best friend's m-i-l, she told me about this dish she makes with avgolemono sauce and chicken with artichokes and mushrooms. I just HAD to ask for the recipe and make it when I got home. It was so good that even baby gobbled it right up!



Ingredients
2 chicken breasts sliced
1 large onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
5-6 button mushrooms, sliced
1 can artichokes, drained and quartered
1 cup water

Avgolemono Sauce
2 eggs
1/3 cup lemon juice (juice from 1 large lemon)
1 tsp cornstarch
1/3 cup hot broth or cooking juices reserved
1/3 cup freshly chopped dill (my own addition)

Directions

Saute the onions garlic and mushrooms in a skillet until soften and golden. Add chicken and brown slightly. Add water, cover and simmer on med-low heat until chicken is cooked through. Reserve a few ladle-fulls of the hot pan juices/broth (approx 1/3 cup)
Prepare the avgolemono sauce:
With a hand mixer, whisk eggs until pale and frothy. Slowly stream in the lemon juice and then the cornstarch. Very slowly stream in the reserved hot broth so that it does not curdle the eggs. Once the sauce is well incorporated, pour it all into the skillet, mixing well. Turn the heat on low and allow the mixture to heat through and thicken to a creamy consistency and do not allow sauce to boil. Sprinkle fresh dill, stir well and serve over rice or orzo. OPA!

Grilled Octopus

Hello World!

Sorry I have been M.I.A. Lots of great and amazing things have been happening but, unfortunately, I haven't had enough time to cook as much as I've wanted too. I will start to post about my other new hobby soon. This will be incorporated into many of these upcoming posts (I hope). :)

When we were in Greece three years ago, I tried octopus for the first time. It didn't look that appetizing as it was hanging to dry. In fact, I was mortified. But I didn't want to disappoint and tried it anyways.

Grilled octopus is now one of my favorites. I love it when it's grilled, with a little olive oil, salt and oregano. Octopus is crunchy on the outside and chewy inside. Trust me, it's very good.

So we tried making it at home.

We bought two baby octopus (already tenderized - be sure to ask your fish market). There are different ways to clean it, but we just kept the tentacles on. Then we boiled it in hot water for about 30 minutes to get it most tender. After, we threw the octopus on the grill, five minutes on each side and tossed it with olive oil, oregano, salt and some lemon. Paired with white wine, we were pretty much in Greece.

Chicken Giovetsi / Kota Lemonati

I was reading Closet Cooking and loved the look of the recipe for Chicken Giovetsi. It reminded me of this amazing dish I had at a Greek restaurant in Chicago called Kota Lemonati. Kota Lemonati was a delicious melange of chicken, artichokes, mushrooms and tomatoes served over rice. I happened to have steamed fresh artichokes that I prepared a while ago and had stored in the freezer as well as some fresh mushrooms in the fridge. I liked the Giovetsi recipe because it was a one pot oven dish using orzo instead of rice, but I included some other ingredients from my memories of the Kota Lemonati.

Here's my version of these 2 recipes combined. It turn out to be a really yummy dish with comforting flavours.

Ingredients
4 chicken thighs (skin removed)
1 cup orzo pasta
1 can diced tomatoes
1 large onion diced
3 garlic cloves chopped
1 tsp oregano
1 can whole artichoke hearts, drained (or freshly steamed if you have!)
6-7 button mushrooms, wiped and sliced
Handfuls of chopped baby spinach

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 F.
Saute onions and garlic in a skillet until fragrant. Add mushrooms and continue to cook until softened. Add uncooked orzo and stir to allow to toast for a bit and absorb the flavours in the skillet. Add artichokes, tomatoes and oregano and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Transfer mixture to a baking pan and top with uncooked chicken thighs.
Bake in the oven for 45 minutes until liquid is absorbed, orzo is nice and puffed up and chicken is cooked through. Garnish with chopped baby spinach.

More time for Greek fries!

Sorry I haven't flogged in a while.. Sometimes I find it so hard to get everything done and still relax!

And to think, I don't even have kids yet.

I was trying to think of ways to save time. I am going to spend a little more time prepping for the next day's dinner so it will be quicker.

Please post your tips of getting through the week! I'd love to know what things you do to cut time.

Now, to more important things: Greek fries!

Greek fries remind me of Messini, the absolutely best place to have gyros. This is very high on the list of comfort foods.

So easy too.

Ingredients:
Potato wedges or fries (I used the pre-cut frozen ones)
Feta
Freshly squeezed lemon juice (1 lemon)
Oregano


Top fries with oregano, feta and lemon juice.

Bravo!

Simple orzo salad

This was one of the very first Greek dishes I made. I had actually never heard of orzo until I met Steve and we had lamb together. I loved it. Orzo is a pasta but has the shape of rice. It is generally used in soups.

I really like orzo as a side. Orzo really takes on flavor and I love the smooth and creamy texture. Orzo can be served either hot or cold.
Ingredients:

• 2 cups of orzo


• 2 chopped tomatoes


• 1 cup chopped or whole olives


• 1 or 2 tbsp olive oil


• salt and pepper


• feta

Boil water and cook orzo for 10 minutes. Drain all but 1 cup of pasta water.
Cover for 5 minutes. The starchiness of the pasta will create a creamy texture of the orzo.
Add tomatoes, chopped or whole olives, salt and pepper and olive oil. Mix and top with feta!

Spanokorizo

Fasting for Lent is a quite a culinary challenge! Steve and I have been working hard to prepare meatless and dairy-free meals on Wednesdays and Fridays.

So I looked to my Greek family for ideas. Yiasou!

Ingredients:

• 1 med onion chopped
• 1 clove garlic chopped
• 2 cups of cooked brown rice
• 2 frozen packages of spinach thawed
• 28 oz of pureed tomatoes
• feta
• oregano
• salt and pepper
• olive oil

Saute onion and garlic in olive oil. Add rice and tomatoes. Turn down heat and let simmer. Add spinach. Stir. Add oregano, salt and pepper to taste. Top with feta (unless fasting) :)

Lamb on Naan with Greek Salad

Not all leftovers have to be boring. If you turn them into something completely new, you'll never know they were leftovers. I used the left over roast lamb we had on Saturday and gave it a middle eastern twist by spreading baba ghanoush on warmed naan bread and serving it with a simple Greek salad. Delicious!


I very seldom buy prepared salad dressing because it's easy and fresher to make your own.
To make a simple Greek dressing at home, combine the following into a small mug and mix:

juice of 1/2 lemon
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
salt and pepper
1 clove lightly crushed garlic