Beets with Garlic, Yogurt and Cheese Crust (Au Gratin) – A Guest Post!

Tags

au gratin, beet, beet greens, beetroot, cheese, egg, Greek yogurt, vegetables, vegetarian, yogurt

Well, it’s done. The new blog is up. The Foodie Corner is live! Would you like to take a look? Yes it will all be Greek to you, but I’d love to hear what you think of the site!
 
Now I said I would try my best to keep Spaghetti going, and I will. And a few weeks ago I had a brainwave. Why not ask my friend and fellow blogger Artemis from Wonderfoodland, to step in with a guest post? She is the first Greek food blogger I ever met in person, and we clicked right away. I love her blog (which by the way is bilingual); from the recipes that always have a bit of a twist to them and her writing that discreetly reflects her wicked sense of humour, all the way to her gorgeous photos (putting mine to shame right here…). She has really come up with the goods here. This recipe is feeling right at home on On Top Of Spaghetti. So, enjoy!

§§§

There is this thing.
When I’m invited to write a guest post by another food blogger, I’m a little bit anxious.
What will it be?
Will my recipe “fit” properly into another blog?
Will the fellow blogger like it?
Will her/his readers like it too?
What do I have to write?

In this case, I guess my recipe choice was easy: Eleni is a beet lover. I know that. I’ve seen that. I’ve tasted that. I could never forget her beet chocolate brownies at the Food Revolution Day picnic.

My writing thing was easy also: I was lucky to get to know Eleni before her food blog adventures. And I’m really glad to know that another one follows her daring heart and does what she loves; cooking, writing, shooting, styling, sharing, communicating -not only through web and not only with food bloggers- but with anyone out there who loves food. In any way.

And I was really excited to see her beautiful “newborn”, The Foodie Corner, coming to life at last!

So, here I am, writing about beets myself too, finding the chance to get experimental and cooking something else rather than boiling them one more time!

These beets are for you, my dear Eleni!

Beets with Garlic, Yoghurt and Cheese Crust (Au Gratin)

Adapted recipe by Aglaia Kremezi

Ingredients

1 kg beets (leaves and half of the roots. The rest of the boiled beetroots eat them with some nice balsamic vinegar and olive oil)
2 Tbs all purpose flour
3 Tbs of olive oil + extra for greasing the baking dish
1 ½ cup milk (any kind of milk you love)
1 cup yoghurt (any kind of yoghurt you love)
3 garlic cloves mashed
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 ½ cup grated cheese (use any kind of cheese you love that melts. I used a mix of several leftovers -Greek gruyere, gouda and kasseri, a yellow melty cheese)
3 stale slices of bread processed into crumbs (or rusk crumbs which is what I used)
salt, pepper

Instructions

1. Clean the beets: remove any not-so-good looking leaves, cut the roots from the leaves, cut the small “nose” of each beet on its other end and put them all into water baths to get washed very well -at least 3 water baths. Strain them and leave them aside.
2. Put a big pot full of water on to boil. When the water boils, put the beets in (leaves and roots). The leaves will boil quicker than roots, so in about 5 minutes check the leaves out. If they’re soft enough, take them out, but leave the roots in until they get soft too. Drain them, squeeze them (the leaves) with a fork to get most of their liquids out and set them aside.
3. Prepare the light béchamel: into a small pan, pour the 3 Tbs of olive oil on medium heat. Add the flour and start stirring quickly with a whisk until it gets slightly brown.
4. Add milk and keep stirring quickly on low heat. When it turns into a nice cream, remove it from heat and add garlic, salt and pepper. Stir well.
5. Add yoghurt, eggs and cheese too while still stirring well.
6. Preheat the oven to 200 C. Grease a baking dish that will fit the beets in a not very thin layer. I used several small baking dishes (one portion each).
7. Chop the beet leaves a little bit and the roots to very small cubes like dice. Mix half of the cream with the chopped beets (leaves and roots).
8. Spread breadcrumbs all over the dish, add the beets all over and cover with the other half of the cream.
9. Bake for about 30 minutes or until you get a golden crust. When baked, leave to rest for about 15-20′ before serving.

Mini Dukan Lemon Cheesecakes and a Sneak Preview of The Foodie Corner

Tags

baking, cheesecake, dessert, diet, dukan, Dukan diet friendly, egg, Greek yogurt, lemon, low fat, oat bran

Like it? The Foodie Corner is soon to become a reality. From wire frames and sample pages to a real live blog. Just a few weeks (or even days) away now! I know most of you won’t be able to follow me there as it’s going to be in Greek (unless you’ve been taking lessons?) but I really wanted to share this image here so you guys have a small sneak preview of what is to come. I have no intention of dropping On Top Of Spaghetti, and after the first few months of ups and downs I aim to be back blogging here as often as possible. In the meantime, what do you think? Cool isn’t it? I have been working with a fabulous team of designers and developers, whom I will introduce in a later post (when you have more than just the one image to see!). They have done such a great job. So I’m adding this little gem of a picture to my side bar!

At first I thought I would just post this without a recipe. But you know me. Can’t write anything on here without sharing something delicious. And today I have an extra special treat; a Dukan dessert. I’m not on this diet anymore, but once in a while I will have a Pure Protein day (or two) because it makes me feel better. Just to remind you, the diet is based on protein and vegetables, cutting out fat and carbs. I know the human body needs fat and carbs, but this human also needs to fit into certain jeans. So a little Dukan Attack here and there won’t kill me. Also, I enjoy thinking up recipes that will help those who are on the diet. Like this one!

These mini Dukan lemon cheesecakes are based on two recipes. The first is for Dukan cookies, which I thought could be my base if made in mini form (digestives and graham crackers are sadly not allowed!). The second is a lightened up version of lemon and blueberry cheesecake using lemon flavoured yogurt, on the blog “Whatever Gets You Through The Day”. Iris took part in a challenge and used a lemony yogurt to create this lovely looking dessert. It’s pretty light as it is but not quite suitable for the Dukan Diet, so I got to thinking of ways to adapt it. There is a dairy company here in Greece called Mevgal, which produces this amazing 1% lemon yogurt. It’s like no other I’ve ever tried. (And I’m not getting paid or compensated in any way for saying that! I just love it.) For a while now I’ve been thinking of making some sort of cheesecake with it, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity. So, with a bit of mixing and matching, I came up with these babies! I still can’t believe how close they are to real cheesecake! Ok, the base is not like a biscuit base, it’s much softer and -let’s be honest- not as tasty, but it does provide a nice contrast to the lemony filling. When I offered one to The Mister he didn’t believe they were Dukan approved, he was worried that at 23:50 I had finally given in and spoiled the Pure Protein day. Now that was a good sign. I had quite a bit of leftover filling because my mini muffin pan is very mini. So I just poured it into ramekins and baked it alongside the little guys, without a base. This too was very nice, I’ve just finished one now. Just sweet enough and very cheesecakey! This morning I had one with a teaspoon of raspberry jam on. Mmm! But that’s only for non-Dukaners. Right, I’ve gone on about this too much. Here is the recipe!

Mini Dukan Lemon Cheesecakes

Ingredients

For the base
1 egg
3 Tbs oat bran
1 tsp baking powder
1 Tbs Splenda or equivalent sweetener
2 Tbs plain yogurt (mine was 1.5% fat)

For the cheesecake filling
1 x 200g pot lemon flavoured Greek yogurt (mine was 1% fat)
100g low fat cream cheese (mine was 5% fat – a tiny cheat as it should be below 2%)
1 Tbs oat bran
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbs Splenda or equivalent
2 egg whites (mine were pretty large)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180C (160C fan)
2. For the base: Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. Pour mixture into a non-stick 12-hole mini muffin tin (a regular muffin tin would work too, you’d probably get 6 or 8). You only want a little bit of mixture in the bottom of each mould, remember this is the base. Pour any leftover mixture into individual muffin moulds, you can make more cheesecakes or leave them plain – they would be lovely with scrambled egg!
3. Bake for 10-15 minutes till lightly browned (see note at end).
4. In the meantime mix all the filling ingredients together (you can use the same bowl for less washing up! yay!).
5. Take the muffin tin out of the oven and pour filling over each little oat bran base. Fill to the top, these will rise a little then fall back down. Pour any leftover mixture into some ramekins or over the stray muffins from above. Pop them back in the oven for about 20-25 minutes till set and lightly browned (see note).
6. Take out of the oven. You will be excited at how nice and fluffy and risen these will look while baking; be prepared to see them sink back down! But that’s ok because they taste good.

Note: I think with these times mine turned out a little overbaked as they were sliiiightly dry. This might just be due to the ingredients, especially the oat bran, but I think it was the time in the oven. Iris made a whole cheesecake and baked hers for 25 minutes so I think my tiny muffins really didn’t need that long! I liked the fact that they were browning (goodness knows why) and left them, but next time I will check at 15′ by touching the surface. If it’s set I’ll take them out. Don’t forget the base has already been cooking quite a while.
Also noteworthy is the fact that these are much better the day after! Sounding all the more like proper cheesecake!

Back from #FBC5 with a Greek Yogurt & Chocolate Spread “Cheesecake” in a Glass

Tags

cheesecake, choco bella, chocolate, chocolate spread, dessert, digestive biscuits, Greek yogurt, nuts

Remember last post? No? I’m not surprised. It was ages ago (sorry). I was just about to leave for the #FBC5 conference in London. And what a fab experience that was! I think for a food blogger, the best part of going to a food blogger conference is the fact that you can be your true self when confronted with amazing food in a room full of people. In other words, you can whip your iphone out and instagram every single step of that spoonful of chili honey, on its journey from the jar, to the top of the cheese on the cracker, all the way to your mouth. And no one will bat an eyelid. In fact, you might find a line of people behind you, smartphones at the ready, waiting patiently for you to get out of the way so they can do the same.


And of course there is all the information that you absorb, a whole load of useful tips, nuggets of advice and wisdom, ideas and suggestions. But the main thing I’ve taken home with me after those three days in the London sunshine, is the fact that I have a whole new bunch of likeminded friends. It was especially great to spend more time with my fellow Greek bloggers, who made the journey from Athens like I did. A total of 5 of us attended, which in my opinion is a huge number for such a small country. Most of them I had met before, but this was a brilliant opportunity to have a natter about our local food blogging scene, and throw about some ideas about how we can do stuff here. It was also quite funny to hear them talk about the pork scratchings they mistook for crisps… let’s just say they were not impressed. They don’t know what they’re missing…


The photos here are a collage of my Instagram feed during the #FBC5 weekend. Most are from the actual conference, with a few random London pics in there too. You can also see them on Facebook with a few comments. For a more comprehensive account of #FBC5, the sessions, the food, the sponsors, go over to the website and have a browse through all the related posts. I will just say two things. Chili honey. Maple butter. I dream about them.


I was planning on posting a recipe based on one by my new friend Janie over at The Hedge Combers. She is just the sweetest person and I’m so happy to have met her. A kitchen disaster involving falling baking trays and sticky floors made that impossible. Those amazing flapjacks will have to wait just a little longer. Since today is really hot (the air coming through the window is like a hair dryer blowing in your face) I decided to try out something else, which doesn’t involve the oven, but does use one of the goodies that came in our extremely heavy #FBC5 goodie bags. Choco Bella, a fairtrade organic dark chocolate hazelnut spread made by Italian company Damiano. It’s veeery gooood. This “cheesecake” in a glass is dead easy to make, has few ingredients, and is very light (no cream or cream cheese here – just lovely healthy Greek yogurt). The yogurt gives it a slightly tangy taste which goes nicely with the very chocolatey spread. Here goes.

Greek Yogurt & Chocolate Spread “Cheesecake” in a Glass

Ingredients

140g digestive biscuits (or graham crackers) + 1 extra biscuit for garnishing (optional)
20g hazelnuts, chopped
2 Tbs melted butter or margarine
200g (3/4 c.) Greek yogurt (I used 2%)
150g (about 7 ½ Tbs) Choco Bella chocolate & hazelnut spread
1 Tbs icing (confectioner’s) sugar

Instructions

1. Crush biscuits in a bowl. You can use your fingers as we aren’t bothered about getting the crumbs very fine.
2. Take 4 small pinches of chopped hazelnuts and set aside for garnishing later (if you want). Mix the rest of the chopped hazelnuts into the biscuit crumbs. Add the melted butter or marge and mix with your fingers till the crumbs are coated. The mixture won’t come together as it would for a cheesecake base, we only want loose crumbs for the glass. Spoon 2 tablespoons of crumb mixture into 4 smallish glasses. Set aside.
3. In a medium sized bowl, combine the yogurt, chocolate spread and icing sugar. I used an electric whisk thinking it might make the mixture fluffier. I don’t know if it did. You can also mix with a regular whisk till incorporated.
4. Spoon 2 tablespoons of mixture onto the crumbs in the glasses. Then add another tablespoon of crumbs on top. Finally, add another layer of chocolate mixture. My last layer was just under 1 tablespoon in each glass. Sprinkle the remaining hazelnuts over the top and garnish with one quarter of the biscuit on each “cheesecake” if desired.

Notes:
– The Choco Bella chocolate spread is quite chocolatey, so if you are using any other brand I would suggest starting with less yogurt (maybe the same quantity as the chocolate spread) and tasting it. Adjust according to your taste buds!

Before I go, a special mention and “lovely to meet you” for a few more bloggers from the event.
Louiza from Chez Foti
Vanesther from Bangers & Mash
Bintu from Recipes from a Pantry
Magda from Midnight Spoon
Madeleine from From the Healthy Heart
Manjiri from Slice off me
Snejana from Orange Thyme
Emma Jane from Cakes and Catwalks
Karin from Yum and More
Karen from Lavender and Lovage

And of course my Greek blogger friends
Artemis from Wonderfoodland (bilingual blog)
Athina from Sugar Buzz (Greek blog)
Nicky from Sugar Flowers Creations (Greek blog)
Elena from Elena’s Cooking (bilingual blog)

Smoked Salmon, Raw Courgette (Zucchini) and Spearmint Cannelloni Bites

Tags

courgettes, feta, Greek yogurt, herbs, lemon, nuts, pasta, salad, smoked salmon, spearmint, zucchini

Last Saturday it was The Mister’s birthday, so I decided to throw him a surprise party. I had been thinking of doing this for a while now, but I just couldn’t believe I could pull it off. But I did! Boy was it hard work, and nerve wracking and complicated. But so worth it. He was truly gobsmacked!

As you can imagine, I went a bit overboard with the food. I started preparations on the Wednesday, with the first step being the menu, the shopping list and the schedule. Yes, like the one I mentioned in my post on preparing ahead. Thursday morning was supermarket time, and from then on I spent a significant amount of time in the kitchen, cooking up all sorts of goodies. I was expecting about 20 people, so a buffet style dinner was the best option. For a peek at the menu take a look at the bottom of the post. It might seem a strange assortment of dishes, but I wanted to include some of The Mister’s favourites as well as some slightly more adventurous recipes. One of which is the dish featured in this post, Smoked Salmon, Raw Courgette (Zucchini) and Spearmint Cannelloni Bites.

You are probably wondering what I did for a birthday cake. Well, you will be surprised or maybe even shocked to hear that I let go of that part and allowed The Mister to blow out candles on a store bought cake. Was it a terrible thing to do? Well, time-wise it would have been a struggle to make it myself (it might have even ruined the surprise as he decided to come home early on the day of the party – yeah, I have a couple more gray hairs thanks to that – and he would have more than likely found me icing it). Plus, Greek store bought birthday cakes are delicious (they are patisserie style, creamy affairs with whatever decoration you can imagine – in this case The Mister’s football team emblem). And sometimes, you just have to accept that you can’t do everything. So I’m glad and grateful to The Mister’s sister for taking care of it!

Moving on to our recipe. A couple of weeks ago I saw that this month’s “Swallow’s Recipes for Life” challenge on Bangers & Mash is a recipe using salmon, courgette (zucchini) and pasta. I knew I wanted to participate, as these are favourite ingredients of mine. I had recently made a gorgeous pasta salad with raw zucchini (recipe by Elena’s Cooking) and thought I could use that as a base. It’s so summery and fresh tasting. I did however, want to make it a bit different to your average pasta salad. The original idea was to make a filling and stuff large pasta shells with it; that didn’t work out though as this particular type of pasta seems to have vanished from supermarket shelves in Athens. The only other alternative I could think of was cannelloni tubes. I wanted something that could be eaten as finger food, so it had to be large enough to accommodate a bite size portion of filling. This was the result. It was impressive and pretty, but also a little faffy! So you will find two versions here, one for the bites as shown in the picture and one for a regular pasta salad.

Makes 30 – 40 bites

Ingredients

300g courgettes (zucchini) (approx. 3 medium sized)
salt for helping courgettes to release water
200g smoked salmon, cut into chunks
140g Greek yogurt
20g (about 2 tsp) mayonnaise
80g feta cheese, crumbled into small pieces
2 Tbs spearmint, finely chopped (measured after chopping)
3 Tbs olive oil (plus more for pasta)
1 lemon, zest of
1 Tbs lemon juice
1/4 tsp white pepper (or more to taste)
1 Tbs pine nuts (optional)
1 box (250g) cannelloni or 250g pasta (penne, fusilli or farfalle)

Instructions

1. Coarsely grate courgettes and place in a colander over a bowl. Sprinkle lightly with salt, shake/flip in the colander and sprinkle again. Set aside for at least 30 minutes so liquid is released.
2. If you are making the pasta salad, boil your pasta according to package instructions. Drain and return to the pan (off the heat) with a bit of olive oil so the shapes don’t stick together. Shake it all up once in a while. For the cannelloni bites boil the tubes till tender but be careful not to overcook. After about 10 minutes taste one to be sure. When ready drain them and return to the pan with olive oil.
3. Put salmon chunks in a big bowl.
4. In a smaller bowl mix yogurt, mayonnaise, feta, spearmint, olive oil, lemon zest and juice, pepper and pine nuts if using. Mix well with a fork, breaking up any feta lumps. Taste and adjust to your liking. Add to the salmon but don’t mix yet.
5. After about 15 minutes you will see that the courgettes have started to “sweat”. When the half hour is up, help them along by squeezing a bit with your hands being careful not to mush them. Add to the bowl with the salmon and yogurt mix.
6. For the pasta salad, add the pasta to the bowl and toss well but carefully. Let it cool completely and refrigerate till a couple of hours before serving.
7. If you are making the cannelloni bites, toss the courgette, salmon and yogurt mixture carefully. Place the bowl with the filling and the pan with the cannelloni near you. Bring out the serving dish and place that near you as well. Take a tube, cut it into three smaller tubes, and peel the first one open with your fingers. (Make sure they have cooled enough, but don’t let them get completely cold as they will stick.) Fill the little tube with a teaspoon or two of filling (place your fingers at the bottom to keep the filling in) and quickly stand it in the serving dish, open sides up and down. Be gentle and fairly quick so the filling doesn’t plop out of the bottom while being transferred. Keep going till your filling is finished. I garnished with tiny bits of dill weed, but they are just as pretty without. Refrigerate till a couple of hours before serving.

Notes:
– I used between 10 and 15 cannelloni tubes. Unfortunately it is necessary to boil more than you will use so that you can allow for some to split during boiling or filling. I kept the rest, filled with leftover meat sauce from the lasagna, put them on a layer of tomato passata in a baking tin and froze the whole thing. I am hoping that I can pop that in the oven with some béchamel on top and get a good result. I will let you know!
– If you can find the large pasta shells they might be easier and prettier to use.
– There are a lot of different tastes in this dish so you could definitely omit the pine nuts without compromising the result.
– For a more conventional flavour you could substitute the spearmint with dill weed. But the spearmint is so summery and fresh; I think it makes this dish special.

Our party buffet offered the following:
Lasagna (The Mister’s favourite. I promise I will share my recipe soon)
Gorgonzola Gnocchi Bake (will share recipe when I make it again)
Chickpea and Avocado Salad (based on this recipe by Kalyn’s Kitchen, but I used leafy greens and parsley instead of coriander. The chickpeas were cooked on Wednesday night using my slow cooker recipe)
Green Salad with Sundried Tomatoes and Walnuts (which my friend kindly made)
Tabbouleh (bulgur wheat salad made by my Mum)
Potato Puffs (recipe on The Kitchn)
Spanakopita Muffins (recipe coming soon)
Cheese and Rosemary Corn Muffins (recipe coming soon)
Corn and Capsicum Muffins (recipe by My Favourite Pastime)
Cheese Platter with Naxos Island Graviera, smoked Regato and mild Cheddar
Marinated Mini Mozzarellas (based on this recipe by The Kitchn)
German pork sausages, Greek pork sausages and beef sausages (thrown on the BBQ after the party got started – enjoyed as hot dogs by the kids)
Farmhouse Pickle to go with the corn muffins and cheese

Apple Frozen Yogurt – A Sweet Moment on a Bitter Day

Tags

apple, diet, dukan, froyo, frozen yogurt, Greek yogurt, low fat, no sugar, peach

A few days ago I went to a funeral. Someone I used to work with for over 10 years died in a senseless, stupid motorbike accident. He was a sweet guy who always wore a cheerful grin, even under extreme stress. I used to work in tourism, and M and I started out as newbies around about the same time. I still remember us trying to get a busload of tourists from the port to the airport, me shaking at the prospect of having to use the mic and make an announcement, him getting us lost while trying to join the motorway. Two not-even-twenty year olds playing at coach driver and transfer staff! Since then he had taken over his family’s business, learned to manage a fleet of coaches and found the correct route to the airport. Tourism is a tough, relentless industry, with long days, short (or non-existent) holidays and 7 day working weeks all through the summer. Watching all my former colleagues and associates at the funeral, one thought struck me more than any other. Is it really worth it? Yes, of course we have to make a living, but should we let work take over our whole life? All those years, while his friends were at the beach, M spent his summer weekends at the port, making sure cruise passengers got to their hotels, or arranging for 50 coaches to be available for an Acropolis tour, or answering my frantic 4 am phone calls and having me yell hysterically because the driver hadn’t shown up to pick up my group (not an infrequent occurrence). Yeah, I sure have some stories… he did too, until last week. We’ve all got stories “we can laugh about now”. Well, next time don’t wait “till you can laugh”. Laugh today. Do things that make you happy today. Eat whatever you feel like today. Go ride a horse today, or swim, or sing, or shop. Do something you love doing. Tomorrow you will have forgotten this and you’ll be back in your routine. So will I. But once in a while we have to take a step back and remember to live – today. Cliché? Maybe. But it really can all get snatched away so quickly.

Ideally, on that bitter day I would have liked to celebrate life with a decadent brownie, or a heavily frosted cupcake. But for a number of reasons baking was not an option. Instead I finished making the frozen yogurt I started the day before, because it was an experiment I was enjoying. Then I proceeded to eat the whole batch. All of it.

Rest in peace M.

Apple Frozen Yogurt
Serves 1 (just do it)

What you need:
2 apples, peeled, cored, chopped into small pieces
1/4 cup water
300g Greek yogurt (2%)
4 Tbs sugar or sweetener (I use Canderel)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp cinnamon

What you do:

1. Put the chopped apple and ¼ cup water into a microwave safe bowl. Sprinkle with one tablespoon of sugar or sweetener and mix well. Microwave for a few minutes, with breaks in between to check softness. When the apple is mashably soft (it took mine about 3 min), remove it from microwave and let cool for a few minutes.
2. With a hand held blender, blend the apples till smooth.
3. Add the vanilla and cinnamon to the apples.
4. Add the yogurt and mix well. Taste and adjust as needed (e.g. more cinnamon or sugar). Place in the fridge to cool completely.
5. When cooled, freeze as per ice-cream maker instructions.

Note: I first made this with peaches (based on a recipe from the Bartolini kitchens). This too is absolutely gorgeous. Just substitute the apples with 2 ripe peaches and keep everything else the same.

Other lovely looking recipes for frozen yogurt:
Fat-Free Low-Sugar Strawberry Frozen Yogurt by Kalyn’s Kitchen
Sugar-free, low-fat lemon frozen Greek yogurt by The Perfect Pantry
Pistachio Nut Ice Cream from the Bartolini kitchens
A Frozen Yogurt Recipe to Rival Pinkberry’s Recipe by 101 Cookbooks
Lemon Curd Frozen Yogurt by Kitchen Confidante