Puree of roasted beedts

PUREE OF ROASTED BEEDS

 This puree is a delicious and spicy appetizer

Ingredients

6 bulbs of beets about the same size

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, or a little more if needed

4 cloves garlic

Salt to taste

3 tablespoons olive oil

Some olives for the decoration

Instruction

Wash thoroughly the bulbs.

Cut both ends of the bulbs so as to make them flat.

Put the bulbs side by side. They form one cylinder.

Measure the length of that cylinder.

Cut a piece of aluminum foil 12 cm longer than the length of the cylinder of the bulbs.

Place the bulbs in the middle of the foil along its length.

Fold the one half of the aluminum foil and cover the bulbs.

Bring the other half of the foil and cover the bulbs from the other side.

An open tube is formed that has the bulbs inside.

Fold both ends and close the tube

Put this tube in the middle rack of the oven.

Directly below, in another rack, put a pan with water.

So the bulbs will be cooked and they will keep their moisture.

Bake at 200 degrees Celsius for one hour or more.

Peg a fork inside the bulbs. If this gets easily in them, they are ready. Otherwise bake them longer.

Remove them from the oven and let them cool.

Press them with your hands and their peel comes out easily.

Put in a blender the olive oil, the balsamic vinegar, the salt and the garlic and beat them.

Chop the bulbs and put them in the blender.

Knock them on low speed for a while.

Pour the beets puree in a serving bowl.

Garnish with olives or parsley.

Posted by Katy hat-Kotsovinos at 4:58 a.m.

Patties with meat

PATTIES WITH MEAT

Minced meat stuffing

Ingredients:

500 g. ground beef

3 large ground onions

5 cloves garlic

100 g. olive oil + oil to smear the sheets

3 large tomatoes ripe

Salt and pepper to taste

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon oregano

A pinch savory

6 cumin seeds

Ply

Sometimes I use ready sheet and sometimes I make my own.

When using ready-sheet buy 500 grams of crust sheet.

(In the stores with Greek products you will find the sheets of Kanakis Co which are very good)

Homemade sheet

Ingredients:

1/2 cup olive oil

125 g. margarine

1/2 cup Retsina or another white wine

60 g. sesame

600 g. about self- rising flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

Instructions

Minced meat stuffing

Peel the onions and the garlic.

Put in a pot 100 g. of olive oil and place it over medium heat.

Chop onions and garlic, pour them in the pot and stir.

Let them sauté until they become soft and tender.

Put into the pot the ground beef and stir.

Lower a little more the heat.

Let minced release its fluids and simmer in them.

As the minced boils lumps are formed.

Press them with a fork and break them.

Put into the pot salt, pepper, oregano, savory, coriander, and the seeds of cumin.

Rinse tomatoes and mince them in a food processor.

Pour them into the mince.

Let the meat to simmer until it absorbs almost all fluids.

Remove the pot from the heat and let it cool.

Patties with ready sheet

Pull the sheet from the casing.

The sheet is fold in the middle. Open it on the working surface.

Cut perpendicular to the length strips with width 12 cm each.

Cut the strips into pieces with dimensions 12CH14 cm each.

Because the sheet is thin, put two sheets the one above another to create a sturdy piece of leaf

Smear each piece of sheet with olive oil.

Take one of those sheet pieces and put in the middle of it 2 large tablespoons of minced meat stuffing.  

Place the meat in an oblong shape.

Fold the upper and lower sides of the sheet and blanket with them the meat.

Wrap the patty twice and make a cylinder.

Put the cylindrical patties into a greased and floured pan, adjacent to one another.

Continue in this way until you run out of minced meat.

It is necessary to put lots of the filling into each patty, to be delicious.

Smear lightly the upper surface with olive oil.

Scour the sesame seeds with water and you drain it

Sprinkle over the patties with sesame.

Put the pan on the bottom rack of the oven and bake at 175 degrees for 40-45 minutes.

A minute before removing them from the oven rub some hard cheese for pasta over them.

Homemade sheet

Put in a bowl the olive oil.

Rub with tomato grater the margarine into the oil.

Mix these two with a fork.

Add the resin wine and mix again.

Pour the flour into the bowl little by little, sprinkle the baking powder over it and knead.

Add flour until you achieve soft dough that does not stick to your hands.

Let the dough rest for half an hour or more.

Take a quarter of the dough and open it to a thin sheet.

Cut the sheet into oblong strips 12 cm in width.

Cut the strips into pieces with dimensions 12CH14 centimeters.

Patties with homemade sheet

Smear lightly with olive oil each piece of sheet.

Take one piece of sheet and put 2 large tablespoons of minced meat on it.  

Place the meat in the sheet in an oblong shape.

Fold the upper and lower sides of the sheet and cover the meat.

Wrap the patty twice into a cylindrical shape.

Continue this way until you run out of minced meat.

You should put lots of filling in order to be delicious.

Place the patties into greased and floured pan, adjacent to one another.

From here and then continue as described above.

Meatballs with leeks and beets

MEATBALLS WITH LEEKS AND BEETS

Ingredients

1 bunch beets about 1.5 kg

1 kg of leeks

1 cup hot broth

2 large dry onions

5 cloves garlic

100 g. olive oil

Salt, pepper, oregano, savory

10 cumin seeds

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 piece of hot red chili pepper (in the size of a watermelon seed)

30 g. of feta cheese

350 g. ground beef

150 gr. minced pork

Preparing the materials

Beets

Cut the stalks from the bulbs. Separate the bulbs from their stalks and cut the leaves from the stems.

Keep the leaves to prepare stuffed dolmades.

You will use the stems and the bulbs in the meatballs.

Wash the stalks at least three waters to clean them thoroughly.

Cut them into pieces 2 cm in length each. Leave them aside for later use.

Rinse the bulbs well with water.

Clean each bulb as you clean an orange or an apple.

Remove the peel around it with a knife.

Rinse again the bulbs and cut them into thin slices.

Cut each slice into smaller pieces.

Leave them aside to use later.

Leeks

Take each leek separately and remove its dried outer leaves.

Three outer leaves are usually dry and those undernith them are tender.

The white part of the leeks is tender.

The green leaves are hard to the edges and therefore cut and discard them.   

Use only the white part of leeks and the tender part of the green leaves.

Cut each leek in half lengthwise.

Cut again into pieces 2 cm in length.

Fill a large bowl of water and pour into it  the chopped leeks.

Wash them 3 times and leave them aside.

Meatballs

Put in a bowl the ground beef, the minced pork, some salt and knead those for some time.

Add pepper, oregano, savory and half of the grated coriander and knead again.

Pour 2 TB of olive oil over the minced and knead again.

Put on your palm a piece of meat smaller than a walnut.

Conjure into your palms one small meatball.

Continue this way until you make meatballs from all the minced.

Put the meatballs in a low pan and place it in the fridge until you need it.

Implementation

Put a pot with ceramic coating over medium heat.

Pour into it the olive oil.

Clean the onions and mince them into the pot.

Scour garlic and mince it into the pot.

Stir them and sauté until tender.

Add the leeks and stir.

Let leeks to sauté briefly.

Add the meatballs and let them brown in a casserole two minutes.

Add the chopped stalks and the cut beets bulbs.

Let all these ingredients to simmer a few minutes.

Stir gently so the meatballs will not disperse.

Add the broth or boiling water, if you do not have broth.

Add the rest of the coriander and the seeds and cumin.

Leave the food to simmer until all the ingredients are soft and tender.

Rub with your fingers the feta cheese and break it into small pieces.

Pour feta into the casarole.

 Leave the food to boil for two minutes and then turn off the heat.