Greek Recipes

168 recipes found

Moussaka
cooking.nytimes.com faviconNYT Cooking

Moussaka

This recipe for moussaka is adapted from one found in David Rosengarten's book “Taste” which includes an entire section devoted to the classic Greek casserole. In the book, Mr. Rosengarten claims that his is “the lightest, least oily, least tomatoey, most eggplanty, most refined moussaka that you've ever tasted.” Isn't that just what you want as you plan a dinner party? Mr. Rosengarten writes with bravado, but he certainly persuaded me to try his recipe. And it delivered.

4h15 servings
Meat Balls Avgolemono (Veal balls with lemon and egg sauce)
cooking.nytimes.com faviconNYT Cooking

Meat Balls Avgolemono (Veal balls with lemon and egg sauce)

50m4 servings
Keftedes With Trahana
cooking.nytimes.com faviconNYT Cooking

Keftedes With Trahana

30mAbout 35 meatballs
Meat Patties
cooking.nytimes.com faviconNYT Cooking

Meat Patties

This is a recipe for the Greek dish kephtethakia. Ground lamb spiced with cumin provides the bulk of the flavor in these pan-fried meat patties.

1h 30m4 dozen patties, 8 appetizer servings or 4 main-course servings
Greek-Style Nachos
cooking.nytimes.com faviconNYT Cooking

Greek-Style Nachos

Nachos can be fun as a bar food, but they’re usually not much more than that. Here, I'm substituting like mad to create what you might call Greek-style nachos. Mine go like this: pita triangles toasted with olive oil; a sauce of feta and yogurt, spiked with mint and lemon; a topping of ground lamb with onion and cumin; and a garnish of tomatoes, cucumbers and olives. The whole thing takes maybe a half-hour, and it’s all familiar except for the arrangement.

45m4 servings
Greek Skillet Pies With Feta and Greens
cooking.nytimes.com faviconNYT Cooking

Greek Skillet Pies With Feta and Greens

The Greek cookbook author Aglaia Kremezi has no problem making phyllo dough at home whenever she makes anything pie-like. With a little practice, anyone can do it. For these simple skillet pies, she recommends grilling them in an iron stovetop ridged pan or on a grate over coals. Filled with feta and herbs, these flat thin-crust pies give a new meaning to grilled pizza.

1h12 small pies
Greek Rizogalo
cooking.nytimes.com faviconNYT Cooking

Greek Rizogalo

30m4 servings
Simple Lamb Kebabs With Greek Flavors
cooking.nytimes.com faviconNYT Cooking

Simple Lamb Kebabs With Greek Flavors

In days gone by, Italian dressing might have been a go-to marinade for lamb. After you soak, say, some lamb skewers in this dressing for a while and then grill them, what you get is grilled lamb with a kind of vague mix of vinegar, oil and faded herb taste. Contrast this with grilling the lamb, then putting it in a bowl and adding an acidic flavor, like lemon juice or vinegar, the oil and whatever herbs you choose. You’ll get the smoothness of the oil, the sharp hit of the acid (in this case, lemon juice), the aroma of the herbs (in this case marjoram) and the sweet meatiness of the lamb, each distinct flavor complementing and reinforcing others.

30m4 entree servings
Greek Baked Fish With Tomatoes and Onions
cooking.nytimes.com faviconNYT Cooking

Greek Baked Fish With Tomatoes and Onions

The robust flavors in the tomato sauce work well with a variety of white fishes. If you have traveled in the Greek Islands, chances are you have had this fish. Use a white-fleshed fish that will stand up to the robust flavors in the tomato sauce. From the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s list of best choices I recommend Pacific cod or halibut, black cod or striped bass. From the “Good Alternatives” list I recommend Mahi Mahi from United States waters.

2h 15mServes 4
Manouri, Eggplant and Orzo Salad
cooking.nytimes.com faviconNYT Cooking

Manouri, Eggplant and Orzo Salad

50mServes 6 to 8
Helen Oless's Prosciutto and Olive Braid
cooking.nytimes.com faviconNYT Cooking

Helen Oless's Prosciutto and Olive Braid

Helen Oless developed this bread while working as a baker at Bloomingdale's in the early 1980s. Ms. Oless put into practice years of experimentation with flours, yeasts and baking techniques to create delicious country-style brick-oven breads, then the pride of the store's bakeshop. They included rye, whole wheat, white, currant-whole wheat, walnut-whole wheat as well as more exotic combinations such as an aromatic cheddar cheese-caraway and this prosciutto-olive braid.

2h 45m1 large loaf
Halloumi Tzaganaki
cooking.nytimes.com faviconNYT Cooking

Halloumi Tzaganaki

25mServes 4 to 6 as meze
Grilled Halloumi and Minted Zucchini Sandwiches
cooking.nytimes.com faviconNYT Cooking

Grilled Halloumi and Minted Zucchini Sandwiches

Halloumi, a Greek cheese, has a squeaky texture and high melting point and maintains its bounce even if you grill it or sauté it to a golden crust — which is exactly what you’ll do for this riff on a simple cheese sandwich. Fresh baguette, grilled zucchini and onion, the soft-crisp cheese? It is a sandwich rich and savory enough for dinner.

45mServes 4
Beet Greens Bulgur With Carrots and Tomatoes
cooking.nytimes.com faviconNYT Cooking

Beet Greens Bulgur With Carrots and Tomatoes

Bulgur and greens are a classic Greek combo. I have added carrots to brighten up the dish. I love the lemony finish. If you are not committed to a vegan version of the dish I recommend that you top each serving with feta. The bulgur-vegetable mix makes a comforting, satisfying meal – though you could also serve this as a side dish.

1hServes 6
Greek Bulgur With Brussels Sprouts
cooking.nytimes.com faviconNYT Cooking

Greek Bulgur With Brussels Sprouts

I love the way the bulgur swells and fluffs after you let this comforting, nourishing dish sit once it’s cooked. In fact, I liked the leftovers even more than the freshly made dish. I also love the lemony flavor, the result of just a small amount of lemon juice added at the end of cooking. This is one of the few times I am happy to allow brussels sprouts to cook until they are quite soft.

1hServes 6
Baked Orzo With Tomatoes, Roasted Peppers and Zucchini
cooking.nytimes.com faviconNYT Cooking

Baked Orzo With Tomatoes, Roasted Peppers and Zucchini

Orzo is a type of pasta that looks like rice. It’s popular in Greece, where it is baked in casseroles like this one. If you like comforting dishes like macaroni and cheese, you’ll like this.

1hServes six
Moussaka With Roasted Mushrooms
cooking.nytimes.com faviconNYT Cooking

Moussaka With Roasted Mushrooms

In this Balkan style Moussaka I have substituted the roasted mushroom mix for half the meat. But you can also make a vegetarian version with no meat at all. It is delicious either way, with a complex, slightly sweet Eastern Mediterranean sauce spiced with a little cinnamon, a pinch of allspice and a few cloves. Greek moussaka is topped with béchamel, which can be heavy, even gummy. But this one has a light, fluffy topping made with yogurt and eggs. There are a few steps involved here and the sauce is a long-cooking one, but you can get that started while the eggplant is roasting in the oven to speed things along or make the sauce the day before.

3hServes 8 generously
Skordalia (Garlic-Walnut Sauce)
cooking.nytimes.com faviconNYT Cooking

Skordalia (Garlic-Walnut Sauce)

10m1 1/2 cups sauce
Pork Gyros
cooking.nytimes.com faviconNYT Cooking

Pork Gyros

This lemon-bright and paprika-dusted pita filling is based on memories of the gyros served at Kalimera Souvlaki Art in Melbourne, Australia, one of the best Greek restaurants in a city that supports a great number of them. I've cooked it here in the oven, but the preparation would take well to the grill. However you prepare it, serve the crisped meat with warm pita, cucumbers, tomatoes and onion, tzatziki sauce, hot sauce, French fries, mint leaves, really whatever you like.

1h6 servings
Hortopita
cooking.nytimes.com faviconNYT Cooking

Hortopita

This terrific recipe for a massive pile of mixed greens, herbs, leek and winter squash, all encased in homemade phyllo dough, came to The Times from the noted Greek-born food writer and cooking instructor Diane Kochilas, with whom Mark Bittman cooked in her Athens apartment. It’s a bit of work, to be sure, but Kochilas has codified the process so that it’s straightforward, and the results are both delicious and impressive. It's important to note that the phyllo dough created here need not be the extremely thin version we see in pastries, but rather a reasonably thin and easily worked dough rich in olive oil. It seems daunting. It is not.

2h1 pie, 8 to 12 servings
Egg Lemon Soup with Matzos
cooking.nytimes.com faviconNYT Cooking

Egg Lemon Soup with Matzos

Rather than making matzo balls for this comforting soup, I crumble matzos into the broth -- no schmaltz required. In Greece the chicken that is later served as part of the main course for Passover is simmered in water with aromatic vegetables to create the broth. You can make a very tasty vegetarian version using garlic broth (my favorite) or vegetable broth. I like to add steamed Swiss chard when I stir in the egg-lemon mixture, but you could add another green spring vegetable, like fresh peas, spinach or asparagus. Steam them first until tender and add to the soup just before serving.

30m4 servings
Egg Lemon Soup
cooking.nytimes.com faviconNYT Cooking

Egg Lemon Soup

The authentic version of this Greek soup is a chicken soup with an egg and lemon enrichment stirred in at the end. But I don’t hesitate to make it using garlic broth, thereby transforming a Greek classic into a refreshing, lemony twist on garlic soup.

20mServes 4
Vasilopita
cooking.nytimes.com faviconNYT Cooking

Vasilopita

1h 10m1 10-inch cake
Chicken Magiritsa (Chicken and Lemon Soup)
cooking.nytimes.com faviconNYT Cooking

Chicken Magiritsa (Chicken and Lemon Soup)

1h 30m6 to 8 servings