Keftedes – Κεφτεδεs

My daughter’s graduation from high school is this coming Friday. Hooray!!!

She decided that she doesn’t want a big party like many kids want and she only wants a few of her friends and a few of mine to come over. After the graduation ceremony at school we will come home to have something to eat and drink. It will be a bit late for a sit-down dinner so I opted for finger foods.

On the finger foods menu we had to have something Greek – tyropittes and Cyprus style meatballs are a must!

 

Every culture has it’s own variation of a meatball recipe – one of the most versatile dishes! In the Cypriot cuisine we have our own which includes grated potato in the mixture. Yes, you have read correctly – grated potato along with parsley, mint …and other ingredients. Our meatballs is a meal by itself! Growing up I had to take meatballs to every school trip and picnic as if only meatballs could keep me in good health :-) according to my beloved mom’s nutritional book.  :-)

I learned how to make meatballs at the age of 12 years old. I made them successfully – with no salt but eatable according to my family’s comments at the time.

Recenty, I have discovered that you can also bake/grill them instead of frying them. This makes them a lot healthier and there’s no compromise on the taste – you’ve got my promise on that.

For my beloved vegetarian friends I suggest to use soya – I have also made the meatballs successfully with soya. 

Or you can go with a vegan recipe! 

Here's my variation of the Cyprus meatballs recipe

2 pounds ground beef (can a pound beef and a pound pork)

5 medium red potatoes – after they are grated 2 cups

1 medium yellow onion

¼ cup fine bread crumbs

½ cup chopped parsley

1/4 teaspoon dry mint

1 egg

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

Salt

Black pepper

For frying:

1 ½ cups canola oil

Makes approximately 60~65 round meatballs of one inch diameter

In a large bowl, mix the ground beef with the bread crumbs, finely chopped parsley, egg and spices.

Grate the potatoes and onion. You can either grate in a food processor or with a traditional grater. Place in a colander to get rid of any excess liquid. You should have approximately two cups of grated potatoes and onion.

Add in the meat mixture. Mix with your hands well.

Cover with plastic cover and place in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before shaping the meatballs.

Fry in canola oil over medium high heat. The meatballs are cooked once they have a brown color on all sides.

Serve hot.

Καλη ορεξη!

Pasta Flora – Γλυκο Παστα Φλωρα - Pasta Frolla

Finally, I am back after being absent for two whole years!

I am more mature and may I say wiser?! For sure I am thankful of what I have and more appreciative of what life has to offer me! During this time a lot happened that did not allow me/did not leave room to express and enjoy my love for cooking and experimenting with foods for friends and family.

The loss of my beloved father marked my life in a lot of different ways during these last two years. In the beginning was the grievance of losing him and getting used to his absence which was difficult but as time went by I started to appreciate more and more his teachings and what I have deeply rooted in my heart from him.

The love for the earth and what has to offer us always connected me to my father. We always shared an immense joy from planting and growing flowers, trees, vegetables and then harvesting the fruit, vegetables ….

…and what’s being harvested each season enjoy cooking it.

SO I had to start cooking again, gardening and remembering …

The passage of my daughter into adulthood has also made a mark in my life in many different ways with lots of teary, laughing and joyous moments!

So I am back and here to stay!

Every year I make so much marmelade that I don’t know what to do with it so I end up giving to friends as gifts and also keeping a lot of it for my all year baking. Recently I started baking one of my favorite cakes which is perfect for breakfast or afternoon snack paired with coffee or tea.

Back in Cyprus and on the mainland of Greece we call it Pasta Flora. I recently found out that the Pasta Flora

same dessert is part of many culinary baking lists around the world in slightly different names – for instance in Italy is called Pasta Frolla.

Well here is what I baked recently. Nowadays I bake it once every couple of weeks using my homemade plum marmelade.

Enjoy and tell me what you think!

Ingredients

1 cup sugar

1 cup canola oil

3 eggs

3 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons cognac

zest of a lemon

3 cups flour

¾ cup marmelade or more

1 egg white

Whisk the eggs well until fluffy and white.

Gradually add the sugar, then the oil and cognac.

Shift the flour with the baking powder into the mixture.

Add the lemon zest.

Take a round shallow baking pan of approximate size, 10 inches width, and pour ¾ of the mixture. Since the mixture is very soft using a knife to spread it across the baking dish is the best approach.

Spread the marmelade over that with the help of a teaspoon. The mixture is pretty soft so you need to work lightly with the teaspoon so you don’t mix the marmelade with the dough.

Form long tubes with the remaining dough while adding an additional half a cup of flour into the dough.

Brush the tubes with the egg white that you have whisked well along with a teaspoon of water.

Lay the dough tubes crisscrossing each other and forming little squares.

Put in a pre-heated oven for 40 minutes at 350 degrees or until it gets a light color on top.

Serve at room temperature with coffee or tea.

Καλη ορεξη!

Buon Appetito