Kokkinisto beef with potatoes and green beans

1 pound stewing beef
10 potatoes, peeled and cut into small pieces
1 pound green beans
hand full of parsley
2 onions, chopped
1 can of tomatoes, chopped
salt - pepper - oil - oregano

1. In a big pot, sauté onions in oil.
2. Braise beef in onions until cooked.
3. Add water, tomatoes, parsley and seasoning and simmer for 1 hour.
4. Add potatoes and green beans and continue to cook for about 45 minutes until potatoes are soft beans are soft. Add water.
5. Serve with feta!

Chicken soup

 

6 chicken thighs or 10 chicken legs

1 cup italian rice

1 tablespoon chicken base

salt

4 stalks celery

2 eggs

1 lemon

1. In a large pot, boil chicken with chopped celery. Add salt to taste (about 1 teaspoon).
2. After 30 minutes of boiling chicken, remove pot from heat. Remove chicken pieces, debone and skin. Add the shredded chicken back into the pot. 
3. Five minutes after the chicken starts to boil again, add the rice. Let the rice expand (about 10 minutes). Remove form heat.
4. Add 1/2 the lemon to the soup and stir.
5. After about 10 minutes off the heat, stir in the 2 eggs, juice of the other half lemon and cold water mixture (1 cup). Stir quickly so as not to cook the egg. 

Fasolada (bean soup)

3 cans of kidney/white beans
3-4 onions, chopped
6 carrots, peeled and chopped
6 celery stocks, chopped
Handful of fresh parsley
1 tablespoon oregano

1. Sauté onions in a large pot with some oil.
2. Add the cans of beans with liquid it comes with and a can of water for each can used.
3. Add carrots, celery, parsley and oregano.
4. Although this is a vegetarian meal, I add a tablespoon of chicken base for extra flavour and instead of salt. You can also add a couple of tablespoons of tomato paste for more flavour.
5. Boil and then simmer for 1 hour. Serve with crusty bread.

Chicken and rice in the oven

10-20 chicken legs or thighs

3 cups italian rice

1. Put chicken in a pot and add water until chicken is covered. Add salt. Boil chicken for half an hour.
2. Put rice in the pan, and add the chicken and 3 cups of the chicken broth created from boiling the chicken for every cup of rice used. Add some butter and chicken base to the rice as well.
3. Bake at 380 degrees for 45 minutes or until all the water is gone and chicken has some colour.

Roasted chicken

whole chicken

1 lemon

black pepper - garlic salt - steak spice - olive oil

carrots

1. In a roasting pan, put in the fresh chicken legs up.
2. Rub the lemon over chicken.
3. Sprinkle on pepper, garlic salt and steak spice.
4. Finally sprinkle on the olive oil.
5. In the pan put 1/2 cup of water and under the chicken add the peeled carrots and lemon peels.
6. Bake in roasting pan covered at 380F for 2 hours. Baste throughout.
7. Bake for final 15 minutes uncovered to brown the skin. Baste again.

Mushroom and bell pepper sauce

2 cups sliced, clean mushrooms (white or button)

1 grated onion

salt - pepper - oregano - olive oil

1 can whole tomatoes, pureed

3 green bell peppers, 1 cm square pieces

1. Saute onion with oil and add the salt, pepper and oregano.
2. In a separate pan saute mushrooms and add to onion pan.
3. Add the green bell peppers and the tomatoes.
4. Let simmer.
5. Prepare any kind of pasta as per package instructions. Serve with cheese.

Makaronia me kima

1 pkg (450g) elbow pasta
2 lbs ground beef
3 onions, chopped
1 can whole tomatoes, chopped
1 can tomato paste
Salt - pepper - oregano

1. Boil pasta as per package instructions. Drain and return pasta to pot. Top with some oil to prevent sticking.
2. Sauté the onions for about 5 minutes and add the beef. Brown the meat until fully cooked. Drain and return to cooking pot.
3. Start to reheat the beef and add the can of whole tomatoes, chopped. Using a food processor is great for both the onions and tomatoes.
4. Add the tomato paste. You can add 2-3 tablespoons, but I usually add the whole can, since I don't use it that often and the ground beef soaks up the tomatoes pretty quickly. Just a little extra tomato-y tasting.
5. Add salt - pepper - oregano to taste. I don't usually do this step, but it has been suggested so it's worth the mention.
6. Mix meat sauce into pot of cooked pasta and stir.
7. Serve with feta!