Greek Night- 2 dips, soup, salad, appetizer, main dish, drink and dessert

A couple of weeks ago my son studied Ancient Greece at school. He had multiple options for his final project and we decided to have a "Greek Cafe" as part of the experience.

When I was a kid, I used to love to do restaurants to surprise my dad when he would come home from work, so I knew this would be really fun for all of us.
The kids dressed up and placed all the appropriate signs annoucing our cafe. The cutest part was how they thought that someone driving down our street might just be hungry and stop in to join us.
My son made the signs and came up with the name for our cafe. I asked for his input on the menu and spent the afternoon getting all the dishes ready for our Greek Night.

We started with a drink called "The Greek Lantern". I have absolutely no idea if it is really a Greek drink, but it sounded really interesting, combining a large amount of fresh parsley leaves, lime juice, lime zest, club soda, water and ice. It actually was quite refreshing and surprisingly yummy.
Next we had a Roasted Red Pepper with Feta dip and Lemony-Garlic Hummus with homemade pita chips. Both of these were really good, although the red pepper one was deemed "spicy" by my youngest child.

Then we had mini spanakopita, which were really delicious and not as time consuming as I thought they would be.
The soup was everybody's favorite. I have had it at Greek restaurants before and it was very simple to recreate at home. It is called Avgolemono Soup- which just means Egg, Lemon and Rice soup. You have to temper eggs to make it, but boy was it delicious. My kids loved it.
I made a light version of Baklava that I found from Cooking Light. It was also much easier than I thought it was going to be to make. It turned out good, but was quite sweet, so could only be enjoyed in small portions. I actually had some leftover baklava mixed into this lemon ice cream a few days later and that was an amazing dessert.

What Greek menu would be complete without some sort of Greek salad? I actually made 2 versions of this salad since we have two people in our house who don't like tomatoes. The second version I made with chopped red pepper to replace the tomato. These leftovers were delicious on a green salad and also in a pita sandwich.
We had Chicken Souvlaki skewers, which my son loved. The Tzatziki sauce that went along with this was my youngest child's favorite thing. She was eating it plain and dipping all sorts of veggies in it.

Here's a closer look at the Baklava. We had lots of fun on Greek Night!

The Greek Lantern

Ingredients

• 1 cup (packed) Parsley Sprigs
• ½ tsp Lime Zest, grated
• 1 cup Cold Water
• ½ cup Fresh Lime Juice
• ½ cup Sugar
• 1 (10 ounce) bottle Club Soda

Instructions

• Blend all the ingredients, except club soda, in a blender, for about one minute.
• Take a large glass measure and strain the preparation through a fine-mesh sieve.
• Put ice into tall glasses and pour the prepared drink.
• Top with club soda and serve

Lemony-Garlic Hummus

Recipe from Aggie’s Kitchen

2 16 oz cans of chickpeas (Bush’s is my canned bean of choice!)
1/2 cup liquid from can of chickpeas
juice and zest from 3 lemons
3 TB tahini
4 cloves garlic, crushed
big pinch of salt and fresh ground pepper
5 TB olive oil

Combine first 6 ingredients into bowl of food processor. Blend for 2-3 minutes until smooth. Slowly stream in olive oil until combined and smooth. Taste for salt and add more if needed. Serve with fresh cut veggies, crackers, chips, pita chips or crostini for a nice appetizer platter.

Note: this recipe makes a large batch. Store in airtight container in refrigerator for up to a week.

Recipe for Roasted Red Pepper with Feta Dip


Recipe for Greek Salad
* I drastically reduced the amount of olive oil and feta cheese that this recipe called for. I just drizzled the mixture with a little olive oil and then used more lemon juice. I only added a couple of oz of feta cheese.


Recipe for Mini-Spanakopitas
* the egg white/olive oil mixture they said to brush the phyllo dough with, didn't work for me.
I used cooking spray instead.

Recipe for Avgolemono Soupo (Egg, Lemon, and Rice Soup)

Recipe for Chicken Souvlaki with Tzatziki Sauce
* I used greek yogurt

Recipe for Baklava with Wildflower Honey
* I used orange blossom honey

TWD- Cafe Volcano Cookies

This week's Tuesday's with Dorie recipe is Cafe Volcano Cookies. These cookies were chosen by MacDuff and you can find the recipe by going to her blog, The Lonely Sidecar.

What is a Cafe Volcano Cookie? Well, that is a really good question. I guess it is a nut mixture/meringue, although when I was making these I really believed they would not turn into anything edible.
This is the easiest cookie ever.
You toast some nuts. I used sliced almonds and chopped pecans.
Once those are toasted you combine them in a saucepan with egg whites and sugar. And in my case cinnamon, because I don't drink or use coffee and so there is no espresso powder in my house and there never will be.
You let the ingredients get warm and then you drop that syrupy/nutty/sugary mixture onto a baking sheet covered with parchment.

At this point, I figured I had done something wrong because it looked like I was just dropping blobs of wet nuts on my baking sheet. Which is what I was doing.
But, I had followed the recipe, so I popped them in the oven and waited for some miracle.

They did puff a little and turned into a cookie shape, so I figured that must be what they were supposed to look like.
I tried a piece of one and they tasted like spiced nuts.
I sent these along with the other Christmas goodies I made in the mail to my family members in different states.
One of my sisters said these were one of the best cookies of the bunch.

Go check out the TWD Blogroll to see what other bakers thought of this weeks recipe!

Cardamom Banana Bread with Pistachios

My brother was begging me to make banana bread with the quickly deteriorating bananas at his house. We went to Cooking Light and found 2 types we wanted to make. This banana bread was delicious and the flavors were excellent together. I know the banana pictures are kinda gross, but they were leaking banana juice all over the countertop!

Cardamom Banana Bread with Pistachios (adapted from Cooking Light)

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup egg substitute

1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)

1/3 cup reduced-fat sour cream

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/3 cup finely chopped pistachios

Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350°.
Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk.
Place sugars and butter in a large bowl, and beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 1 minute). Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add banana, sour cream, and cardamom; beat until blended. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until moist. Stir in pistachios. Spoon batter into a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool bread completely on wire rack.

TWD-The Most Extraordinary French Lemon Cream Tart

This week's recipe, The Most Extraordinary French Lemon Cream Tart, was chosen by Mary of Starting From Scratch. I have never made a Lemon Cream Tart before so this was alot of fun for me. We had the option of making the Orange Tart that followed on the next page, but my dad loves Lemon Meringue Pie, so this was the recipe for me.

Dorie gave lots of options with this recipe. We had three types of Tart Dough to choose from, and I chose The Spiced Tart Dough, which includes ground nuts, and I figured I could throw in a little Cardamom! She also suggested that you could double the dough and make little cookies to decorate the tart. I love making cookies and decorating them so I went for it! She also suggested serving the finished tart with Raspberry Coulis, so I decided to throw that in as well.

I don't have a large tart pan, so I made my large tart in a springform pan and a few with freestyle little crusts that I shaped with my hands (pictured above).

My lemon sugar in the aluminum bowl that gave me a little trouble. I wasn't paying attention to what bowl I used, and the aluminum turned my cream pale green. I had to add some food coloring so the finished tart wouldn't make us sick (from looking at it). Luckily it didn't affect the taste, but that is why my cream is so yellow. I learned something from it and I guess that is what is important, right?

The Spiced Tart Dough- I doubled it, used ground pecans and substituted cardamom for half of the cinnamon- IT SMELLED SO GOOD!

My little cookies- stars, tulips, flowers and of course, little lemons

I made a simple glaze of lemon juice, confectioners sugar, and lemon zest, that I drizzled and spread across the mini-cookies. Some I outlined with frosting and then filled in. I then sprinkled them with Light Yellow Sparkling Sugar.

The finished Tart with Raspberries, Raspberry Coulis, Cookies and Cool Whip

The 9-inch Lemon Tart with Cookie and Rasberry Garnish


The Most Extraordinary French Lemon Cream Tart

1 cup sugar

Grated zest of 3 lemons

4 large eggs

3/4 cup fresh lemon juice (from 4-5 lemons)

2 sticks plus 5 tablespoons (1o 1/2 oz) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon-size pieces, at room temperature

1 9-inch tart shell made with Sweet Tart Dough, Sweet Tart Dough with Nuts, or Spiced Tart Dough

Getting ready: Have an instant-read thermometer, a strainer and a blender(first choice) or food processor at hand. Bring a few inches of water to simmer in a saucepan.

Put the sugar and zest in a large heatproof bowl that can be set over the pan of simmering water. Off the heat, rub the sugar and zest together between your fingers until the sugar is moist, grainy and very aromatic. Whisk in the eggs, followed by the lemon juice.

Set the bowl over the pan and start stirring with the whisk as soon as the mixture feels tepid to the touch. Cook the lemon cream until it reaches 180 degrees F. As you whisk- you must whisk constantly to keep the eggs from scrambling- you'll see that the cream will start out light and foamy, then the bubbles will get bigger, and then, as it gets closer to 180 degrees, it will start to thicken and them whisk will leave tracks. Heads up at this point- the tracks mean the cream is almost ready. Don't stop whisking or checking the temperature, and have patience--depending on how much heat you're giving the cream, getting to temp can take as long as 10 minutes.

As soon as it reaches 180 degrees F, remove the cream from the heat and strain it into the container of the blender (or food processor); discard the zest. Let the cream stand, stirring occasionally, until it cools to 140 degrees F, about 10 minutes.

Turn the blender to high (or turn on the processor) and, with the machine going, add the butter about 5 pieces at a time. Scrape down the sides of the container as needed as you incorporate the butter. Once the butter is in, keep the machine going- to get the perfect light, airy texture of lemon-cream dreams, you must continue to blend to cream for another 3 minutes. If your machine protests and gets a bit too hot, work in 1-minute intervals, giving the machine a little rest between beats.

Pour the cream into a container, press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface to create an airtight seal and refrigerate for a least 4 hours overnight. (The cream will keep in the fridge for 4 days, or, tightly sealed, in the freezer for up to 2 months; thaw it overnight in the refridgerator.)

When you are ready ot assemble the tart, just whisk the cream to loosen it and spoon it into the tart shell. Serve the tart, or refrigerate until needed.

Spiced Tart Dough

1 cup ground nuts (almonds, toasted and skinned hazelnuts, walnuts or pecans)

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

Pinch of ground cloves

1 large egg yolk

1 tablespoon water

3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature

6 tablespoons sugar

Butter a 9-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom. Whisk together the ground nuts, flour, cocoa, cinnamon, salt and cloves. With a fork, stir the egg yolk and water together in a cup.

Working with a stand mixer, or hand mixer, in a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together at medium speed, until smooth, about 3 minutes, scraping down the bowl as needed. Add the egg and water and beat for 1 minute more. Reduce the speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they disappear into the dough. Don't work the dough much once the flour is incorporated. If the dough comes together but some dry crumbs remain at the bottom of the bowl, stop the mixer and finish blending the ingredients with a rubber spatula or your hands.

Put the dough between two sheets of wax paper and with your hands, flatten the dough into a disk, then grab a rolling pin and roll the dough, turning it over frequently, until you havea round that is about 11 inches in diameter.

To fit the dough into the pan: Remove the top sheet of waxed paper and carefully turn the dough into the buttered tart pan. Very gently fit the dough into the pan, lightly pressing it over the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Don't be concerned if the dough breaks, as it may- just gently press the tears together with your fingers. Chill the dough, covered with plastic wrap, for at least 2 hours.

To bake the crust: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Remove the plastic wrap and, using a small sharp knife, trim the excess dough flush with edges of the pan. Butter the shiny side of a piece of aluminum foil, fit the foil, buttered side down, tightly across the crust and fill it with dried beans or rice or pie weights.

Place the tart on the baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and weights and bake the crust for an additional 8 to 10 minutes, or until it is browned, dry and firm. Transfer to a rack and cool to room temperature before filling.

If you double the dough and make cookies: roll the dough to a thickness of 1/8-inch and use a cookie cutter with a diameter or less than 2 inches. Bake in a 350 degree-F oven for 13-15 minutes and when they are cool- decorate the tart.

Raspberry Coulis

1 pint (2 cups) red raspberries, fresh or frozen, partially thawed if frozen

3 tablespoons sugar, or more to taste

Put the berries and sugar in a blender or food processor and whir until pureed. Taste and mix on more sugar if needed. Press the coulis through a strainer or a food mill to eliminate the seeds.

I served this for dessert at a family dinner and it was devoured quickly. Everyone raved about the delicate flavors of the cream mixed with the spiced crust and raspberries. I thought the lemon cream tasted better before I added the butter, but I was the only one who was able to taste it that way. To see what other twists were taken on this week's recipe, visit the Tuesdays with Dorie blogroll.