Two more Greek recipes for our project's cook book

Thanks to Mr. Samaras, the teacher of physics and member of our Etwinning team,  our last Etwinning meeting was very sweet, as he cooked and brought to our team the Greek sweet "Halvas"  .

Here it is his very tasty recipe: 

HALVAS

IGREDIENTS:

1 cup of olive oil

2 cups of thick semolina

3 cups of sugar

1 cup of water

1 cup of fresh orange juice

½ cup of raisins

½ teaspoon of cinnamon (ground)

 Optional: walnuts, almonds or pine cones

PREPARATION:

The syrup:

Heat the water, the juice, the sugar and the cinnamon in a pot. 4 minutes after the liquid has started boiling, keep the pot on the store and put it away.

The halvas:

In a second pot pour the oil. As soon as it is heated, add the semolina and the raisins (Optional: Add chopped walnuts, almonds or pine cones), and lower the temperature to moderate. Mix continuously till the mixture turns light brown. Pour in the syrup carefully and then heat the new mixture on moderate fire, while mixing all the way until it becomes thick.

Empty the halvas into a serving utensil and leave until it cools down.

Serving suggestion: Sprinkle cinnamon on top.

Enjoy this  very usual Greek dessert!

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Here it is one more recipe

Gemista (staffed peppers and tomatoes)

Ingredients

• 6 large ripe tomatoes
• 6 peppers
• potatoes
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 200gr  rice
• ½ kilo minced beef meat
• 15g of dill finely shredded,
• salt and pepper
• parsley

 Preparation

  Cut a 2cm width round slice off the top of each tomato. Do the same with peppers. 

Scoop out the tomatoes pulp with a teaspoon into a bowl and set aside. 

Remove the pepper seeds.

Heat the olive oil in a medium pan. Add the onion and cook over a medium heat, until soft, but not browned.

Add the minced beef meat, increase the heat slightly, stir well and simmer for almost 5 minutes, stirring now and then,

Add the tomato pulp to the pan and simmer for almost 5 minutes until the mixture is thickened. Make sure that there is some juice in the pan still.

Stir in the rice, the parsley  and the dill, add salt and pepper, cover and leave to cook over a low heat for 10 minutes, until the rice is only half-cooked. Add some water if necessary. 

 Preheat the oven to 190°C.

Put the tomatoes and peppers into a slightly oiled baking dish and fill with the mixture. Replace the tops.

Cut potatoes and arrange them between the stuffed tomatoes and peppers.

Bake in the oven for about an hour, until the tomatoes and peppers are tender and the rice is cooked through.

 Serve with feta cheese and bread.