Sunday 8 February 2009

J'invite la Grèce dans ma cuisine / I'm inviting Greece into my kitchen

A tempting challenge - to invite Greece into my kitchen - and one which isn't too difficult for me. Greek and Turkish cuisine have many similarities, so many of the dishes on the blog En-direct-dathenes resemble the food I ate while I was growing up in Istanbul and have been cooking ever since.

Pour participer au jeu de MaryAthenes j'invite la Grèce dans ma cuisine avec ces keftedes au cumin et ouzo:

As my entry in the game suggested by MaryAthenes I've made keftedes with cumin and ouzo:

keftedes au cumin_1_1

(pour 30 de keftedes / to make 30 keftedes)

600 g de viande hachée / minced meat**

1/2 pain blanc rassis / stale white bread

1 gros oignon haché / minced onion

2 oeufs / eggs

1 càc de cumin / coffee spoon cumin

1 1/2 càc d'origan / coffee spoon origano

1 verre à liqueur d'ouzo / liqueur glass of ouzo*

sel, poivre / salt, pepper

farine / flour

huile à friture

citron

Faire tremper le pain rassis dans de l'eau. Essorer. Mettre en miettes.

Soak the bread in water. Drain. Make into crumbs in a mixer.

Melanger le pain et la viande hachée à la main. / Mix the bread and the meat by hand.

Ajouter l'oignon, les oeufs, le cumin, l'origan, l'ouzo, le sel et le poivre et bien malaxer. / Add the onion, eggs, cumin, oregano, ouzo, salt and pepper and mix well.

Laisser reposer 1 heure au frigo. / Leave in the fridge for 1 hour.

Former des petites boules, les rouler dans la farine et les faire frire. / Form the mixture into small rissoles, roll them in the flour and fry them.

Vous pouvez les manger chaudes arrosées de just de citron ou froides. / Serve hot with a squeeze of lemon or cold.

image

*Parce que je ne suis pas en Grèce, au lieu de l'ouzo.
j'ai ajouté du pastis.

* Because I'm not in Greece, instead of ouzo I added pastis (the Midi equivalent of this aniseed spirit).

** You can use beef, veal or lamb (lamb would be most likely in Turkey) for this or pork, which is what I used because it is easily available here.

And from our lunch today, a couple more meze ideas ...

quelques autres idées pour un repas de mezes ...

meze lunch_1_1

Crushed haricot beans with sweet onion, black olives and toasted sesame bread. Cauliflower fritters. Recipes for these will be on the mediterranean cuisine blog.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't know if it's easier for you (maybe it is) but I don't add ouzo in keftedes.

I also don't add cumin (cumin is only if you want to make soutzoukakia), oregano and I don't roll them in flour.

Also I don't use mixer for anything, you can strain the bread with your hand and use it. (If you want something easier you can use fraying rusk from super market - I don't know if you have there, maybe yes)

Oh! and something else, you need veal meat (from calf)

Greetings from Greece

chaiselongue said...

Hi CityGarden: thanks for the tips. The idea of this game, though, is to use one of MaryAthenes' recipes from her blog. I have never added ouzo to keftedes before - although I have added cumin, which is more Turkish than Greek perhaps - but her recipe said ouzo (and pastis has a similar flavour) and it tasted delicious. Try it!
How is your plot?

Weeping Sore said...

As a typical mono-linguist (aka, American) I'm captivated by your recipe in French and English. Somehow, it seems more delicious in French. Your creative recipes never cease to amaze me, but this one has tempted me to make it. Having no Ouzo, I'll use Galiano, a licorice flavored liquor.

Anonymous said...

oups sorry, I read it quick and I didn't see the link for the recipe game :P

You know for many years some Greeks and Turks lived in same area. We used to call the recipes from this area "Politikes" from "Poli". "Poli" is the "Constantinoupoli" the city you know as Istanbul today.

I don't know if you can find the movie Politiki kouzina, it's a good movie about this cuisine.

Lavender and Vanilla Friends of the Gardens said...

Good Morning, It seems you are not that much resting in your chaiselongue cooking all this wonderful food. I make the same meatballs the swiss way, but omit the cumin and use chopped parsley instead. I have to try it with the cumin because I love this spice which I use in chilli beans and lentils. No, luckily we had enough rain and live in a area which is not that precarious. We only have seen one evacuation around us and that was nearly 20 years ago. It is very,very scary and I am very sorry for the people who have lost everything, some even their live in these terrible fires.

chaiselongue said...

Thanks to all for your comments. I'll look out for that film, CityGardener - it sounds interesting and the food will be wonderful!

MaryAthenes said...

MERCI MERCI pour cette superbe participation !
Ce sont nos keftedes preferes a la maison et mon homme est si difficile quand il s'agit de viande hachee... celles-la ils les adore !
Encore merci et bravo !
Bises