Easter is almost here…Who could resist a dish of the traditional ‘magiritsa” soup?  Who could say no to a large helping of roast lamb? Who can enjoy the morning milk if not together with a thick slice of freshly baked Easter “tsoutreki” sweet bread? After 40 (or at least fewer days) of fasting, the Greeks forget of their diet and prepare the six following recipes. Do the same and indulge in the marvels of the Greek seasonal cuisine for Easter!

“Μagiritsa” Easter soup

Ingredients

1 whole liver and the intestines of a small lamb

1 cup of olive oil

2 lettuces finely chopped

10 spring onions finely chopped

1 onion finely chopped

1 bunch of dill finely chopped

1 mug of rice 

3 eggs

Juice of 2 lemons

3 to 4 tablespoons of hot broth from the soup 

Preparation

1. Wash the liver and intestines thoroughly and turn the intestines inside out by using a straw. Then place in boiling water, drain and chop into small cubes.

2. Use a large cooking pot and add some olive oil. When sizzling hot, add the onions and stir in all of the pieces of meat gradually. Add the lettuce and dill and, of course, seasoning. Finally, cover with 3 or 4 mugs of water, lower the heat and let the soup simmer.

3. When the meat cubes have softened, clean and wash the rice then add it in the pot. Continue boiling the soup mixture for 25 more minutes until the rice is tender and turn the cooker off.

4. Beat the egg whites into a meringue and the yolks separately. Make a mixture of the lemon juice, the yolks and the meringue and add gradually the broth from the soup while stirring continuously. Add the egg and lemon sauce in the pot and make sure it spreads everywhere within the soup.

Lamb leg with aromatic mustard sauce

Ingredients

1 large lamb leg (around 1.8 Kg)

2 sprigs of rosemary

4 cloves of garlic cut into slices

Salt and pepper: freshly ground

For the mustard sauce

2 anchovy fillets finely chopped

Capers: 2 tbsp, chopped

Mustard: 1 tbsp

White wine vinegar: 2 teaspoons

2 cloves of garlic cut into slices

Various herbs: 6 tablespoons (parsley, chives and rosemary) thinly chopped

Olive oil: 160 ml

Preparation

1. To make the sauce, mix the anchovy fillets, capers, mustard, vinegar, garlic and herbs and gradually add the olive oil while beating with a fork. Preheat the oven at 200 °C.

2. Place the lamb in a small baking tray and shred it at various points. Put the rosemary and garlic in the slits, brush the meat with mustard and some olive oil and add seasoning. Bake for 80 – 90 minutes and occasionally brush the meat with its juices. Pour the lamb leg with the mustard sauce and serve.

Oven roasted goat with yogurt and artichokes

Ingredients

1 kg. leg goat

10-12 artichokes hearts

3 cups of tea sheep yogurt

1 tablespoon of butter

½ cup of tea olive oil

2 eggs

Freshly grated nutmeg

Salt as you wish

Fresh ground pepper

Preparation

1. Boil the artichokes hearts in salted water for 3-4’. Remove them with a slotted spoon and leave them aside. Choose a closed caly pot. Lay the meat, add salt and oil and brush with butter.

2. Cover the pan and cook the goat at 180 - 200 °C for an hour. Uncover and continue baking for 20 minutes. Beat yogurt with eggs in a bowl until you get a thick sauce and add the nutmeg, salt and pepper.

3. Place the artichokes around the meat and pour with the yogurt sauce. Leave the food in the oven for 15’-20’ so that it forms a crust. Immediately serve with green salad.

Easter cheese breads with eggs

Ingredients

350 g. of flour

220 g. grated assorted Greek cheeses (kefalograviera, hard feta cheese, gruyere)

A bit of dry parsley

2 eggs

2-3 tablespoons of olive oil

½ cup of warm water

A bit of salt

Rosemary for garnish

Preparation

1.Beat the eggs with a fork and add the assorted cheeses and the parsley. Put the flour and the salt on a flat surface. Keep the 100 g. of the flour and about mix it with the yeast and a bit of warm water. Leave this dough rise, covered with a cloth.

2. Make a hole in the center of the remaining flour and pour 1 tablespoon of oil and a bit of lukewarm water. Stir lightly this liquid mixture with a little of the flour that is around and add to the center "inflated" dough and mix with cheese and eggs.

3. Knead well, so that the flour gets slowly absorbed. Shape the dough into a ball, place them in a floured bowl and allow it to rise for 1½ hours. Brush two round pans with oil. Divide the dough in the two pans, sprinkle with thick salt and rosemary and sprinkle it with 1-2 tablespoons of oil. Bake the cheese breads for 35 '- 40' at 200 ° C.

Greek Easter cookies

Ingredients

1 ½ kg. flour for all purposes

1 teaspoon baking powder

3 sachets vanilla powder

Some salt

10 eggs

3 cups of margarine or butter melted

1 teaspoon of ammonia

2 tablespoons warm milk

Preparation

1. Separate the egg yolks from the whites. Beat 6 egg whites in a stiff meringue. (Use the others in another recipe). Dilute ammonia in the milk. Mix the flour with the baking powder, vanilla and salt.

2. Beat the egg yolks with the sugar. Add the ammonia well dissolved in milk, the flour with the other ingredients you mixed and the meringue. Spread your palms with butter and knead the ingredients well. Let the dough rest at least for 4 hours. While the dough is resting knead it occasionally, with your palms always greased with butter.

3. Shape the dough into cookies or whichever shape you like and place them in buttered pans, keeping a distance from one another. Bake the cookies in preheated oven for about 15 minutes at 180 ° C until golden brown.

Traditional “tsoureki” sweet bread with mastic

Ingredients

1 kg of flour

1 mug of warm milk

50 gr. dry yeast

250 gr. melted milk butter

300 gr. sugar

5 eggs

salt

1 tablespoon of mastic with 1 tablespoon of sugar (crush into a powder)

1 egg yolk lightly beaten with 1 tablespoon of milk (for brushing)

Sesame seeds for sprinkling

Preparation

1. Dissolve the yeast in the milk. Place the flour, butter, yeast with milk, eggs, salt, mastic and sugar into a large bowl. Knead the ingredients well and cover with a towel in room temperature until it doubles in volume (approximately 2 hours).

2. Divide the dough into 3 cords and shape into a french braid. Place the braid into a buttered baking tray, cover with a towel and let it ferment for at least 1 ½ hour.

3. Brush the braid with the egg yolk, sprinkle with the sesame seeds and bake in a preheated oven for 40-45 minutes at 180 °C.

Source & photo credits: www.in2life.gr

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From: Eva Kanellopoulos

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