PANZANELLA

This is my version of an Italian Panzanella salad - some recipes call for sliced red onion and capsicum also, feel free to add if you want... but I just made it today with the ingredients I had! Dress the salad up to an hour before serving to let all the flavours soak into the bread. Also fab with pieces of left over roast chicken or torn mozzarella pieces mixed through.

• Tomatoes
• Telegraph cucumber
• ILIADA Kalamata Olives
• Stale ciabatta or french stick  
• ILIADA Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Messino red wine vinegar
• S & P
• 1/2 clove garlic crushed
• Fresh basil leaves to serve

Cut tomatoes into quarters and place into a salad bowl. 
Peel the cucumber, cut lengthways, and remove the seeds with a teaspoon. Cut the cucumber into 1 cm slices and add to the tomatoes. Throw in a handful of olives and toss to mix.

Heat a small pool of olive oil in a pan on medium high, and while it heats cut the stale bread roughly into 1cm cubes. Toss the cubes in the heated olive oil and fry until golden all over. Leave to cool then scatter them over the tomatoes, cucumber and olives.
Mix 4 TBLSPN olive oil, 1 TBLSPN red wine vinegar, pinch of salt, a few grounds of black pepper and garlic in a screw top jar, dress and toss through the salad. Leave to sit covered at room temperature for up to an hour (don't refrigerate)
Scatter with a few basil leaves to serve.
Delissimo!

ROAST PUMPKIN, GREEN BEAN & HALLOUMI SALAD

A fabulous combination of flavours and so easy to make...lucky for me the Greek guy doesn't like pumpkin so when I make it I have it all to myself on his pork chop night (And not 'Greek' at all, but uses some ingredients you can find at our shop)

• 1/3 of a whole pumpkin
• Fresh green beans - a good handful
• ILIADA Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• S & P
• Halloumi  195g
• Kalamata Papadimitriou Balsamic Cream

Peel and de-seed pumpkin, cut into 1cm cubes, place in a roasting pan and drizzle all over with olive oil and season well with salt and ground black pepper. Toss to coat. Roast @ 180o C for 15 - 20 minutes, or until golden and cooked through. Leave to cool.

Meanwhile steam the green beans until cooked to your liking, drain and leave to cool also.
Place cooked pumpkin and beans into a serving bowl.Cut the halloumi into fingers and fry in olive oil or coat in flour, egg and breadcrumbs and fry until golden.
Arrange cooked halloumi on top of the pumpkin and beans, drizzle with more olive oil and a lovely swirl of the balsamic cream.

Mm mmm

LAMB BAKED WITH ORZO (YIOUVETSI)

Another one of the Greek guys recipes - absolute comfort food on a plate! 
In Greece,a special clay pot called a yiouvetsi is used to make this dish, hence the name.

• 1 kg lamb bbq/stewing chops,trimmed of fat and cut in half
• 1/3 cup ILIADA Extra Virgin Olive Oil 
• 2 x 400g tinned tomatoes pureed 
• 1 cup water
• 4 garlic cloves,crushed 
• 1/2 tspn sugar
• 500g orzo
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup grated Kefalograviera or Parmesan cheese

Heat the oil in a large pan.
Add the meat and cook over medium heat, turning occasionally, for 8-10 minutes, until lightly browned all over.
Add the pureed tomatoes, 1 cup of water, garlic and sugar,season well with salt and lots of pepper. Cover and simmer on low heat for about 1 hour. 
Scatter the uncooked orzo over the base of a large greased ovenproof dish. 
Place the pieces of lamb on top of the orzo. Add 3 cups boiling water to the tomato sauce, mix well and and pour over the lamb and orzo.
Cover the dish with tin foil and bake at 180o C for 1 hour. Check from time to time and add more water if necessary if it starts to dry out. In the last 10 minutes of cooking time, remove the tinfoil and sprinkle all over with the grated cheese.
Return to the oven and bake, until cheese has melted. The liquid should almost have all been absorbed and the pasta al dente.
Serve with a simple salad like maroulasalata. 

Mm mmm, kali orexi!

You can also use beef,pork or chicken instead of the lamb.