Greek

=__//**Greek Cuisine**//__=

The Mediterranean is a beautiful but harsh land. Crops and animals are hard struck for nutrients and people must get creative to survive and satiate their palate. What we see in most of the modern Greek food is what they had to survive on as is true in many cultures. __Fruits and Vegetables__: Eggplant Onions Bell peppers Spinach Okra Cucumber Squash Vine leaves Olives Figs Tomatoes Lemons Broccoli Cauliflower
 * Common Ingredients**:[[image:athens-greece[1].jpg width="189" height="135"]]

All of these fruits and vegetables were easy to grow in the dry rocky climate of Greece. Although apparent in many Mediterranean cultures these plants can be seen throughout the dishes of this ancient land

__Meat, Poultry, Fish__: Chicken Lamb Goat Cow(scarce) Pig Rabbit Fish (Squids + Octopus, Sardines, Sea bass, Sword fish)

The Greeks live on rough lands and they learned to cope with what animals that could be raised, frequently the hard diets these animals have and mountainous conditions they live in makes there meat tough and stringy. Styles of meat cooking arose around this fact and they used many methods of marination to soften and enrich their meat, yogurt and wine were common marinades for meat.

__Dairy__: Greek Yogurt Feta Cheese (plus more from outer regions)

Both of these are produced locally produced from the milk they get from goats or sheep as cow milk is hard to come by.

__Grains and Pulses__: Rice Wheat Lentils

At some point some of these grains were brought in from neighboring lands while others were local but the Greeks did manage to find fields to grow crops in.

__Herbs n' Flavor__: Olive oil Oregano Mint Garlic Onion Dill Bay laurel

As opposed to many Mediterranean cultures Greek food contains many of the above herbs to enhance the flavor.

**Dishes of Greece**
With all of these awesome ingredients we can only assume that they would create even better dishes.

Souvlaki:
Commonly known as Giros (Yee-Row), the souvlaki is one of the most popular fast food options/meals in Greece. One could say that other fast food chains in Greece fail because the popularity of these Souvlakis is to great. A meat, usually chicken, pork, lamb, or beef, is cut from a rotisserie similar to shawarma meat. This is then put in a round pita bread with lettuce, tomato, onions, and sadziki. Sadziki is essential to the gyro/souvlaki as it is a garlic yogurt with a lemony tang and mint. The recipe to make this dish is extremely simple and involves cutting the fruits and vegetables into it and making the sadziki, the hardest thing to get is the rotisserie meat.

Baklava:
Baklava is a simple professional food that tastes really good and is classical greek cuisine. Although it's routes lie with the Ottoman empire it is adopted by the Greeks now, the dish itself is a layered pastry made of phyllo dough that is sweetened and dressed with cinnamon and nuts.

Ingredients

 * 1 (16 ounce) package phyllo dough
 * 1 pound chopped nuts
 * 1 cup butter
 * 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon[[image:Baklava_-_Turkish_special,_80-ply.jpg width="290" height="196" align="right"]]
 * 1 cup water
 * 1 cup white sugar
 * 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
 * 1/2 cup honey

Directions

 * 1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F(175 degrees C). Butter the bottoms and sides of a 9x13 inch pan.
 * 2) Chop nuts and toss with cinnamon. Set aside. Unroll phyllo dough. Cut whole stack in half to fit pan. Cover phyllo with a dampened cloth to keep from drying out as you work. Place two sheets of dough in pan, butter thoroughly. Repeat until you have 8 sheets layered. Sprinkle 2 - 3 tablespoons of nut mixture on top. Top with two sheets of dough, butter, nuts, layering as you go. The top layer should be about 6 - 8 sheets deep.
 * 3) Using a sharp knife cut into diamond or square shapes all the way to the bottom of the pan. You may cut into 4 long rows the make diagonal cuts. Bake for about 50 minutes until baklava is golden and crisp.
 * 4) Make sauce while baklava is baking. Boil sugar and water until sugar is melted. Add vanilla and honey. Simmer for about 20 minutes.
 * 5) Remove baklava from oven and immediately spoon sauce over it. Let cool. Serve in cupcake papers. This freezes well. Leave it uncovered as it gets soggy if it is wrapped up.

( Baklava Ingredients + Directions taken from: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/baklava/Detail.aspx)

The Greek Salad:
This wouldn't be much of a Greek food page without an honorable mention to the Greek salad as it is maybe the most iconic and well known food that we know from Greece. This salad is delicious and very simple, nothing is cooked, and it is a salad without lettuce! Bellow is a recipe that will make you a Greek salad.

Ingredients

 * 3 vine ripe tomatoes, cut into chunks
 * 1 red onion, thinly sliced
 * 1/2 European seedless cucumber, cut into bite-size chunks
 * 1 small red bell pepper, seeded and chunked
 * 1 small green bell pepper, seeded and chunked[[image:milos-greek-salad.jpg width="353" height="275" align="right"]]
 * 1 cubanelle pepper, seeded and chunked
 * 1 cup Kalamata black olives
 * Several sprigs fresh flat-leaf parsley, about 1/2 cup
 * 2 (1/4 pound) slices imported Greek feta
 * 1/4 cup (a couple of glugs) extra-virgin olive oil
 * 3 tablespoons (3 splashes) red wine vinegar
 * 1 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed in palm of your hand
 * Coarse salt and black pepper
 * Pita breads

Directions
Combine vegetables, olives, and parsley in a large bowl. Rest sliced feta on the top of salad. Combine oil, vinegar, and oregano in a small plastic container with a lid. Shake vigorously to combine oil and vinegar and pour over salad and cheese. Season with salt and pepper and let the salad marinate until ready to serve. Serve salad with pita bread blistered and warmed on a hot griddle or grill pan. (Greek Salad instructions: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/greek-salad-recipe/index.html)