Panagiotis Plotas is one of my oldest friends who sends amazing recipes from time to time.
Today he is tackling octopus. I am well aware that most non Greeks find octopus extremely yucky but – trust me on this – you are wrong! No offence. Just try Panagiotis’ recipe and you’ll see the light!
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Daphne (deadendmind) sent me a step by step photo recipe for yummy chocolate truffles.
Here’s a note on culture. When it’s our name day or our birthday we traditionally do a kerasma in Greece. It means to offer a bit of food or dessert at work or to friends and family to celebrate. So this is Daphne’s favourite kerasma recipe.
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When we are celebrating or its our birthday we usually offer some dessert to colleagues. However, in the middle of the economic crises this can be a bit of drain on resources, especially if one wants to offer nibbles to 30 people. What could be better than just making something yourself? However, we are not all be professionals nor have a lot of time. So, here is an easy recipe which yields a lot of chocolate pieces and everyone likes!
Hello “auntie” Sofia!
I am sending you this photo as historical proof that yes, I, the kitchen lazy gal, made at some point in my life roxakia!
The photo is not very good, but I will not say the same for the roxakia. They are yummy!
One more Digital Scullery lovely friend cooked, ate, took a picture and sent the recipe. Somewhat stolen from his mum Katy – (well done Katy though, for raising a son who is not afraid of the kitchen)!
Panagiotis Plotas is an old friend who sends recipes from time to time. Today, he went for some Cretan limoncello.
Contantinos Giannoulis from World of Flavors sent a new recipe with a bit of chocolate (which we love).
Roast Beef with Chocolate-Orange sauce
Ingredients (for 4-6)
The roast beef
The chocolate sauce
How – To
Remove the roast from the fridge 1½ hours before roasting.
Crush the peppercorns, the clove of garlic, the mustard seeds, the thyme and salt into a fine mix (not puree). Coat the roast very thoroughly and let it rest.
You could marinade a day in advance for a more enhanced flavor, in which case remove the roast from the fridge about 1 hour before roasting.
Place the roast in the middle of your oven tray, cut the onions, the fresh garlic in quarters, the tomato in half and place around the roast, add salt & pepper, dress with olive oil and put in a preheated oven at 180.
For rare, temperature in the center of the roast should bed be around 55 Celsius, around 60 minutes.
For medium, temperature in the center of the roast should be around 60 Celcius, around 70 minutes.
For well done, temperature in the center of the roast should be over 70 Celcius, around 85 minutes.
Don’t forget to turn the roast half way.
Remove the roast from the oven and coat it with a knob of butter and place on a medium hot pan to create a gold cover. Around 2 minutes each side. We are looking for a golden and kind of crispy outer texture. Remove the roast and let it rest on a cooling rack for 5 minutes, and then slice it as thick or as thin as you fancy. Don’t clean the pan!
While resting the roast we puree all the roasted vegetables, and the juice from the tray with a food processor, adjusting with a little olive oil and salt for thickness and flavor. If you prefer it chunkier you can just mash everything with a fork.
Time to prepare the chocolate sauce!
Use the same unclean pan where the roast was crisped and put it on medium low heat, add the orange juice scraping all that’s stuck in the bottom of the pan from the roast, that’s nothing but flavor! Add a knob of butter, the orange zest and finally chocolate. Be fast! Once you have a shiny chocolate creamy texture you are there!
Now you can either mix the vegetable puree with the chocolate sauce or serve it separately as in the picture above.
Serve the slices of meat over a bed of salad, which is recommenced to be a bit acidic (use a dressing rich in lemon or vinegar). We prepared a cabbage & carrot salad with a mix of olive oil, red wine vinegar and lemon juice.
Enjoy!
Here is the first food material from one of the Digital Scullery friends, Giannis Sklavos who know all about good bread and good BBQs.
For the bread:
put all of them in your bread machine and let it work its magic.
For the lamb chops:
use a fork only to cook them – you should only be eating them using your hands.
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Photos: All photos are by Giannis Sklavos
