Peloponnese Pasta Cooking Classes
Peloponnese pasta
Greece and its sun-drenched islands offer enticing cuisine that is fresh and fragrant, served with warmth and vibrancy. The Greek enthusiasm for the good life and love of simple, well-seasoned meals are reflected at the table. Hers is an unpretentious kitchen that makes the most of its surroundings.
It is a cuisine steeped in history and empowered by the cultures of its neighbors for centuries: Turkey, the Middle East and the Balkans.
This land of blue skies and sparkling seas offers a variety of fresh ingredients at your fingertips. The olive trees flourish, providing a flavorful oil to bathe other foods. Vineyards thread the rolling hills, and the crushed and fermented grapes produce excellent wines. Fragrant lemon trees produce the flavor that permeates Greek cuisine.
About a fifth of Greece is made up of islands, and no part of Greece is more than 85 miles from the sea. These seas are blessed with a variety of fish, shellfish and harborside taverns where fresh fish is served grilled, baked and fried and often whole, head still on.
Lamb is the main meat served. For everyday meals, lamb is braised and stewed in casseroles with assorted vegetables and skewered and grilled. Pork, beef, and game are marinated, grilled, and baked. The chicken is roasted or stewed. The good combinations of meat and vegetables are endless, often garnished with golden lemon sauce, avgolemono, or a cinnamon-spiced tomato sauce.
Layered with eggplant or zucchini and a garlic-infused meat sauce with a custard dressing, moussaka is the ubiquitous casserole dish. The pilafs are flavored with spices and nuts. Comprised of wafer-thin dough and layered with chicken and mushrooms, spinach and feta, or lamb and leeks, the fillo pitas are a delight.
An abundance of fresh vegetables inspire imaginatively cooked and marinated vegetable dishes and salads, often flavored with regional mountain-grown herbs: garlic, oregano, mint, basil and dill. Fresh feta, Romano, and kasseri, in particular, are used extensively to accompany homemade whole grain breads or salads or to grate and coat vegetables or pasta.
Without a doubt, baklava is the most famous cake, a multi-layered confection, ribboned with walnuts and brimming with honey syrup. A visit to a Greek patisserie reveals the versatility of fillo dough in dozens of different fillo cakes, many of Turkish origin. Honey-filled pastries and buttered pecan cookies make up a separate late-afternoon meal accompanied by thick Greek coffee.
greek pasta
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup sliced black olives
1/2 cup red onions, sliced into wheels
1 chopped green pepper
1 plum tomato, chopped
feta cheese (to your liking)
1 cup of your favorite Greek oil dressing
spaghetti (cooked)
Cut the chicken into pieces and sauté in olive oil until cooked. Add olives, red onion and green bell pepper; fry until softened. Add spaghetti, dressing, feta, and tomato. Stir fry until heated through and well combined.