Munchies

Grilled Octopus

Ingredients

1.5kg cleaned octopus
1 bay leaf
4 thyme branches
20 peppercorns
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 head of garlic, cut in half through its equator
3 lemons
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Minced parsley for garnish
Instructions

1. Combine the octopus, bay leaf, thyme, peppercorns, 1 teaspoon salt, the garlic, and 1 of the lemons, cut in half, in a saucepan along with water to cover. Turn the heat to medium, cover, and bring to a boil. Adjust the heat so that the liquid simmers slowly and cook until the octopus is tender, 30 to 90 minutes (check by piercing with a skewer). Drain, discarding all the solids (except for the octopus). You can prepare this 24 hours in advance up to this point; cover and refrigerate the octopus.

2. Start a charcoal or wood fire or preheat a gas grill; the fire should be quite hot and the grill rack about 4 inches from the heat source. (I do mine in a ridged grilling pan on a gas hob) Cut the octopus into large serving pieces, brush it with half the olive oil, and sprinkle it with salt and pepper. Grill it quickly, so that the outside browns before the inside dries out. Cut the remaining lemon into wedges.

3. Brush the octopus with the remaining olive oil. Serve with lemon wedges, hot or at room temperature, garnished with the parsley.

I

https://www.splendidtable.org/recipes/grilled-octopus

@Catcakes

Boiled Greens

Horta is a catch-all term for greens and horta vrasta means simply boiled greens. This recipe features dandelion greens (radikia in Greek) which are certainly very popular in Greek cooking as are their other green friends vleeta (amaranth), mustard greens and chicory. A dish of boiled greens drizzled with olive oil and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice is quite probably one of the most satisfying and really delightful meals you will every enjoy.

A way to make the cooking process even easier – put your pot of salted water on to boil before you begin to chop/wash your dandelion greens. That way you can toss them right in when you’re done – no waiting!

To clean, just drop your chopped dandelions into a big bowl of cold water and swish them around to rinse away any dirt or sand. Turn out the bowl into a strainer over the sink and pop them into your boiling pot.

Gently push them under the water and stir. Bring them back up to a boil and cook for just 10 minutes. I say 10 minutes for store-bought greens. For just-picked greens, 4-5 minutes will be plenty as they’re fresh and tender, no need to over-boil them! Either kind, they’ll wilt right down so feel free to pack a whole lot into your pot.

To test for doneness, scoop up on of the stalk pieces as they’re the most fibrous and see if its floppy when hanging of your spoon. If yes, follow up by tasting – you want them to be soft and easy to chew but not mushy. Once they’re done – do not strain off the water!

Quickly remove the cooked dandelions from your pot with a set of kitchen tongs or slotted spoon and transfer into a serving bowl. Remember to reserve the boiling liquid! Dandelion tea is a wonderful folk-rememdy for getting rid of unwanted water weight/bloat and as a decongestant.

Dress your warm dandelion greens with copious amounts of excellent quality Greek olive oil and a good squeeze of fresh lemon juice.

http://thegreekvegan.com/dandelion-greens-horta-vrasta/

@Catcakes

@Faith-and-Hopeyum, yum, yum!!!

Grilled Calamari

Ingredients

1kg calamari tubes and tentacles
2 tablespoons lemon zest (2 lemons)
1 lemon, juiced, plus more for serving
1 teaspoon minced garlic (1 clove)
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
Lemon juice, to finish
Chopped parsley, for garnish

Directions

Slice the calamari tubes up 1 side and lightly score 1 side. Place the tubes and tentacles in a bowl and add the lemon zest, lemon juice, garlic, olive oil, oregano, salt and pepper and toss to combine. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat a grill pan on high heat.

Remove the calamari from the refrigerator and place on the grill in batches for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes per side. Cut the tubes into strips and leave the tentacles whole. Before serving, sprinkle with lemon juice and chopped parsley.

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/oregano-lemon-grilled-calamari-recipe-1946627

@Catcakes

Wow what tasty recipes @Faith-and-Hope I'm really interested in the dandlion greens, but have never seen them for sale anywhere - and now I don't have an growing wild in my garden! We have to be careful of poisons here 'cos the council sprays the roadways etc, so wild gathering isn't so viable (not where I'm willing to trek to anyway) unfortunately.

@Phoenix_Rising @Catcakes @Shaz51 @Faith-and-Hope @CheerBear

Here is one of the easy peasy recipes that I use as nutrutious comfort food on some of those bad days. My flat mate makes it superbly, when they were poorer than a churchmouse they made it without the cheese, and it's yummy that way too.

I hope it gives someone a bright spot in an otherwise grey day.

Fried Cheese Sandwich

Goal is crispy on the outside with lovely soft, warm bready texture on the inside
Never squash the sandwich or you'll lose the texture that this is made this way to achieve
Margarine won't give the crispness that butter does, and it will make it oily and heavy
White bread is the bread of choice for this sandwich, you can use other bread, it just won't be quite the same texture
Can be done with only butter as a filling if no cheese on hand

Ingredients for 1 Sandwich

2 slices white bread
real butter for spreading on the outside of each slice (see above)
Cheese of choice – whatever you like as long as it will melt (Jarlsberg, Cheddar, Swiss etc)

Optional
Thinly sliced onion
Thinly sliced tomato
Anything that goes on a pizza could work, don't layer stuff too thickly though

Method
never squish the bread – slice thin slices of butter to avoid squishing
Stove top or electric pan
1 Start with a cold pan - (it's easier to stack the sandwich, if everything is ready and can work a bit faster, you can use a hot pan)

2 Generously (not too much) butter one side of each slice of bread (complete coverage)

3 Place 1 slice of bread, butter side down in pan

4 Starting with cheese, layer ingredients on that slice in the order you like them

5 Place other slice of bread, butter side up, on top of fillings

6 Turn pan onto medium hot (electric pan 4-6 mark) If there's lots of ingredients, cover the pan to cook the first side so the heat goes right through everything)

7 If the butter on top of bread is starting to melt, it's a good sign the heat has gone through the middle, meaning it might be time to turn it

8 As it's cooking, gently, using an egg lifter, check to see if the underside is golden brown

9 When underside is golden brown, using egg lifter, carefully but quickly, flip the sandwich over. If the cheese is melted it will make it easier

10 Fry the other side uncovered to keep the crispiness. (covered will lose the crisp)

11 When brown on both sides, serve. Turn off heat.

12 Cut in half without squishing breads.

13 Eat and hopefully get warm fuzzies from the goodness of it

Ohhh my mouth wants some @Former-Member

Another one of the easy peasy recipes I promised @Phoenix_Rising @Shaz51 @Faith-and-Hope @CheerBear @Catcakes not sure about anyone else who indicated they were interesed in when I got them posted - don't wanna tag too many people.

This is another comfort dish, won't freeze, but it is still good cold and you can reheat it too as long as you're careful not to over cook it while reheating.

Eggcellent Pasta Stuff

Ingredients
200g Pasta – macaroni recommended but anything will do, even ramen
1 large onion or 2 small
2-3 full rashers of bacon (rind removed)
4 eggs
1 tablespoon butter, oil will work but maybe use less oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Optional extras
¼ red capsicum
1 red chilli
small can of corn - drained
handful of peas
parsley to taste
Pretty much anything you have left over, like cut up hot dog sausages, baked beans, leftover roast meats – the age of the stuff you put in might influence how long you can keep any leftover Eggcellent Pasta though

Method

Cook pasta to directions. Drain and set aside.
Chop onions, bacon, capsicum, chilli. Finer is better
Beat eggs as you would for a scrambled egg
Fry all ingredients except egg and pasta in the butter until cooked through. Frypan mark 4-6
Add in pasta and toss through till evenly mixed.
Pour in egg and toss through until it’s all mixed well. Season.
Turn down and cover (fry pan mark 2), stirring mixture and breaking it up every few minutes.
When egg is cooked, it’s ready to serve.

Makes enough for about 3-4 generous serves. Tastes fine cold.
Enjoyable with your choice of sauce eg BBQ or tomato.
You can add other spices and herbs you like as well, such as Cayenne, Thyme etc.

Note: The egg should not be too dry, it should be cooked yet still a bit moist, as you’d do a scrambled egg.