Oil and Lemon dressing

1 cup olive oil
½ cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
Pepper, oregano
Thyme o parsley (optional)

Mix all the ingredients together and shake well. Use the dressing (Ladolemono) immediately in salads, on greens, on grilled meat or fish, etc.

Oil and Vinegar dressing

Made in exactly the same way and with the same ingredients as the oil and lemon dressing, only replacing the lemon juice with good vinegar made from wine (lathoxido). It goes well with fried foods especially fish, meat, some salads and greens.

Egg-lemon Sauce (Avgolemono)

It gives flavour and thickens soups and sauces in various dishes.

2 eggs, juice of 2 lemons
2 cups liquid from the food for which avgolemono is prepared

Beat first the whites and then the yolks of the eggs, until frothy, 2-3 minutes. Add lemon juice, beating constantly and then a few ladles of the liquid from the food in the pot until the egg and lemon mixture is warm.

Remove pot from heat, pour in egg mixture and shake the pot to mix the egg-lemon mixture with the food.

Yoghurt Dip with Parsley

300 grams strained yoghurt
2 tablespoons dried parsley
1 small grated onion
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Beat yoghurt with onion, parsley, salt and pepper. Continue to beat the mixture, adding olive oil and lemon juice until well mixed. Store in the fridge

Parsley Dip

1 large bunch parsley (only the leaves)
1 slice stale bread (2 cm thick)
1 small onion
1 clove garlic
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons olive oil
300 grams strained yoghurt
½ teaspoon salt, pepper

Soak the bread in water, strain and place in a blender with parsley, onion, garlic, salt and pepper. Blend the mixture and then add yoghurt, olive oil and lemon juice, which we mix in.

Parsley salad is used either as an accompaniment to fresh vegetables, boiled eggs or fish or alone as a salad, garnished with parsley leaves and olives.

Yoghurt Dip with Mint

300 grams strained yoghurt
1 tablespoon dried mint
Salt, pepper
1 tablespoon lemon juice

In a deep bowl, beat yoghurt with mint, salt and pepper. Then add olive oil and lemon juice. Beat until well mixed. Keep in the fridge. This goes well mainly with fresh fish.

Yoghurt Dip with Dill

300 grams strained yoghurt
1 tablespoon dried dill
1 mashed clove garlic
Salt, pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice

In a deep bowl, beat yoghurt with dill, garlic, salt and pepper. Add olive oil and lemon juice. Beat until well mixed. Keep in the fridge.

This goes well with vegetables and green salads.

Avocado Dip

2 avocados
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
1 small grated onion
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Peel avocado, remove the stone and then mash it in a deep bowl. Add the other ingredients and beat with a whisk until creamy. Garnish with parsley and keep the dip in the fridge.

Use it on its own to dip appetizers and small vegetable pieces or on meat or fish or even on salads.

Garlic and Potato Dip with Walnuts or Almonds (Skordalia)

1 kg potatoes
6 - 8 cloves finely chopped garlic
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup olive oil
4 tablespoons lemon juice or vinegar
150 grams roughly ground walnuts or almonds

Boil potatoes and before they go entirely cold, peel and put them in a blender along with garlic, salt, olive oil and lemon juice or vinegar. At the end, add walnuts or almonds until the mixture becomes creamy. If skordalia is too thick, a little stock from the fish that it usually accompanies can be added.

This puree also goes well with fried vegetables.

Aubergine Dip

½ kg aubergines
2 mashed cloves garlic or 1 grated medium onion
Salt, pepper
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
1 teaspoon dried oregano
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon vinegar
4 - 5 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons roughly ground almonds

Wash aubergines and cook in their skins either under the grill or on the cooking ring, having been wrapped in aluminium foil, until they soften. Remove from heat, cool slightly and then peel and remove as many seeds as possible.

Place aubergines in a deep bowl and combine with remaining ingredients until smooth. Garnish with olives and caper.

Almond Dip with Yoghurt

1 kg strained yoghurt
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup finely chopped dill
½ cup whitened, roasted, finely chopped almonds
½ cup olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice

With a fork or a whisk, beat yoghurt with salt, olive oil and lemon juice. Then add dill and almonds. Combine well.

Garlic, Cucumber and Yoghurt Dip (Tzatziki)

½ kg strained yoghurt
2 large cucumbers
3 cloves garlic
½ teaspoon salt
4 - 5 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons vinegar
1 tablespoon finely chopped mint or dill (optional)

Peel and grate cucumbers. Squeeze as hard as possible to remove water completely. Mash garlic with salt in a mortar.

In a medium-sized bowl, mix yoghurt with cucumber and garlic. Slowly add vinegar and olive oil and combine well. Finally, add mint or parsley. Refrigerate until ready.

Cod Roe Dip (Taramosalata)

In the fasting periods of the Orthodox Church, which last for long, some particular dishes are usually made, one of which is taramosalata. It is a traditional food on Clean Monday and the first days of the Holy Week before Easter Sunday. Apart from its use as a food for fasting, it is a well know Greek appetizer. It is made from cod roe.

Cod roe is the preserved eggs from various types of fish such as carp, grey mullet etc. It is sold either packed or loose. There are two types, the pink and the light pink, which Greeks describe as white. The light pink is more expensive but is the best because it does not contain colouring agents.

100 grams taramas (cod roe), preferably white
200 grams stale bread
2 - 3 medium boiled potatoes
½ cup olive oil
4 tablespoons lemon juice
1 small grated onion (optional)

Soak bread and squeeze to get rid of water. Combine cod roe, potatoes, bread and onion in a mixer.

Slowly add olive oil and lemon juice alternatively until taramosalata becomes soft and creamy. Garnish with olives and parsley.

Hot Cheese Dip (Tyrokafteri)

½ kg crumbled feta cheese *
2 hot green peppers
6 tablespoons olive oil
Juice of 2 lemons
1 tablespoon oregano or finely chopped dill (optional)

First cook peppers in a frying pan with 2 tablespoons olive oil or in the oven and blend them in the mixer. While running, add feta cheese, oregano or dill, remaining olive oil and lastly lemon juice until tyrokafteri becomes soft and creamy.

* The Greek feta cheese is a unique product exclusively made from sheep or goat’s milk. These animals live freely in the Greek mountains. Feta cheese produced outside Greece is made with cow’s milk. The cheese is kept in salty water, cut into blocks, fetes in Greek wherefrom its name comes. The fresh milk is heated on low heat and rennin is added (an enzyme taken from the mucous membrane of the stomach of young animals). When the cheese sets it is put in wooden containers in order to be strained. Then it is cut into blocks (fetes), salted and packed.

Chickpea Puree Hummus

A puree of chick peas is well known in many Greek areas as a superb starter. It was even made in ancient Greece and since then, the practice of mashing pulses has become common place in order to make a wide range of main courses and starters.

200 grams chick peas
2 cloves garlic
½ - 1 teaspoon salt
1/3 teaspoon pepper
1/3 teaspoon cumin
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons tahin (ground sesame seeds)
3 tablespoons water
4 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon paprika (red pepper)
Parsley

Soak chick peas the night before in a large bowl with water. The next day, boil them until soft. Drain and allow to cool.

In a bowl, dilute tahin with water. Put chick peas into a mixer and grinding constantly, add salt, tahin, garlic, pepper, olive oil and lemon juice until hummus becomes smooth and creamy. Serve cold, sprinkled with paprika and garnished with finely chopped parsley.

Yoghurt and Carrot Dip

½ kg carrots
300 grams strained yoghurt
2 cloves mashed garlic
1 teaspoon salt
3 - 4 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
½ cup roughly ground walnuts (optional)

Scrape the carrots and grate them (or grind) in the mixer. Whip yoghurt with remaining ingredients, throw in the carrot and mix well.

Dressing with Garlic and Walnuts

1 cup slightly roasted walnuts
2 cloves garlic
1 medium onion (optional)
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley or basil
7 - 8 tablespoons olive oil

Put all the ingredients into a blender and combine well. This dressing goes perfectly with spaghetti and other pastas.

Yoghurt and Courgette Dip

½ kg courgettes
300 grams strained yoghurt
2 mashed garlic cloves
2 tablespoons finely chopped dill or mint
3 - 4 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Salt, pepper
5 - 6 black olives

Wash and cut the courgettes in pieces. Boil in salted water until tender and drain well. (It is easier to drain them if placed in a cloth and squeezed).

Put them in a salad bowl and mash completely with a fork. Add yoghurt, garlic, dill, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper and combine well. Garnish with olives.