Rice Ala Grecque Food

POULET A LA GRECQUE

Steps:

• Season flour with salt and pepper; coat chicken pieces with seasoned flour.
• Heat butter and olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Place chicken pieces in skillet; cook, turning once, to brown on both sides, about 6 minutes.
• Stir in shallots, onions, and garlic; cook until soft, about 3 minutes. Stir in tomatoes and wine; bring to a boil. Then stir in saffron, curry powder, sugar, raisins, and salt and pepper. Cover, and cook over medium heat for 12 to 15 minutes.

RICE ALA GRECQUE

Steps:

• Heat oil and butter in large pan.
• Add spinach, garlic, dill, and pepper, and cook three minutes over medium heat.
• Add hot cooked rice, lemon, and feta cheese.
• Heat through.

GREEK RICE

Steps:

• In a small saucepan, combine all of the ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 12-15 minutes or until rice is tender and liquid is absorbed.

CHILLED CAULIFLOWER A LA GRECQUE

Steps:

• In a large saucepan, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, oregano, basil, and garlic. Simmer while you prepare the cauliflower.
• In a large saucepan, parboil the cauliflower in boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain.
• Add cauliflower to dressing in saucepan. Toss to coat. Take off the heat and place in a bowl.
• Set aside to marinate for 1 hour at room temperature, then chill for 2 hours.
• Before serving, add parsley, onion, radishes, feta, and olive. Toss well.
• To serve, cover a large platter with spinach and with a slotted spoon, put the salad on top of the greens in the center of the platter. Pour remaining dressing over spinach and serve immediately.

FENNEL A LA GRECQUE

Steps:

• Pull off a bit of the green fuzzy fronds, chop coarsely and save. Cut stalks off at bulbs. If needed use them to fresh broth's flavor.
• Peel outer fibers off bulb with a paring knife. If outermost layer is dried or cracked remove completely.
• Cut bulb in half lenghwise. Be sure to cut thorough the core forming at point of wedges. Leave this attached or the fennel will fall apart.
• Arrange in single layer in large pot. Slight overlap is ok. Pour on wine and oil. sprinkle on seeds and shallot.
• Bring to a gentle simmer, cover and cook 25 minutes. The fork should pierce the fennel but you should still feel slight resistance. Check after 15 minutes of cooking and add water if dry.
• Remove lid when done. If liquid is left turn heat to high and quickly boil down liquid. You only want 1/2 cup remaining.
• Sprinkle the cooked fennel with the salt, pepper and fronds. Serve hot on individual plates and spoon liquid over each. Or let cool and serve as other courses.

MUSHROOMS A LA GRECQUE

Steps:

• Cut a cross on the base of the tomatoes, immerse them in boiling water for 20-30 seconds, then plunge them into cold water; drain and peel the skin away from the cross and, discarding the juice the and seeds (see notes below), finely chop the tomatoes.
• Place the tomatoes, oil, wine, onion, garlic, bay leaf, thyme and basil to a non-aluminium pan, add about 1 cup of water and bring to the boil; then cover and simmer for 10 minutes; then uncover the pan, add the mushrooms and simmer for a further 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Lift out the mushroom with a slotted spoon and transfer them to a serving dish.
• Boil the cooking liquid rapidly until about 1 cup remains, remove the bay leaf, add the lemon juice and season with salt, pepper and sugar, to taste.
• Pour the liquid over the mushrooms, and leave the mushrooms to cool.
• Serve the mushrooms cold, sprinkled with the chopped parsley and the walnuts.
• Notes: Rather than wasting such juices or vegetable peelings, I add them to my container of ingredients for when I next make my Vegetable Stock Recipe #135453.

VEGETABLES à LA GRECQUE

Steps:

• In a 3- or 4-quart saucepan combine vinegar, wine, olive oil, garlic cloves, shallot, bouquet garni, coriander seeds, fennel seeds, peppercorns, kosher salt and 3 cups water. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and cook 15 to 30 minutes while you prepare vegetables.
• Add carrots to the broth and simmer 5 minutes. Add cauliflower, bring back to a simmer, and cook another 15 minutes, until carrots and cauliflower are tender but not mushy. Using a slotted spoon, remove vegetables to a bowl. Some of the broth and seeds can come along with them.
• Add mushrooms to broth and simmer 5 minutes. Remove to bowl with carrots and cauliflower.
• Stir broth and ladle 11/2 cups plus some of the coriander seeds into a small saucepan. Set aside.
• Add artichoke hearts to the pot in which you cooked the other vegetables and simmer 25 to 30 minutes, until tender. Transfer to bowl with other cooked vegetables. If using artichoke leaves, steam them now. When finished, discard this broth.
• Bring reserved broth in the small saucepan to a boil and cook until liquid reduces to 1/2 cup. Pour over the vegetables, add lemon juice and fleur de sel and toss. Taste and adjust seasoning. Leave at room temperature until ready to serve (for best flavor, let vegetables marinate for a few hours), or refrigerate for up to 3 days. Just before serving, garnish with herbs and, if you wish, with steamed artichoke leaves, which can be dipped into the marinade. Serve on small plates with the reduced marinade spooned on top.