Meze

My friend and her boys came over Saturday. As she's a vegetarian I came up with the perfect way to please everyone and we had meze. I made; melitzanosalata, hummus, spanokopita, tzatziki, saganaki, tirokafreti and keftedes along with baked pitta and flat breads to dip.

I started with melitzanosalata. Basically an aubergine dip. Roast an aubergine for around 40 minutes. Cut into small chunks if you want it a little quicker, add garlic, chilli and a splash of olive oil and blend. You can omit chilli or add as much as you prefer to your taste. 

Tirokafreti basically translates into spicy cheese dip. 

The simplest of all, blend feta cheese, olive oil and some chilli. 

Add a squeeze of lemon and mix 

Classic hummus. Again blender required, a stick blender is fine. Add a tin of chickpeas including the juice from tin, a dash of tahini (depends on your taste) garlic, olive oil and lemon and whizz. Season to taste. You can add other things depending on your taste, I've added beetroot, chilli and carrot in the past.

Sprinkle some paprika and serve.

Spanakopita has to be one of my favourite dishes ever.

For me it's real comfort food. I was considering making wee delicate triangles then realised I'm clumsy and have fat fingers so went with my usual pie version. 

Wilt a huge bag of spinach in a pan, do in batches if required. You can use frozen if you can't get hold of fresh. Squeeze to drain off the excess water. Fry in a little oil or fry light some onion and spring onion. I never stick to quantities so just whatever you prefer to your taste. Meanwhile mix 2 eggs a tub of ricotta and a block of feta and season. Once your onions are soft add the spinach and the egg mixture and cook on a low heat for a few minutes.

Line your dish with a few layers of filo. I use shop bought as I don't fancy attempting filo. I put around 3 layers on the bottom, add some of the spinach and cheese mix then another 3 layers of filo. Kind of like a lasagne. I use melted butter to stick the filo together. Finish with more filo maybe an extra layer this time and cover in melted butter. Cook in the oven for about 30 minutes or until pastry is cooked.

Keftedes are little meatballs. I do mine flat more like mini burger patties as I find them quicker to cook. Mix together pork mince, parsley, mint, garlic salt and onion. Work all the herbs in with your hands then add an egg, mix and leave in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes. Whilst waiting soak two slices of bread in a little milk then add the bread mix to theI  meat. Season with salt and pepper. Roll into desired shape coat in flour and fry in a griddle pan or frying pan

I used a HFW recipe for flatbread. I say recipe, more quantities. You can find it here. Simple flatbreads but great for dipping and even better for sharing.

Baked pitta chips. Exactly what it says. I cut up some whole meal pitta into triangles put on a baking try squirted with some fry light and seasoned with salt and pepper. Threw them in the oven for about 20 mins turning half way through until crispy. Lots of crunch for the perfect dip

Saganaki is simply fried cheese. Halloumi has to be my favourite cheese ever. I sliced it into inch thick slices, rolled in flour and fried in olive oil and served with lemon. Delicious

Finished meze