Greek Recipes: Bifteki, Greek Potatoes, and a Greek Salad
The first recipe I used for the week came from Allrecipes. It is a recipe for Greek Bifteki, which is basically a Greek hamburger. You use yogurt when mixing the burgers and the patties are stuffed with chunks of Feta Cheese.
It’s a pretty simple recipe and it came out incredibly tender. We added chopped onions and garlic to our patties while mixing as we really love onions and garlic both.
Bifteki & Greek Style Potatoes
Ingredients
- 1 1/3 pounds ground beef
- 1 tablespoon plain yogurt
- 2 teaspoons dried thyme
- salt and pepper to taste
- 4 ounces feta cheese
Directions
- Preheat grill for indirect heat.
- In a large bowl, mix together ground beef, yogurt, thyme, and salt and pepper. Form meat into 8 patties, about 2 to 3 inches in diameter.
- Cut the cheese into 4 slices. Place one cheese slice between two patties, and seal the edges. Repeat with remaining beef patties and cheese slices. Set bifteki aside.
- Brush grate with oil, and arrange bifteki on hot grate. Cover, and cook for 15 to 20 minutes, or until meat is cooked through and cheese is melted.
Servings: 4
For a side dish, I used another recipe for Greek Style Potatoes. Not having a huge selection of potatoes at the stores here, I went for the small mixed color potatoes, which were fine and added some nice visual appeal to the plate.
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
- 2 cubes chicken bouillon
- ground black pepper to taste
- 6 potatoes, peeled and quartered
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- In a small bowl, mix olive oil, water, garlic, lemon juice, thyme, rosemary, bouillon cubes and pepper.
- Arrange potatoes evenly in the bottom of a medium baking dish. Pour the olive oil mixture over the potatoes. Cover, and bake 1 1/2 to 2 hours in the preheated oven, turning occasionally, until tender but firm.
Servings: 4
Greek Salad
To go with it, I made a regular Greek salad, using the best tomatoes I could find here, red onions, more Feta, olives (couldn’t find Kalamata at the time), cucumber, and just an oil & vinegar dressing. I love Greek salad and could probably just eat that for a meal!
Wine pairing: 2004 Monmousseau Rose D’Anjou
