Week 2: Greece

This past week, we chose Greece as our country of the week. We again breathed a sigh of relief--yet another country that was somewhat of a not-too-different country for us to try.

I was pretty stoked that we drew Greece--I even have a recipe book strictly devoted to Greek food (that Meredith gave me--thanks!!), so I immediately consulted it:

Although there were some great recipes in there, most of them were a bit too out there (i.e. exotic or authentic) for the whole family to be willing to try. While I was searching my book, mom was Googling recipes and found some more strong contenders. Most of mom's finds, however, left me scared stiff--they were mostly seafood. Seafood is something I've never cooked before (except for Gorton's frozen fish from the box); what made me most apprehensive, though, was the type of seafood dishes she was finding: fish stews. Although I'm all about the ATWin52 project widening our horizons and stretching our tastes, I desperately pleaded that we not have a fish stew--something about the idea just did not sit well with me--I kept thinking that fishy fish cooked in broth = fishy fish and fishy broth--I just wasn't quite at the point of embarking on that adventure! So mom made the suggestion that if we're having Greek food, our protein needed to be seafood or lamb (like seafood NOT cooked in stew); although the roasted/grilled seafood idea was appealing, I opted for lamb. Albeit I am not a huge fan of lamb either, but I was very willing to make the sacrifice so as to avoid the seafood stew. 

The one lamb dish inspiration I got from the book was "Oven-baked Arni," which was basically roasted leg of lamb. We concurred that plain-old roasted leg of lamb was a bit too ordinary (not to mention expensive!), so we continued to Google around for lamb recipes. What we decided on was Arni me Fassolakia (αρνί με φασολάκια if you'd like to get technical), literally "lamb with beans." Like last week, what I ended up cooking was a mix of two recipes (Recipe #1 | Recipe #2). Arni me Fassolakia is really a fairly simple recipe--a lamb stew with potatoes, tomatoes and green beans. Acquiring the lamb for the meal was quite the adventure (including my car giving out at the Lowe's Foods), but after going from place-to-place to find reasonably priced lamb and getting the meat off the bones, the rest of the meal was a breeze. What made it special was the lamb and the seasonings (parsley, mint, dill and cinnamon).

The Arni me Fassolakia simmering away

Overall, the family liked the Arni; it's a feat in and of itself when we can find something new that the whole family will enjoy! The first bit of feedback I received from Rick was "is there peanut butter in this?" to which I aptly replied "umm...no!" He noticed the sweetness of the cinnamon and after I pointed that ingredient out to him, I think he got it. Mom didn't love the flavor of cinnamon mixed in with the savory ingredients, but she finished her meal along with Rick (score!). Rick commented that he wished the stew "had a kick to it" (a spicy kick, that is). Courtney seemed to enjoy it as well; I personally thought it needed a bit more of the herbs than the recipe(s) called for, as well as more tomatoes and salt (I always want more tomatoes and salt, so that might not be a fair comment!). This is definitely a recipe I'd be willing to try again!

The finished product

Thanks to everyone who's been keeping up with the blog and making some great suggestions on Facebook (and props to Courtney for the great photos!)! Although we didn't have any spanikopita or galaktoboureko (or "galactic burrito" as Olga dubbed it), we may be able to sneak those in next time! Keep the suggestions coming--although we may not plug them in right away (since we're trying to avoid foods we've already experienced), we'll definitely keep them in mind to try in the future! And, as always, if there's a country you'd like to join with us in experiencing, just let me know and we'd be happy to share the experience--at the table--with you!

Stay tuned--this week's country is being drawn later this afternoon!