Peggy
07-31-2001, 10:18 PM
My CL Supper Group met last weekend and part of our menu was taken from the Greek Cooking Class article in the July issue. After doing a search, I found a lack of reviews for these recipes. I know I read that several people were not impressed by the Greek section of the magazine, however, our group was intrigued so we made several of them at our July gathering. Here are our reviews of these recipes:
Split Pea-Garlic Dip - We served this with pita bread and crackers. Wish it had looked as nice as the picture in the magazine! We couldn't find the yellow split peas so we used all green. In addition, we think the peas were cooked too long,(even though we followed the directions exactly). The result got mixed reviews. We all agreed the flavor was great, however the texture seemed too mushy. One person observed that it was similar to split pea soup that had boiled down too much. (I won't mention what I thought it looked like! Those of you with babies know what I mean... Forgive my grossness, but it is the truth.) Overall - flavor: good; presentation and texture: so-so to not so good.
Meat, Bulgar, and Rice Dolmades - We were very excited about this recipe because none of us had ever cooked with grape leaves before. This recipe also received mixed reviews from the group. About half liked them and thought they were light and a great appetizer. One person commented they couldn't taste the meat in the mixture and only tasted rice. Several thought the dill in the sauce was too overpowering. The final conclusion was that they were good, but probably not a repeater. (Note: My DH gave them an 8.5/10. I have him trained to used Grace's husband's numeric rating system. When asked his opinion he always responds in a number rating now!:p ).
Moussaka With Eggplant and Peppers and Yogurt Bechamel Another case of mixed reviews!! Several of us had made non-authentic moussaka before and this recipe came as a total surprise to us. First of all, the ingredients were different (potatoes, currants, bell peppers), while we had previously used recipes that were dominated by a meat sauce, with cheese and eggplant. This one was very sweet:confused: so the flavors surprised us. One husband commented that it "dazzled the taste buds"! Overall, very complex flavors in this dish. As the primary chef assign to this dish, I must complain that it was extremely labor intensive. Broil this, broil that, peel this...not to complain, but it really did take forever!!! Personally, I would not make this again because it didn't have enough "return on investment", but in all fairness, some of my sister chefs said they would if it was for a very special occasion. Wine Note: The magazine suggested serving this with a dark and earthy red wine. We totally disagree. At our dinners we do a fair amount of food/wine pairing so we had several bottles open for different dishes. We had planned to serve this with an Australian Shiraz but were not pleased with the pairing at all. There were open bottles of Pinot Gris and Chenin Blanc on the table and we felt both of those wines complimented this dish much better. So our vote is light, crisp, white wine all the way. Forget the earthy reds! If you must do a red we would suggest a lighter Pinot Noir.
Greens and Cheese Pie - This was another surprise menu item. The pre-consenus was we probably would not like this, but wanted to try it anyway. We were pleasantly surprised. One quote, "It was very "Greeny" ingredients-wise, but it didn't taste greeny". The flavor had quite a "kick" to it. We think this was due to the mixture of the mustard greens and the Greek oregano. (One member insisted on using authentic Greek oregano and, boy, did it carry a punch!!) Overall, it did have a spicy flavor to it, and all agreed it made a great side dish. At this point our taste buds were really hopping!!!:eek: Wine Note: Again, we strongly disagree with the wine suggestion in the magazine for this dish. We didn't feel that the herbal white wines could handle the robust flavors of this recipe. Ironically, we felt a more robust red (ie. the Australian Shiraz) stood up to the dish much better. Does Cooking light really taste these dishes with wine or are the suggestions simply theoretical???:confused:
Rolled Baklava - Because this dish had to sit for over 11 hours, we assigned this to one person to make ahead of time. Our chosen chef went out to dinner with a friend and enjoyed a fair amount of wine before returning home to make our dessert. Translation: we were dealing with a "marinated chef"!:D Apparently she misread the recipe and forgot to cook the baklava rolls before putting the syrup on them. The morning of the dinner, she realized her error and had to bake them after the fact. We all enjoyed her story, and in case any of you make a similar error, please know that the end result will be delicious! No worries. The baklavas were very forgiving and everyone thought they were great. Our chef reports that they were easier to make that the regular style and they were less oily. They were alittle on the sweet side, but we are not sure if that is because they were soaked for 18-20 hours in the syrup or just how they are normally.
We had other items on our menu, but I will post the complete menu on the Supper Club board. Overall, we felt the Greek recipes that we tried from the July issue were very flavorful and somewhat surprising. However, we were not able to agree on a group concensus. One thing is for sure...everyone had strong opinions on all of the dishes. I would guess you would either really like or really dislike most of these. That was our experience. Would love to hear other opinions on these recipe if anyone made them!
My goodness! I am long winded tonight!!
Peggy
Split Pea-Garlic Dip - We served this with pita bread and crackers. Wish it had looked as nice as the picture in the magazine! We couldn't find the yellow split peas so we used all green. In addition, we think the peas were cooked too long,(even though we followed the directions exactly). The result got mixed reviews. We all agreed the flavor was great, however the texture seemed too mushy. One person observed that it was similar to split pea soup that had boiled down too much. (I won't mention what I thought it looked like! Those of you with babies know what I mean... Forgive my grossness, but it is the truth.) Overall - flavor: good; presentation and texture: so-so to not so good.
Meat, Bulgar, and Rice Dolmades - We were very excited about this recipe because none of us had ever cooked with grape leaves before. This recipe also received mixed reviews from the group. About half liked them and thought they were light and a great appetizer. One person commented they couldn't taste the meat in the mixture and only tasted rice. Several thought the dill in the sauce was too overpowering. The final conclusion was that they were good, but probably not a repeater. (Note: My DH gave them an 8.5/10. I have him trained to used Grace's husband's numeric rating system. When asked his opinion he always responds in a number rating now!:p ).
Moussaka With Eggplant and Peppers and Yogurt Bechamel Another case of mixed reviews!! Several of us had made non-authentic moussaka before and this recipe came as a total surprise to us. First of all, the ingredients were different (potatoes, currants, bell peppers), while we had previously used recipes that were dominated by a meat sauce, with cheese and eggplant. This one was very sweet:confused: so the flavors surprised us. One husband commented that it "dazzled the taste buds"! Overall, very complex flavors in this dish. As the primary chef assign to this dish, I must complain that it was extremely labor intensive. Broil this, broil that, peel this...not to complain, but it really did take forever!!! Personally, I would not make this again because it didn't have enough "return on investment", but in all fairness, some of my sister chefs said they would if it was for a very special occasion. Wine Note: The magazine suggested serving this with a dark and earthy red wine. We totally disagree. At our dinners we do a fair amount of food/wine pairing so we had several bottles open for different dishes. We had planned to serve this with an Australian Shiraz but were not pleased with the pairing at all. There were open bottles of Pinot Gris and Chenin Blanc on the table and we felt both of those wines complimented this dish much better. So our vote is light, crisp, white wine all the way. Forget the earthy reds! If you must do a red we would suggest a lighter Pinot Noir.
Greens and Cheese Pie - This was another surprise menu item. The pre-consenus was we probably would not like this, but wanted to try it anyway. We were pleasantly surprised. One quote, "It was very "Greeny" ingredients-wise, but it didn't taste greeny". The flavor had quite a "kick" to it. We think this was due to the mixture of the mustard greens and the Greek oregano. (One member insisted on using authentic Greek oregano and, boy, did it carry a punch!!) Overall, it did have a spicy flavor to it, and all agreed it made a great side dish. At this point our taste buds were really hopping!!!:eek: Wine Note: Again, we strongly disagree with the wine suggestion in the magazine for this dish. We didn't feel that the herbal white wines could handle the robust flavors of this recipe. Ironically, we felt a more robust red (ie. the Australian Shiraz) stood up to the dish much better. Does Cooking light really taste these dishes with wine or are the suggestions simply theoretical???:confused:
Rolled Baklava - Because this dish had to sit for over 11 hours, we assigned this to one person to make ahead of time. Our chosen chef went out to dinner with a friend and enjoyed a fair amount of wine before returning home to make our dessert. Translation: we were dealing with a "marinated chef"!:D Apparently she misread the recipe and forgot to cook the baklava rolls before putting the syrup on them. The morning of the dinner, she realized her error and had to bake them after the fact. We all enjoyed her story, and in case any of you make a similar error, please know that the end result will be delicious! No worries. The baklavas were very forgiving and everyone thought they were great. Our chef reports that they were easier to make that the regular style and they were less oily. They were alittle on the sweet side, but we are not sure if that is because they were soaked for 18-20 hours in the syrup or just how they are normally.
We had other items on our menu, but I will post the complete menu on the Supper Club board. Overall, we felt the Greek recipes that we tried from the July issue were very flavorful and somewhat surprising. However, we were not able to agree on a group concensus. One thing is for sure...everyone had strong opinions on all of the dishes. I would guess you would either really like or really dislike most of these. That was our experience. Would love to hear other opinions on these recipe if anyone made them!
My goodness! I am long winded tonight!!
Peggy