Main Courses

Cyprus Food - Main Courses

Here are a selection of traditional Cyprus main course recipes, if you have any traditional Cyprus dishes including Cyprus meat dishes, Cyprus fish dishes or Cyprus Meze we can add please send them to me at anne@cypruslocal.co.uk and I will include them in the collection. More Cyprus food information!

Macaroni with Minced Meat and Bechamel Sauce

Macaroni with Minced Meat and Bechamel Sauce Makaronia Pastitsio

Ingredients

453 g thick long macaroni - grade A (called tubular spaghetti)
650 g minced pork
5 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon onion, coarsely grated salt and pepper
parsley, finely chopped
1 tablespoon butter
2 eggs
1 1/2-1 3/4 glasses Halloumi cheese, grated

For the Bechamel Sauce
1 litre (4 glasses) boiling milk
55 g butter
6 tablespoons flour
2 eggs
1/2 - 2/3 glass Halloumi cheese, grated
pinch of salt (optional)
Halloumi for sprinkling

Method for Bechamel Sauce: Boil the milk. Heat the butter and stir in the flour to mix with. Gradually pour in the boiling milk stirring constantly to make a smooth sauce. Remove from the heat and after 1-1 1/2 minutes stir the eggs in briskly to the sauce. Now stir in the Halloumi cheese.

Method

Place the oil, minced meat, onion, salt and pepper in a frying pan and cook over moderate heat stirring occasionally until all liquid has evaporated. When the meat mixture is lightly brown, add the parsley and after a few seconds remove from heat. Cook the macaroni in boiling, salted water until just tender and drain. Return the macaroni to the pan, but do not place over heat. Add the butter, the lightly beaten eggs and the Halloumi cheese and stir carefully. Meanwhile, prepare the Bechamel sauce using the above ingredients (See above recipe for Bechamel Sauce). Spread the base of a 27x27 cm ovenproof dish with 3-4 tablespoons Bechamel sauce. Lay half of the macaroni evenly over it and spread 4-5 tablespoons Bechamel sauce over that. Cover with the meat mixture, lay the remaining macaroni and top with the remaining Bechamel sauce. Sprinkle with Halloumi cheese. Bake in a moderate oven (160°·170°C) for about 45 minutes or until golden brown. This dish can prepared some hours before serving or even the previous day.
Note: If desired, do not sprinkle the cheese on the macaroni when in the pan but when placed in the ovenproof dish. In this way the Hallouml cheese is spread over the macaroni evenly.

Lamb Stifado

Lamb Stifado with Sauté Potatoes

Stifado can be made with almost any kind of meat Here we use lamb. It always involves either red wine or red-wine vinegar or both, herbs, and copious quantities of small whole onions.

Ingredients
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup red-wine vinegar
28- to 32-ounce can whole tomatoes including juice, chopped
1 cup dry red wine
2 teaspoons dried rosemary, crumbled
1 cinnamon stick
1 bay leaf
6 lamb shanks (about 6 pounds total)
1 pound pearl onions (about 3 cups)
2 pounds small red potatoes
3 large garlic cloves, sliced thin
1 tablespoon olive oil

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Method

In a 9-quart heavy ovenproof kettle cook sugar on top of stove over moderate heat, without stirring, until it begins to melt. Continue to cook sugar, stirring with a fork until melted and cook without stirring, swirling kettle, until a deep golden caramel. Add vinegar and stir until caramel is dissolved. Stir in tomatoes with juice, wine, rosemary, cinnamon, and bay leaf and bring to a boil. Add lamb shanks and braise, covered, in middle of oven until tender, about 2 hours. Braised lamb shanks improve in flavor if made 1 day ahead. Cool mixture, uncovered, and chill, covered. Skim and discard fat from mixture and reheat on top of stove before proceeding.

In a saucepan of boiling water blanch onions 10 minutes, or until just tender, and drain. Cool onions and peel.

Quarter potatoes and in a steamer set over simmering water steam potatoes, covered, 8 to 10 minutes, or until just tender. In a large non-stick skillet cook garlic in oil over moderate heat, stirring, until pale golden. Add potatoes with salt and pepper to taste and sauté mixture over moderately high heat 5 minutes, or until potatoes are golden.

Transfer meat with a slotted spoon to a platter. Discard cinnamon stick and bay leaf. Add onions to sauce and boil until sauce is thickened slightly. Spoon sauce and onions over meat and surround with potatoes.

Serves 4.

Moussaka

Moussaka

Ingredients for 4 people

2 lbs (1 kg) aubergines (eggplant) or courgettes or a mixture of both (trimmed and sliced lengthways in thick slices).
2 large potatoes, peeled and sliced from their wide side.
1/2 glass olive or sunflower oil.
2 medium onions sliced.
1 lb (500 g) minced beef, lamb or pork
2 large tomatoes, grated, or one 400g tin of tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon or 1 stick cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon rigani or dried oregano
1/2 (125 ml) glass red wine
For the white sauce (bechamel)
4 tablespoons butter
4 heaped tablespoons flour
1 pinch of salt and pepper
2 eggs
3-cups (750 ml) of boiling milk
some cheese or halloumi for the top.

Method

Heat the oil. Fry the aubergine, courgette and potato slices in the oil, turning the slices so that they brown but don’t cook through. Leave them to drain on kitchen paper.
Then fry the onions in some oil till soft and then add the meat and stir to break it up.
Add the tomatoes, herbs, spices, seasoning and wine and continue to cook for about 25 minutes when the liquid should have been absorbed.
For the white sauce, melt the butter in a saucepan stir in the flour and then add warm milk gradually, whisking hard to remove any lumps. Add salt and pepper. When it starts to boil you take the saucepan away from the fire but you continue stirring it for 1-2 minutes and then add the eggs, stirring so that the eggs mixed with the sauce.
To assemble the moussakas use 25cm X 25cm baking dish and line the base with slices of potatoes, courgettes and aubergines. Spread the minced meat in a layer and cover it with another line of potatoes, aubergines and courgettes. Cover the top with the white sauce (Bechamel) and sprinkle some cheese on top.
Bake in a moderate oven for about 50 minutes or till the top is a good crusty brown.

Souvlakia

Souvlakia - Pork Kebab

Ingredients

1kg leg of pork, cut into 1" (2.5cm) cubes
Salt
4 ripe tomatoes, finely chopped
1 onion finely, chopped
5 tablespoons parsley, finely chopped
lemon juice
Pitta bread

Method
Thread the meat cubes on to the skewers.

Make sure the barbecue has reached the right heat. Ideally for the best results kebab should be cooked over charcoal. Place the skewers on the barbeque and liberally apply salt, turn the skewers over and salt the other side. Turn the skewers from time to time to ensure that the meat cooks evenly on all sides.

Just before the souvlakia are cooked, warm some Pitta bread over the grill. Remove the souvlakia from the grill and using a fork take the meat off the skewers and put it into a serving dish.

Divide a pitta in two and in the pocket spoon in the meat, tomatoes, onion, parsley, salt and lemon juice.

Colocassia Esculerita

Colocassia Esculerita

Colocassi is a very interesting vegetable. It was greatly honoured on the table of the Cypriot home until some years ago.

It is a native of the Middle East. The colocassi plant is beautiful with wide leaves. It used to grow in the Carpas, in the town of Morfou and in Paphos. Many years ago there were no shops in the villages so people could only purchase colocassi if they visited the neighbouring town or more likely if a salesman came round with his donkey selling vegetables. Colocassi is usually cooked with pork or chicken.

During a fasting period, it is either cooked on its own or some rice is added about half an hour before it is finished, creating a more filling dish.

Preparation of Colocassi

Peel colocassi, never wash it. If necessary wipe it with a damp cloth. Colocassi is cut in a special way. Take a small sharp knife. begin cutting it and half way through crack it away. In this way more pores are exposed and the colocassi cooks better.

This method is called tsakristo which means cracked.

Ingredients for colocassi tsakristo 1 to 1.5 kgs colocassi

1 kg pork and/ or chicken pieces

1/3 to 1/2 cup oil, preferably mixed half-and-half with olive oil 1 to 2 cups diced celery stalks

Grated tomato and some tomato paste

Juice of two to three lemons.

Stuffed vine leaves for serving

Method

Prepare the colocassi as directed above.

Heat the oil and fry the pieces of meat and lift from the pan. Put the colocassi in the pan and saute, stirring gently. Return the meat to the pan.

Add the grated tomato and juice and stir. Simmer for a few minutes, and then add enough water, almost covering the ingredients. When it comes to the boil, add the lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper.

About half an hour before serving, add the diced celery and stuffed vine leaves.

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