Wed, Oct 10th 2007, 00:00
In Greece, a meal usually starts with a platter of assorted appetizers known as meze - dips and other tasty morsels served with pita breads.
Greek Meze Dishes can be shared in a group and are usually accompanied by Greek wine or anise-flavoured ouzo, drunk straight or mixed with water.
Tzatziki: a dipping sauce made of strained yoghurt, cucumber and garlic and seasoned with olive oil, vinegar and mint or dill. The word is derived from the Turkish cacık for chutney.
Taramosalata: a dipping sauce traditionally made from tarama (salted roe of carp) but these days can include other forms of fish roe. This is mixed with lemon juice, onions, garlic, and olive oil to produce a dip which can vary from orange to pink in colour.
Choriatiki salata (country salad): commonly consisting of tomatoes, cucumber, green pepper, feta cheese, olives and capers.
Dolmadakia (Dolmades from the Turkish dolma meaning stuffed or filled): delicate parcels made by stuffing a filling into preserved grape (vine) leaves, traditionally long-grain rice, toasted pine nuts, fresh herbs and seasonings.
Horta: wild or cultivated greens. They are steamed or blanched and dressed with lemon juice and olive oil.
Spanakopita: spinach wrapped in filo pastry parcels. Many other filo pastry wrapped fillings are popular in bite-size triangles or large sheets such as: tyropita (cheese wrapped in filo parcels), kotopita (chicken), spanakotyropita (spinach and cheese), hortopita (greens), kreatopita (meat) or boureki (individually wrapped vegetable and meat fillings in filo pastry or dough).
Loukaniko: pork sausage, part-dried and often smoked. Perhaps the best-known is flavoured with fennel and orange zest. It is served sliced and fried.
Greek Meze Dishes reviews
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