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Feb 22, 2009

Opa! It's Greek to Me...except the squash

OPA!
Every February we like to attend the Greek Festival in our community. We go for the culture ~ the live Greek band, the Hellas dancers, and the mosaic icons.


Let's keep it real. We go for the FOOD!!!


What's your culinary pleasure? Souvlaki, pastichio, lamb shanks
spanakopita, or tiropita?


Last year we had a sampler plate complete with stuffed grape leaves, dolmathes. This year we went simpler and had a gyro and Greek fries.

My gyro and Greek seasoned fries!


Our Favorite Greek Nurse
Our favorite nurse from the hospital in Colorado was visiting her family in Florida and we ran into her at the Greek Festival! Opa!We chatted, met her mother and took some pictures. She took good care of me, too, during One Fine Man's hospital stay.

Our night is not complete until we visit the lovely Greek ladies at the Philoptochos pastry booth. (philoptochos means friends of the poor.)

We like the galaktobouriko, baklava and the thiples.

One Fine Man, Guitar Girl and I enjoyed the pastries at home with coffee. Our boys opted for pizza. They do not enjoy the pastries either.

They called our goodies "old people's desserts." That's okay. More for us "old people."

Pictured are: baklava - Say: bak-la-VA - Dessert made with flaky filo layered with butter and walnuts and topped with a honey-flavored syrup;
galaktobouriko - Say: ga-lak-to-BOU-ree-ko - Custard wrapped in layers of buttered filo and topped with a honey-flavored syrup;
and thiples - Say: THEE-ples - Pastry deep fried and rolled with drops of honey
A cinnamon cookie - I don't know the Greek name for that one.



One Fine Man & Bella~Mella


Now for the not so Greek...
The next night we had spaghetti and fried squash at home because nothing is as American as mixing your cultural cuisine. I could eat a plate full of these little fried beauties all by myself. Wait. I think I did. Forget the spaghetti!

Fried yellow squash
Recipe

Rinse squash and brush well with vegetable brush. Slice away any brown spots. Cut the top end down by about 1". Slice the bottom off 1/4". Heat canola oil in your black skillet. Slice squash into thin even rounds. I put Martha White cornmeal mix on a plate (w/salt). Dust the squash rounds in the cornmeal. It will stick b/c the squash is naturally moist. When your oil is hot enough, drop one layer of squash in skillet. Don't overlap. When the top side is golden brown, gently flip over with a fork to brown the other side. Remove with a slotted spatula and let drain on paper towels. Add more salt. I use sea salt for everything! Continue to add the remainder of your squash. Try not to eat the first batch as you stand there frying the remainder. Or maybe that's just ME. You may have to adjust the temperature of your oil to keep it from burning. You can use the same process on zuchinni but I prefer the squash. They're better than french fries! REALLY. HAPPY FRY~DAY!

Sauteed squash
I also like squash and zuchinni like this: sauteed in olive oil with onion and Italian seasoning. Salt & pepper when done.

To read My Monday Magnificat go here.

11 comments:

  1. These look great = your recipes. I'd love to make your fried squash. Is it hard? ;) How fun to run into your nurse across country! :)

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  2. Man am I hungry all of a sudden! Doesn't fried squash taste like fried zuchinni? I love fried zuchinni. Ok I love fried anything. :)

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  3. i love love love meditteranian (sp) food (maybe i should learn to spell it)...we have a greek festival here as well.

    yummy

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  4. Never realized that "The Tigers" could be for the LSU Tigers. Mainly, they started out as 'the Cherubs' and Mountain Man has made me aware that we needed a new name for the 8 year old... TIgers. So mainly because they are TIgers. :)

    LSU is always a good choice though until they play Tulane. Heart the Green Wave. :)

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  5. I love your blog.

    I bet the Greek festival was scrumptious!! We enjoy squash and zuchinni sauted and over pasta with a little parmesan cheese - la cena era deliziosa!

    Thank you for leaving a comment on my blog - my husband used to be in investment banking and got out before everything started to unravel (believe it or not that was almost 4 years ago).

    I thank God every day that He is still on the throne.

    I will be back to visit often!

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  6. We have a Greek festival here too. The food is yummy. I just finished lunch....now I want a pastry. I love squash too. b

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  7. My mouth is watering....literally it is! The picture of that gyro! I love gyros. And I'd love to try to Greek fries! Wow!

    I love Greek food. There is a great authentic Greek restaurant about 45 minutes from us. Whenever we travel out that way, we plan a meal around that Greek restaurant!

    Thanks for sharing! Again, we need a scratch and sniff computer screen! :)

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  8. Mmmm...I haven't had read Greek food in a while! The sauteed squash looked yummy too!

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  9. My stepmom is greek and my kids love their Yia Yia and we all love her famous cuisine!!!

    My grandmother makes the best fried squash...I may have to cook some soon.

    PS I think we'll try the pb cookies after school tomorrow!!

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  10. Oh, I miss the Greek Festival - okay not really - just the food. You're right. Let's keep it real. Hey, things are happening! Gotta another great, great idea. I'll call you later.
    A.

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  11. Yummy! I'll take two helpings of the fried squash! Thanks so much for adding me to your blog roll! You are so sweet!

    Hugs,
    Susan

    I'll add you to mine too!!! :)

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