Ingredient
25 Greek Recipes with Olive Oil
Greece consumes more olive oil per person than anywhere on earth. In ladera cooking the oil is not a medium, it is the sauce.
Greece consumes more olive oil per person than anywhere on earth. In ladera cooking the oil is not what the food is cooked in. It is the sauce.
That is the idea behind green beans and okra in tomato, artichokes with peas, spanakorizo and leeks with rice. Horta is boiled greens. Salads are dressed with oil and lemon or vinegar and nothing cleverer than that.
Oil also stands in for butter in the baking made for the fasts: the olive oil cookies and the spice cake for Saint Fanourios. Whisked with lemon, it is a sauce on its own.
Every recipe on Kalliopi's Kitchen carries the dish's Greek name and a pronunciation, its region where that is meaningful, ingredient quantities in both metric and imperial, and an honest note on what commonly goes wrong. Nutrition figures are calculated estimates and are labelled as such.
1. Pork Souvlaki
Souvlaki · Σουβλάκι · soo-VLAH-kee
Little skewer is what the word means, and to a Greek it is the meat, not the wrap. Order one in Athens and two bare skewers may arrive with bread, lemon and raw onion. The meat is nearly always pork, and shoulder has the fat to survive a hard fire. Beef barely comes into it.
Yiayia’s tip: Leave gaps between the cubes. Meat packed tightly against itself on a skewer cannot brown on the touching faces. Small gaps let the fire get in and give you crust on all sides.
Make Pork Souvlaki2. Horta
Horta vrasta · Χόρτα βραστά · HOR-tah vrah-STAH
Nothing in Greek cooking is plainer, and it may be the most important thing in it: boiled greens with olive oil and lemon, eaten several times a week. Dandelion, chicory, amaranth and beet greens all go in the pot. They are cooked soft and drab, never bright green, because wild greens are tough and bitter.
Yiayia’s tip: Wash more than you think necessary. Grit in horta ruins it and is very hard to detect until you are eating. Lift the greens out of the water rather than tipping the whole lot into a colander.
Make Horta3. Dolmades
Ντολμάδες · dol-MAH-des
An hour of rolling and no way round it, which is why Greek families do it together at a table, talking. These are the rice and herb ones, served cold, called yialantzi. The word means liar, because they pass themselves off as the meat version. They belong on a meze table and keep for days.
Yiayia’s tip: Under-fill rather than over-fill. A teaspoon per leaf. The rice triples in volume and an over-filled dolma splits along the seam every time.
Make Dolmades4. Cypriot Lenten Tahini Spiral Bread
Tahinopita · Ταχινόπιτα · tah-hee-NOH-pee-tah
Baked for Lent, when butter, milk and eggs are not allowed, and it does not taste like going without. The dough is only flour, oil, sugar and yeast. It is spread with tahini, sugar and cinnamon, rolled, then wound into a coil, much as a cinnamon roll is built. It keeps well.
Yiayia’s tip: Stir the tahini well first. It separates in the jar, with the oil rising to the top. Mix it back together before measuring, or the filling will be uneven.
Make Cypriot Lenten Tahini Spiral Bread5. Skordalia
Σκορδαλιά · skor-dah-lee-AH
Skordo is garlic in Greek, and the dip is as loud as its name. It goes with bakaliaros, the fried salt cod eaten on March 25th. That is Greek Independence Day and it lands in Lent, so a dip without dairy suits the fast. Mash the potato by hand. A food processor makes wallpaper paste.
Yiayia’s tip: Boil the potatoes whole and unpeeled. This keeps them from absorbing extra water, which would otherwise thin the finished dip.
Make Skordalia6. Spanakorizo
Σπανακόρυζο · spah-nah-KOH-ree-zoh
Spinach and rice cooked in one pot until the rice has taken on the green. It is one of the ladera dishes, where the olive oil becomes part of the sauce, and among the quickest. Keep it wetter than a pilaf, loose enough for a spoon. Dill and lemon go in at the end.
Yiayia’s tip: Do not underestimate the spinach quantity. It reduces to roughly a quarter of its raw volume once wilted. What looks like too much going in is exactly right.
Make Spanakorizo7. Leek and Rice
Prasorizo · Πρασόρυζο · prah-SOH-ree-zoh
A winter pot, for the season when leeks are best. They soften over a low heat in a good deal of olive oil until sweet and almost jammy, then simmer with rice into something halfway between risotto and soup. Same method as spanakorizo, but paler and sweeter. Lemon goes in off the heat.
Yiayia’s tip: Wash sliced, not whole. Slicing the leeks before washing exposes the grit trapped between the layers, which a quick rinse of a whole leek can miss entirely.
Make Leek and Rice8. Eggless Spice Cake for Saint Fanourios
Fanouropita · Φανουρόπιτα · fah-noo-ROH-pee-tah
Baked for Saint Fanourios, whose feast is the 27th of August, by people hoping to find something lost. Custom sets the number of ingredients, most often seven or nine, and has the cake given away in pieces. It has no eggs or dairy, so anyone fasting can share it. Dense, like a tea loaf.
Yiayia’s tip: Do not overwork the batter. There are no eggs here to give structure, so folding gently rather than beating hard keeps the crumb tender rather than tough.
Make Eggless Spice Cake for Saint Fanourios9. Epirus Cornbread with Greens
Batzina · Μπατζίνα · bah-DZEE-nah
The plain, frugal end of Epirus baking, a long way from the region's hand-rolled pies. Cornmeal, water and olive oil, no yeast, baked into a loaf that mountain villages made as everyday bread. Some fold in wild greens or spring onion. Dense is correct: it sits closer to baked polenta than to a risen loaf.
Yiayia’s tip: Oil the tin generously. Cornbread batter is prone to sticking. A thorough coating of oil helps it release cleanly once baked.
Make Epirus Cornbread with Greens10. Green Beans in Tomato and Olive Oil
Fasolakia lathera · Φασολάκια λαδερά · fah-soh-LAH-kyah lah-theh-RAH
Green beans, with potato and onion, cooked far past the point where other cuisines stop, on purpose. A bean cooked ladera, in olive oil and tomato, is meant to be soft all the way through, never crisp. Finish it uncovered so the sauce thickens. Summer food, often a light main with bread and feta.
Yiayia’s tip: Do not skimp on the olive oil. It becomes part of the sauce itself over the long simmer. A ladera dish made with too little oil is a noticeably thinner, less satisfying dish.
Make Green Beans in Tomato and Olive Oil11. Romaine and Spring Onion Salad
Marouloasalata · Μαρουλοσαλάτα · mah-roo-loh-sah-LAH-tah
The salad of the Greek spring, and the one that sits next to the Easter lamb. Its crispness cuts through rich meat far better than a tomato salad. The lettuce is shredded fine, closer to a slaw than to torn leaves, with spring onion and plenty of dill.
Yiayia’s tip: Use romaine or cos, not a soft lettuce. Sturdier leaves hold up far better to shredding and dressing than a delicate butterhead variety.
Make Romaine and Spring Onion Salad12. Potato Salad
Patatosalata · Πατατοσαλάτα · pah-tah-toh-sah-LAH-tah
There is no mayonnaise in a Greek potato salad. Olive oil and red wine vinegar go on while the potatoes are warm, when they take the dressing in instead of wearing it on the outside. Red onion, capers and fresh herbs finish it. It travels better in the heat than a mayonnaise salad.
Yiayia’s tip: Boil the potatoes whole and unpeeled. This keeps them from absorbing extra water, which would otherwise dilute the finished salad's flavour.
Make Potato Salad13. Okra in Tomato and Olive Oil
Bamies latheres · Μπάμιες λαδερές · BAH-myes lah-theh-RES
Okra frightens cooks because it can turn slimy. The traditional answer is a short soak in vinegar before the pods go near the pot. After that it is an ordinary ladera dish, simmered slowly in tomato and plenty of olive oil until the oil becomes the sauce. Shake the pan, do not stir.
Yiayia’s tip: Do not cut into the pods when trimming. Only trim the woody stem end. Exposing the interior releases the sticky substance that causes sliminess.
Make Okra in Tomato and Olive Oil14. Constantinople-Style Braised Artichokes
Anginares ala polita · Αγκινάρες αλά πολίτα · an-gee-NAH-res ah-lah poh-LEE-tah
A la polita means in the style of Poli, which is Constantinople to Greeks with roots there, and the dish came from that community. Artichoke hearts braise in a lemony broth with potato, carrot, dill and spring onion. No meat goes in, and the egg thickener is lighter than a full avgolemono.
Yiayia’s tip: Cut the vegetables to a similar size. This ensures the potato, carrot and artichoke all finish tender at roughly the same time.
Make Constantinople-Style Braised Artichokes15. Olive Oil and Lemon Sauce
Ladolemono · Λαδολέμονο · lah-thoh-LEH-moh-noh
Most Greeks learn this as a ratio, not a recipe: about three parts olive oil to one of lemon juice, whisked with salt and a little oregano. It goes over grilled fish, meat and vegetables right before serving. It separates quickly, so whisk again before pouring. Oily fish takes more lemon, delicate vegetables less.
Yiayia’s tip: Use good olive oil and fresh lemon juice. With only a few ingredients and no cooking involved, quality here makes a real and immediate difference.
Make Olive Oil and Lemon Sauce16. Cretan Cracked Green Olives
Elies tsakistes Kritis · Ελιές τσακιστές Κρήτης · eh-lee-ES tsah-kee-STES KREE-tees
Green olives are too bitter to eat off the tree. Crete cures them the fast way, splitting each one before it goes into brine so the cure gets in sooner, though it still takes days. Garlic, coriander seed and lemon finish them. The brine is strong enough when a raw egg floats in it.
Yiayia’s tip: Crack, don't shatter. A firm crack that splits the skin is enough. Shattering the olive entirely makes it fall apart in the brine.
Make Cretan Cracked Green Olives17. Vegan Olive Oil Cookies
Ladokouloura · Λαδοκούλουρα · lah-thoh-KOO-loo-rah
Cookies made for Lent, when butter and eggs are both off the table. Olive oil does all the work of the fat and gives a crumbly, slightly dense cookie with a faint fruitiness that butter does not have. They were vegan long before anybody called it that.
Yiayia’s tip: Use a mild olive oil. A strong, peppery extra virgin can fight with the orange rather than sitting in the background as intended.
Make Vegan Olive Oil Cookies18. Lagana
Λαγάνα · lah-GHAH-nah
Baked once a year, for Clean Monday, when the seven weeks of Lent begin, and hardly seen otherwise. It is an oval sesame bread with a dimpled top, always eggless, traditionally with little or no yeast. It sits on the table with taramosalata, olives and dolmades. Eat it the day it is baked.
Yiayia’s tip: Do not expect a fully risen loaf. Traditional lagana is flatter and denser than a standard bread, reflecting Clean Monday's simple, fasting character.
Make Lagana19. Fried Green Peppers
Piperies tiganites · Πιπεριές τηγανητές · pee-peh-ree-ES tee-gah-nee-TES
Three ingredients: green peppers, olive oil and salt. The peppers fry whole until the skins blister and the insides are sweet and soft. They reach the table quickly, next to ouzo or a cold beer. They are eaten by hand, held by the stem, skin and all.
Yiayia’s tip: Use the right pepper. Long, thin, mild frying peppers cook through quickly and turn genuinely sweet. A thick bell pepper takes far longer and never gets the same texture.
Make Fried Green Peppers20. Artichokes with Peas
Anginares me araka · Αγκινάρες με αρακά · an-gee-NAH-res meh ah-rah-KAH
Artichokes and peas peak at the same point in spring, and cook together in olive oil with dill, spring onion and lemon. It has the flavours of lamb and artichoke fricassee with the meat left out, and stands as a vegan main course. The oil becomes the sauce, so use a good one.
Yiayia’s tip: Give the artichokes a head start. They need considerably longer than fresh peas to cook through. Add the peas only once the artichokes are nearly tender.
Make Artichokes with Peas21. Grated Carrot Salad
Karotosalata · Καροτοσαλάτα · kah-roh-toh-sah-LAH-tah
Sweet grated carrot against a serious amount of raw garlic, with olive oil and red wine vinegar. It has bite. Beside grilled meat and fried food it does what skordalia does beside fried fish. It keeps a day or two in the fridge, and the garlic barely mellows.
Yiayia’s tip: Crush the garlic to a smooth paste. Chunks of raw garlic hit unevenly. A properly worked paste distributes the flavour evenly through the salad.
Make Grated Carrot Salad22. Olive Bread
Elioti (Eliopsomo) · Ελιόψωμο · eh-lee-OH-psoh-moh
Also called eliopsomo. The black olives are pitted, roughly chopped and kneaded right into the dough, not scattered on top, so each slice has pockets of salt and brine. It is everyday bread, good enough to eat with nothing on it. When the base sounds hollow under a tap, it is baked.
Yiayia’s tip: Do not reduce the olive oil. It is what gives elioti its characteristic soft, tender crumb, distinct from a plain lean white bread dough.
Make Olive Bread23. Pickled Rock Samphire Salad
Kritamo · Κρίταμο · KREE-tah-moh
Rock samphire grows straight out of cracks in sea cliffs, and tavernas across the Dodecanese and the Cyclades keep a jar of it. It crunches like a young bean and bites like celery and fennel. Like capers, it gets a brief blanch, a day in vinegar and salt, then months under olive oil.
Yiayia’s tip: Do not add salt when you serve it. Kritamo has been salted twice and grows in sea spray to begin with. Taste before seasoning anything you put it in, including the salad it goes on top of.
Make Pickled Rock Samphire Salad24. Lemon Potatoes
Patates lemonates · Πατάτες λεμονάτες · pah-TAH-tes leh-mo-NAH-tes
Not roast potatoes with lemon squeezed over. They braise first and roast second, in one tin, with nothing done in between. The liquid looks like far too much. It steams them soft, then boils away and leaves them to colour in oil and concentrated lemon. Cut it back and the middles stay hard.
Yiayia’s tip: Do not crowd the tin. Two tins are better than one overloaded one. Potatoes piled on top of each other steam and never colour, however long you give them.
Make Lemon Potatoes25. Corfu Spicy Sauteed Greens
Tsigareli · Τσιγαρέλι · tsee-gah-REH-lee
Greens with real heat, unlike horta, the plain boiled greens of the mainland. Corfu takes mixed greens, chard and spinach with wild leaves, and fries them in a lot of olive oil, with chilli and garlic. Pair a soft green with one that has more backbone. Little else goes in, so use good oil.
Yiayia’s tip: Fry hard, do not stew. This is what separates tsigareli from plain boiled horta. Keep the pan properly hot and toss constantly rather than letting the greens sit in liquid.
Make Corfu Spicy Sauteed Greens
More Greek Recipes with Olive Oil
65 more, 90 in all.
MoussakaMousakas ΜουσακάςMain Courses · 1h 55m · serves 8
TzatzikiTzatziki ΤζατζίκιDips and Sauces · 15m · serves 6
Greek SaladHoriatiki salata Χωριάτικη σαλάταSalads · 12m · serves 4
SpanakopitaSpanakopita ΣπανακόπιταBreads and Pies · 1h 30m · serves 8
Baked Giant Beans in TomatoGigantes plaki Γίγαντες πλακίMain Courses · 2h 5m · serves 6
Smoky Aubergine DipMelitzanosalata ΜελιτζανοσαλάταDips and Sauces · 45m · serves 6
Cretan DakosDakos ΝτάκοςSalads · 12m · serves 4
GemistaGemista ΓεμιστάMain Courses · 2h 10m · serves 6
FasoladaFasolada ΦασολάδαSoups · 1h 45m · serves 6
MelomakaronaMelomakarona ΜελομακάροναDesserts · 1h 5m · serves 30
BriamBriam ΜπριάμMain Courses · 2h · serves 6
Yellow Split Pea PureeFava Santorinis Φάβα ΣαντορίνηςDips and Sauces · 1h · serves 6
KleftikoKleftiko ΚλέφτικοMain Courses · 4h 25m · serves 6
Grilled OctopusHtapodi sta karvouna Χταπόδι στα κάρβουναMeze and Appetisers · 1h 30m · serves 4
Scrambled Eggs with Tomato and FetaStrapatsada ΣτραπατσάδαBreakfast Recipes · 23m · serves 3
StifadoStifado ΣτιφάδοMain Courses · 3h · serves 6
Lentil Soup with VinegarFakes ΦακέςSoups · 1h 7m · serves 6
Cypriot Black-Eyed Bean Salad with ChardLouvi ΛούβιSide Dishes · 55m · serves 4
Fish Roe DipTaramosalata ΤαραμοσαλάταMeze and Appetisers · 15m · serves 8
Spicy Whipped Feta DipTirokafteri ΤυροκαυτερήDips and Sauces · 10m · serves 6
Aubergine Baked with Onion and TomatoMelitzanes imam Μελιτζάνες ιμάμMain Courses · 1h 20m · serves 4
Grilled Sardines with Lemon OilSardeles ladolemono Σαρδέλες λαδολέμονοMain Courses · 25m · serves 4
Gavros MarinatosGavros marinatos Γαύρος μαρινάτοςMeze and Appetisers · 30m · serves 6
Lentils and RiceFakorizo ΦακόρυζοMain Courses · 50m · serves 4
White Bean SaladFasolia salata Φασόλια σαλάταSalads · 1h 15m · serves 6
Basic Greek Tomato SauceSaltsa domatas Σάλτσα ντομάταςDips and Sauces · 40m · serves 6
Vegan Stuffed Aubergine with RiceMelitzanes gemistes Μελιτζάνες γεμιστέςMain Courses · 1h 40m · serves 6
Chunky Aubergine and Tomato StewMelitzanes yahni Μελιτζάνες γιαχνίMain Courses · 1h 10m · serves 4
Simple Greek Sliced Tomato SaladNtomatosalata ΝτοματοσαλάταSalads · 10m · serves 4
Orzo Pasta SaladKritharosalata ΚριθαρόσαλαταSalads · 32m · serves 6
Courgette in Tomato SauceKolokithakia yiahni Κολοκυθάκια γιαχνίSide Dishes · 45m · serves 4
Lentil SaladFakes salata Φακές σαλάταSalads · 45m · serves 6
Chickpea SaladRevithosalata ΡεβιθοσαλάταSalads · 1h · serves 6
Orzo SoupSoupa kritharaki Σούπα κριθαράκιSoups · 40m · serves 4
Red Lentil SoupSoupa fakes kokkines Σούπα φακές κόκκινεςSoups · 40m · serves 4
Simple Greek Cucumber and Tomato SaladAngourodomata ΑγγουροντομάταSalads · 10m · serves 4
Aubergine-Wrapped Rice RollsDolmades me melitzana Ντολμάδες με μελιτζάναMain Courses · 1h 30m · serves 6
Charcoal-Smoked Aubergine DipMelitzanosalata kapnisti Μελιτζανοσαλάτα καπνιστήDips and Sauces · 45m · serves 6
Corfu Fried Fish in Vinegar and RosemarySavoro ΣαβόροMeze and Appetisers · 40m · serves 4
Corfu Vegetable and Pasta SoupBourou bourou Μπουρού μπουρούSoups · 55m · serves 5
Ionian Rusk with Tomato and OreganoRiganada ΡιγανάδαSalads · 10m · serves 4
LakerdaLakerda ΛακέρδαMeze and Appetisers · 45m · serves 10
Cypriot Lentils and Rice with OnionsMoutzentra ΜουτζέντραMain Courses · 1h 5m · serves 5Browse other ingredients
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