Spanish Recipes & Greek Recipes

Cubes of chicken are marinated in red wine vinegar, lemon juice, garlic, oregano and olive oil, and then skewered and grilled to perfection.

Wrapped in delicate phyllo dough, these traditional Greek pies are filled with spinach, fresh herbs, and tangy feta cheese.

Tzatziki is a Greek dip that is a creamy combination of cucumber, garlic, fresh herbs and thick yogurt.

This traditional Middle Eastern dip made with chickpeas, garlic, lemon, tahini and olive oil.

This light and crispy calamari is marinated with basil, garlic and a hint of chipotle pepper.

This chicken is marinated with garlic, lemon, Dijon mustard, grainy mustard and Greek spices.

These lemon roasted potatoes are tossed with fresh rosemary and a flavorful lemon-garlic dressing. They are crispy and golden on the outside and soft and moist on the inside.

This is a fresh and healthy salad that is full of color and flavor.

Bread, tomato, olive oil and salt forms this simple, but divine tapas. Originally from the Catalan region of Spain this tapas is now enjoyed throughout many other parts of the country.

Straight from Spain - onions, potatoes and eggs are all that you need to make this famous tortilla.

Thin pieces of pan-fried pork tenderloin rest on top of caramelized onions, melted brie cheese and crusty bread.

This Spanish-inspired pilaf is made with chicken, chorizo, tomato, saffron and garlic.

These fantastic peppers are cooked on the barbecue until they are lightly charred. They are then peeled and tossed with garlic and vinegar. They are delicious served as a side dish or as an appetizer alongside some hummus.

Serrano ham, heart of palm, fresh mozzarella and Manzanilla olives dress up tender butter lettuce.

Chicken thighs, tomato, garlic, shallot and white wine come together in a big way with this slow braised dish. Think of it sort of like chicken cacciatore.

Red peppers, garlic, eggplant and tomatoes are slowly roasted with olive oil and a hint of crushed chilies.

Layers of eggplant are smothered between a delicious meat sauce and topped with a creamy béchamel. With hints of cinnamon and nutmeg, this traditional Greek dish is divine.

Combination Cooking involves both dry- and moist-heat cooking. Braising, stewing and pot-roasting are all combination cooking methods which are excellent for cooking tougher (but often tastier) cuts of meats. These types of cooking methods require long, gentle cooking to turn tougher cuts of meat into those fork-tender dishes that we often refer to as “comfort foods”.

In this lesson, you will learn the few key steps and fundamentals to combination cooking. Understanding these key basics will help you stew, braise or pot roast without the need for a recipe.

Braising is one of the combination cooking methods which involves both dry and moist heat. Meat and/or vegetables are often first browned and then slowly cooked in a liquid until they become fork tender. Succulent and full of flavor, braised dishes fit into every culture around the world because nearly any combination of aromatics, vegetables and liquids can be used to build a braised dish.

In this lesson, you will learn the technique of braising. While many vegetables, such as fennel or Belgian endive can be braised, the ingredients that benefit most from this cooking method are tough and coarse cuts of meat. For this lesson, we are going to focus on braising meats, using beef short ribs as our example. In this lesson, you will learn how to choose and prepare the meat for braising and how to build a braised dish by adding various layers of flavor. You will also learn how to cook a braised dish, test it for doneness and how to finish the sauce prior to serving.

Even though braising may seem like a time consuming process, it is actually quite easy and requires very little work. We will walk you through the entire braising process so you can braise with confidence and best of all, without a recipe.

Pilaf is one of the four main methods for cooking rice. Though many grains are also cooked using this method, in this lesson, we are going to focus on using rice, which is generally the most common.

Pilaf is very popular in Indian, Mexican and Middle Eastern cuisines. The pilaf method is similar to the steaming method; however, the rice or grain is first sautéed, often with aromatics, before any liquid is added. For this reason, pilafs are highly flavorful. Pilafs frequently contain added ingredients, such as fish or meats, to create a more substantial meal.

In this lesson, you will learn how to make a basic pilaf. You will also learn how to enhance and flavor a basic pilaf to create many flavorful side dishes. Finally, you will learn how to properly add proteins to a pilaf to create hearty and delicious, one-pot meals.

Pan frying is one of the most common dry-heat cooking methods, yet many cooks have trouble achieving that nice golden crust when pan frying or they have problems with sticking and burning. Pan frying is an important cooking skill to learn as so many recipes start in the pan.

In this lesson, you will learn the few key indicators to look for when pan frying along with some simple yet effective cooking methods that will enable you to master the art of pan frying.

Submersion cooking methods are moist-heat cooking methods that consist of poaching, simmering and boiling. In these cases, ingredients are cooked by being submerged in hot liquids. Most people think that cooking ingredients in a liquid is as simple as placing the ingredients in the liquid and then waiting until they are done; but, the temperature of the liquid in which the ingredients are cooked will dramatically affect the final outcome. In fact, the first rule culinary students are taught is that most foods should never be boiled and this is why professional cooks poach eggs and fish, simmer stocks, soups and stews and generally only boil pasta.

In this lesson, you will learn about poaching, simmering and boiling and how to identify each of these submersion temperatures. The main difference between each of these methods is temperature, which varies only by about 50 degrees Fahrenheit. However, within this temperature range, the food you cook is impacted in very different ways. While these methods may come across as somewhat simple, understanding the key differences between them and knowing when and how to use them is vital in maintaining the integrity of the ingredients that you cook. These methods will not only teach you the art of patience but the secrets to good cooking as well.

You may think you know how to cook pork, but try brining it before you cook it. Brining is an excellent way to add moisture and infuse flavor into pork. Brining works equally well with many other lean meat and poultry preparations. Many chefs and home cooks that begin brining never go back to making pork or chicken recipes without using this simple technique first.

No one wants to find a fish bone in their seafood dinner. With snapper, here's what to look for when trimming and deboning a fillet before cooking it.

You don't need a fancy spice grinder to grind your own spices. A simple, inexpensive coffee grinder will do the trick.

Fresh garlic makes a difference, so don't just grab the first head of garlic you see at the supermarket. Here's what to look for when buying and prepping garlic for your favorite recipe.

By learning how to butcher a whole chicken yourself into 8 or 10 cut, you will save money. Not only will you be able to use individual pieces for particular recipes, such as the chicken breast, legs, or wings, you will have leftover bones to make chicken stock.

If you happen to have a herb garden or have access to fresh herbs such as rosemary, thyme, or oregano, here is a simple culinary technique demonstrating how to remove the leaves from the stems.

Using a chef knife to slice onions is a cooking skill you won't cry about learning. This quick cooking technique is especially useful when slicing pounds of onions when making recipes such as caramelized onions or French onion soup.

Cornmeal is made from ground corn and is commonly known as polenta. Cornmeal comes in a variety of different grinds from fine to coarse. Finer cornmeal is typically used in recipes such as cornbread or corn muffins.

Mise en Place is a French culinary term used in cooking school and means "setting in place". It's the act of gathering and preparing all of your ingredients before you start cooking so you will be organized during the cooking process.