Dublin resident and owner of Trusty & Company Claudia Trusty says cooking and eating is ingrained into her family. She’s half Greek and half Italian – both sets of her grandparents immigrated to the U.S. – so there are tons of traditions and recipes passed down.
Trusty says her grandparents lived right next door when she was growing up and they, along with her parents, were in the restaurant business together.
“I will say,” Trusty says, “Greek cuisine is laborious. Greeks are known for spending hours making delicious food.”
The recipes on the right, while still just as yummy, don’t require strenuous hours.
Recipes courtesy of Claudia Trusty:
Chicken Soup with Avgolemono (Lemon Sauce)
Chicken Soup
- 1 roasting chicken, 3-4 lbs.
- 6 cups chicken stock, homemade preferred
- 1 cup raw orzo or rice
- Salt to taste
Put chicken in large pot with chicken stock.
Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for about 2 hours or until chicken is cooked through.
Remove and set aside chicken and keep it warm. Strain broth, removing as much fat as possible. Put broth back in the pot and add orzo (or rice), bring to a boil then simmer until orzo is tender, about 15 minutes.
While broth is cooking, remove skin from chicken and slice meat.
Avgolemono Sauce
- 2 eggs
- 3 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
In a blender add eggs with lemon juice and blend well. With the blender running, add 2-3 cups of hot, strained broth.
When thoroughly blended, add the avgolemono sauce to the broth, stirring until broth has thickened. Add sliced chicken to the broth.
Stir and serve.
Cocktail Meatballs – Keftedakia
Yields: 1 1/2–2 dozen
- 1 lb. ground meat (beef or turkey)
- 1/2 cup grated onion
- 1 tbsp. minced garlic
- 1/4 tsp. dried oregano
- 1⁄8 tsp. dried mint
- 1-2 slices white or wheat bread
- 1/2 cup dry white wine or water
- 1 egg
- Flour for rolling
- Butter for frying
Mix meat, onion, garlic, salt, pepper, oregano and mint. Remove crust from bread then moisten the bread with wine or water.
Add bread to meat mixture and knead until bread is well incorporated. Roll into 1-inch meatballs.
Melt butter in a medium pan until it is hot enough to fry. Add flour to a shallow bowl or plate, roll meatballs in flour to cover.
Fry meatballs in butter, turning them to make sure they are browned on all sides.
Keftedakia can be served warm or at room temperature.
Mallory Arnold is an editor. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
