The Odd Fork

Trying to keep a healthy and gluten free diet for a period of time, the Odd Fork cooked many times with quinoa, buckwheat and several superfood grains, it hadn't tried millet though. When it came across a small pack of millet in a food store one day, it decided to give it a try. The buy was successful, as millet was cheaper than quinoa, easier and faster to cook and its taste was mild and pleasant, almost like couscous or rice. 

The Odd Fork added millet in vegetable soups, prepared a millet tabbouleh salad, made a delicious veal millet stew and the last -at least for now- dish is this one. Of course, it is the most creative and the most yummy!

Ingredients:

For the millet "pastry":

- 1 cup uncooked millet

- a small onion, finely chopped

- half a bunch of fresh parsley

- 1 Tbsp of olive oil

- 1/3 tsp turmeric (powder)

- a pinch of dried ginger (powder)

- a pinch of nutmeg (powder)

- salt

- 250 grams smoked yellow cheese of choice, grated (optional)

For the mushroom stuffing:

- a medium onion, finely chopped

- a clove of garlic, finely chopped

- 1 Tbsp of olive oil

- a big, green pepper cut in small squares
- a pack of small white fresh mushrooms, cleaned and cut in small squares
- the remaining half bunch of fresh parsley
- a small sachet of dried mushrooms (porcini or anything you like)
- a glass of Greek Mavrodaphne or a similar sweet, red wine
- 2 to 3 Tbsps of tomato paste
- 2 to 3 whole cloves
- some whole grains of allspice
- some dried, ground thyme
- a bay leaf
- 2/3 tsp smoked paprika and a pinch of hot paprika
- salt, black pepper
- a can of red kidney beans (optional)

For the millet "pastry", just sauté onion in olive oil, add the parsley stems very finely chopped and add water (about 2 to 3 cups, twice the amount of millet). Add spices and salt and when it comes to a boil add millet, cover  the pot and cook over medium heat for about 20 minutes, until millet is tender. Then uncover the pot, add fresh parsley leaves chopped, increase the heat and let millet absorb the liquids, stirring often and carefully with a wooden spatula. Remove from heat when the mixture has the texture of a really thick porridge. Let it cool (when cooler, it will thicken more) for some time and add cheese (keeping though some of the cheese aside). For a vegan option, skip the cheese -the millet porridge will still be aromatic and tasty!
For the mushroom stuffing, add olive oil in a pot and again sauté onion and garlic. After a while add pepper, parsley stems very finely chopped, fresh mushrooms and dried mushrooms soaked in Mavrodaphne -add Mavrodaphne also. Add tomato paste, a big glass of water, salt and all the spices. Cover the pot and cook over medium to low heat for 30 to 40 minutes, until vegetables are tender. Uncover the pot, increase the heat and let liquids evaporate. A couple of minutes before removing pot from the stove, add fresh parsley leaves chopped and beans drained from the can and very well washed. Set it aside and let it cool.

Preheat oven to 180* C (350* F) Fan. Grease with olive oil a medium rectangular casserole and evenly spread half the millet porridge onto the bottom. Place the cool mushroom stuffing over the millet base and cover it carefully with the remaining millet mixture. Spread the surface of the pie with the remaining cheese (if using) and bake for about 20 minutes, until golden brown and cheese melts.



The pie is better to be cut at least half an hour later. The combination of aromatic herbs and mushrooms has a taste similar to minced meat sauce and the Odd Fork remembered the traditional Greek Moussaka!
Millet pie turned out to be fantastic and it is a very good reason to reduce the meat intake! Besides, with a creative and hearty pie like this, who needs a steak?

Chestnuts bring Christmas to mind, however October is the month for them! So the Odd Fork came across some lovely chestnuts in the flea market and the result was an unusual, yet absolutely yummy vegetarian pizza!

For the pizza crust:

- 250 grams plain flour
- 3/4 tsp salt
- half a cube of fresh, bread yeast
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1/2 cup lukewarm milk
- 25 grams melted butter
- 2 egg yolks
- some ground, dried thyme
- 1/3 tsp mix of nutmeg and ground cloves
- some extra lukewarm milk, if necessary

For the chestnut - mushroom topping:

- a small onion, finely chopped
- a clove of garlic, finely chopped
- a small leek, finely chopped
- a small sachet dried mushrooms of choice
- a wine glass of Greek Mavrodaphne or a similar sweet, red wine
- salt, pepper, some paprika
- 2 whole cloves
- a cinnamon stick
- a star anise
- some ground, dried thyme
- some roasted chestnuts (the Odd Fork used 8)
- some blue cheese in small cubes
- some soft, yellow cheese (like Greek Kasseri) in small cubes

Start with the pizza crust. In a bowl, dissolve the yeast in milk and add sugar. Mix and let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes. Mix all the remaining crust ingredients and add the yeast mixture, kneading until the dough does not stick on hands. If dough is too thick, add warm milk. Form the dough into a ball and set aside covered with a damp towel. Let it rise until doubled, about an hour.

Meanwhile, make the topping. In a pot over high heat, add a tbsp of olive oil and sauté onion and garlic. After a while add leek and mushrooms and deglaze with Mavrodaphne. Add all the spices and chestnuts chopped and also add some water, just to cover the ingredients. Turn heat to medium, cover the pot with its lid and boil for about 20 to 30 minutes until tender. Then uncover the pot, increase the heat and let luquids evaporate. Remove from stove and set aside to cool.

Stretch out the pizza dough (using a pastry roller or hands) on a large pan lined with non-stick baking sheet and spread it around evenly with the chestnut topping, leaving some space around the rim. Sprinkle with cheese and let pizza in a warm place until crust has puffed up and almost doubled in size, about 1 hour. Bake in a preheated oven at 400F for about 15 to 20 minutes, until cheese is melted and crust is golden. Remove from oven, let cool for 5 min, slice and serve!

It is totally delicious and although the Odd Fork loves to drink beer when eating pizza, this one was fantastic paired with Greek Mavrodaphne. Hope you enjoy it as much as the Odd Fork did!

The Odd Fork was once a little fork and not so odd yet. At the time it used to pinch mom's food, as all little beings do. It's favorite mom's meal were baked stuffed vegetables, like tomatoes, green peppers and zucchinis. The little fork just loved the tender, cooked rice with the flavors of summer vegetables and aromatic herbs like basil or spearmint. This traditional vegetarian Greek meal was -and still is- for The Odd Fork, the epitome of comfort food.

So when The Odd Fork found in the local open fruit market nice, fresh summer zucchinis it remembered the old, mom's stuffed zucchinis. But since now it's big and odd, it made something similar to mom's recipe with a twist though -it just couldn't do it any other way! 😏

For a medium rectangular casserole, it used:

- olive oil

- an onion finely chopped

- a clove of garlic finely chopped

- salt, pepper, some dried spearmint leaves (powder)

- half a packet of risotto rice (about 200 to 250 grams)

- 2 medium carrots finely shredded  

- some black raisins and some sunflower seeds

- a bunch of fresh dill finely chopped (only the top, tender parts)

- zucchinis (so many as needed)

- some extra olive oil, dried spearmint leaves (powder), salt + pepper

To make this simple yet unusual meal, do like The Odd Fork the following: In a large sauce pan, sauté onion and garlic in a tbsp of olive oil. Add the rice, salt, pepper and dried spearmint (even better fresh spearmint if you can find it) and stir with a wooden spatula.
Add enough water to cover the rice and when it boils add carrots, raisins and sunflower seeds, cover and simmer for about 15 - 20 minutes or until rice is tender. Then increase the heat, uncover and stirring often let the mixture thicken, just like making risotto. Add dill just before removing from the stove and mix well.
Set aside.
And now is the odd thing about the recipe: You' re gonna need a peeler, so that you can cut large strips of each zucchini. Arrange zucchini strips onto an oiled rectangular baking casserole in such a way as to cover the bottom and the sides of the casserole. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and dried, ground spearmint, drizzle with olive oil and bake in a preheated oven, at 400F, for 10 - 15 minutes until zucchini strips are tender and slightly, light brown.

Place the rice mixture over the almost baked zucchini strips and cover the surface again with new, raw zucchini strips. It' s like making a pie with zucchini strips up and down, instead of pastry! Again drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, pepper and dried, ground spearmint and again bake in a preheated oven, at 400F for almost 20 minutes, or until top zucchini strips are tender and slightly, light brown.

Let cool for 30 - 40 minutes before cutting in square pieces. The Odd Fork paired this meal successfully with white, Greek wine (Greek wine types like Malagousia or Moschofilero are excellent for this) and enjoyed its lunch to the maximum. The soft texture of the cooked rice with the mild flavor of zucchinis and carrots contracted by the intensity of pepper and dried spearmint and the sweetness of black raisins together with dill's freshness, made the meal balanced and delicious!
That different kind of zucchini pie was so reminiscent of mom, summery and unusual, as the Odd Fork wished it to be!