Rejoice! It's Pasta Month at The Greekish Life!
Each week this month we're going to feature an easy and delicious Greek or Greekish pasta recipe. Vegan, vegetarian, fish- or chicken-loving - we've got you covered!
As the weather gets colder, it's no bad thing to have some wonderful comfort food options in your pocket, and that's what we'll have for you this month. (You're going to get sick of all the leftover turkey at some point - better have some alternatives lined up.)
If you can find Greek mizithra cheese, that is my absolute favorite to use. If you're not familiar with it, it's a cheese that's used like parmesan, but has a stronger flavor, so you don't need as much. It comes in a hard ball, and you would grate it as needed. It's so worth looking for and using that extra teeny bit of effort to grate it as you use it. It's a delicious cheese!
If you can't get mizithra, a good-quality parmesan is just fine. (But please...try to avoid that cheese dust you shake out of a cylinder, if at all possible - that stuff is just sadness in a can.)
You can also use kefalotyri, if you prefer. I was thisclose to buying this gorgeous Naxos kefalotyri on my last trip to Greece.
But how was I going to get it home? Would it survive the trip?
Could I bring it onto the plane with me by convincing the customs officers that it was my Emotional Support Cheese?
I didn't think they'd be down with that somehow, so sadly I had to leave it behind.
One of the best things about these recipes is that they meet the stringent Barb's Lazy Cook Standard For Not Getting Hangry®! You'll be having dinner in 30 minutes or less for most of these!
This week we're starting with Bean and Broccoli pasta. One of our favorites at home, and while not 100% authentically Greek (broccoli's not really a Greek thing, traditionally), it still has the very Hellenic trinity of beans, olive oil and mizithra, so...close enough.
Of course, you can leave off the cheese to make it vegan, if you prefer.
Keep an eye out every weekend this month for a new pasta recipe! If you try them, let me know what you think in the Comments!
Talk soon,
Barbara