#TryTotal - Travels for Taste

One of the things I enjoy most about being a food and travel writer is that I am able to experience various traditions from various cultures. Also, I think it is a privilege and also an incredible opportunity to to celebrate various festivals from across the world. As an added benefit I have had the good fortune of meeting the wonderful people on my journey into exploring various beautiful cuisines and destinations.

I have cooked alongside some very talented trained Michelin-starred Chefs, home cooks, and cookbook authors too.

I am so glad that I had a chance to cook with someone as passionate as Tonia Buxton who taught us how to make a 3-course Greek feast and took us through a journey of how Easter is celebrated back in Greece, relating in a very animated manner the rituals, prayer, and festivity surrounding the occasion. Total Yogurt the makers of the deliciously thick and creamy yogurt put together this cooking fest at a Cookery School called La Cucina Caldesi located in the heart of Central London.

Tonia Buxton a Greek Cypriot is the Total Greek Yogurt Brand Ambassador and a presenter of the award-winning T.V series on Discovery Channel called ‘My Greek Kitchen’ and has also authored a book titled ‘Tonia’s Greek Kitchen’. Soon to star in a new T.V series called ‘Pauls Family Feast’ a TV show by well, Paul Hollywood 🙂

After a quick ice breaker session, we got into groups and started preparing the main dish of the meal – Greek Lamb Pattie Tray Bake. I love cooking lamb and am delighted with the similarities in Greek and Indian cuisines. We too love our spices and cumin does add a very deep flavour to lamb. If I was to make it at home though I would tweak it and amp up the spices especially the cumin and just because I love heat crushed or paper-thin slices of green chillies with seeds ummm!

Here is the recipe:

Greek Lamb Pattie Tray Bake

Serves: 4

Ingredients

100g TOTAL Greek Yoghurt
100g fresh wholemeal breadcrumbs
400g lamb mince
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp ground cumin
4 red onions (2 finely chopped, 2 cut into wedges)
Large handful mint, chopped
4 waxy new potatoes, i.e. the Charlottes cut into wedges
4 courgettes, halved & quartered lengthways
250g pack juicy cherry tomatoes on the vine
2 unwaxed lemons cut into 6 wedges each
4 tbsp olive oil
100g feta cheese, crumbled

Method

Heat the oven to 200°C / 180°C Fan / Gas Mark 6.
Put the breadcrumbs, the lamb mince, egg, plenty of seasoning, and cumin in a bowl.
Add the chopped onion and sprinkle in half the chopped mint. Give everything a good mix and shape into 8 patties.
Lightly oil a large, shallow roasting tray and add the patties.
Place the onion wedges on the tray around the lamb patties with the potatoes, courgettes, and tomatoes. Drizzle with olive oil and season. Bake for around 40 minutes, turning & basting everything once halfway until the lamb is cooked through and the vegetables are tender. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with the feta and remaining mint. (We used up most of the mint and our minty lamb patties were very juicy and yum)
Serve with a large dollop of Total Greek yoghurt and tahini sauce.

While our lamb patties were cooking we played a fun Greek easter egg game with eggs painted a cheerful bright red. We had to go about smashing our egg onto everyone else and in the end, I was up against Tonia- of course, she won! Years of experience laster she has mastered the technique 🙂

We then made a Greek dessert called Anarocrema using Anari Cheese, which I flavoured with orange blossom extract, fresh fruits, and generous bits of freshly made filo pastry crispy bits. This creamy dessert is made using goats cheese and marries well with fruits, pistachios, almonds, and honey too is very filling and moreish dessert.

While our desserts were sent for chilling we got cracking on with the starter a light and superbly flavoured starter – Greek Sea Bream fillets with olives, capers, lemon, and yoghurt Tahini Sauce.

Thanks to @satureyes for the brilliant photos.

It was a very well organised event and I got an opportunity to meet so many more bloggers.Cooking up in a team with Fiona (London Unattached) and Heidi was good fun and it great to be working with familiar faces. Many thanks to @TotalGreek yogurt for the lovely event & @ToniaBuxton for her lively, warm, and friendly way of conducting the cookery workshop and sharing so many beautiful experiences.

I hope all of you had a brilliant Easter Weekend and are looking forward to another long weekend coming up!

Disclaimer: With many thanks to Total Uk and Tonia Buxton.I was not required to write a positive review and was not compensated monetarily for this post. Like all my previous posts about events and reviews, ALL opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

I am a fan of eggs in any form and when I chanced upon this delightful Turkish recipe for combining eggs with thick and fulfilling greek yoghurt I just had to go ahead and experiment! Total Greek Yogurt 0% is fat-free, gluten-free and suitable for vegetarians and pregnant women – all good, no nasties! Besides these virtues its consistency is great and I have in the past few days consumed one of the smaller pots per day part in smoothies and just a dollop with my rice and curry dinner. There are so many versatile combinations that are possible with this yoghurt. From smoothies and shakes to use in cooking as a marinade or cooling dip with chopped goodies like fresh chives, garlic, chilli flakes etc.The thick and creamy consistency is a bonus if you’re trying to watch your weight too!

I made these poached eggs for brunch and served them with wholemeal pitta toasted in the same pan where I made my chilli butter – fabulous!

Traditionally this dish is called Cilbir (pronounced as chillburrr, roll the r’s!) is a Turkish dish of poached eggs with yoghurt (often with garlic mixed in). There are records of Cilbir being eaten by Ottoman sultans as far back as the 15th century. It is now common to serve the dish topped with melted butter infused with Aleppo pepper, for which paprika can be substituted. (Source: Wiki)

Serves :2

Ingredients:

4 large eggs – 2 per person
a handful of fresh mint roughly chopped
5-6 cloves of garlic peeled and chopped fine
500gm Total Greek Yogurt 0%
Butter 50gm
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
Plenty of freshly cracked black pepper
Sea Salt as per taste
a pinch of chilli powder – as per your tolerance levels

Method:

Boil water in a large saucepan (my time-saving trick -boil water in the kettle and add to the saucepan), then cover with the lid and allow to simmer on a medium flame for a while
When the water is absolutely boiling hot, take off the lid and reduce the flame to a very low simmer. Then, carefully crack the eggs into the water one by one. They seem to sort of go ‘freeze frame’ once dropped into the boiling water. Give them about 30 seconds and when it seems like they have been poached carefully remove them one by one using a slotted spoon. If you suspect that the yolk will just burst open it means it needs some more time inside. Don’t worry if this process isn’t perfect the first time around , its a learning curve and you will get it right in a few tries – in case of disaster scoop out as much of the egg as you can and after you are done with all the eggs use a sieve to save the remaining egg 🙂
Use two bowls or plates to serve. First, scoop some yogurt into each of the serving bowls. Season with sea salt, a generous sprinkling of cracked black pepper and a pinch of chilli powder. Mix well
Create a bit of shallow space in the middle of the yoghurt mix and place the poached eggs on top
Heat a non-stick pan on a medium flame, reduce flame to a simmer. Melt the butter and before it starts to brown add the finely chopped garlic and smoked paprika. Then add some sea salt
Quickly pour this delicious golden spiced butter over the eggs and yoghurt
Garnish by sprinkling some fresh mint leaves, roughly chopped for a burst of fresh flavour
Toast the mini wholemeal pitta bread portions in the same pan that was used to melt and spice the butter and it will give your pitta that extra kick of flavour!
Scoop the flavoured poached egg and the cooling yogurt with the pitta bread. It’s a beautiful sensation on your palate as the cold yogurt and smoked paprika work their magic on your taste buds.