Ground meat, from the local free-range veal of the island, is something that I use a lot. The dark red meat is delicious, but quite tough and stringy, and for that reason I prefer to choose a nice piece, usually soon after my butcher has slaughtered an animal, and mince the meat somewhat coarsely. Unlike most of our neighbors, I rarely make Keftedes, but sometimes I do make my kind of burger, mixing the minced meat with bacon, onion, herbs and plenty of breadcrumbs or ground rolled oats.

It makes no sense to cook less than one, or better two pounds of ground meat, as I did the other day. I mince the onions, garlic and add either grated carrots or mashed corn kernels, then the spices and flavorings, as well as the herbs. It only needs to briefly simmer with wine and lemon juice, and it is ready for many uses. It is insane to go to all the trouble and prepare just 2 cups of Spicy Ground Meat.

The resulting, pre-cooked Meat Sauce can be used simply with pasta, to make my kind of Eastern Mediterranean Bolognese with penne, tortiglioni, or any other large, hollow pasta shapes: Boil the pasta 1 min. less than the package suggests, reserving 1 cup of the water. Then warm the meat sauce over medium heat, toss with the pasta (3-4 cups meat sauce for 1 pound of pasta) and if it is too dry, pour in ½-1 cup of the pasta cooking water. Just before serving, I love to fold in coarsely chopped cilantro from the garden that makes everything more delicious. The sauce is flavorful enough, so you can omit the cheese; at least we do.

With this same spicy meat sauce, I make a more spicy version of Pastitsio, the baked pasta dish which becomes a more grown-up casserole than the comfort food we grew up eating. I complement it with my Olive Oil and Yogurt Béchamel sauce, the same one I use in my Moussaka.

But my most favorite dish I make with the Spicy Meat is in a kind of Lachmacun, or ‘Arab Pizza’ as it is sometimes called: With bread dough –I prefer to use my whole grain one— I shape longish flat-breads, let them rest a bit, then mix 1egg into the ground meat so that the sauce sticks to the dough, keeping its shape as it bakes, and can be picked up and eaten without falling apart, as most Lachmacun do.

RECIPES: Spicy Meat Sauce

Lachmacun: Spicy Meat-topped Pita Bread

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Incidentally my paternal grandmother came from the broader area, but we have never seen her cooking or learned about any of the foods she used to prepare. She lived with my father’s sister and I don’t think I have ever seen her dressed with anything but her nightgown whenever we visited them. 

On Kea we make this delicious chicken pie with local free-range rooster—about three times the price of the supermarket chicken!

For a 15-inch round pan (serving 8-10)

To cook the chicken
1 truly free range chicken or rooster (about 3 pounds) cut into 4 or 6 pieces

2 bay leaves

1 large onion, quartered

4-5 all spice berries, crushed with the back of a knife

Salt

For the pie filling
1/4 cup olive oil

1 pound onions, finely chopped

3 cups medium grain rice (such as Arborio)

3 cups chicken broth

Boned and coarsely chopped cooked chicken (with or without skin, see NOTE)

1 pound feta cheese, diced

Freshly ground pepper to taste

Assembly and Topping
2-3 sheets homemade phyllo OR thick commercial phyllo at room temperature

1/4 cup olive oil, and more for brushing the phyllo and making the topping

3 eggs

The chicken: Place the chicken pieces, bay leaves, onion, salt and all spice in a pot, that holds them snuggly, and add enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, skim, lower the heat and simmer for about 40 minutes, until the meat falls from the bones. Remove the chicken with a slotted spoon and let cool a bit, then bone and cut the meat into bite-size pieces.
Pass the broth through a fine sieve and measure 6 cups. If you have less add a little water, if you have more, reserve it for other uses.

The filling: In a thick-bottomed sauté pan warm 1/4 cup olive oil and add the chopped onions. Sautee, stirring often with a spatula, until soft; don’t let them color. Add the rice and turn a few times to oil it, then pour in the chicken broth, lower the heat and cook the rice for about 12-15 minutes, until most liquid is evaporated. The rice won’t be fully cooked. Remove from the heat and set aside, uncovered.

Preheat the oven to 375 F (200 C).

As the rice cools line the pan with parchment paper and brush generously with olive oil. Lay 2 or 3 sheets ofphyllo –depending on their thickness–brushing each layer lightly with olive oil, and leaving plenty overhang, enough to make a generous border, half covering the filling.

Add the chopped chicken and feta to the rice, toss, sprinkle with plenty of black pepper and toss again. Pour the filling in the pan evening with a spatula and creating a 1/4 inch deep ‘pool’ in the center –the part that won’t be covered by phyllo— to hold the egg-olive oil topping.
Fold the phyllo to create the border, brushing the overhanging layers with olive oil, to half cover the filling.

Beat the eggs with 1/4 cup olive oil and brush the phyllo generously with some of the mixture, reserving the rest.

Place the pie in the lower part of the oven and bake for 6 minutes. Carefully open the oven door and pour the reserved egg mixture at the center of the pie.
Bake for about 40 minutes or more, until golden brown on top and bottom.
Serve hot, warm or at room temperature.

NOTE: The old recipes NEVER discarded the skin which adds flavor to the filling.

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