Walks up to mic and taps…is this thing on?
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, our beloved readers and fellow Greek and Mediterranean food lovers – we have returned!
Yay! We’re very excited to be back and cannot wait to begin sharing a steady stream of Greek Mediterranean recipes with you once again.
I’ll go into some background/catching up info. If you’re too excited to see the new recipe (hint: Tirokroketes), skip all this and head down to the next section.
Sooo, it’s uh been like forever since our last post.
I know I know…we had to take a step back and regroup. We’ve been more or less posting 2-3 times a week for almost 2 and a half years. Running a food blog is hard. It actually becomes a second job in a way. Everything from the recipe creation to testing to shooting to editing to writing to posting – mix in a full-time job and bam – no free time.
To top it all off, I (Kenton) went ahead and changed career paths, which required a lot of work and had to learn new skills. It was fun and I highly recommend it if you’re looking for a change. Just know you’ll have 0 free time while you adjust and spend your nights/weekends learning new things.
Thus, we knew we couldn’t deliver quality, so we decided to pump the brakes a bit and relax. However, we’ve missed it all, and during our break we’ve amassed a little backlog of recipes so now that I’m all settled in and we feel refreshed we’re ready to take on the wonderful blog once again.
This site and the community around it and our fantastic facebook fans are very much a part of our lives, so it’ll be nice to share stories again.
We’ve got some cool stuff planned that we’ll be sharing with you next week as we celebrate 3 years!
Now, onto the new recipe.
Tirokroketes | Τυροκροκέτες
I think I’ve died and gone to heaven.
Cheese…Cheese…Cheese — need I say more?
I mean, it’s velvety creamy and delicious. When you add this to a dish it becomes a winner. There is only one other ingredient that has the same impact in our opinion – bacon!
Essentially, this Greek Tirokroketes recipe is fried cheese balls. You combine 2 types of cheese (can be different than what we used so get creative) in to a ball, roll in breadcrumbs, and off you go.
It’s a simple Greek appetizer recipe, and one that seems to get a lot of attention when we’ve made it in the past.
One thing we really like about this recipe is how flavorful it is, because, well cheese 🙂
Seriously, this couldn’t be a better recipe to make a comeback with. It highlights how simple things can be when cooking, and how even with that simplicity, deliciousness can be achieved.
We hope you enjoy this Greek fried cheese recipe!
Kali Orexi
Kenton & Jane
- 2 oz feta cheese
- 3 oz smoked gouda cheese, grated
- 3 oz sharp cheddar cheese, grated
- 2 eggs (1 whole and 1 egg white)
- 3 tablespoons panko bread crumbs
- a splash of milk
- pepper
- all purpose flour for coating
- vegetable oil for frying
- In a mixing bowl, combine the following: feta, gouda, cheddar, eggs, panko bread crumbs, milk and pepper, mix well.
- Once everything is thoroughly mixed, cover the bowl with plastic wrap (cling film) and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes, or until mixture becomes a bit firm.
- When the cheese mixture is ready, add some flour to a bowl. This is what we’ll use to coat each cheese ball.
- Next, heat the vegetable oil in a pan. Once that’s nice and hot, we are good to go.
- Grab about a spoonful of the cheese mixture and roll it into a ball. Use more or less to achieve desired size.*
- Roll the cheese ball in the flour bowl to evenly coat and shake off excess and place in pan. Repeat until all cheese mixture has been used. Make sure not to overcrowd your pan, so fry in stages if needed.
- Cook evenly for 3-5 minutes, rotating each ball. They’re done when they are a nice light brown/golden color.
- When they are done, remove with a slotted spoon and place on plate lined with a paper towel to absorb excess oil.
- Squeeze a little lemon juice over (option) and serve hot!
Also, feel free to experiment with your favorite cheeses!
Serving depending on size.
Welcome back!
These cheese balls look delicious! Can they be made ahead of time and then reheated? Canthey be frozen?
Thanks, Athena! Since there are fried, I would not recommend freezing them. Also, as with things that are fried/coated in flour, you can reheat, but they will probably get soggy. Your best best is to maybe make the filling mixture, and just leave it in the fridge until you’re ready (even overnight).
Kenton and Jane,
Welcome back! Missed you and your blogs. Looking forward to both new, exciting and delicious recipes and stories. Also love you on “Lemon & Olives”.
Thanks, Anna!
Hi there Kenton and Jane! It is great to see you back . I have missed seeing your interesting posts and learning more about Greek Food. Thanks for this recipe. It looks easy to make and would be nice with salads and food. Welcome back!
Thanks, Fiona!
Having travelled around Greece extensively for many years, my wife and myself were saddened somewhat when you and Jane decided to stop contributing on this site. So we were well pleased when we received you e-mail informing us you were both back….and as a married couple, all the best for the future and keep those recipes coming to our inbox.
Πολύ καλύτερες ευχές, Peter and Gill
ευχαριστώ Peter! We’ll keep them coming.
Hi Folks, Indeed! Where have you been! You better say that you were collecting ancient recipes from the Greek monasteries. Well we’re glad to have you back and I hope you have some great new feta recipes. I tried a food network recipe recently and it was awful. I just read your cheese balls recipe and guess who’s on his way to get the feta and gouda as we speak. Also, will you be posting any Greek fish soups in the near future? I had some at a Greek wedding recently and it was incredible. It looks like I’ll be getting another cook book from you guys since the one someone gave me as a gift has gone missing. Lost during my move or “borrowed” by my aunt? Anyway, I can’t wait to get back to your recipes. They truly make you forget the world around you and remind you of having lunch on an open terrace in Greece. Thanks
Thanks Peter! I have been looking into ancient and monastery foods however, so we’ll see what comes of it. Thank so much for the kinds words and support. As for the fish recipes, yes, we have more in the works. This is what we have up now: Greek Fish Recipes
I’m obsessed with Greek food and have been looking for this recipe everywhere ! I’ve tried a few but can’t get quite the taste I got in Greece so I’ll
Be giving this a go! Many thanks for sharing!!