Side dishes of chilli

Chili is one of those great dishes that can be served in tons of different types and deals with many delicious side dishes. But if you serve chili the next time you have friends to dinner or the big game or when the weather starts getting colder, look, here are some good ideas that you think might want to use.

Greek Dishes

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Many Greek dishes need no introduction -tarama, moussaka, gyros, retsina, vine leaves, Greek salads with feta, Greek yoghurt, and baklava have achieved the universality of lasagne and chicken tikka. Although some of the food maybe familiar, if you've not been to Greece before you may find eating on the islands different from what you're used to, with a big emphasis on informality. Meals begin with bread (usually excellent- it's one thing they do better than their Italian cousins) and starters (mezedes) to be communally shared: olives, tzatziki (a delicious dip made of cucumbers, yoghurt, olive oil and garlic), prawns, tirosalata (feta cheese dip), koponista (pungent smoked or salted fish), roasted sweet peppers, cheese or spinach pies, meatballs, or saganaki (fried cheese sprinkled with lemon). These are followed by a shared salad and potatoes, and your own main course. This could be a gorgeously fresh omelette, or an oven dish or stew (called `Ready dishes', as they're already prepared). Typically choices are moussaka, pastitsio (baked macaroni, layered with ground meat, cheese, cream and topped with bechamel), roast lamb or chicken, makaronia (basically spaghetti bolognese), yemista (stuffed tomatoes or peppers), stifado (spiced beef stew with baby onions), lagostifado (rabbit stew, is similar, but flavoured with orange), kokinisto (beef cooked with tomatoes and a hint of cinnamon), lamb or veal youvetsi (baked with tomatoes and with tear-drop pasta), chirino me selino (pork with wild celery, in egg lemon sauce), or kreas stin stamna (lamb or beef baked in a clay dish). Meats grilled to order come under the heading tis oras ('the On Times') - pork chops (brizoles), lamb cutlets (paidakia), souvlaki, minced steak (bifteki), meatballs (keftedes or souzoukakia), sausage (loukaniko), or chicken. Greeks usually don't eat duck.

Seafood is fresh and delicious, but ironically relatively expensive (blame over-fishing, and the fact that much of the catch goes to mainland markets) but you can usually find cheapies like fresh whitebait (marides), fresh sardines (sardeles), cuttlefish stew (soupia), and squid rings (kalamari). Baked or fried bakaliaros (fresh Mediterranean cod) is always a treat. Some places serve soups such as delicious fish soup, psarosoupa (with potatoes and carrots) or spicy tomato-based kakavia (made of various fish), a meal in themselves with hunks of fresh bread and a bottle of wine. Prawns (garides) are lightly fried or baked with garlic tomatoes and feta as garides saganaki, a popular dish invented in the 1960s; spaghetti with lobster (astakomakaronada) is another delicious dish included in the Greek menus. Note that each type of fish has its own price, and portions are priced by weight; often you'll be asked to pick out the one you want cooked and the owner puts it on the scale in front of you.

Desserts are not rare after lunch or dinner although many places offer complementary watermelon or sliced apples sprinkled with cinnamon or nutmeg as well; Greeks make lovely sweets, puddings, cakes, and ice creams.

Five Great Pasta Dishes For Students To Microwave

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Pasta is one of the great energy foods in the world and great quick meal can be knocked out in your microwave in no time at all. Cooking pasta in a microwave oven is extremely easy and with the versatility of pasta an enormous number of meals can be created. Here's five tasty and quick meals for all you students out there. All of these recipes are based on you using an 8000 watt microwave oven. You will have to adjust your cooking times according to your microwaves wattage. Remember when you cover food always use microwave safe wrap and that steam will build up and when you take the microwave wrap off this can scold, so be very careful.

1; This recipe will serve two people. Take some pasta shells [conchiglie] about a cup full per serving and put them into a microwave safe container, add a crushed clove of garlic, a tin of chopped tomatoes, a teaspoon of olive oil and a sprinkle of basil. Cover this with a microwave safe plastic and microwave on full power for three minutes. Remove from your microwave and stir, if you think it may need some more liquid add two tablespoons of water, return to the microwave for three more minutes and cook on full power. Remove the microwave and stir. Leave this to stand for two minutes and serve. This is great recipe for vegetarians and has amazing flavours which everybody will enjoy.

2; Macaroni and Cheese;

Put a cup of macaroni in a microwave safe dish with two cups of hot water, two tablespoons of butter or margarine, add a pinch of salt and a pinch of pepper, and two cups of milk.Cover with a microwave safe cover cook on full power for five minutes and remove and stir. Return to your microwave and cook for a further five minutes on half power. Add a third of a cp of flour and 10oz of any cheese you fancy. Cover and cook for a further twenty minutes on half power. Remove from your microwave stir well and leave to stand for at least two minutes before you serve.

3;Microwave tuna pasta and sweetcorn.

Place six strips of lasagne in bowl of water and leave to soak for an hour. Put half an onion, a teaspoon of oil, and quarter cup of flour in a microwave safe bowl and cook on full power for one minute add one and half cups of grated cheese and a pinch of salt and pepper, two cups of milk and cook for a further four minutes. Remove from the microwave and stir well. Drain the lasagne. Combine a tin of tuna, a tin of sweetcorn in a dish and the previously cooked onion and cheese mixture and then spread some of the mix over the base of a microwave dish. Put two strips of lasagne over this and then repeat the layers. Spread a quarter of a cup of parmesan cheese over the top, cover and cook for fifteen minutes on full power. Leave to stand for two minutes and serve.

4; Microwave egg noodle casserole;

This is a great winter warmer recipe. Take three cups of noodles and place in a microwave safe bowl. Add two cups of hot water, cover and cook on full power for three minutes. Remove from the microwave and stir cover and cook for a further two minutes, remove from the microwave and leave to stand. Check that the noodles are soft, if not, cook on full power for another thirty seconds. Add a half a cup full of chopped onions and a cup full of any mixed vegetables with a tin of mushroom soup along with two cups of any meat you like. Cover and microwave on full power for five minutes, remove from microwave and stir well adding in two cups of crushed potatoes and then cover and microwave for eleven minutes on three quarter power. Remove from you microwave and leave to stand for two minutes before serving.

5;Microwave Spaghetti Bolognese;

Take one pound of minced beef, half a cup of onion chopped and two crushed garlic cloves and crumble into a microwave bowl. Cover and cook on full power for three minutes. Remove from microwave and drain off the fat. Add a tin of chopped tomatoes, two teaspoons of oregano, two teaspoons of tomato paste, a half a teaspoon of thyme and a pinch of salt and pepper and cook on full power for further five minutes. Remove from microwave and leave to stand. Take spaghetti and put in a microwave bowl add two cups of hot water and cook for three minutes. Remove from microwave and stir microwave for a further three minutes and remove from microwave. Leave to stand for two minutes before serving this wonderful traditional dish.