Chili con Carne suited the task (cooking demo), it was cold and windy out and this easy dish with a little heat was very timely. Chili con Carne means “chillis” or dried smoked peppers with (con) meat or “carne”. You can go all out and choose your favourite dried chilli pepper and make your own chilli powder: there’s dried garlic and onion, cumin, oregano, ground coriander seed, some cayenne and sweet paprika. Chilli powder is a combo of spices (much like a curry) and the flavours and quality of the mixtures can and will vary.

I’m fine with using a pre-made blend from the supermarket and then just adjusting or accenting the ingredients in chilli powder that I want to be more pronounced. I may add a pinch of cumin, some more oregano or ground coriander. It’s up to you as your mood can change and your chilli can vary depending on who you’re making it for. A party with adults may lead you to make a spicy chilli and if you’re making it with kids in mind – something more mellow would be offered.

Chili con Carne is a Tex-Mex dish and forget about calling it “Mexican”. It’s an easy dish where I begin with browning lean ground beef then I add onions, olive oil, red and green peppers, garlic, bay leaves, chilli powder, diced tomatoes, canned kidney beans and my added twist on Chilli, whole chipotle peppers in adobo. Chipotles are Jalapeno peppers that have ripened to a red colour then dried and smoked and finally added into an Adobo sauce. You can buy these small cans in the Mexican or International aisle at your supermarket and Latin grocers will carry an array of Chipotles in Adobo for sure! After I’ll adjust seasonings with salt and pepper and I may add some more accented flavour in any one or more of the chilli powder’s ingredients.

These recipe takes about 40 minutes from start to finish: brown meat, add vegetables, spices and seasoning and simmer until thick. This all-in-one skillet meal can also be adapted to slow cookers: brown all the meat and add all the ingredients into a slow cooker and simmer for about 3 hours. A lot of new slow cookers now come with timers but even if you have an old one, simply attach one of those household timers to your cooker’s plug and set the time for when you want the cooker to turn on and when to shut off!

I like Chili with a side of garlic bread or corn bread and some grated cheese on top. You like the cheese to slightly melt in the hot Chilli or place it under the broiler until hot & gooey? Your choice!

Chili con Carne

(serves 4-6)

¼ cup. of extra-virgin olive oil
1 lb. of lean ground beef
1 large onion, rough diced
1/2 green bell pepper, rough dice
1/2 red bell pepper, rough dice
3 large cloves of garlic, smashed
1 – 796ml can of diced  tomatoes
2 Tbsp. of chili powder
1 bay leaf
½  tsp. of ground cumin
½  tsp. of ground coriander
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 – 16oz cans of kidney beans (plus liquid)
1-2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, chopped (according to taste)

1. In a large skillet, add your oil and set the heat to high and brown the meat and add some salt and pepper.
2. Add your onions, garlic, bay leaf, peppers and saute under medium heat for about 10 minutes to soften. Add your diced/chopped cans of tomatoes, the beef, chili powder, kidney beans, oregano, coriander and chipotle peppers.
3. Simmer for approx. 30-40 minutes or until most of the liquid has cooked and the chili is thick. Check the seasoning and adjust seasoning with salt. Serve with some corn bread and stay warm with this very comforting meal.

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© 2011, Peter Minakis. All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://kalofagas.ca then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at truenorth67 AT gmail DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author.

Many Greeks and Turks had to return to their home countries and Xanthi (along with much of northern Greece took in many Greeks of Asia Minor and the Pontian Greeks who lived along the Black Sea. Xanthi was one of the exceptions where some Muslims did not have to return to Turkey and they have been living alongside Greeks peacefully.

When in Xanthi, I was priveleged to have my friend Chef Stella Spanou to show me around town and one of the stops were at her friend’s rural guesthouse just outside Xanthi. I arrived at Kokkymelon on the day that this family-run operation were harvesting and stomping on their grapes…yes stomping. Not with any machinery but their feet. Boots were worn of course. I’ve gone to many wineries but this was the first time I had ever witnessed a wine harvest by way of stomping on the grapes.

To those that haven’t made wine before, here is what I witnessed: the grapes were harvested then dumped into a machine that removed the stems from the grapes. The grapes dropped into a large round container, made of stone and mortar that resembled a well. There was a spout at the bottom and then boots were slipped on and the stomping of the grapes occurred. The grape juice (also known as must) began pouring out of the spout and buckets were transferred to the large vat where fermentation would take place.

The real flavour in wine come from the skins and then next step was to extract every last ounce of juice and flavour from the skins then they are simply dumped back in the vineyards as compost. Fermentation begins almost immediately from the sugars in the must and the magic of wine making began.

It’s hard work and I now have an even greater respect for those that make wine. Don’t water down that wine with club soda, Sprite or ginger ale…taste the wine for what it is and remember that alot of work went into making that wine you’re drinking. Chef Stella and Eleni (Kokkymelon owner) were in charge of cooking for us all and one of the dishes that appeared at the table looked like a bean salad. Looked I said. After sitting down I got down to sampling all the dishes and I finally got around to tasting the bean salad and I was floored by how delicious it was. I asked for the recipe but Eleni nor Stella had it – it was made by the grandfather of the family.

This family were Pontian Greeks and the beans were actually pickled beans…a toursi (in Greek) and known as “stipa” in Pontic dialect. The grandfather described rubbing coarse sea salt into the vegetables and allowing them to stew for a few days before being jarred and pickled. I’ve  taken some of my own family’s method of pickling vegetables and after waiting 20 days to finally taste these  – I can say that I’ve achieved almost the same bright flavours as those pickled beans on that warm, lazy Saturday in Xanthi.

Like with any pickling, sterilize your jars, keep everything clean and you’re halfway there. I must also underline that you should remove the green stem/root from your cloves of garlic. They can turn the clove of garlic green and although it’s not dangerous it’s just not visually appealing. The Hosafi was one way of preserving Summer’s goodness and pickling vegetables like this Fassolakia (Beans) Toursi is another wonderful method of food preservation – still carried out by Pontian Greeks. This is traditionally opened up and served as part of a meze offering – wonderful with Ouzo or Tsipouro with anise.

Pickled Green Beans – Φασολακια Τουρσι (Στίπα)

(makes 3 medium jars)

approx. 2 lbs. of runner beans, strings removed

1 bunch of baby carrots, trimmed and well-scrubbed (cut in half if too long for jar)

14-15 stalks of Selino (European celery) (look for Chinese celery at Asian markets), halved then roughly chopped

9-10 small whole chillis

10-12 cloves of garlic, green sprouts removed

Pickling Liquid

3 medium-sized mason jars

1 1/4 cups white wine vinegar

1/4 cup pickling salt (or coarse sea salt)

4 cups water

2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

1. Sterilize your mason jars. Click here for an easy to understand run-down.
2. Remove the strings from your beans, wash/scrub your carrots and trim the end where the greens were, wash your “selino”, chillis and peel and remove the sprouts from the center of the garlic.
3. In a large pot, add your water, salt, vinegar, oil and bring to a boil. Now add the veggies and as soon as the water returns to a boil, count and boil for 4 minutes. Remove the vegetables with a slotted spoon and transfer to a bowl and toss until well-mixed.
4. Place a jar sideways on your work surface and fill it up with as much vegetables as you can, leaving an inch free in the jar. Use a ladle to fill the jar with the hot pickling liquid and repeat with the other jars. After 5 minutes check to see if more liquid has to be added into any of the jars.
5. Using paper towel, wipe the rim of the jar of any excess liquid. Place seals on all the jars and tighten the metal screw bands. Within a 1/2 hour, press your finger on each lid to see if a seal has bee made. If a seal has not been created, read this and review your process and try again with a new seal on the jar.

If you’re thinking of visiting Xanthi, I encourage to spend an evening or two at the guesthouse where I spent this Saturday at – Kokkymelon. It’s family-run, traditional, quiet, fresh air with the back drop of green plains and mountains. The River Nestos is nearby as well as the sea and the city of Xanthi is about 20 minutes away by car.

Enjoy the slideshow below from my day at the guesthouse “Kokkymelon”.

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© 2011, Peter Minakis. All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://kalofagas.ca then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at truenorth67 AT gmail DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author.

I love Tourlou as it’s a filling vegetarian dish and it’s a good excuse to eat some bread with it  – good dunking action! This Tourlou is very liberal in that you can use what veggies you have on hand but generally it’s made with onions, garlic, tomatoes, peppers, zucchini and eggplant. The herbs you use can change on a whim and once again I’ve added green beans (fassolakia or runner beans) in this case.

My own extra twist today is to add some seafood into the mix – nothing extravagant and just enough to make the clams and shrimp the cherry on tourlou cake. The seafood is added towards the end and I found it to complement Tourlou very well.

Tourlou With Beans & Seafood (Τουρλου με Θαλασσινα)

(serves 4)

1 lb. of runner beans, trimmed and washed

1/2 cup olive oil

3 medium onions, sliced

4 cloves garlic, minced

3 large ripe tomatoes, passed through a box grater

2 zucchini, washed and cut into 1/2 inch coins

2-3 Tsakonikes or Japanese eggplant, cut into 1/2 inch coins

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

4-5 sprigs of fresh thyme

1 cup chopped fresh basil

12 medium-sized shrimp

1lb. fresh mussels or clams

Pre-heated 375F oven

1. Place a large skillet on your stove-top over medium heat and add the olive oil, the sliced onions and garlic and beans. Stir and saute for a couple of minutes. Add some salt and pepper and cover. Reduce the heat and allow  the onions to sweat down for another 5-6 minutes or until translucent.
2. Empty the the onions and beans into a casserole or baking dish (spread out evenly). Arrange your vegetables in rows: one row of sliced tomatoes, row of zucchini, row of eggplant. Repeat until your vegetables are all lined in the baking vessel.
3. Finely chop your fresh parsley & thyme and place in a bowl with the zucchini, eggplant and tomato puree and toss along with a few turns of olive oil, salt and pepper. Add into the casserole dish on top of the beans, cover and place in your pre-heated oven for 1 hour.
4. Remove from the oven and test to see if the vegetables are fork-tender (place back in the oven if more cooking is needed). Uncover and top with the clams or mussels and place back in the oven until they just open. Now add the shrimp and place back in the oven and bake until shrimp just turn pink.
5. Remove from the oven, top with chopped fresh basil and allow to cook for 10 minutes before serving. Serve with some good crusty bread and a crisp Domaine Papayianni white.

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© 2011, Peter Minakis. All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://kalofagas.ca then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at truenorth67 AT gmail DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author.

The dressing here is my basic go-to blend of 3-to-1 oli to acid ratio, a squirt of mustard, some honey, salt and pepper and on this occasion I used oregano. Mint, basil or tarragon would also work well here. There’s mixed salad greens,  whole shrimp, some crispy fried zucchini, eggplant and green beans (yes) and the centerpiece – the grilled Manouri cheese.

Manouri cheese is a by-product of making sheep’s milk Feta. When making cheese, the whey is leftover and Manouri is made. This cheese is soft yet dense – will crumble if you want it to yet firm enough to remain intact if you slice it carefully. I usually eat Manouri for breakfast with some toast, it’s great as a dessert with poached fruit and many creperies in & around Thessaloniki serve crepes with Manouri & ham.

I also like to grill Manouri. I’ve featured a few recipes grilling another fave – Halloumi which is also very forgiving over heat but Manouri is even easier to grill! Rub some oil on both sides and grill over medium-high heat for 1 1/2 – 2 minutes a side and you’ll have a warm cheese with gorgeous grill marks.

This salad relies on the ingredients’ flavours and different textures. back to the fried vegetables: zucchini, eggplant and grean beans. I had all three in my fridge and I wanted a sinful component to the salad…fried vegetables. I simply sliced the zucchini and eggplant wafer-thin with my mandoline, trimmed the beans and double-dredged them in seasoned all-purpose flour. Try this: dredge veggies in flour, quickly dip in cold water then dredge a second time in flour. Fry ’til golden and crisp and blot on paper, sprinkle some salt and enjoy!

This whole salad came together indoors: vinaigrette emulsified in a bowl then tossed the salad, a couple zucchini and eggplant strips fried in about an inch of oil and finally, I pulled out the grill pan and seared the Manouri cheese then cooked-off the shrimp. Once again, make dressing then fry veggies then grill Manouri and shrimp. Assemble.

This salad is about textures and flavours: tangy dressing with peppery mixed greens, the crunch of fried veggies and the sweet, succulent shrimp and buttery grilled Manouri cheese that should be broken-off and placed in the mouth with each bite of the salad. Is it lunch yet?

Grilled Manouri and Shrimp Salad

(for two)

4 whole shrimp, peeled & deveined

2 tsp. olive oil

1/4 tsp. of sweet paprika

sea salt and ground pepper

pinch of garlic powder

1 – 1/2inch slice of Manouri cheese

3 cups of loosely packed mixed greens, washed and dried

1/2 cup sweet cherry tomatoes

2 Tbsp. sliced red onions

Dressing

3 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

1/4 tsp. Dijon-style mustard

1 tsp. red wine vinegar

squirt of honey

2 tsp. chopped chives

1/2 tsp. dried Greek oregano

Fried Veggies

1-2 strips of zucchini

1-2 strips of Japanese eggplant

6 green beans, trimmed

all-purpose flour

salt and pepper

cold water

oil for frying

1. Peel t he shells off your shrimp, leaving the tails in tact (leave the head on as well). Devein your shrimp (use my toothpick method) and rinse and pat-dry. Toss the shrimp with oil, garlic, paprika and salt and pepper and reserve.
2. Wash your greens and pat-dry or pass through your salad spinner and set aside. Take a large bowl and add your mustard, honey, and vinegar and whisk. Now slowly add the olive oil while whisking until emulsified. Add the salt and pepper to taste and chives and oregano then reserve.
3. Thinly slice your zucchini and eggplant lengthwise with a mandoline and trim your beans. Place some flour in a plate and season with salt and pepper. Dredge the vegetables in flour, then dip in cold water and once again dredge in flour. Add enough oil into a fry pan to fill it to 1 inch and when hot, add the vegetables are fry until crisp and golden. Remove with a slotted spoon and reserve on paper-lined towel. Sprinkle sparingly with sea salt.
4. Place a grill pan on your stove-top over medium-high heat and add about a Tbsp. of olive. When the pan is hot, add the Manouri cheese and grill for 1 1/2 – 2 minutes a side. Carefully remove and reserve. In the same grill pan, add your shrimp and grill for 1 minute a side or flip when pink.
5. Time to assemble the salad. Add the mixed greens, tomatoes and onions into the bowl with dressing and toss to coat the greens. Place the zucchini and eggplant strips in a cross pattern on your plate then top with your salad greens. Place the Manouri cheese on top of the salad and place the shrimp around the cheese.  Place the fried green beans upright leaning on the cheese and serve.
6. Pair with a chilled bottle of Gerovassliou Chardonnay.

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© 2011, Peter Minakis. All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://kalofagas.ca then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at truenorth67 AT gmail DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author.

I’ve made this recipe a few times now and I really like using yellow wax beans. They taste just like your usual green beans but as you can see, the colour of this dressing really comes out pretty with the contrast of colours. This is a quick recipe and the only real prep required is to roast the garlic – a whole head of garlic. Roasting garlic mellows the flavours, making it more complex and giving it a buttery texture and flavour. The noisette colour of roasted garlic along with its slow-roasted flavour are a perfect complement for beans and I could eat a whole plate!

Beans With Roasted Garlic, Capers & Parsley

1lb. of green or yellow wax beans (or mixture of both), trimmed and rinsed

1 cup of fresh parsley leaves

1 whole head of garlic, roasted

3 Tbsp. of capers, rinsed

1 tsp. of Dijon style mustard

zest of 1/2 lemon

1/4 cup extra-virgin Greek olive oil

1 tsp. of dried Greek oregano

1-2 tsp. red wine vinegar

fresh ground pepper to taste

1. Pre-heat your oven (or toaster oven) to 350F. Cut the top off of your head of garlic – just enough to expose the cloves inside. Place your head of garlic in aluminum foil and lightly drizzle with olive and sprinkle some coarse sea salt. Wrap the head of garlic with the foil and place in your pre-heated oven for 35-50 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
2. Snap off the end (s) of your beans and rinse. Place a large pot of water on your stove-top and bring to a boil. Season the water well with salt and as soon as the water returns to a boil, add your beans and bring the water back to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-high and boil your beans for 6 minutes (should still be a bit crisp). Remove the beans from the heat and empty into a strainer and run cold water over them to cool and allow to drain.
3. In the meantime, Rinse your parsley and place in a food processor along with the lemon zest, capers, olive oil and mustard. Process until amalgamated and set aside until your beans are ready.
4. Empty your beans into a bowl along with the parsley-caper dressing. Unwrap the foil around your roasted garlic and squeeze the cloves out and into your bowl with the beans along with the dried Greek oregano and 1 tsp. of wine vinegar. Toss the beans until well coated with the dressing then taste and adjust seasoning with salt, fresh ground pepper and more wine vinegar (if needed). Serve as a side cool or room temperature.

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at  http://kalofagas.ca then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at truenorth67 AT gmail DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author.

© 2007-2011 Peter Minakis

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© 2011, Peter Minakis. All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://kalofagas.ca then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at truenorth67 AT gmail DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author.