My family traditionally makes a Meat Pie (Kreatopita) in a rectangular or round baking tray (tapsi) but in Greece many will also have a Bougatsa with kima (meat) from their neighborhood Bougatsa shop. As I related in my previous post, Bougatsa is phyllo pie that can contain a sweet custard, savory cheese or meat filling [...]
I’ve made this pita a few times last month and I am now sharing this festive recipe for a pita containing Pastourma, an air-cured beef with its origins in Caesaria (Cappadocia), Turkey. Greeks have a long history in this area and St. Basil the Great was born here. Yesterday was St. Basil’s day and many [...]
The most common and well-known cabbage rolls for Greeks are made with an Avgolemono Sauce. The the rest of the world, most of you are more familiar with cabbage rolls with a tomato sauce. Us Greeks have that in our repetoire too! Today, I introduce you to Kozani Style Cabbage Rolls (lahanodolmades in Greek) with [...]
This dish is inspired by the memories of having large family gatherings on Sundays. I mean large when aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents also show up for lunch/dinner and lots of food would be prepared and served to feed the Greek appetites. My dad taught me how to roast Prime Rib but my mom taught me [...]
I spent the Thanksgiving weekend in Kitchener-Waterloo area (just over an hour southwest of Toronto) and I stopped by one of southern Ontario’s best butcher shops, Brady’s in Waterloo (with a second location in the St. Jacob’s Market). This family-owned butcher shop has beef, pork, poultry, wild game, lots of local and exotic pantry items [...]
This sandwich came together using leftovers from a combo of previous recipes but don’t let that dissuade you from trying this one out. Reinventing and turning leftovers into an entirely new, fresh dish is a kitchen triumph with a delicious reward. I lucked-out with some tri-tip steak at the butcher and made a marinade of [...]
Here’s a dish my Dad loves to make: it combines three of his favourite foods: potatoes, peppers (with some heat) and kebapia – what folks in Florina call Soutzoukakia. Kebapia are usually grilled on open pits at one of the many tavernas in the region serving up an array of meats. The weather has gotten [...]
Truth be told, this past Summer’s trip to Greece was one of the most memorable with my usual visits to my family’s home in Halkidiki, frequent trips to nearby Thessaloniki, a side trip to Constantinople (Istanbul), down to the capital of Athens, a wonderful first visit to beautiful Nafplio, a visit to the Prefecture of [...]
My buddy Panagioti runs a nifty little business here in Toronto selling his family’s olive oil and this very unique product called Moust0-Balsamico. This vinegar is made of balsamic vinegar and grape must (mousto) is added to sweeten the pot (just a little bit). Combine this extraordinary vinegar with Acropolis Organics extra-virgin olive and you [...]
To understand where this dish comes from is to first get a hang of what Strapetsada is: basically a scrambled egg dish containing grated tomatoes, olive oil and crumbled Feta and often eaten as a meze or late evening Greek dinner. There are may variances to this dish but those are the basics. Like with [...]
