When you’re a city of 20 million, you have to feed the citizens and tourists alike. There’s street vendors for those in a rush, high end restos catering to the rich with haute Ottoman and European dishes and then there’s the open kitchens which are found throughout the city. Much like in Greece, these open kitchens offer seasonal, fresh dishes that are presented in the front windows or counters of the store.  One walks through Istanbul enticed by the aroma and sight of these dishes, presented with panache yet still very rustic.

One of the dishes that drew me in was Islim Kebabi, the recipe I’m sharing  today. Essentially its a dish made of an eggplant-wrapped meatball topped by tomato and pepper. There’s a few techniques used here but nothing overly tasking and this a great presentation dish for family and friends.

Essentially, Islim Kebabi requires some lightly fried eggplant to wrap the meatballs in, fried meatballs, a quick tomato sauce and finally the dish comes together in the oven.

Islim Kebabi

(serves 4-6)

1 recipe of Keftedes

3 eggplants, 1/2 in. sliced lengthwise

oil for frying

Sauce 

1 cup tomato purée

1/4 cup olive oil

1 med. onion, finely diced

2-3 cloves of garlic, minced

sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

1 tsp. dried Greek oregano

pinch of cinnamon

2 tomatoes, pulp removed & quartered

1-2 banana peppers, halved & cut into 1 inch pieces.

toothpicks

Pre-heated 350F oven

1. Slice your eggplants lengthwise to about 1/2 in. slices and sprinkle with salt and place upright in a strainer to allow the bitter liquid to drain for 30 minutes. Pat-dry with paper towels and add about 1 cm. of vegetable oil in a skillet and fry the eggplant slices over medium heat until just soft and pliable (about 2 minutes). Reserve on paper towels and drain off/discard oil.
2. In the meantime, mix your ground beef (or lamb) with the remaining ingredients then fry-off a small meatball to taste-test then, form into palm-sized meatballs. Lightly dredge in flour and add about 1 cm. of olive oil in a skillet and brown on both sides, reserve on paper-lined platter.
3. In the same skillet, add some more olive (if needed) and add your onions, garlic, tomato purée and bring up to a simmer. Season with salt and pepper and reduce until the sauce is thick. Add the dried oregano, a pinch of cinnamon and set aside. Pre-heat your oven to 350F.
4. Place three slices of fried eggplant into a medium-sized ramekin (or like-sized bowl) with . Now place a meatball inside and bring the eggplant up toward the top of the meatball and affix with one or two toothpicks and top with a tomato quarter and green pepper.
5. Place the sauce in a baking dish that with snugly hold the eggplant and meatball bundles. Drizzle with some olive oil and place in your pre-heated oven for 30 minutes or until just golden on top.
6. Serve with a rice pilaf and place the Islim Kebabi to the side with a spoon or two of sauce. Serve with an Amydeon Oenos red from the Amyntaio Wine Co-Op.

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© 2012, 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.

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.

Dukem is located on the Danforth, just west of Donlands on the northside. Upon walking into this restaurant you’re transported to another place: African music plays softly in the background, low lights (but not dim enough to not see your food), the exotic aroma of spices (Berbere is an Ethiopian spice mixture) and the smell of coffee beans roasting. Coffee’s origins are from Ethiopia and they take it very seriously. You can request/order an Ethiopian Coffee ceremony where the entire process of coffee making is performed right in front of your table. We caught the table behind us being presented with a pot full of roasting coffee beans. The smell was intoxicating!

Injera bread

The room is very tastefully decorated with photographs of Ethiopia displayed and on sale. The tables are wooden, menus and drinks lists already at hand a long with salt, sugar, napkins and wet-naps! You see, you’re not going to get any cutlery at an Ethiopian restaurant as you’re supposed to eat with your right hand. The national bread of Ethiopia is Injera, a spongy large bread with the consistency much like a pancake and made of sorghum flour.

I entered Dukem with little info on Ethiopian cuisine other than knowing Berbere spices were prominent, one ate with your hands and the way to eat was to pinch a piece of Injera bread and scoop some food off the communal platters that you are served in. In Ethiopia, food is eaten family style and that’s how the portions arrive – big and you’re supposed to share. Our server was all to willing to offer assistance in ordering from the menu: lots of meat and vegetarians options raging from lamb, beef and chicken to lentils, spinach, beets and split peas.

Once again, the portions are generous and you should go to an Ethiopian restaurant with friends so that you may order more and share! After the menu was explained by our server, we settled on a meat (tibs) combo of meat, chicken and lamb with an array of vegetable offerings on the same platter. We also order a vegetable dish…always seeking a balance of meat and vegetables.

The first dish was the “special meat combo” that included marinated lamb, beef and chicken, all similar all different in their spice blend along with lentils, split peas, spinach, beets. I loved the beef and lamb, the spices in the chicken were a little bitter for my liking and I loved the vegetables and lentils too! There’s a lot of variety here and the pinching of Injera bread and picking up a different bite of food each time was exciting for the palate.

I saw that some other patrons were drinking wine but my server suggested beer as that’s what most seem to enjoy with Ethiopian food. Wine is a better sale for a restaurant but I appreciated her honesty. I ordered the Ethiopian beer on the menu but sold out – the Heineken washed the Ethiopian food down real well! The next dish to arrive was the “vegetarian medley” combo. What arrived was a stir-fried beef with onions and peppers and served on a hot plate – much like fajitas would. Although this dish also tasted good, it did remind me of fajita seasoning and if I were strictly vegetarian this dish would be a problem. Did we mis-communicate our order? Did we in fact receive tibs (meat) with vegetables?

The food was delicious (save for the bitter-spiced chicken), loved eating with my hands, Injera bread is a great conduit for the food, most of which has some heat but nothing too fiery and besides…it’s all washed down well with beer! For some reason our orders took awhile to arrive but the food was hot, very aromatic and delicious. Service is attentive and prompt and a dinner for two will set you back about $50-60.

The smell of the spices wafting in the air as you wait for your food is worth the visit alone and I have to go back for the Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony. Who’s coming along?

Dukem Restaurant

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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.

One of my favourite dishes is Giouvarlakia soup: beef/veal is mixed with rice and made into meatballs then gently dropped in stock with some rice until cooked. The starches from the rice thicken the stock but the real magic happens when I temper the hot liquid with a beaten eggs and lemon juice and the soup transforms into a creamy, comforting dish that takes me back to when mom made this soup when I sick.

In keeping with the resourceful nature of Greek cookery, I created this dish with the purpose of using up some leftover rice in the fridge and hopefully creating an entirely new one. Inspired by Giouvarlakia, I kneaded some ground beef and added some the cooked rice as binder along with an egg, some grated onion, spices and seasoning. The meatballs were browned in a skillet then I added some stock, some green lentils for a little fiber and simmered it until reduced by half and surely the lentils were tender.

The meatballs are simmered in the stock and rather than finish this dish with beaten eggs and lemon juice, I achieved a similar flavour and texture by adding strained Greek yogurt at the end. Reheated rice was divided among plates, the meatballs placed on top and the thick yogurt sauce is spooned over the meatballs dropping beaneath into the rice, just blanketing it.

I’m very pleased with this dish which pays homage to another Greek dish while using leftovers (rice) and becoming a whole new dish on it’s own!

The Other Giovarlakia (Γιουβαρλάκια Αλλιώς)

(serves 4)

1 lb. lean ground beef

1 medium onion, passed through a box grater

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 egg

1/4 cup leftover cooked rice

1 1/2 tsp. ground allspice

pinch of ground nutmeg

1 tsp. black pepper

2 tsp. salt

3/4 tsp. black pepper

flour for dredging

2-3 Tbsp. olive oil

1/2 cup green lentils

1 heaping Tbsp. of all purpose flour

2 cups of stock (beef, veal, chicken, vegetable)

2-3 scallions, thinly sliced

1/4 cup chopped fresh dill

1/4-1/2 cup FAGE strained Greek yogurt

1. In a bowl, add the ground beef, grated onion, garlic, salt, pepper, allspice, nutmeg and beaten egg. Mix with your hands and roll into meatballs (you may want to fry a small piece of meat to taste-test and adjust seasoning). Dredge lightly in flour then place add a couple of turns of oil in a skillet and over medium-high meat brown the meatballs on all sides. Reserve the meatballs.
2. Pour off any excess oil (leave some in the pan) and add the flour and stir for a minute then add the stock, scallions and lentils – bring to a boil. Now carefully add the meatballs and simmer uncovered until the liquid is reduced by half and it has thickened. Adjust seasoning and take off the heat.
3. Add the yogurt into the sauce one tablespoon at a table and gently swirl in. Keep adding the yogurt until the sauce has thickened to your liking and tart enough. Add the chopped fresh dill and divide and place the meatballs over the reheated leftover rice and pour sauce over the meatballs. Serve immediately.

As part of the Foodbuzz Featured Publisher program, I have been entered for the chance to win a trip to Greece courtesy of FAGE. You too can enter to win one of three trips to Greece by entering the FAGE Plain Extraordinary Greek Getaway here: http://www.fageusa.com/community/fage-greek-getaway

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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.

Sunday’s are best enjoyed at home with family and friends and it’s a fine to either stretch your culinary wings and cook-up a sumptuous Sunday dinner or shift-down in gears and prepare a home-cooked meal that’s easy, comforting and most satisfying. I chose the latter today  – I chose steak.

Go ahead, take a look in the search window of this blog and you’ll see that it’s been a long time since I’ve posted a steak recipe – that’s because it’s been awhile since I’ve had a steak. Rather than “go big or go home” I went “big and took the big steak home”. My favourite cut is the rib eye steak and if the bone is attach  – even better!

This steak is comes from the rib section of the steer. The front of the cow is the head, then there’s the chuck and next up comes the “sweet spot” of the animal – the rib, where this steak comes from and also a whole Prime Rib Roast. The Prime Ribs are from the 6th to the 12th rib – a naturally tender and delicious cut.

I could have used my gas grill today but for some reason I was feeling nostalgic: wanted to use my cast iron skillet to sear the steak then finish it in the oven. No de-glazing, no cream, no wine  – just a marinade and a little bit of acid (squeeze of lemon juice) and dried Greek oregano to finish the steak. I could have eaten the steak right out of the cast iron pan.

The other component of this dish was the marinade, simple flavours of olive oil, garlic, thyme and rosemary from my garden, cracked whole peppercorns, sweet paprika – all pounded into a paste with the olive wood mortar & pestle I found in Thessaloniki at an antique market this past summer. This mortar & pestle was nicely worked-in, as evidenced by how easy and how quickly the ingredients turned into a paste. The more you use your mortar & pestle the  more it gets worked-in, the easier it is to use and frankly, your food will taste better.

This rib steak is seared on the stovetop (along with an onion) then placed in a pre-heated oven for about 5-6 minutes then simply finished with a squeeze of lemon juice and dried Greek oregano to finish the dish. Allow the dish to rest about 5 minutes before cutting into and don’t waste that sauce in the pan. I would even suggest mopping it up with some good homemade bread.

Best Prime Rib Steak

1 Prime Rib steaks, bone in (about 1 1/2 inches thick)

2 Tbsp. olive oil

3 cloves of garlic

6 sprigs of thyme leaves

1/2 tsp. of rosemary leaves (half if dry)

4-5 whole peppercorns

pinch of sweet paprika

coarse sea salt

1/2 small onion

squeeze of lemon juice

dried Greek oregano

1. Add the cloves of garlic, thyme, rosemary, peppercorns and oil into your mortar and pound with your pestle until a paste. Ad paprika and quickly mix in. Empty in a glass baking dish and place the steak in the marinade and rub it all over the steak. Cover with plastic wrap and place in your fridge for 3-4 hours. Remove from the fridge and allow about 15 minutes to return to room temperature before cooking.
2. Pre-heat your oven to 400F, set middle rack into position. Place your cast iron pan on your stovetop over medium-high heat and add a couple of turns of olive oil. Season both sides of your steak with course sea salt and once the oil is hot, add the steak and onion, sear for 3-4 minutes or until a deep-brown crust has formed. Now flip the steak and place in your pre-heated oven for 5-6 minutes ( as soon as you see the blood on the surface of the steak, it’s medium-rare and I would take the steak out).
3. Carefully take the hot pan out of the oven (with a kitchen cloth) and place on your stove and squeeze with some lemon juice and top with a sprinkle of dried Greek oregano. Allow to rest for 5 minutes before eating.
4. Serve with roast potatoes, your roasted onion, a Caesar salad and pair Alpha Estate Xinomavro Red.

Note: You likely will cook more than one steak so, I recommend searing the steaks one by one in your cast iron pan then tranferring to a baking sheet and finishing in the oven.

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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.