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.

Ryba po Grecku, is usually pan-fried (with our without) breading then reserved until a sauce of onions, carrots, celery, parsley (sometimes parsnip) and lemon and some bay or another herb of choice may be added to finish the sauce. As a Greek, I immediately thought of Psari (fish) Plaki where whole fish is traditionally baked on a bed of onions, peppers, tomatoes and another similar dish of Psari ala Spetsiota (Spetses style) with onions, tomatoes, wine, parsley and lemon.

I knew the Polish had to been inspired by these two dishes but my curiosity heightened when I found out that Ryba po Grecku is also served as part of a buffet for special occasion dinners, that the Polish also celebrate namedays (like Greeks) and again this Greek-inspired dish would be offered on such days.

AN old friend of Polish descent, Konrad Ejbich adds that on Christmas Eve the Polish do not eat meat and that there should be a total of thirteen courses and one should sample each of the offerings to truly welcome the New Year with promise. My question still remained…how is it that Polish would offer foreign dishes on special occasions like Christmas? Adds Konrad, “there was a time when Poland ruled a great part of Europe (Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth) with one of it it’s hallmarks being religious and cultural tolerance.

Food was obviously included in the Poles’ tolerance of other cultures and now that I think of it…those cookbooks I bought included a Moussaka and Baklava recipe! Ryba po Grecka is a Greek-inspired dish, made through the filter of the Polish palate and using ingredients at hand. I’ve only considered how Greeks in the Diaspora will cook traditional Greek dishes using the ingredients available or on-hand in the particular part of the world where they live. Climate, geography and the availability of Greek ingredients are all factors.

It’s comforting to know and see how much Greek cuisine is so widely loved and appreciated! Ryba po Grecku is a dish served most commonly cold/room temperature but I prefer to eat this warm.

Ryba po Grecku (Fish ala Greque)

(serves 4)

1 lb. sole fillets

cornmeal

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 1/2 cups of ripe tomato purée (or processed canned tomatoes)

3-4 cloves of garlic

1 large onion, peeled & thinly sliced

1/2 cup diced celery

1/2 cup of shredded carrots (use your box grater)

1/2 cup finely chopped parsley stems

1 tsp. sweet paprika

1 shot of dry white wine

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

2 Tbsp. chopped fresh dill

lemon wedges for garnish

salt and pepper to taste

1. If using frozen fillets, thaw overnight in your fridge, otherwise rinse and pat-dry then brush olive oil on both sides of fish and season with salt and pepper. Place back in your fridge while you’re making the sauce.
2. Place a large skillet on your stove over medium-high heat and add the olive oil, onions, garlic, celery, carrot and parsley stems and sweat the veggies for about 5-6 minutes. Now add the wine, paprika and tomato purée, salt and pepper and bring back to a boil then simmer for 20-25 minutes or until the sauce is thick. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper, stir in parsley and dill and reserve.
3. Take your fish out of the fridge and allow to come back to room temperature. Heat a large non-stick skillet on your stove-top over medium-high heat. Place about 1 1/2 cups of cornmeal in a plate and dredge both sides of the fish then drizzle some oil in your pan and place your fish in the skillet (fry in batches) and fry for about 2-3 minutes a side or until slightly golden. Remove the fillets and reserve on paper-lined plate.
4. Ryba po Grecka is served family style: spoon some sauce on a platter and then cut the fillets into three pieces and set on the sauce in a domino fashion and then pour remaining sauce over the fish. The polish eat this dish cold so it can be prepared a day in advance but I had it warm with a side of rice pilaf. I drank a Glinavos Primus white (from Epirus) with this.

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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.

Recipe update from December 2007, I’ve switched wild boar for more widely available pork shoulder…a favourite cut of mine as it’s affordable, forgiving and versatile. I’ve lost count of how many pork dishes I’ve made using pork butt.

Greeks eat alot of pork these days which wasn’t always the case. Souvlaki and Gyro are most commonly made of pork and the reasons could be that it was a cheaper meat than lamb or goat or tastier (or both). In a Greek-Orthodox calender, there’s a fast period leading up to Christmas and similar to the fasting period leading up to “Panagias” on August 15th, a feast of pork meat is indulged.

During the Christmas holidays we (Greeks) put more pork on our forks and for New Year’s Day, I wanted a big dinner that delivered on flavour without being complicated. Afterall, I was out with friends celebrating New Year’s Eve and the last thing I (or any cook) would want is to be fussing all day in the kitchen (read sofa time).

Wild boar is huge demand for the New Year’s Eve or Day’s dinner and you could certainly use that here but pork is more readily available to most and pork is fattier than boar – something that’s going to help turn this dish into a juicy piece of meat on your plate. Once again, pork butt (from the shoulder) comes to the rescue. I chose a bone-in shoulder that was sitting in a marinade of orange zest and juice, herbs, honey and vinegar and the result is feast fitting for the beginning of a new year.

Your first indication that this roast pork is going to be good is when you smell the sage, thyme and oregano coming from your kitchen. The second indication is when you uncover the meat and see that the pork shoulder has rendered, a little grey but its going to brown when you add the potoatoes and vegetables and roast uncovered until crisp and a brown colour Maillard would be proud of.  Pork butt has fat, renders and protects the meat from drying out. Delicious and tender morsels of meat enter your mouth and you smile as you’ve begun the year with a supreme Sunday dinner.

Roast Pork  With Sage, Honey & Thyme
(feeds 6)

1 pork butt, bone-in
1/3 cup olive oil
the juice of 1 orange
1/4 cup of Greek thyme honey
2 Tbsp. of red wine vinegar
3 Tbsp. of mild mustard
2 Tbsp. of fresh sage (or 1 Tbsp. dry)
5-6 springs of fresh thyme
1 tsp. of dried oregano
3 Bay leaves
3 cloves of garlic, smashed
1 Tbsp. of coarse sea salt
2 Tbsp. fresh ground pepper

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
6 potatoes, peeled and quartered
3 medium onions, peeled and quartered
1 stalk of celery, roughly chopped
1 large carrot, roughly chopped
1 green bell pepper, roughly chopped
1 red pepper, roughly chopped
1 pint of cherry tomatoes (or 3-4 ripe tomatoes, quartered)
1 dried chili pepper

5-6 sprigs of fresh thyme

2 Tbsp. of fresh chopped sage
1 1/2 cups of water

Preheated 400F oven

1. Wash then pat-dry your pork and set aside. Using a large container or zip-lock bag, pour in your orange juice, olive oil, vinegar, mustard, sage, thyme, oregano, bay leaves, salt, pepper and garlic. Mix well and and your pork. Seal and marinate for 2-3 hours before roasting.
2. Cut up your vegetables and toss in a bowl with olive oil, salt and pepper and reserve in a covered bowl.
3. After you’ve marinaded your pork, allow the meat to return to room temperature before roasting. Pour the marinating liquid over the meat and season  with salt and pepper then place the meat in a roast pan and roast covered for 90 minutes.
4. Remove the pork from the oven and uncover and place the potatoes and vegetables around the pork and pour in the hot water and return to the oven for an additional 45 minutes or until meat has browned and the potatoes are crisp. Remove from the oven and spoon some of the pan juices over the pork and allow to rest for 25 minutes before carving. Serve with a Boutari Blue Fox Red.

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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.

Let’s face it – pork tenderloin is the equivalent of chicken breast: lean/little fat, mild in flavour and a healthy protein. The down side is that it needs help with flavours as it’s lacking fat. So, opportunity abounds with pork tenderloin and today I’m adding lots of flavour in three ways: by browning the meat, serving it with an easy but flavourful mushroom sauce and finally – created a flavourful crust. The “crust” becomes a second skin to the meat and in this instance I’ve taken some dried mushrooms and ground them to a powder using an electric coffee mill I have dedicated to spices and such.

The mushroom crust is blended with coriander seeds, black peppercorns, thyme and rosemary, sea salt and some sugar. The sugar is in there so that the meat browns quicker. Pork tenderloin is not that thick and I do not want to overcook this lean meat – sugar aids in the browner and no…there’s no sweetness in the dish! The final step in this quick yet fancy and delicious dish is to make a pan sauce with drippings, onions, garlic, mushroom broth, wine and some cream at the end.

You can buy dried mushrooms at most supermarkets and they range for Cremini to exotic Morels and Porcini. For grinding, use the less expensive dried mushrooms and re-hydrate the more exotic funghi to make your flavourful broth. Dried mushrooms are an excellent flavour enhancer to your dishes and you should consider stocking some in your pantry. Look what I did hear – I made a flavourful mushroom broth with them, created a crust for pork tenderloin begging for more flavour and they enhanced my creamy mushroom sauce. Go update your shopping list!

Pork Tenderloin Seared With a Mushroom Crust

(serves 4)

2 pork tenderloin, trimmed of silver skin

olive oil

approx 2 tsp. fine sea salt

2 tsp. of sugar

1 tsp. of whole peppercorns

1/4 cup dried mushrooms (your choice)

2 tsp. fresh thyme leaves, chopped

1 tsp. fresh rosemary leaves, chopped

Pre-heated 400F oven

Mushroom Sauce

2 Tbsp.  extra-virgin olive oil

1/4 cup diced red onions

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 cup of mushrooms (sliced Cremini plus your choice of other mushrooms

1/3 cup re-hydrated dried mushrooms

1 tsp. all-purpose flour

1/4 cup dry white wine

3/4 cup of mushroom stock (from re-hydrating the dried mushrooms)

salt and pepper to taste

2 tsp. fresh thyme leaves

1/4 cup heavy cream

2 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

1. Pre-heat your oven. Place your dried mushrooms, peppercorns, coriander seeds, thyme and rosemary leaves in coffee grinder and process into a powder (you may use a mortar & pestle). Rub the pork with some olive oil and season with salt and sugar then place your ground dry mushroom mixture in a plate and roll the pork until well-coated.
2. Place an oven-safe skillet on your stove-top and pre-heat your stove-top to medium-high heat and add 2-3 turns of olive oil and when hot, sear the pork tenderloin until golden on all sides. Transfer to your pre-heated oven (middle rack) and roast for 6-8 minutes then carefully remove the skillet, remove the pork from the pan and cover with foil and keep warm.
3. In the same skillet, add some more oil (if needed) and add the onions and garlic over medium heat and stir and sweat for about three minutes. Add the mushrooms, some salt and stir until just browned for another couple of minutes (add more olive oil if needed). Now add the flour and stir-in for about a minute. Now add the wine, stock, thyme leaves, salt and pepper and bring up to a simmer and reduce until the sauce is thick enough to just coat the back of a wooden spoon. Add the cream and simmer for another 2 minutes and adjust seasoning once again. Add the chopped fresh parsley into sauce and reserve.
4. Cut your pork tenderloin into medallions and pour the sauce into a platter and place the the medallions on top of the sauce and serve with a rice pilaf or scalloped potatoes. A bottle of  Aidarinis Xinomavro-Negoska blend from Goumenissa.

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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 like thin crust but not too thin, I like fresh toppings on my pizza and even though I like “the works” on my pizza, often less is more (besides the mound of toppings slides off). I like pizza baked on my pizza stone and if you don’t have one already, still time to ask Santa for me! They’re great for both baking bread and pizza and while you’re at it, ask Santa for a pizza peel…it’s those wooden paddles one uses to slide pizza or bread into an oven.

Those two kitchen tools are very important to making really good homemade pizza: the pizza stone pre-heats in the oven, emulating a brick oven and the pizza peel allows you to form your pizza on it and with a sprinkle of cornmeal under the dough, it just slides right into your oven and onto the hot pizza stone. Most pizzas take around 12-14 minutes to bake!

This pizza was inspired by one of the pizzas at that “Tweet-up”: a mushroom pizza with cheese and herbs. My take was to add a thin smear of Bechamel on the crust which contained oil or butter, flour, milk, garlic, grated cheese and a pinch of nutmeg. You can be creative here and use a favourite cheese that goes well with mushrooms. I had some sharp, aged Graviera cheese on hand and I used that for my pizza and some leftover grated Kefalotyri cheese for the Bechamel base.

Obviously you have to love mushrooms or this ain’t gonna work for you and you can again be creative and use whatever mushrooms you like. I opted from Cremini mushrooms which grow to become Portobellos when full grown. They are more flavourful as Creminis and far better than white button mushrooms. I found some affordably priced Oyster mushrooms to add variety in flavour, presentation and texture and the end result was nothing short of tremendous. This pizza makes a good case for opening a chilled bottle of white wine, getting a unncessary bad-rap. There’s a time and a place for every wine and tonight it’s white!

Mushroom Pizza

1/2 recipe for pizza dough

Bechamel

1 Tbsp. unsalted butter

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 tsp. all purpose flour

1/2 cup warm milk

grated nutmeg to taste

1/2 cup grated Kefalotyri or Romano cheese

approx. 1 cup grated Graviera, Mozzarella or Fontina cheese

2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

1 cup sliced Cremini mushrooms

1/2 cup oyster mushrooms

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 tsp. dried Greek oregano or 1/2 tsp. dried thyme

salt and pepper to taste

1/3 cup diced smoked pork loin or bacon

1 small onion, thinly sliced

cornmeal to dust the pizza stone

Pre-heated 500F oven, middle rack position

1. In a small pot, add the butter over medium heat and once melted add the flour and stir for a minute. Slowly add the warm milk while stirring and continue until the Bechamel has thickened. Add some grated nutmeg, the grated cheese and some fresh ground pepper and salt to taste. Take off the heat and reserve.
2. Pre-heat your oven with the pizza stone placed inside to pre-heat. Wipe your mushrooms with a wet towel and slice the Cremini mushrooms and place in a bowl with the Oyster mushrooms, olive oil, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper and toss well.
3. Roll (or stretch your pizza dough and place on a cornmeal dusted pizza peel or pizza pan and evenly spread the cooled Bechamel on the pizza dough. Sprinkle the grated cheese over the dough then spread your mushrooms over top followed by the sliced onions and diced smoked pork/bacon.
4. Drizzle with some olive oil and place in your pre-heated oven, reduce the heat to 450F and bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges of your pizza just brown and your pork has just crisped. Remove from the oven, slice and enjoy! Serve with cold beer or a Peller Estates Chardonnay from Niagara.

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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.