With winter finally giving way to warmer weather – that means we can enjoy the outdoors more and that means cooking and entertaining outside as well. Ladies and gentlemen, start your grills – it’s time to cook some lobster tails. Many grocery stores and fish mongers sell these frozen tails and they are very easy […]
When my parents came from Greece to live here, they were exposed to many new flavours, dishes that were foreign – not Greek. My father worked all his life in restaurants that served what was then a mostly Anglo-Saxon Toronto. My mother worked with other immigrant in factories, with English women who were already in […]
This past week, Greeks celebrated Greek Independence Day on March 25th. I organized Greek Supper Club that was a celebration of Lenten food and as per tradition, salt cod was served to dinner guests. March 25th is a double celebration as it also falls on Annunciation Day. Although this national holiday falls within Lent, salt […]
In northern Greece, mussels make up big part of the seafood culture and practically every taverna serves up Mussels Saganaki or fried mussels. Nowadays one can also find other more worldly dishes and you even find fresh mussels in Athens and on many of the more touristy islands. Mussels are cultivated in Greece and many […]
Osso Bucco is a northern Italian dish, from the Lombardy region (near Milano). The old school Osso Bucco did not include tomatoes (as they appeared in Italy after the dishes creation). This dish is made with veal shanks and icing on the cake for this dish has to be the marrow inside each bone. After […]
This dish came about after brainstorming with “The Dragon” on our recent trip to Chicago. I had prepared as part of the main course a braised lamb in tomato sauce on a bed of smoked eggplant purée. Hunkar Begendi for those who know Istanbul-Constantinople food. The key to pulling off this dish is getting the […]
I make dishes like these because I miss the summer, especially summer in Greece. One of the fondest memories I have from last year’s vacation was a day trip to Elafonissos, a small island just off the the coast of Neapoli, southern Peloponnese. The island has a pretty little main town, about 5 beaches and […]
If you’ve been to a seafood tavern or even a steak house that offers some fish and seafood on the side, then you may have had lobster thermidor. It’s a French classic where you boil the lobster, cut in half, remove the lobster meat, chop up and mix into an herbed bechamel with a hint […]
While in Istanbul, I’ve often enjoyed this lentil soup made simmering red lentils and aromatic vegetables. Some bay leaves and oregano round out the flavours and all one needs is a hand blender to blitz this easy to make delicious soup. I recently made this soup at my Constantinople (Istanbul) themed dinner and it was […]
Duck is a an underappreciated meat, at least here in North America. People often think it’s hard to cook or it has too much fat or both. If you want to try cooking some duck, I suggest starting with duck legs, now found packaged apart from the rest of the duck. If you’re good at […]
