I still like a good deal when I dine – looking for value, good quality food with wholesome and seasonal ingredients and it’s always fun to try new and may an ethnic dish here in multicultural Toronto. There’s a great new web site called DiningDateNight where you can 30% off your bill from Toronto’s top restaurants and eateries. Click here to see how it works.

One of my favourite dishes was the Pan-fried Cajun Rainbow Trout. Canada boasts of having lots of rainbow trout. I love trout for its flaky texture, it has a pink, almost salmon colour and it’s a versatile fish as it’s great grilled, broiled or in this case, pan-fried. Below is my Cajun spice blend good for chicken or fish. Mix the ingredients in a jar and shake well. I’ve omitted the salt so that you may control seasoning and the batch is good for a few recipes before you have to mix another batch.

The pan-fried trout is easy to make and I love it paired with this simple mushroom pasta-ideal with linguine or you could used fettucine. Here, you can easily multi-task and start on the pasta sauce then finish the meal off with pan-frying the trout. This makes for a satisfying weeknight meal giving you that restaurant feel right in your own kitchen.

Pan-Fried Cajun Rainbow Trout

(serves 4)

4 boned rainbow trout fillets, skin on

olive oil

fine sea salt

all-purpose flour for dredging

oil for frying

Cajun seasoning

2 Tbsp. of garlic powder

2 Tbsp. of onion powder

1 tsp. ground white pepper

2 Tbsp. ground black pepper

2 tsp. cayenne pepper

4 tsp. of dried thyme

1 tsp. dried oregano

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1 Tbsp. cornmeal

Mushroom Linguine

(serves 4)

500 gr. package of linguine

1/4 cup olive oil

1 medium onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups of sliced Cremini mushrooms

1 shot of dry white wine

1 cup heavy cream

salt and pepper to taste

2 tsp. of thyme leaves

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

lots of freshly grated Romano cheese

1. Place a large pot of water on your stovetop and once aboil, add good amount of salt and the pasta and cook according to package instructions. In the meantime, add your olive oil and mushrooms in a skillet with some salt and pepper and cook the mushrooms until just browned. Now add the onions, garlic, thyme and stir in and allow to sweat for five minutes. Add the wine and reduce for a couple of minutes and then add the cream. Simmer for another 5-6 minutes or until thick. Add some grated cheese and salt and pepper to taste. Divide and serve with your pan-fried Cajun trout.
2. In a jar, add your Cajun seasoning ingredients, seal and shake in a jar. Brush your fillets with olive oil and season with fine sea salt then sprinkle a good amount of Cajun seasoning on both sides of the fish then dredge them in all-purpose flour.
3. In a large cast iron pan or non-stick skillet add a couple of turns of olive oil over medium-high heat. Place your fillets in the pan skin-side down for about 4 minutes or until you see the flesh of fish turn opaque halfway up the side view of the fillets. Carefully flip the fish and fry on the other side for another 2-3 minutes or until a deep golden colour and crisp (add more oil while frying if needed)
4. Serve with a squeeze of lime juice and a side of rice or try a linguine with a mushroom-cream sauce…just like at the Whistling Oyster used to!

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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.

Alot of companies have entered the market with their own version of Greek yogurt – some are okay, some are horrible (gritty texture and thickened with the aid of gelatine) and some are fabulous: rich, think and full of flavour. I love FAGE yogurt because it comes very close to the yogurt I remember as a child and continue to eat in my adult life.

The other great think about Greek yogurt is that it can used in place of sour cream, crème fraîche or heavy cream in dishes. You get all the richness of a dish but you reduce calories. Baked potato? No more sour cream  – I drop strained Greek yogurt on it. Cheesecakes work wonderfully with Greek yogurt and although I still like cream in my coffee and it still sneaks into a cream sauce here and there – I’ve reduced the amount of heavy cream in my diet by adding a dollop (or two) of strained Greek yogurt to a dish and I get the same creamy effect.

Today’s dish uses some cream but it’s only 1/4 cup for 4 persons…1 Tbsp. per serving and evaporated milk works in a pinch and once again Greek yogurt rounds out this posh dish that’s fit for even those on a budget. The other main ingredient here is Tarama, a fish roe that’s whipped into making a taverna favourite called Taramosalata. Tarama can be salty to the taste and if that’s the case, soak the roe in just enough water to cover them for 20 minutes then strain. They should still be briny to the taste.

Greek food is very popular because it tastes great, the recipes are easy and mostly rely on quality ingredients rather than technique and with so many people traveling to Greece and coming back with wonderful food memories, it’s no wonder that Greek ingredients and Greek food has become so popular.

Greek wines and spirits have also made a resurgence and the selection today goes well beyond Retsina and Ouzo. This dish uses Tsipouro which is a spirit made from the by-product of wine with skins and stems being distilled until it becomes a potent “eau de vie”. Many Tsipouros are spiked with anise (some with Mastiha) but this one’s just straight-up Tsipouro. This spirit is not Ouzo and it’s called called Raki or Tsikoudia in Crete.

 Spaghetini With Tarama & Greek Yogurt

(serves 4)

1/4 cup o extra-virgin olive oil

6 scallions, thinly sliced

1 clove of garlic, minced

1/4 cup heavy cream or evaporated milk

1/4 cup Tsipouro/Raki (without anise) or Grappa

1/3 – 1/2 cup Tarama

1 500 gr. package of spaghettini

zest of 1 lemon

reserved 1/2 cup pasta water

1/4 Greek yogurt, room temperature

pinch of chilli flakes (Boukovo) or fresh ground pepper

extra strained Greek yogurt

extra tarama for garnish

chopped fresh chives for garnish

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add a good amount of salt to water and once it returns to a boil, add the pasta and cook for about 5 minutes.
2. In the meantime, place a large skillet on the stovetop over medium heat and add your olive oil, scallions, garlic and sweat for five minutes. Now add the Tsipouro/Raki and simmer for another 2-3 minutes then add the cream and continue to simmer while stirring until the sauce just coats the back of a wooden spoon. Remove from the heat and add the Tarama and stir-in, reserve.
3. When the pasta is ready, reserve 1/2 cup pasta water and strain. Now add the pasta into the sauce along with the lemon zest and add pasta water in increments while tossing along with the Greek yogurt until creamy.
4. Divide and plate, sprinkle chilli flakes or top with fresh ground pepper, a dollop of Greek yogurt topped with some tarama and chopped fresh chives and serve.

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.

When I first tried to pay homage to this dish I used your usual mussels but the flavour wasn’t the same as at Diana’s: that sweetness was missing and the usual mussels were small in comparison with the mussels used at Diana’s Gallo Mussels. These mussels are cultivated in the West Coast and to look at the shells, they look like any other mussel to the naked one. Once they are steamed and open-up, you see the Gallo mussels are unique, they are huge, succulent, sweet and frankly the most delicious mussels I’ve ever eaten.

Gallo Mussels are the same genus as Galician Mussels but the European ones are a protected name and hence the name difference. I’m sure you could pull-off this dish with the usual live mussels but I urge you to try Gallo mussels just once. You may not want to eat any other type of mussel (I don’t). This is one of the easiest dishes to prepare, half the work being done preparing the mussels and the other half cooking them up.

The ingredients list is short but all of high quality: Gallo mussels, sweet red onions and in-season fennel, Riesling wine from the Reif Winery from nearby Niagara wine country and a splash of Reif’s First Growth Riesling, a sweet wine that’s not as sweet as an ice wine with a lemony, tart finish. The finishing touches to the dish are some cream and fresh herbs, some fennel fronds to accent the anise flavours and chopped fresh parsley to balance the the flavours.

Mussels With Fennel & White Wine Sauce

( for two)

1 1/2 lbs. of Gallo mussels

1/2 stick of unsalted butter

1/2 cup diced red onions

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 cup sliced fennel

1/4 cup Riesling white wine

1 Tbsp.  First Growth TBA Reif Estate Riesling (or other white sweet wine)

2-3 Tbsp. heavy cream

1 Tbsp. fennel fronds or fresh tarragon

2 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

1. Choose mussels that are closed, feel heavy and if slightly opened, tap them to see if they are alive and close shut. Get your mussels home as soon as you can, pull the beards off them and scrub the shells. Rinse well and place in a bowl and place in your fridge for up to one day. Thirty minutes before you are about to cook your mussels, place them in a bowl with water and sprinkle with some flour or cornmeal. Allow the mussels about 20 minutes to spit any sand that may remain in the mussels (the sand clings to the flour) then rinse once more.
2. Place a medium-sized pot on your stovetop over medium heat and  once the butter has melted add the onions, fennel and garlic and simmer for about 5 minutes or until vegetables have softened and translucent. Turn the heat up to high, add the mussels, wine and cover. Allow the mussels to steam for 6-7 minutes or until they have opened (discard any that haven’t opened).
3. Add the cream, a splash of the ice wine, the chopped fennel fronds and parsley and shake the pot back & forth for a minute to warm through and amalgamate into the sauce. Transfer to a serving bowl with lots of crusty bread to mop-up the sauce and enjoy with a chilled Riesling.

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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.

This is not a difficult dish to prepare and the despite the list of ingredients for this recipe, they complement and lift the lobster flavour. The lobster lends a hand to the sauce and the sauce helps the lobster along. The hardest part about preparing this dish is dispatching the lobster – yes, you’re going to have to kill your meal. The best fish or seafood is the freshest fish or seafood and when it comes to lobster (or crab), you should always begin with a live one.

You don’t have to have a saganaki vessel to pull this dish off but live lobster is a must: the meat is succulent, tastes better and the liquid and shells will make the sauce and overall dish tastier. I’ve added some heat to this dish with the addition of a moderately hot banana pepper but you can adjust the heat in this dish to your liking. There’s also a roasted red pepper that I blistered on top of my gas stove to get that nice smoky flavour in the dish.

This dish contains Greek extra-virgin olive oil, some orange zest and thinly-sliced fennel, white wine and Metaxa – the Greek brandy. I’ve used some tomato paste diluted with water as it’s now October and those ripe, sweet garden tomatoes are but a memory. If you have good tomatoes or make this in the summer, grate 2 large tomatoes into the mix or some good jarred pomodoro will do the trick too!

There’s no need to oversell this dish – it’s one of the tastiest I’ve created in awhile and it begs for good, crusty homemade bread to dunk in. Beyond slice bread for toast, I make my own bread at home at you can try making some at home too! Go on, get going and make some bread because you’re gonna want to mop-up all the sauce in this sublime Lobster Saganaki.

Lobster Saganaki (Αστακος Σαγανακι)

(appetizer for two)

2 Tbsp. butter

1 live lobster ( 1 1/2lb.)

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

4 scallions, sliced

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1/2 chopped sliced or chopped fennel

1/2 roasted red bell pepper, cut into ribbons

1 mildly hot green or banana pepper, sliced

1/4 cup dry white wine

1/2 cup seafood or vegetable stock

splash of Metaxa brandy

2 Tbsp. of tomato paste

approx. 2 tsp. orange zest

cold butter or heavy cream (optional)

2 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

2 Tbsp. Greek basil

salt and pepper to taste

1. You’re going to have to kill your lobster just before cooking it so place it in the freezer for 20 minutes so that the beastie becomes dormant before you dispatch it. Place a cutting board inside a roasting pan and lay your lobster on the board. Using your butcher’s knife, stick the knife into the head, about an inch behind the eyes and now cut the lobster in half (lengthwise). The lobster is now dead but it will still move a bit. Now twist off the tail, claws, knuckles (do this over the pan so you can collect the liquid).
2. Place a skillet on your stove-top over medium-high heat and add the butter. As soon as the butter has melted and stops foaming, add ALL the lobster pieces in the skillet and sauté until the shells just turn red then remove and reserve. Now add the olive oil, scallions, garlic, fennel, roasted red pepper and hot pepper and stir. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 5 minutes or until the veggies have softened.
3. Now add the tomato paste and stir in then add wine, stock, Metaxa, reserve lobster liquid and orange zest and stir in. Bring up to a boil then reduce back to a simmer and cook for about another 5-6 minutes. If you want your sauce thicker, simmer a little longer and this is moment where you will adjust flavours (with any of the other ingredients) and you likely will not need any salt.
4. Add the lobster pieces into the skillet and cover. You want the lobster to gently finish cooking through – adjust heat to a medium-medium low and cook for another 5 minutes or until tail meat is fork-tender.
5. Add one or pads of cold butter into the sauce and swirl-in or add a splash of heavy cream. Garnish with chopped fresh parsley and fresh basil and serve with lots of crusty homemade bread. The sauce should not be left behind!
6. Serve with a Gerovassilou White from Epanomi, near Thessaloniki.

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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.