Spices
Feb 5th, 2012 |
By Peter Minakis 
Last year when I visited the Gerovassliou winery in Epanomi (near Thessaloniki), it was my second time for a tour of the winery and museum. As you will recall the first visit was cut-short because I arrived late and the winery was closing. I had to wait one whole year to come back tho this [...]
Posted in Braising, Eggplant, Featured, Greek Wine, Herbs, How To, Main, Olive Oil, Spices, Thessaloniki, Vegetables | 5 comments
Dec 30th, 2011 |
By Peter Minakis 
I’ve always been in awe of southern American cooking – both high & low country, born of rustic beginnings and absolutely delicious! There’s corn bread, macaroni & cheese, biscuits, meatloaf, hush puppies, ribs, roast ham and one of my favourites, fried chicken. My very first fried chicken came out of a bucket by way of [...]
Posted in Down Home, Featured, Flour, Frying, How To, Main, Poultry, Recipes, Southern, Spices | 15 comments
Dec 29th, 2011 |
By Peter Minakis 
One of the surprise hits at Christmas dinner was this baked Brie cheese i paired with cranberry sauce. Brie on its own is always welcome on a cheese plate but when baked it’s even creamier, more of its flavour comes out and it’s great when paired with something savory and something sweet. I’veĀ always loved [...]
Posted in Appetizer, Baking, Bread, Cheese, Christmas, Featured, Fruit, Garlic, Greek, Greek Wine, Oranges, Spices | 9 comments
Dec 26th, 2011 |
By Peter Minakis 
One of the adopted traditions of my family is to have egg nog offered during the Christmas holidays to family and friends. Egg nog is a milk-based drink that’s offered at supermarkets just before and during Christmas. It also has eggs, nutmeg and may contain other spices. Often it gets spiked with rum, whiskey or [...]
Posted in Canadiana, Dairy, Dessert, Featured, Honey, Ice Cream/Gelato, Recipes, Spices | 8 comments
Dec 22nd, 2011 |
By Peter Minakis 
Traditionally, figs get stuffed with walnuts and are laid out to be served among the array of sweet and savory bites during the Christmas season, [...]
Posted in Appetizer, Christmas, Dessert, Featured, figs, Fruit, Greek, Nuts, Snacks, Spices, Sugar, Walnuts | 10 comments
Dec 15th, 2011 |
By Peter Minakis 
A couple of weekends ago I met an Ethiopian fellow and after chatting about foods, spices and the many, many foods and restaurants available here in Toronto, I asked Abye where one should go for Ethiopian food here in the city. He directed me to Dukem, named after the city that sits just south of [...]
Posted in Beef, Danforth, Ethiopian, Featured, Lamb, Poultry, Review, Spices, Talk Toronto, Vegetarian | 1 Comment »
Dec 13th, 2011 |
By Peter Minakis 
A couple of weeks ago I did a cooking demo at Toronto’s Harbourfront. No stranger to crowds, cooking in front of strangers didn’t present a problem and besides..I was doing what I love – sharing good, comforting food. When I was asked to conduct some cooking demos the prerequisite was that I showcase comforting dishes [...]
Posted in Canadiana, Cheese, Dairy, Featured, Herbs, Main, Onions, Pasta, Recipes, Spices, Vegetarian | 3 comments
Dec 12th, 2011 |
By Peter Minakis 
Here’s a dish my family’s made since I can recall holiday dinners like Thanksgiving and Christmas. This rice comes together rather easily which is good to have in your arsenal of holiday side dishes, what with the mad dash going on in the kitchen. The dish would originally be made with “ksinolahano”…a coarser Greek version [...]
Posted in Cabbage, Featured, Festive, Onions, Recipes, Rice, Side, Spices | 6 comments
Dec 8th, 2011 |
By Peter Minakis 
Anytime I travel I like to do some homework on the particular destination and the research becomes feverish when I look into food options. Last year I went to Istanbul for the second time and regardless of if you’re been to Istanbul or not – its reputation as a “food lover’s city” is justified. I [...]
Posted in Cheese, Featured, Herbs, Istanbul, Lamb, Main, Olive Oil, Peppers, Recipes, Spices, Turkish, Vegetables | 6 comments
Dec 1st, 2011 |
By Peter Minakis 
This past summer in Greece i didn’t get a chance to go to Istanbul but memories from last year are still vivid: people everywhere, a mix of modern and traditional as Istanbul is a city over 20 million that straddles both Europe and Asia, the smells of street vendors hawking their food, the restaurants for [...]
Posted in Baking, Featured, Herbs, Istanbul, Lamb, Main, Meat, Olive Oil, Onions, Pizza, Recipes, Spices, Turkish, Vegetables | 16 comments