Worth a second look: same recipe as when I first published this very popular Greek dish back in October 2007 with updated photos today, enjoy! This is another traditional Greek dish and it’s still often made in an earthenware pot, a kind of glazed terracotta vessel and baked in the oven. Like many Greek dishes, [...]
Last year I finally splurged and bought myself a pasta maker and although I do still use dried (store bought) pasta, nothing can compare to the ritual and rewarding meal one has with making and eating pasta. Another food journey has taken me to making my own bread. I’ve become kind of a bread snob, [...]
The sweetbreads I’m discussing and cooking with today are considered offal. To look at sweetbreads, one would make the common mistake of thinking they are brains (in fact they are not). Sweetbreads come from the thymus glands, located at the chest entry, just before the trachea. They are only found in young animals as they [...]
The title of this dish means three different things in three different languages and cuisines. Sofrito in Spanish refers to a well-cooked and fragrant sauce. In Italian, Sofrito means a saute and it often refers to sauteing a “mire poix”. The Greek take on Sofrito is related to the Italian definition as veal or beef [...]
Across Greece and especially around the city of Thessaloniki, one will find these shops that are open all night, serving up hot bowls of soup, be it summer or winter. These joints are called “Patzatzidika”, serving up the main soup known as “Patsa”. A Patsa is a soup that contains boiled tripe, pigs feet and [...]
(note…updating entry from 2007) If you’re reading my blog, no doubt you love food and all the trappings that come with it. One of those trappings is grocery shopping and I still do get excited when a product or a particular produce appears in the stands. If I was in Kansas, born a girl and [...]
Today’s June 1st and when a new month begins, it’s customary for Greeks to salute one & other with a “Kalo Mina” or a wish for a “good month”. With the onset of a new month also comes the notion of new ideas. I thought it would be neat to “try out” a new dish [...]
Another staple of the Greek kitchen are okra. Okra is used alot in southern US cooking, Afro-American “soul food”, the Louisiana dish of Gumbo’s main ingredient is okra and in the Caribbean, Callaloo gets the okra treatment. Okra look and taste similar to beans but then are obviously thicker and taper like a thin pepper. [...]
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. I [...]
When I was young, I didn’t like having the “Greek” meals like the one here. I didn’t like carrots, I thought bay leaves and spices were weird. What led to my awakening to good food and all food Greek? Perhaps it was spending summers traveling and being absent from my mom’s home cooking or perhaps [...]
