One of my favourite salads for the warm months is this warm bean salad with cherry tomatoes and mint. Oh yes, I’ve snuck in some dried Greek oregano in there but mint alone is fine. Beans are very filling, a good way to skip some carbs and the dressing has a nice balance of sweet [...]
As a convenience to the many readers of this blog, I’ve amassed all the Lenten (and Lent-friendly) dishes that I have posted thus far. Most of the dishes are Greek and appropriate for Lent and some are foreign but due to their ingredients, they fit in nicely with the Greek Lent in [...]
One of my favourite Greek dishes contains ripe, sweet tomatoes, Feta cheese, extra-virgin olive oil, eggs. I’m speaking of course of Strapetsatha, an oft-made dish by Greeks be for breakfast or for dinner (yes, Greeks love egg dishes for dinner). Strapetsatha is traditionally made by scrambling the egg and tomato mixture and there are the [...]
I recently had the pleasure of catering an evening of Greek & Mediterranean nibbles on the occasion of a client’s 50 birthday. I was instructed to make appetizers, perfect for people who want to stand and mingle or sit and chat. The challenge with a small bite menu is that there are usually twice the [...]
A Lenten favourite as artichokes are in season during this period. The “ala Polita” refers to the dish’s origins…Constantinople. Artichokes a la Polita (serves 4) 12 artichokes, trimmed & cleaned 2 medium onions, sliced 4 medium potatoes, peeled & cut into thirds 3 carrots, peeled and cut into 2 in. segments 1/4 cup olive oil 1 [...]
Last weekend brought the end to the meat-eating phase of Apokries (Greek Carnival) and now Greeks are in the homestretch – the last week of Apokries. It’s Tyrini or Cheesefare Week with many Greeks forgoing meat and only eating dishes with cheese…lots of cheese! Pasta’s popularity goes beyond the happy bellies of Italian diners and [...]
One of new additions to the landscape of Toronto’s food scene is the addition of Momofuku here in Toronto. Momofuku began in New York and it is headed by chef David Chang. Reviews of the Toronto location (which is 3 floors of varying Momofuku concepts) have been really good so far, from both foodies and [...]
There are about 11 million Greeks in today’s Greece and about another 11 million throughout the rest of the world. Greeks have long traveled beyond [...]
This dish is a play on a Greek favourite – roasted beet salad with lots of garlic. This is a side dish enjoyed my many and more creative types have even come up with doing a mash-up (pun intended) of a beet skordalia. Inspired by a dish from the Kokkari cookbook and restaurant in San [...]
I made this salad this past Sunday for guests who attended my Ancient Greek Food & Wine dinner. The main ingredient here is bulghur wheat, an ancient ingredient made of cracked durum wheat, parboiled and then dried. It gets sifted and then separated according to the size of the kernels. It’s a whole grain, super-healthy [...]
