The dressing is where we get creative. Ever buy some grapes only to find that they are so tart that they make your face pucker when you taste them? You want those grapes for what we’re making here…verjuice or agourida in Greek. When one makes a salad you need fat (olive oil) and acid, which is usually vinegar or lemon juice. The acid in this instance is the agourida made from tart white grapes and made by simply plucking the tart grapes off the stems, placing them in a food processor and then straining them. What you’re left with is a tart green-hued liquid called verjuice or agourida in Greek!

So, if life gives you no lemons, make an agourida – same dressing ratios…I like 3 parts oil to 1 part acid and I always add a little mustard to emulsify the dressing. Keeping with the grapes, we’re going for balance in the salad as I’m using a unique ingredient from the Niagara wine region called ice syrup.

Ice syrup was created by Steve Murdza who instead of making ice wine with the  frozen grapes he turned them into ice syrup. Much like with ice wine, the grapes are left on the vines through part of the winter and when the temperature hits -8 Celicius, they can be picked then turned into sweet grape juice with the fermentation being bypassed (that’s when ice wine is made).

This salad is about contrasts: crunchy baked phyllo filled with soft Feta cheese, tart agourida balanced by the sweet nectar of Niagara ice syrup. Greek extra-virgin olive oil, walnuts and almonds, sliced grapes and some sultana raisins, ground anise in the cheese filling and some sliced fennel in the salad. I loved this salad and I’m looking forward to making it for family and friends in the near future!

Phyllo-Feta Cigars With Agourida & Niagara Ice Syrup Salad Dressing

(serves 4)

4 sheets of thawed commercial phyllo

1/2 stick melted butter

Filling

4 sticks/batons of Feta cheese

1/4 cup chopped almonds

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

zest of 1/2 lemon

ground anise

Dressing

2 Tbsp. verjuice (agourida)

1/2 tsp. Dijon-style mustard

1/4 cup extra-virgin Greek olive oil

1 small clove of garlic, minced

2 Tbsp. chopped fresh chives

fine sea salt and fresh ground pepper

garnish

sultana raisins

halved grapes

sesame seeds

Niagara ice syrup

4-6 cups of mixed salad greens, rinsed and spun-dry

1/2 fennel bulb, thinly sliced

1.  Ensure you’re using tart, unripe grapes to make the agourida (verjuice). Rinse the grapes, pick off the stems and place in a food processor and whiz until a purée. Pass through a strainer and you’ve your tart verjuice/agourida.
2. Take your thawed phyllo out of the fridge and pre-heat your oven to 350F. Cut your phyllo vertically into two, brush each sheet of phyllo and place one sheet on top of the other.
3. Cut your sticks of Feta to about 1 inch smaller than the width of your phyllo and place near the bottom of sheet. Sprinkle the chopped nuts above the cheese, grate some lemon zest and sprinkle some ground fennel. Now fold the bottom flap of phyllo over the cheese and tuck-in the sides and roll-up. Brush with butter and place on a baking sheet and bake in your oven for about 15 minutes or until golden.
4. In the meantime, wash and dry your salad greens, slice the fennel and place in a bowl. Place your verjuice, mustard, olive oil in a jar along with the garlic, chives, salt and pepper and place the lid on and shake to emulsify. Taste and adjust seasoning, oil to acid ratio.
5. When the phyllo cigars are golden, take out of the oven and now toss your salad with the dressing. Cut your phyllo cigar in half on the bias, place on your plated greens. Garnish with grape halves, sultana raisins, sprinkle with sesame seeds and drizzle with Niagara ice syrup.

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© 2012, 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 am now selling Spanakopita (spinach and cheese), Tyropita (cheese) pitas, all made with hand-made, opened/stretched phyllo. The Spanakopita’s filling is made of spinach, Feta and ricotta cheeses, eggs, salt, pepper, scallions and fresh dill.

The Tyropita contains Feta and ricotta cheeses, eggs, salt and pepper and it is available in both rectangular and round trays. The round Tyropita is what us northern Greeks call a Boureki and it’s also called a Strifti pita. In English i is known as a spiral pie.

I am also offering a sweet Bougatsa…a Greek breakfast and snack offering. Adults and kids will indulge in Bougatsa in the morning be it in the store where it’s made or taken “paketo” with them. My Bougatsa is made just like in Greece with hand-made phyllo, semolina cream filling and baked until golden and flaky. All you have to is cut it into fork-sized pieces, sprinkle with icing sugar and cinnamon and enjoy with a Greek coffee, frappe or chocolate milk!

The large pies are 16″ X 11″ and sell for $30.00 and the small pies are 11″ X 8″ and sell for $15.00. The Spiral pies come in large and small sizes and again, $30 and $15 respectively. They are made and frozen in foil pans and you may either that overnight in the fridge before baking or bake from frozen (takes longer to bake).

These phyllo pies are great for entertaining, serve as part of a light lunch or dinner with a salad or soup and they always go over well at parties (they are the first to go).

Orders may be placed my emailing me at truenorth67 AT gmail.com, pick-up only (for now). Cash and paypal are accepted (firm).

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Dukem is located on the Danforth, just west of Donlands on the northside. Upon walking into this restaurant you’re transported to another place: African music plays softly in the background, low lights (but not dim enough to not see your food), the exotic aroma of spices (Berbere is an Ethiopian spice mixture) and the smell of coffee beans roasting. Coffee’s origins are from Ethiopia and they take it very seriously. You can request/order an Ethiopian Coffee ceremony where the entire process of coffee making is performed right in front of your table. We caught the table behind us being presented with a pot full of roasting coffee beans. The smell was intoxicating!

Injera bread

The room is very tastefully decorated with photographs of Ethiopia displayed and on sale. The tables are wooden, menus and drinks lists already at hand a long with salt, sugar, napkins and wet-naps! You see, you’re not going to get any cutlery at an Ethiopian restaurant as you’re supposed to eat with your right hand. The national bread of Ethiopia is Injera, a spongy large bread with the consistency much like a pancake and made of sorghum flour.

I entered Dukem with little info on Ethiopian cuisine other than knowing Berbere spices were prominent, one ate with your hands and the way to eat was to pinch a piece of Injera bread and scoop some food off the communal platters that you are served in. In Ethiopia, food is eaten family style and that’s how the portions arrive – big and you’re supposed to share. Our server was all to willing to offer assistance in ordering from the menu: lots of meat and vegetarians options raging from lamb, beef and chicken to lentils, spinach, beets and split peas.

Once again, the portions are generous and you should go to an Ethiopian restaurant with friends so that you may order more and share! After the menu was explained by our server, we settled on a meat (tibs) combo of meat, chicken and lamb with an array of vegetable offerings on the same platter. We also order a vegetable dish…always seeking a balance of meat and vegetables.

The first dish was the “special meat combo” that included marinated lamb, beef and chicken, all similar all different in their spice blend along with lentils, split peas, spinach, beets. I loved the beef and lamb, the spices in the chicken were a little bitter for my liking and I loved the vegetables and lentils too! There’s a lot of variety here and the pinching of Injera bread and picking up a different bite of food each time was exciting for the palate.

I saw that some other patrons were drinking wine but my server suggested beer as that’s what most seem to enjoy with Ethiopian food. Wine is a better sale for a restaurant but I appreciated her honesty. I ordered the Ethiopian beer on the menu but sold out – the Heineken washed the Ethiopian food down real well! The next dish to arrive was the “vegetarian medley” combo. What arrived was a stir-fried beef with onions and peppers and served on a hot plate – much like fajitas would. Although this dish also tasted good, it did remind me of fajita seasoning and if I were strictly vegetarian this dish would be a problem. Did we mis-communicate our order? Did we in fact receive tibs (meat) with vegetables?

The food was delicious (save for the bitter-spiced chicken), loved eating with my hands, Injera bread is a great conduit for the food, most of which has some heat but nothing too fiery and besides…it’s all washed down well with beer! For some reason our orders took awhile to arrive but the food was hot, very aromatic and delicious. Service is attentive and prompt and a dinner for two will set you back about $50-60.

The smell of the spices wafting in the air as you wait for your food is worth the visit alone and I have to go back for the Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony. Who’s coming along?

Dukem Restaurant

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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 came up with ‘Nacho’ macaroni & cheese and discovering that making your own cheese sauce for macaroni tasted and looked similar to the cheese sauce that one gets in a jar or served with nachos at Tex/Mex eateries. I used elbow macaroni as they are hollow and I would recommend using a similar hollow pasta so that cheezy sauce can get in the pasta too!

Macaroni & cheese is an easy dish that starts out with making a roux with butter and flour then whisking in some warm milk until it thickens then the grated cheeses are added.  I used two cheeses here: grated Parmesan and an aged white cheddar cheese. The better the cheese, the more flavour you’ll get without having to use excessive amounts of cheese.

There’s some sweet paprika, a pinch of chilli powder and dried oregano to give the dish that “nacho” flavour. Once the grated cheese melts into the béchamel stage of the sauce, your mac n’ cheese is ready. Just toss the cooked pasta, add some oregano and a pinch of chilli flakes and Nacho Macaroni & Cheese is done. For that extra Tex/Mex flavour and texture, I crush some nacho corn chips on top!

This weekend I’ll be at Harbourfront cooking on both Saturday and Sunday at 2:30 & 3:30 pm at the Lakeside Eats Cafe. There’s a skating rink out front, skate rentals and a fantastic view of Toronto’s lakefront. Drop by and see what I’ll cook next!

Nacho Macaroni & Cheese

(serves 4)

2 1/2 cups of elbow macaroni

3 Tbsp. of unsalted butter

2 heaping Tbsp. of flour

1 small onion, finely diced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 tsp. sweet paprika

pinch of chilli powder

2 cups of whole milk (warm)

1 cup of heavy cream

1 cup grated white cheddar cheese

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

fresh ground pepper and sea salt to taste

pinch of chilli flakes

½  tsp. dried Greek oregano

1/2 cup crushed nacho chips

1. Place a large pot of water on your stove-top and bring to a boil. Add a good amount of salt and add pasta and cool for 8 minutes. In the meantime, add your butter to a large pot over medium heat. Once the butter had melted, add the onions, garlic, chilli powder and paprika and stir. Sweat for 5 minutes or until softened. Now add the flour and stir for a minute. Now add your milk in increments while stirring and turn the heat up to medium-high. Add the cream while stirring and continue to stir until the sauce has thickened enough to just coat a wooden spoon. Add your grated cheeses and stir in until melted. Adjust seasoning with fresh ground pepper, chilli flakes and some oregano (salt if needed).
2. Once your pasta is cooked, strain and add into your sauce along with oregano,  and chilli flakes. Gently toss with a slotted spoon or spatula and divide and plate with a topping of crushed nacho chips.

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Much like a carrot cake or zucchini bread the beets are grated and mix into the batter raw – NOT boiled or cooked in any other way. There’s plenty of time for the beets to cook in the batter and did I mention the inside of the bread looks fantastic with the red beats speckles? (Yeah I did)

The most important steps to making Beet & Walnut muffins (yes they are sweet) or cake is tossing both the walnuts and grated beets in some flour. The is process is important because you’ll help your walnuts from sinking to the bottom of the loaf while baking and the beets will not bleed to the point of making your cake turn all red. Bottom line: mix your grated beets with some flour and mix into the batter just before pouring the batter into a muffin tin or loaf pan.

I opted to make muffins this time as I gave these to the hostess who had me over for a luncheon/tea this afternoon and there was no way I was going to give her a cake that was missing a slice or risk giving someone an insipid cake. Muffins it was, I tasted a couple, took some quick snaps and I have wonderful, quirky and sneaky way to have your kids eat vegetables…in cake or muffin form. Oh, beets are in season…enjoy!

Beet & Walnut Muffins

(makes 12 muffins or 1 loaf)

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 level Tbsp. of baking powder

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup milk

1/4 cup olive oil

2 cups grated beets (raw)

3/4 cup chopped walnuts

extra flour for dredging beets and walnuts

pre-heated 375F oven

1. In one bowl, add your dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, cinnamon and mix with a fork. In another bowl, lightly beat your eggs, milk and oil and set aside. Pre-heat your oven to 375F, middle rack.
2. Chop your walnuts and add enough flour (approx. 1 Tbsp.) to coat the nuts, toss well. Peel your raw beet and pass through the side of your box grater with large holes. You should have approx. 2 cups loosely filled. Add flour while mixing with a fork until the grated beets appear a light pink (almost dry) in colour. Set aside.
3. Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix quickly with a spoon. Add add the walnuts and mix in. Finally, add the grated beets into the dough mixture.
4. Grease your muffin tins or place the paper muffin cups into the pan and spoon in or use an ice cream scooper to insert the dough into each muffin mold. Place in your pre-heated oven for 20 minutes (stick a toothpick into a muffin to check for doneness  – no dough should stick to it).
5. Remove the muffins from the oven and carefully remove them from the tin and allow to slightly cool on a rack. Serve warm or room temperature.

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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.