Pan-Seared Sea Bream With Spinach, Fennel & Avgolemono Sauce
This dish comes from Greece, handed to me from my mom who tried the dish via a family friend, Kuria (Mrs.) Anna. For this dish I used sea bream (tsipoura) filets but you can use any white fish filets (preferably with skin on). I like the skin on fish – when it is crispy and […]
Makaronada With Fried Baby Eggplant
There are still lots of eggplants in the markets here and this year’s crop has been sweet with very few having the usual bitterness one finds in eggplants. Not all eggplants are the same: the usual big purple ones often have some seeds and bitterness and one sprinkles salt on the exposed flesh to draw […]
Ribeye With Mushroom, Mavrodaphne & Fig Sauce
I spent the Thanksgiving weekend in Kitchener-Waterloo area (just over an hour southwest of Toronto) and I stopped by one of southern Ontario’s best butcher shops, Brady’s in Waterloo (with a second location in the St. Jacob’s Market). This family-owned butcher shop has beef, pork, poultry, wild game, lots of local and exotic pantry items […]
Mushroom Strapetsada With Halloumi and Crispy Bacon
Every Saturday I like to treat myself to a big breakfast. That is to say I enjoy eggs (scrambled or sunnyside up), some bacon or breakfast sausages, toast, orange juice, fruit, coffee. Yesterday I broke-up the monotony of having the same breakfast by adding some mushrooms leftover from last week and one of my favourite […]
Individual Meatless Moussaka
I recall seeing these really stylish pieces of Moussaka that were perfectly plated in a Greek food magazine a couple of years ago and (finally) I got around to trying my hand at these stylish individual portions using these metal ring molds used often by chefs. These ring molds are used to structure a salad, […]
Steak Sandwich With Talstenes, Mushrooms & Graviera
This sandwich came together using leftovers from a combo of previous recipes but don’t let that dissuade you from trying this one out. Reinventing and turning leftovers into an entirely new, fresh dish is a kitchen triumph with a delicious reward. I lucked-out with some tri-tip steak at the butcher and made a marinade of […]
Keftedes With Roast Potatoes
Here’s a dish my Dad loves to make: it combines three of his favourite foods: potatoes, peppers (with some heat) and kebapia (Florina speak for keftedes/soutzoukakia). This is a comforting fall/winter dish where youget a pan of roasted potatoes with a delicious, spicy sauce perfumed with bay, peppers, paprika and oregano. There’s a spike of […]
Lobster Eggs Benedict With Crispy Potato Pancakes & Bearnaise Sauce
One of the downsides (there are few) to going to Greece is that lobster prices are astronomical. If you find live lobster at the market it will go for 60 Euros a kilo and at a seafood taverna you will likely pay 80 Euros a kilo for this delicacy. Fast forward to Canada, back from […]
Baked Eggplant With Beef and Cheese
Truth be told, this past Summer’s trip to Greece was one of the most memorable with my usual visits to my family’s home in Halkidiki, frequent trips to nearby Thessaloniki, a side trip to Constantinople (Istanbul), down to the capital of Athens, a wonderful first visit to beautiful Nafplio, a visit to the Prefecture of […]
Scorpion Fish & Venus Clam Chowder
I have little to complain about upon reflecting on the six weeks I’ve spent vacationing in Greece. Despite the cloudy and rainy past couple of days the weather has been sunny, hot and the beaches were clean, not as crowded and the food, ever-inspiring. If if weren’t for yesterday’s cool & rainy day I may […]