Makaronopita With Eggplant (Μακαρονόπιτα με μελιτζανες)
It’s time for another pasta dish. Although I’ve cut down on the amount of pasta I eat, I still do love it and I have pasta at least once a week (maybe twice a week). Greeks enjoy pasta, the Spaniards, the French, Arabs, Turks and of course, Asians. Pasta also has a special place in […]
Roulade of Sole With Avgolemono (Ρουλάδα της γλώσσας)
I recently caught Chef Jacques Pepin serving up some paupiettes of sole. Now don’t go scrambling for your French-English dictionaries, a paupiette is simply sometime rolled-up – in this case a fillet of sole. I immediately had to use this method of baking sole as it looks gorgeous and the fillet will cook more evenly. […]
Tarragon Chicken With Peas and Carrots
File this recipe in the category of “quick weeknight dinners that transport you to a restaurant”. This dish was one of the first dishes I ever cooked and it’s also one where I enjoyed the experience of cooking with “significant other” and loved it. Do you like cooking on your own or do you allow […]
Baked Gigantes Beans
Last year, one of the stops during my vacation to Greece was to Kastoria. Kastoria is the capital city of the Prefecture of…Kastoria. It’s located in northern Greece, northwestern Macedonia. This region of Greece is located on fertile, elevated plateaus and the economy is centered around its long history of fur trading, tourism and agriculture. […]
Bits & Bites With Astrid Speranza
I recently had the pleasure of seeing Chef Astrid Speranza appear on a Greek reality show. The premise of the show is where the subject (sometimes male, sometimes female) is taken on four dates where the suitor will woo them with their home cooking and charm. The week culminates at a restaurant where the subject […]
Vine-Leaf Chicken Stuffed with Feta
Most of you are familiar with dolmades, where small packets of rice and aromatics are bundled using grape-vine leaves or “ampelofyla” in Greek. These small morsels may also contain meat or be wrapped with Swiss chard cabbage. The cabbage rolls are also often called “lahano-dolmades”. The use of grape-vine leaves is not limited to just […]
Roast Lamb in Parchment (Αρνί ψητό στη λαδόκολλα)
Oh how many ways to cook a lamb there are. I’m just a Greek guy sharing the many ways. You have braised, boiled, grilled, rotisserie and roast. Then you have your whole lamb, or sections of lamb on the spit, leg of lamb, shoulder, chops, steaks and in this case, the shank. All these recipes […]
Salmon With Artichokes & Potatoes
Here’s a dish that’s “just in time” for Spring. Artichokes are in season, salmon is available all year’ round and the flavours of citrus lick this dish. Some potatoes coated in sweet paprika and some briny capers round out the dish. The oregano has just sprouted and so have the chives. This dish is a […]
Soutzoukakia Smyrneika
Here’s a recipe update from early in this blog’s existence, in July of 2007. The recipe hasn’t changed but the quality of photos has changed. From these pics I snapped when I recently made (and ate) a batch of Soutzoukakia Smyrneika, I know you too will want to dive in and eat these head first! […]
Lamb Exohiko
How would you feel if I presented you with a dish that presented you some of the favoured ingredients in Greek cuisine? All wrapped-up in one dish? You get spinach (check), you get tomato (check), you get green pepper (check), you get tender pieces of lamb (check), Greek cheese in Cretan Graviera (check) and it’s […]