Spaghetti "al Cartoccio"
Yesterday, I was greeted with the return of seasonal, warm weather. The weather was very important and some friends and I played “hookie” and ditched work for a day at the amusement park, Canada’s Wonderland. This amusement park is situated just north of Toronto and my return was long overdue…25 years! We hit the roller […]
Μακαρονάδα-με-θαλασσινά
Today, I’m not even offering up a translation of the title in English. The photos speak for themselves. What you have here is the essence of where I spend my vacations in Greece…Halkidiki. This pasta is an ode to the summer…summers in Greece, summer in the Mediterranean…summer anywhere you may be spending it this year. […]
Lamb Giouvetsi
One of the most rustic and beloved Greek dishes has to be Giouvetsi. Traditionally, this meal is baked in clay pots. There are many variations on this dish from the type of meat used to the spices included in the ingredient mix. Here, I’m using lamb shoulder that’s been rendered down to a fall-off the […]
Linguine With Zucchini, Garlic, Black Olives, and Toasted Breadcrumbs
When the weather is this good, it’s hard to blog or catch-up on my friends’ kitchen action but here I am…adding to the din. Last week, Martha Stewart lined up a whack of celebrity chefs to show off and show the viewers quick and easy recipes that you & I can can whip up in […]
I’m Feeling Kinda’ Blue
As in blue cheese, that is. During one of my recent food shopping adventures, I was lucky to find some English Stilton for a very good price. Stilton is one of the family of blue cheeses and as the saying goes, “the stinkier, the better”. I have two dishes for you today, the first being […]
Manestra With Keftedes and Kofta Makaronia
This Greek meatball dish has to be one of my dad’s favourites and now that I’m adult, it’s one of mine. Keftedes are a Greek meatball/burger and although the spices and herbs may vary from home to home, it’s basically of ground mince, grated onion, soaked bread and spices. This dish falls in the Manestra […]
BBQ Spaghetti
I’m always amazed when parallels, cooking coincidences and similar ingredients arise out of two different, unrelated cuisines. I discovered such a parallel recently after watching a newly introduced series on the Food Network called Down Home With the Neelys. The Neelys run two family businesses in Tennessee and they are famous for their ribs and […]
Spaghetti and Meatballs
I hope I didn’t traumatize anyone with my photo of my mating cockatiels photo. Due to popular demand, the video will be coming shortly! ;) It’s Good Friday today for most of you but for us Greeks, it’s just another Friday…the beginning of the weekend. For us Greeks in the Diaspora, Good Friday is usually […]
Octopus With Penne
Nature can be funny. How can something as fugly as the octopus be so delicious? For those of you who do not like octopus, that’s all right with me. That means there’s more supply for me and perhaps the price of octopus will again drop to more affordable levels. Most (if not all) the octopus […]
The Paisano in Me
From as early as I can recall, I’ve always enjoyed pasta dishes and I’m pleased that there are endless pastas, recipes and combinations yet to be tried out. First, here’s a gift from me, well…a gift from Barilla pasta. A couple of weeks ago, Mario Batali guested on Rachel Ray’s talk show and he shared […]