Okra With Veal
Another staple of the Greek kitchen are okra. Okra is used alot in southern US cooking, Afro-American “soul food”, the Louisiana dish of Gumbo’s main ingredient is okra and in the Caribbean, Callaloo gets the okra treatment. Okra look and taste similar to beans but then are obviously thicker and taper like a thin pepper. […]
Say Hello to My Little Friends
As I’ve written in my brief profile, I also have pet cockatiels. Cockatiels are considered small parrots, the males can vocalize and they are indigenous to Australia. A friend of mine once worked in Australia and she called the Humane Society on a few occasions to notify them that she spotted some cockatiels that had […]
Cream of Vegetable Soup
It’s no secret that I love my soups in the cold months. I love brothy soups, chunky soups, soups with noodles and creamy soups. Lately, people shy away from creamy soups thinking that they are packed with flour or heavy cream as a thickener. Sometimes those ingredients are called for but I’ve discovered that potato […]
One Potato Salad, Hold The Mayo
A couple of weeks ago when I was having some fish, I couldn’t decide on a side dish/starch. I love potato salads but the usual recipes with mayonnaise aren’t a good match with fish. I recalled making a potato salad last summer in Greece that went very well with fish and the Mayo was absent. […]
Zucchini Sticks
Years ago, when I was of legal age to drink – no wait. Years ago when I would I would get into a bar underage, it was often for “wing night”. I’d have to say that chicken wings became a bar staple from the mid-1980’s. Back then I worked as a gas bar attendant, part […]
Zucchini Linguine
Not only is this side dish easy but it’s fun to recite…zucchini linguine. I’m a poet and I don’t even know it! I saw this recipe in a Greek food magazine that appears monthly in the weekend edition of Kathemerini (The Daily). Each month I head down to Toronto’s Greek town (The Danforth) and I […]
Homemade Cranberry Sauce
Is there anything more North American than Cranberry Sauce? It’s as integral to the Thanksgiving table as turkey is. Like many of you, I used to buy the can of jellied or whole cranberry sauce and no one at the table ever complained but we all knew it had a slight tinny after-taste. Fast forward […]
Inspired by…..Airplane Food?
Yes, that’s right. I’m about to show you a side that I ate on my flight to Europe. Airplane food has rarely been edible and the portion control is quite extreme (c’mon airlines…feed me). Out of all the airplane food I’ve eaten, smoked salmon starters and cold sandwiches are all that stand out as tasty […]
Potato Tortilla
This classic apparently is found at many a Tapas bar in Spain. ‘Tis a dense and satisfying large cake, or a frittata or omelet? Call it what you want but it’s delicious, easy to make and certainly another way to eat spuds. Potato Tortilla 1 lb of small potatoes, peeled and sliced thinly with a […]
Saffron Rice Pilaf
I recently celebrated my birthday and one of the gifts I received was some Greek saffron! The timing couldn’t have been better as I was about to make some rice pilaf for guests and I had heard of saffron being often used in rice and paella dishes. I had heard of Greek saffron but not […]