Lamb Shanks With Kritharaki
I made this dish last week for a dinner organized by my friends at Reel Eats. They host dinners that are inspired by food-centric movies. They picked My Greek Fat Greek Wedding and asked me to create a menu. The main course was lamb shanks with kritharaki…Giouvetsi as Greek call it but to pull off […]
Pumpkin Pastitsio
Each year I see people throw out their carved pumpkins when they can use the flesh to make another good dish or two. Hold on to those pumpkins after Halloween, we’ve got a Greek dish to make! Inspired by Diane Kochilas’ version of Pastitsio with pumpkin, I took this riff on Greek’s answer to lasagna […]
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 […]
Laiki Agora – People’s Market in Greece
The question I often get is, “Why does the food in Greece taste different, better than over here”? My simple reply is that the best Greek cooking is simple, relying on local, fresh and seasonal ingredients. The simplicity of the dish is allowed to shine when this maxim is practiced. Practically anyone I know in […]
Makaronada With Tuna, Roast Peppers & Capers
Use what’s around you, in season and as local as possible. Here in Greece I’ve been enjoying my summer vacation with those who mean so much to me: my family, relatives, good friends. Its been hot here in Greece since July and since I’ve been here (early August) we’ve had temperatures reaching well over […]
Shrimp, Macaroni & Feta
It’s been really busy around the Kalofagas camp – prepping and cooking for over 2000 guests at TUM, planning, recipe-testing and executing my last Greek Supper Club, I’m participating in a Taco Throwdown this week and in between all this I am also entertaining friends from out of town and finding the time to feed […]
Kalofagas Greek Supper Club – An Evening in the Cyclades (Recap)
This past Tuesday I cooked for my second Greek Supper Club with a menu inspired by the cuisine of the Cyclades islands. The menu was ambitious, lots of thought and work went into the meal, with an eye to providing my guests with Greek hospitality like one experiences when visiting a Greek home. The location […]
Riganada
A little while back I shared my memories of visiting the island of Lefkada and this time I’m back to share more but this time we’re going to touch upon the cuisine. Lefkada is located on the Ionian side of Greece, that which faces Italy and its no coincidence that many dishes hint of those […]
Crab Kritharotto
The crab, the symbol for my zodiac – Cancer or Karkinos in Greek. In Greek mythology Karkinos was a giant crab that assisted Hydra the nine-headed serpent in its battle with Iraklis (Heracles) at Lerna. The hero crushed it under his foot but as a reward it was placed amongst the stars as constellation Cancer […]
Mushroom Giouvetsi
My love of mushrooms goes back to as early as I can remember eating on my own. I remember my mom sauteeing mushrooms with butter and finishing them with a squeeze of lemon juice and finishing them with some dried Greek oregano. Back then (70’s) one could only find white button mushrooms but today the […]