This post is dedicated to my friend Elaine, for her love for octopus and her fear of cooking it. It is also dedicated to all the past and future customers of Whole Foods Market who patiently stand in line behind me at the seafood department, while I chose the biggest and meatiest octopus, and who ask me in the… Continue Reading
I prepared this dish today for the third time in the the last few weeks and all I am wondering is what has kept me from sharing this recipe with you earlier. Because, honestly, I count nothing but pros! * you will have dinner on the table in less than 30 minutes from start to finish * most… Continue Reading
It was about 10 am this morning in San Francisco and around 8 pm on the island of Skiathos, Greece when I was skyping with my mother, my aunt Nana and their friend Dora. The three of them were spending the last evening of their vacation at my aunt’s summer house and were in a grand mood! For… Continue Reading
In Greece, there are still small neighborhood bakeries that offer one incredible service: you can actually take your food to the bakery and have it baked there for only a couple euros. This “service” dates back to the days when homes did not have ovens, and if you wonder why you would consider doing such a thing nowadays,… Continue Reading
After cooking pasta, do you ever end up with just a little leftover marinara sauce, not quite knowing what to do with it? Often times I’m left with some tomato sauce that is too much to toss, but too little to freeze or reuse over pasta for a meal to serve four. Here are three incredibly easy… Continue Reading
My mother is an artist who loves to create, not only when she sits in front of a canvas, but also in her everyday life. It’s often that she will open her refrigerator and come up with an amazing recipe just by combining the right ingredients that happened to be within her sight. This chicken with feta cheese… Continue Reading
It is a common knowledge that parsley is an herb. But have you ever thought of it as a green vegetable? In the part of Greece I come from, they do! This oven baked fish and tomato recipe is a Greek classic that requires a little parsley. But in my hometown of Volos, they add parsley… Continue Reading
This past summer in Greece, we had dinner at a modern and gourmet restaurant, known for its nouvelle cuisine. The selection included real gastronomic delights, but there was also a whole page on the menu devoted to dishes and desserts popular when the Athenian upper class of the 60’s was entertaining, otherwise known as “Athenian Recipes”*. These were mostly European classics prepared with… Continue Reading
Who would imagine that only a couple of tablespoons of a sweet liqueur would transform an everyday, traditional Greek recipe into an exquisite and fine tasting dish. Beef cooked into tomato sauce is a very popular meal in Greece, called “Kokkinisto” (meaning that it is cooked in red sauce) and is served in all traditional taverns and… Continue Reading
If you haven’t roasted a whole chicken with the “butterfly and flatten” techniques before, consider doing so for these simple and absolutely mouthwatering reasons: 1) by opening up the chicken, all of its parts are exposed on the upper side while roasting and therefore all of the chicken’s skin stays crisp. 2) a flattened chicken will roast more evenly because all of its parts… Continue Reading
