Greek Christmas Recipe Round-Up
I decided to organize some Christmas dishes for you to consider when you’re planning your Christmas, holiday and New Year’s menus. These are some options divided simply in savory and sweet categories. Eat when you drink, drink when you eat and reach out and invite someone extra to the table. You’ll feel good! Savory Greek […]
Greek Easter Recipe Round-Up
Many of you have visited my Recipe Round-Up for Lent and I hope that I’ve helped you find some interesting dishes to break-up the monotony of the usual Lenten fare. We’re fast approaching Greek Easter and preparations are already beginning in my household! Greek Easter is centered around lamb or goat and the whole day […]
Lamb on the Spit (αρνί-στη-σούβλα)
It’s the day after Easter and it’s also the Feast of St. George so my best wishes and “Hronia Polla” go out to all the George’s out there. I have to admit I’m quite today. Yesterday was a huge success. Toronto basked in a glorious and sunny 20C with little wind. Greek Easter is meant […]
Tzigerokeftedes
Last month, we celebrated Easter and when I mean celebrate, we prepare a full-on Sunday feast with food being served from morning ’til night. You would too if you fasted from meat and meat by-products for a 40-day Lent period. The center of the Greek Easter table is lamb (or goat) and nothing gets wasted […]
Mushroom Magheritsa Soup
When Greeks return from the Anastasi service at church (Saturday Easter eve), the first thing to go into the mouths is a bowl of Magheritsa. This is a traditional soup made of boiled intestines (cleaned) and other offal (such as heart, lung, liver and sweetbreads). The soup is full of boiled greens, dill, parsley, scallions […]
Greek Independence Day Supper Club Recap
March 25th is a double celebration for Greece – both a historical and a religious one. Greeks celebrate the beginning of the struggle for independence from the Ottomans in 1821. The Greek-Orthodox church celebrates the Annunciation by Archangel Gabriel to Virgin Mary, and that she should become the mother of Christ. Forty guests attended this […]
Kalofagas Souvla Dinner, a Recap
I’ve roasted a whole lamb on the spit many times…mostly for Greek Easter but there’s the odd occasion when it’s done to celebrate as well. The tradition of roasting whole on the spit came from Roumeli (central Greece) but this method of cooking lamb became so popular that Greeks from all over Greece have […]
Tsiknopempti – Greek Carnival Dinner Recap
Last night’s dinner was probably my most ambitious to date…record sold out crowd of over 60 guests, a menu with a over a dozen items and all this being cooked in a kitchen I have never worked in before. My first Tsiknopempti dinner was a delicious success with lots of Kechribari retsina, Babatzim Ouzo, Alfa […]
Bantis Bougatsa in Thessaloniki
Did you know that 70% of vacationers factor in food when deciding where to travel? So, it comes as no surprise that many choose Greece as a travel destination and one of the purposes of this blog is to bring you (the reader) closer to the Greek cuisine. Some want to relive the sights, aromas […]
Neo-Magheritsa
Margheritsa is a traditional soup made by Greeks for Orthodox Easter. It contains cleaned intestines, organs of the lamb or goat and may contain sweetbreads and even the boiled head of the animal. The meat is boiled until softened and a stock is created. Spring onions, herbs are added and the soup is finished off/thickened […]