Divine Shrimp Boukies (Bites)
The darling of my last Greek Supper Club had to be these canapes with shrimp butter, poached shrimp and caviar on top. To ensure that these didn’t get gobbled-up prematurely I had sent them out to our hungry guests one platter at a time. This works in theory unless your guests barge into the kitchen […]
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 […]
Grouper With Green Olives & Sultanas
I enjoy foods that offer contrasts: it could be heat and spice combined with a cooling element or a tender morsel in the mouth along with a garnish to offer some crunch. I also like contrasts in flavours – some yin & yang and in this case the savory is balanced with ever so slight […]
Floriniotiki Strapetsada With Feta & Kebapia
To understand where this dish comes from is to first get a hang of what Strapetsada is: basically a scrambled egg dish containing grated tomatoes, olive oil and crumbled Feta and often eaten as a meze or late evening Greek dinner. There are may variances to this dish but those are the basics. Like with […]
Lemon-Pepper Calamari
When you’re hungry (especially during Lent) your belly can inspire you to create the simplest and most delicious dishes. One of the easiest dishes to prepare is fried calamari. One need only find fresh or thawed from frozen squid, mix a bowl of seasoned flour and have the confidence to fry in hot oil. Not […]
Herbaceous Green Rice & Shrimp
Green and red, earth and sea, shrimp and mushrooms, rice and herbs for you and me! Spring is here and the colour I associate the most with the barely new season is green. Here in Toronto we’ve had a mild winter and Spring has been unusually warm with temperature reaching 25 Celcius last weekend. One […]
Gaia Greek Dinner at Malena
Just two nights ago some lucky folks here in Toronto got to experience the first of many Greek cuisine-themed dinners I hope to organize in the future. Beyond organizing dinners at my home or other people’s residences this was the first to be held at a restaurant. I chose Malena because I love the warm […]
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 […]
Stuffed Flank Steak With Paprika Potatoes
Today you have a whole meal in one post…your lucky day! Let’s start with the main, flank steak which is located at the bottom of the animal or belly. Unlike pork belly this cut is lean, lots of muscle tissue and ideally marinated and cooked to rare to medium rare. For my readers from Greece, […]
Octopus With Olives & Potatoes
As an ingredient, Greeks “own octopus”, as Greek-food Guru Diane Kochilas said earlier this week. No one owns any particular ingredient but we proudly cook it (with skill) and there are countless octopus dishes in Greek cuisine from salads to stews, grilled to giouvetsi. You’ll find octopus in practically every corner of regional Greek cooking […]
