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 […]
Greek-Inspired Nachos
Forgive me for stating the obvious but there’s no such thing as Greek nachos but I can assure you lots of Greeks enjoy Tex-Mex flavours and that when I saw Bittman’s take on Greek-Style Nachos…I wish I thought of it first! It’s not a stretch of the imagination that one can think of using baked […]
Ribeye With Mushroom, Mavrodaphne & Fig Sauce
I spent the Thanksgiving weekend in Kitchener-Waterloo area (just over an hour southwest of Toronto) and I stopped by one of southern Ontario’s best butcher shops, Brady’s in Waterloo (with a second location in the St. Jacob’s Market). This family-owned butcher shop has beef, pork, poultry, wild game, lots of local and exotic pantry items […]
Fried Batzos With Makalo & Kefte
I figured I better squeeze in all the fried cheese while it’s still December and we can splurge on some richer foods (and eat them too)! I have just one thick slab of Batzo cheese left in the fridge – a cheese from northern Greece that I brought back this past summer. To refresh your […]
Lahmacun Recipe
This past summer in Greece i didn’t get a chance to go to Istanbul but memories from last year are still vivid: people everywhere, a mix of modern and traditional as Istanbul is a city over 20 million that straddles both Europe and Asia, the smells of street vendors hawking their food, the restaurants for […]
The Prime Rib Steak
is at home. Sunday’s are best enjoyed at home with family and friends and it’s a fine to either stretch your culinary wings and cook-up a sumptuous Sunday dinner or shift-down in gears and prepare a home-cooked meal that’s easy, comforting and most satisfying. I chose the latter today – I chose steak. Go ahead, […]
Holy Chuck Burgers
The hamburger renaissance is large here in the Toronto area and from what I’ve been gleaning in the media, the same holds true throughout Canada and the US. Hamburger franchises are closing and new independent shops are opening up. Some of the new shops are merely new, glitzy shops offering the same ole’ processed […]
Pork Gyro at Home
One of the most recognized Greek foods has to be the Souvlaki. i.e. cubes of meat skewered and grilled over glowing embers. The most common souvlaki you’ll find in Greek eateries is pork but you’ll also find chicken, lamb and beef versions. The other popular Greek street food has to be the Gyro: slabs of […]
Macedonian Sausages
As my parents have related to me on many occasions, the family pig would get slaughtered just a few days before Christmas and the ritual of butchering the pig and using everything but the squeal. Chops, loins for the Christmas dinners, pigs feet, ears, tail & head would be kept outside until the Epiphany whereby […]
Braised Lamb Shanks & Beans
I had a steak earlier this week and it was just okay. I’m not eating as much meat as I used to and certainly less steak. At the same, I am greatly enjoying the tougher cuts of meat, the challenges in the kitchen to make them tender and relishing the triumph of tasting a delicious, […]
