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Seared Calf Liver with Caramelized Onions

Up until about a few years ago, I hated liver – couldn’t stomach it. It smelled nice whenever my parents would fry it up with onions. I would try it on occasion – one bite and with half a chew, I would place a napkin toward my mouth and expel it. Won’t go down. Fast-forward […]

Turkey Stuffing…er Dressing

I love making stuffing as a side dish with my roast turkey. Stuffing is made of stale bread, giblets, herbs and placed in the cavity of the turkey. I like baking it separate from the turkey, as it cooks quicker and it is safer: the stuffing may absorb meat juices that may not be cooked […]

Fried Sweetbreads

I first ate sweetbreads in the 1990’s when friends of our family invited us to their Easter Feast: whole lamb on the spit plus all the grilled appetizers served until the lamb is ready. One of those grilled delights were sweetbreads. The usual kind you find are veal sweetbreads and they are the thymus glad […]

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 […]

Orthodox-Christian Easter

  This post is being written on Good Friday of Holy Week and I thought to write a post that enlightens you of how Orthodox-Christians and more specifically Greek-Orthodox spend the next few days until the culmination of Easter Sunday. The Great Lent began March 7th (Katheri Deftera) or Ash Monday and those that adhere […]

Kokoretsi (Κοκορέτσι)

Another usual suspect that’s present at the Greek Easter table is Kokoretsi. It’s a rotisserie dish made up of skewering seasoned lamb or goat organ meat, wrapped in caul fat and then by yards of cleaned intestines. There are tavernas in Greece that specialize in grilled meats, rotisserie and serve up Kokoretsi all year ’round […]

Greek Easter v.2010

Here we are, the day after Easter Sunday and another feast under our belts…literally! Easter for Greeks is the most significant religious holiday. With Easter, you get the death and resurrection of Christ…we don’t take death and rebirth lightly. Easter’ parallel with Spring, a new cycle of birth and regeneration all fall together perfectly for […]

Grilled Sweetbreads, an intro to Offal

The sweetbreads I’m discussing and cooking with today are considered offal. To look at sweetbreads, one would make the common mistake of thinking they are brains (in fact they are not). Sweetbreads come from the thymus glands, located at the chest entry, just before the trachea. They are only found in young animals as they […]

Greek Easter v.2009

Hristos Anesti (Christ Has Risen)! I would like to wish all of my Greek family, friends, philHellenes who celebrated Easter yesterday. I hope your day was filled with many fond memories, that the Gods blessed you with some good Spring weather and the banquet of Easter delights exceeded all your expectations. Despite the gloomy forecast […]