Sea Urchin Pasta
This first time I saw sea urchins was in Halkidiki (where our family’s summer home is), clinging to rocks under the sea. Another sea urchin memory was eating them on the half-shell with a squeeze of lemon juice in Mykonos (summer ’92). Fast forward to 2009, first visit to Crete and I have a big […]
Poor Man’s Truffle Pasta
One of the “in fashion” ingredients (the past few years) are truffles. There are white and black truffles, foraged by truffle hunters who take along their trained dogs to sniffed out these culinary treasures, buried in the ground. In cooking, truffles are shaved on dishes and if you go to a fancy restaurant, it is […]
Pasta With Italian Sausage and Broccolini
It’s often said the best pasta dishes are the quickest ones and today’s offering underlines this truism. One pot and one skillet on the stovetop, the pot of water blanches broccolini then does double-duty with cooking the pasta in the same water. The skillet is where the sausage meat is browned, onions and garlic cooked […]
Classic Spaghetti Carbonara
This is an Italian classic (Roman) but I first tasted this dish when I visited the Greek island of Corfu in 1988. Carbonara is very popular in Greece and it’s often found on menus alongside other pastas & pizzas. Legend has it the name “carbonara” comes from all the black pepper in the dish…reminiscent of […]
Trahana with Bacon and Egg
Cooler weather arrives and comfort dishes warm our bellies and our hearts. Trahana is a Greek pantry item that’s gonna deliver today’s feel-good dish. It is nourishing, comforting, easy and quick to prepare is trahana. This ancient Greek ingredient is made by boiling cracked wheat in either milk or yogurt, then drying it in the […]
Beef Kokkinisto with Makaronia
There are dishes that every Greek family knows. We’ve all had this dish at home or at a taverna. There may be some minor differences but the basics of the dish remain. In today’s case, we’re talking about Beef Kokkinisto aka “reddened” beef. This is a slow cooked beef stew in tomato sauce with spices. […]
Trahana Soup With Tomato and Feta
As a grown up I love trahana. It nourishing, comforting, easy and quick to prepare is trahana. This ancient Greek ingredient is made by boiling cracked wheat in either milk or yogurt, then drying it in the hot sun. It’s then crumbled and stored in pillow cases for future use. It’s often made in the […]
Beef Noodles With Metaxa and Mushrooms
I’ve made this dish many times: back in Greece with kavourma, with pork, chicken, veal, beef and pictured here, with leftover ribeye steak. The dish works best with thin pieces of meat that brown and cook quickly and will remain tender when the sauce and pasta are cooked as well. In essence, it a beef […]
Chorizo Carbonara
I first tried Carbonara the summer of 1988, in Corfu during my summer vacation in Greece. This pasta dish is made with eggs, lots of black pepper, diced guanciale (or pancetta) and here in Canada, bacon does the trick too! Traditionalists will scream if you add cream (ha-ha) and if you make a Carbonara properly, […]
Spaghetti With Grouper, Capers, Kalamata Olives
This dish takes me back to a visit I took to the island of Santorini. A beautiful island of steep cliffs, villages dotted atop of these cliffs and the blue Aegean sea below. The island also boasts of many excellent tavernas serving local specialties, lamb and many fish and seafood dishes. One dish that stood […]
