Greek Mirage Cocktail
Imagine sitting by the pool or by the beach. Sipping on a cool refreshing cocktail of muddled cucumber, mint, lemon and spiked with vodka and Ouzo. You’re going to be making a few and you may get visions of warm Greek summer evenings. Greek Mirage (serves 1) 3 fresh mint leaves 1/4 of a lemon […]
Vlita With Eggs and Feta
Every Greek has memories of Yiayias (grandmothers), Theias (aunts) and mothers going out to parks, woodlands, backyards to pick spring dandelions and other wild edible greens. Collectively, these greens are called “horta” in Greek – literally grass but the more accurately they are wild foraged greens. To this day, many Greeks still go on a […]
Olive Garden Inspired Salad Dressing
There’s a restaurant chain that used to have some locations in Toronto and I ate there once. I remember little as the food was uninspired, forgetful. Today, this restaurant chain (Olive Garden) still has many locations in the US and one of the dishes that remains popular is its salad – the dressing specifically. It’s […]
How to Make Pita Bread
Original post appeared Nov. 11, 2009 One of the most well-known foods in Greek cuisine is pita bread. It’s used to scoop-up dips that are usually included in the mix of mezedes (Greek appetizers). We wrap souvlaki in them, we wrap gyro in them, we use pita bread to scoop Taramosalata, Melitzanosalata, Tzatziki, Red Pepper […]
Kataifi Cheese Balls
Here’s an appetizer I served up a couple of years ago at my last Mother’s Day Luncheon: cheesballs made of Feta and Graviera, rolled in kataifi pastry and lightly fried until golden. Pop, pop, pop…guests devoured them! Warm, gooey cheese surrounded by the crunch of kataifi. Yeah I get it! Kataifi pastry is sold at […]
Grilled Eggplant Sicilian Style
I have Italian neighbors that have lived next to me for most of my life. The husband from Puglia, the wife from Sicily. We’ve invited each other to come over for a drink, snack or to eat on countless occasions. For some reason, this grilled eggplant recipe came to my head and I’ve had a […]
Salt and Pepper Salmon
RECIPE UPDATE: This recipe was first posted June of 2007, again when the blog was newly born (about a month old). I’ve included the original photo taken with my Canon digital camera for some nostalgia. The recipe however, has remained the same and that’s a good thing. When I prepare fish, the approach is usually […]
Pasta With Smoked Salmon
RECIPE UPDATE: this recipe first appeared Aug. 8th, 2007 (14 years ago). I’ve simplified the recipe compared to the original. I was probably trying to be “cheffy” with an excessive amount of ingredients. The dish contains heavy cream and with such a forward ingredient as smoked salmon, I’ve omitted cheese. Years ago, back in my […]
Patatopita
Greeks and Orthodox Christians recently celebrated Easter and many observed the Lent for about 6 weeks prior to Easter. Our fast means abstaining from any meat or animal by-products. I made this for myself during Lent and I sold a few Patatopitas (Potato Phyllo Pie) to some customers. I first heard of this carb-on-carb pie […]
Egg Salad Sandwich
Toronto (where I live has a significant Asian population. Before the 1980’s, Toronto was a white anglo city with some European immigrants and some folks from Asia but not many. The latter part of the 1980’s saw an influx of Hong Kong Chinese emigrate to Canada, fearing a loss of assets and freedoms after the […]
