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 […]
Calamari Sandwich With a Smoky Yogurt Sauce
One of my favourite Greek appetizers has to be fried calamari. It’s the freshness of the sea, the tender squid tubes and tentacles dredged in flour and fried until golden. You get a slight crunch from the coating then the tender squid in your mouth explodes with flavour. Calamari (squid) are found at your local […]
Calamari Stuffed With Shrimp and Smoked Metsovone Cheese
As a general rule, cheese and fish & seafood shouldn’t be mixed but there are always exceptions and when it comes to Greek food, we have some wonderful cheese and seafood combos like Shrimp Saganaki and Mussels Saganaki. Today I’m taking this delicate but delicious combo of cheese and seafood to calamari aka squid. For […]
Makaronia With Tarama
A recent article by Diana Farr Louis titled “Cucina Povera – Greek Style” got me thinking about all the tasty dishes in Greek cookery that were concocted during times of poverty and necessity. There’s the Macedonian Makalo, a flour-based sauce, there’s potato stew (Yiachni), the countless boiled greens harvested from the countryside, Bobota (bread from […]
Pan-Fried Cajun Rainbow Trout
For those familiar with Toronto, you might remember the Whistling Oyster. Although I’m not a fan of basement establishments, this once used to be innovative, had an open kitchen, one could sit at a table or eat casually at the bar. I’ve been told it has since closed but I hold dear memories of eating […]
Spaghettini With Tarama & Greek Yogurt
Growing in a Greek household, yogurt has been part of our diet since as early as I can recall. My mom would make homemade yogurt starting with a large pot of milk on the stovetop that she would bring to just scalding then take off the heat and add reserved batch/starter of yogurt and allow […]
Mussels With Fennel & White Wine Sauce
A short while ago I wrote about having lunch at one of Toronto’s great new places to eat seafood – Diana’s in Scarborough. As sexy as it was having a Lobster Club House sandwich, the real star of that lunch were the steamed mussels in a white wine and fennel sauce. Tremendous. I asked our […]
Lobster Saganaki (Αστακος Σαγανακι)
It’s time for another saganaki dish. There are a lot of “saganaki” dishes on this blog but this one is the tastiest. REALLY! Most of you are familiar with the flaming cheese saganaki (a taverna favourite) but there are many types of saganaki dishes. Saganaki is the two-handled dish that it’s served in – so […]
Tourlou With Seafood
Eggplants are in season in Greece from August and here in Canada, you can still find sweet (not bitter) eggplants at your local grocer or farmer’s market. Eggplant is one of the ingredients in classic vegetarian dish called Briam and the similar dish (we’re cooking today) called Tourlou. Toulou is like a ratatouille but not […]
Steamed & Broiled Razor Clams
Razor clams are perhaps the most perverted food I’ve seen at a market. Long and kind a phallic – the live mollusk wiggling and poking out of its shell. Open the shell up and surprise…the inside looks akin to a woman’s naughty bits. Innuendos, blushing brides and 40-year old virgins be damned – razor clams […]
