25 Common Cooking Mistakes / Wintery Spring Rolls / Stifado, Greek Rabbit Stew

Article: The Most Common Cooking Mistakes [via]

The creative cook can often cook her way out of a kitchen error, but the smart cook aims to prevent such creativity from being necessary. Here are 25 ways to be smarter every time.

Blog Post & Recipe: Wintery Spring Rolls Recipe

Here's how this works. Each roll has a slather of ginger onion paste, a couple crunchy lettuce leaves, some mushrooms, tofu, and a bit of cilantro (or other herb of your choice - mint, basil). Roll tight, and you're set.

Blog Post & Recipe: Stifado, Greek Rabbit Stew

Stifado uses a lot of olive oil, so it is smooth going down. This moistens the rabbit as well, which is braised slowly until it is about to fall off the bone. You can pull the meat off the bone before serving, as I do, or just leave the pieces in the stew. The Greeks typically leave the pieces as-is. The spices give the stew zing without heat, and the tomatoes, which are obviously a post-1492 addition, add a bit more sweetness as well as needed acidity. There’s a reason stifado is such a strong part of Greek cooking.

10 Reasons I Love My Freezer / Stuffed Cabbage Casserole / Phyllo Kourou

Blog Post: Cold comfort - 10 reasons I love my freezer

1. Going nuts ... 2. Flavour bombs ... 3. Scrooge satisfaction ... 4. Stocking up ... 5. Anything with a pulse ... 6. Rice on ice ... 7. The Florence factor ... 8. Pesto power ... 9. Take-away at home ... 10. Craving curb

Blog Post & Recipe: Recipe for Deconstructed Stuffed Cabbage Casserole

Being forced to plan ahead for meals meant I always made diet-friendly casseroles or soups on the weekend to make sure my freezer was well-stocked to get me through the week. That's a habit I'm going to work on cultivating again, so over the weekend I made this amazing Deconstructed Stuffed Cabbage Casserole and I have six servings of it in the freezer waiting for me at home

Blog Post & Recipe: Rolo me Phyllo Kourou and my e-book has finally been published

The classic recipe, Rolo me Patates is made with ground meat in which we add hard boiled eggs. In Cyprus we wrap the roulade in caul fat, which melts as it is being baked in the oven and gives a wonderful flavour to the ground meat. Instead of caulfat I wrapped it in kourou phyllo and added ham and halloumi. A very simple recipe but yet so delicious. Instead of Kourou phyllo you can just wrap it in parchment paper or in puff pastry.

Barbounofassoula (Stewed Borlotti Beans) / Roasted Jerusalem Artichokes with Lemon, Parmesan Cheese & Parsley / Lemony Leeks with Chickpeas & Feta

Blog Post & Recipe: Fassolia Ηantres Giahni or Barbounofassoula (Stewed Borlotti Beans)

This is one of the dishes I enjoy as they are delicious, with a meatier texture than common beans and a good source of protein and fibre

Blog Post & Recipe: Roasted Jerusalem artichokes (sunchokes) with lemon, Parmesan cheese and parsley

Scrub your vegetables really well. Do not peel, but cut in halves or quarters depending on their size. Par-boil or steam for about 10 minutes, until crispy tender ...

Blog Post & Recipe: Meatless Mondays with Martha Stewart - Lemony Leeks with Chickpeas and Feta

Guess what happens when you put a bunch of leeks in a pan with some veggie broth? Surprisingly, a totally mind-blowing flavour fest. Then guess what happens when you add lemon zest, dill, garlic, olive oil, goat feta, chickpeas, and lots of cracked black pepper?

Raw Butternut Pumpkin with White Wine Mushroom & Sage / Briam / One Pot Roast Beef

Blog Post & Recipe: Butternut Squash with White Wine Mushroom and Sage

But did you know that butternut squash is amazing raw? I think it taste better than cooked.

Blog Post & Recipe: The Briam

This is a main dish that can be served both straight out of the oven but also at room temperature. It is actually preferred to be eaten the next day as the flavors become fuller and deeper overnight.

Briam (Greek Baked Vegetables)

Blog Post & Recipe: One Pot Roast Beef

I’ve made a roast beef before, but this one is special because you can just throw everything in a pot and let it go – no searing, no marinade, no rub – just a simple dish of perfectly cooked roast beef and lots of veggies that absorb all of the flavor of the garlic, rosemary, and, of course, butter. Kramer and I ate this all week, so it’s a great dish to cook on Sunday and use throughout the week.

Barbounofassoula (Stewed Borlotti Beans) / Skillet Eggplant & Lentils with Almond Parmesan / Perfect Pan-Roasted Chicken Thighs

Blog Post & Recipe: Fassolia Ηantres Giahni or Barbounofassoula (Stewed Borlotti Beans)

This is one of the dishes I enjoy as they are delicious, with a meatier texture than common beans and a good source of protein and fibre

Blog Post & Recipe: Skillet Eggplant and Lentils with Almond Parmesan

To make Almond Parmesan, process 1/4 cup nutritional yeast and 1/3 cup whole raw almonds in a blender or food processor until crumbly. Store in refrigerator.

Blog Post & Recipe: perfect pan-roasted chicken thighs

Despite it’s simple ingredient list- salt, pepper and a bit of vegetable oil, it’s really about technique and searing the skin to get really crispy results. Did I mention that it only takes 35 minutes?

40-Minute Hamburger Buns / Roasted Zucchini Pasta / Greek Style Baked Beans

Recipe: 40-Minute Hamburger Buns

They are substantial enough to stand up to the messiest burger creation without being heavy.

Blog Post & Recipe: Roasted Zucchini Pasta

This pasta – a big mess of roasted zucchini, garlic and onion tossed with pasta, fresh basil and Parmesan – can stand on its own.

Blog Post & Recipe: Greek Style Baked Beans

These are similar (and I mean similar) to the Greek favourite known as “gigantes plaki”. Gigantes translates as giant baked beans. They are traditionally cooked with a tomato based sauce in the oven and as with many Greek dishes there are a few variations. I’ve used lima beans for today’s recipe but you can use butter beans if you wish. I’ve also added a few extra ingredients to the original recipe my mother makes (I can’t help it!). I like to fry off a little bacon and add some of my home made tomato ketchup and sugar to the mix.

Braised Lamb Shanks with Yorkshire-Style Puddings / 3 Salads / Spetsofai (Stewed Sausages & Peppers)

Blog Post & Recipe: Braised lamb shanks with Yorkshire-style puddings [via] (and, see, another blogger is also making braised lamb shanks, and the NZ Herald has a recipe for lamb shanks and macaroni)

Instead of making the usual thick, sticky sauce, which can be a little heavy, I opted for a light, almost soupy, tangy tomato and stock sauce.

Recipes & Video: Veg out

The roasted beetroot salad can be made more substantial by adding crumbled feta or goat’s cheese. All of these recipes make a great accompaniment to a Sunday roast.

ROASTED BEETROOTS, CARROTS & CAPSICUM ... ROAST FENNEL SALAD ... WARM MUSHROOM & ROCKET SALAD

Blog Post & Recipe: Spetsofai

In it’s complete simplicity, spetsofai is sausages and peppers. It traditionally hails from the Thessaly region of Greece and whilst it lends itself as a winter dish the produce it uses is more synonymous with summer. The traditional recipe is a little more spicy and uses loukaniko (the Greek word for sausage). I was making this for a friend of mine and her eight year old so anything considered spicy was off limits. I added a little oomph to the spetsofai by using some smoked paprika and a little red wine.

Set Up a Minimalist Kitchen & Braised Greens with Butter / Cambodian Tilapia Ceviche / Ampelokorfades Toursi (Pickled Vineyard Shoots)

Blog Post & Recipe: how to setup an [ultra] minimalist kitchen

my ultra minimalist kitchen equipment list ... my ultra minimalist pantry essentials

braised greens with butter

Blog Post & Recipe: Roger Mooking Cooks up Justice! Recipe for Cambodian Tilapia Ceviche

In a stainless steel bowl combine the rest of the ingredients and pour over the top of the tilapia pieces. Allow to sit in the juice for seven minutes. Remove the fish only from the sauce.

Blog Post & Recipe: Ampelokorfades Toursi (Pickled Vineyard Shoots)

Shoots are the new plants when growing which include stems, flowering stems with flower buds, and leaves. It was the first time I came across these shoots and did not know much about them. My husband was familiar with them as he told me his mother would cook them and they would eat them in salads as well as stewed with dried legumes.

Briam (Greek Ratatouille) / Fried Fish in Orly Batter / Prepare and Cook Shark

Blog Post & Recipe: Briam (Greek Ratatouille)

This is a recipe we make quite often in Greece and it is very easy. It is also very versatile and you can practically add and subtract anything you like from the list of ingredients.

Blog Post & Recipe: Fried fish in Orly batter

Apparently it was a favourite with American servicemen stationed at Keflavik airport and some of them still remember it fondly. I'd be the first to admit that this isn't a specifically Icelandic dish, but you can buy it in many diners and restaurants all over the country.

Blog Post: How to Prepare and Cook Shark

Only purchase shark meat from a reputable fishmonger or supermarket. Shark meat must be cleaned properly, even more so than fish, to have a palatable taste. Why? Sharks urinate through their skin and if not cleaned directly after catching, the taste will be nearly inedible.

Moroccan Butternut Pumpkin and Chickpea Tangine / Roast Fava Beans / Sfakiano Lamb with Yoghurt

Blog Post & Recipe: Moroccan Butternut Squash and Chickpea Tangine

At first I was thinking of just serving a tajine on some quinoa but why not add the quinoa directly to it so that it has more time to absorb all of the amazing flavours?

Article & Recipe: Fava beans: Roasting pods simplifies preparation

Roasting whole pods renders the beans' outer skin edible, and if the pods are small enough, the whole pod may be edible. Which goes to say, fava bean preparation just got a whole lot easier.

Blog Post & Recipe: Sfakiano Lamb with Yogurt

All you need is lamb, olive oil, onions and scallions, some dry white wine, stock or water, salt and pepper, lemon juice, more olive oil, dried Greek oregano and the sauce is completed with thick creamy, tangy Greek yogurt.

Black Bean Spanakopita / Very Tasty Gravy / Quick Chicken Vindaloo

Blog Post & Recipe: Vegan Black Beans Spanakopita

This spanakopita was made last March, during the fasting period of Lent, so there are no eggs or cheese in it. When fasting you need some extra protein, so I made this spanakopita using black giant beans and flaxseeds

Blog Post & Recipe: How to make a very tasty gravy

The trick? Don’t rely on the turkey’s or duck’s neck and giblets. Make a gravy base with lots of bones, vegetables, spices and herbs. I wasn’t even a fan of celery until I made my version of Jamie Oliver’s get-ahead gravy. Now, I’m a convert.

Blog Post & Recipe: chicken vindaloo: how to make curry with only 5 ingredients [5 ingredients | 10 minutes]

8 tips for 5 ingredients success

There are 2 ways to get tender meat in a curry. Either gently simmering in the sauce for hours OR stir frying finely sliced pieces of meat over a high heat to brown the outside of the meat, then removing the meat from the pan, making the sauce and adding the meat at the end to just heat though.

Ginger Beer / Baked Eggs / Loukoumathes

Recipe: Nigel Slater's classic ginger beer recipe

To make your beer even more refreshing, tuck in a handful of lemon verbena leaves or a few sticks of bashed lemongrass.

Article & Recipe: How to bake eggs

First she gathered her ingredients: two eggs and two castelvetrano olives per serving; salt and pepper; cream; and bread crumbs.

Blog Post & Recipe: Now That’s a Mouthful

Fried dough, by any name, would taste as good. Case in point: loukoumathes, those puffy little yeasted doughnuts—also spelled loukoumades—which, like most Greek desserts, are best served drenched in honey and sprinkled with cinnamon.

Loukoumathes

Care for Your Knives / Roasted Radishes / Greek Mushroom Pie with Leeks

Blog Post: How to Take Care of Your Knives

Yes, it's nice to have an impressive arsenal of knives at your disposal, but for most home cooks, there are three that are truly important: a chef's knife, a paring knife, and a serrated bread knife.

Article & Recipe: Roasted Radishes: So Who Knew?

Look under 'Related' for the link to the recipe.

I gave it a try, roasting a bunch of halved radishes in a hot oven with plenty of butter and lemon juice. One mouthful, and I immediately got the appeal. Instead of spicy, crisp and crunchy, these radishes were sweet, succulent and mellow, vaguely like turnips but with a softer bite.

Blog Post & Recipe: Manitaropita me Prassa (Homemade Greek Mushroom Pie with Leeks)

I sauteed the leeks first, together with garlic and spring onions and cooked them with balsamic vinegar until they were soft. I used two kinds of mushrooms: white portobello and white agaricus (button mushrooms). I added fresh rosemary which matches well with mushrooms and as the mushrooms released a lot of fluids, I added some flour to absorb the juices.

Bacon Pineapple Jalapeno Margaritas / Ladenia / Perfect Scones

Blog Post & Recipe: Bacon Pineapple Jalapeno Margaritas

This flavor combo was introduced to me by Rich and Kim as a pizza topping, and quickly became one of my favorite tastes. ... When Steph had the idea to make a drink out of it, I was excited, but still had to figure out how to put bacon in a drink.

Blog Post & Recipe: “Ladenia”-with Heirloom Tomatoes

”Ladenia” (pronounced la-the-nia) is best described as Greece’s answer to pizza. I hope that doesn’t offend anyone ... but it’s basically a pizza/foccacia dough made with Greek extra virgin olive oil and topped with tomatoes, sliced onions and Greek oregano.

Blog Post & Recipes: How to make the perfect scone

In every single case, the overworked dough produces a denser, less well-risen result, and the scones that started off flatter remain so. Those which have been freed from the tyranny of the rolling pin are perhaps slightly better risen in general, but have a wild, unruly look

Greek Cabbage Salad / Make Brown Sugar / Icelandic Fish Soup

Blog Post & Recipe: Recipe for Greek Cabbage Salad with Feta and Thyme

If you don't have fresh thyme, I think there are some other herbs that would work here, but I wouldn't use dried thyme.

Blog Post & Recipe: Baking Tip: Make Your Own Brown Sugar

We don't go through brown sugar very quickly, and our supply inevitably becomes hard and difficult to use. Since we learned this tip, we've stopped buying it all together. We just mix plain sugar with one other ingredient ...

Recipe: Traditional Icelandic fish soup (halibut soup) - Fiskisúpa (lúðusúpa)

This soup is among the oldest recorded Icelandic recipes. It's sweet-sour taste is unusual for fish-based soups. Traditionally, the recipe is given for halibut, but you can also use salmon, trout, wolf-fish or lumpfish, or other fatty fish.

Kale Chips. Jazzing up White Rice. Three Greek Recipes.

Blog Post & Recipe: Kale chips (via Limes & Lycopene)

If, like me, you favour salt and crunch over sweet for snacking, and if, like me, you have a garden full of kale, then kale chips will make you, and your garden, rather happy.

Blog Post: jazzing up white rice

I've tried using chicken broth instead of water, adding in sauteed onions, celery, peppers and toasted pine nuts. Without making too huge a project out of the rice dish, are there any other quick tricks to transform rice into something more interesting?

Article & Recipes: Greek recipes have become family legacies

"My family has a long tradition of great cooks," says attorney Louie Papaliodis of Fort Worth, a parishioner at St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church in Euless. According to village records, his entire family came from Mesta, on the island of Chios.

CHICKEN KAPAMA (KOTA MACARONADA) ... GALAKTOBOUREKO ... SPANAKOPITA (SPANAKOTIROPITA)

Carrot & Squash Soup with Coconut & Chili. 10 Kitchen Staples. Kolokythokeftedes.

Blog Post & Recipe: Chunky Carrot & Squash Soup with Coconut & Red Chilli Flakes

I usually use fresh chillies in my cooking, but my chilli plant is not co-operating, so I turn to chilli flakes for the heat in this soup.

Blog Post: 10 Kitchen Staples for Quicker Weeknight Dinners

These are all foods that point to how I cook: a lot of Italian and Mediterranean-inspired dishes, without much meat, and always augmented by the herbs from my garden.

1. Israeli Couscous ... 2. Pasta ... 3. Polenta ... 4. Onions and Garlic ... 5. Canned Tomatoes ... 6. Anchovies ... 7. Broth and Stock ... 8. Eggs ... 9. Frozen Spinach and Artichoke Hearts ... 10. Prosciutto or Bacon

Blog Post & Recipe: Kolokythokeftedes (Zucchini and Feta Balls)

I pretty much just started with the recipe that I used for my Greek style zucchini fritters and modified it slightly for the zucchini balls. Where the zucchini fritters could be fairly liquidy and even be poured into the pan to fry the zucchini balls needed to be able to hold their form so I kept adding equal parts whole wheat flour and whole wheat bread crumbs until the mixture could hold the form of a ball.

Reading & Eating. Tomato Pie. Bialys.

Blog Post: MISS MANNER’S GUIDE TO READING AND EATING

Certain foods lend themselves to being consumed by fervent readers. Sandwiches are the most obvious, of course. They were deliberately designed for one-handed eating by the Earl of Sandwich ...

Blog Post & Recipe: Tomato Pie

Think pizza meets cheesy bread and they make-out in a pie crust. The recipe lends itself to estimates. Handfuls of this, handfuls of that. I measured, but you could eyeball it and it would still work out.

Blog Post & Recipe: Bialys? They’re Greek to me.

Something that might have been an onion roll, only it was too flat. And the fried onions were collected in a center depression, not scattered throughout.

I tentatively asked the counterman for “one of those onion things.”

Vine Leaf, Herb & Yoghurt Pie. Gorditas. Flatbread on the Stove.

Recipe: The new vegetarian: Vine leaf, herb and yogurt pie

I came across this unusual savoury cake from the Turkish part of Cyprus. I've added pine nuts, which work well. Serve with a fresh-tasting salad, such as last week's tabbouleh.

Here is the recipe for "last week's tabbouleh."



Blog Post & Recipe: Fast food fix: Gorditas without the drive-through

Several years ago, Taco Bell introduced Gorditas, soft sandwiches filled with your choice of meat, plus salsa, cheese, sour cream, and hot sauce.

The shell, an ultra-soft, almost doughy white flatbread, was a perfect container for the assertive (and messy) filling.

The following sandwich, inspired by the original Taco Bell Gordita, features a grilled chicken and sautéed veggie filling topped with a rich, homemade Caesar dressing.

Blog Post & Recipes: Oven-Free Baking: How To Bake Flatbread on the Stovetop

We like to use our cast iron skillet, but we're pretty sure any skillet would do. Just heat the pan up over medium-high heat and roll your flatbreads into 9-inch rounds while it's heating. Coat the bottom of the hot pan with a little butter or olive oil and add your flatbread [...]

Besides the fact that this method is quick and doesn't heat up our kitchen, we also like that we can make a big batch of dough and keep it stored in the fridge.

Related Flatbread Posts:
Recipe for Easy Homemade Pita
Making Naan Bread at Home
Indian Chapatis

Extreme Rice. Zucchini Pie. Lasagna Tart.

Blog Post & Video: Extreme Rice

EXTREME RICE! BECAUSE PART OF BEING EXTREME IS SHOUTING ALL THE TIME! AND CRUSHING RICE PLANTS WITH YOUR BARE HANDS!

Blog Post & Recipe: Kourkouto aka Greek Zucchini Pie

The author of the original recipe was a Greek chef Dina Nikolaou. Her recipe was picked up and adapted by Peter of the Kalofagas [...] I made some changes, leaving out the Kasseri cheese and upping the amount of feta cheese. I also added some dried oregano to the dish, a herb I always associate with my visits to Greece.

Blog Post & Recipe: Lasagna Tart Recipe

As it turns out, I was looking a noodle-free lasagna baked in a pie crust - layers of zucchini, ricotta, and tomato sauce. And lots of cheese. I've been meaning to do my own version ever since. When I finally got around to putting this idea in motion, I switched things up a bit. For starters, I did a tart version instead of pie.