If I Owned a Steakhouse in Greece

I would serve up something like this.

Steaks aren't really part of the traditional Greek diet. There isn't much by way of aged steaks like we know here North America. Beef and veal are most used for braising, stews and mince.

There are some butchers who have know-how to butcher cows with an eye towards steak cuts and they even have their own aging and hanging rooms for the beef. These butchers cater to the steak houses in Athens, Thessaloniki and some of the jet-set Greek islands.


Having spoken to butchers about how they butcher cattle differently from their North American colleagues, the consistent reply I get is that although they (Greek butchers) know how to butcher for steak cuts, there is little demand for it in the Greek market.

Another thing one should know is that many (perhaps most) Greeks like their meats well-done. There's a generational gap between myself, cousins and our parents as us younger folks like our meat medium to rare and our parents like their beef well-done. It's a cultural thing, no right or wrong - that's just how it is.

On to the dinner. The flavours and ingredients used for this dish are used in Greek cooking but none of the dish can be really characterized as "Greek food". Greek-inspired, yes. Greek recipe - NO. I can't say that anything here is derived from recipes of our forefathers or even from a Greek cookbook per se.

The steak is inspired by my dad's treatment of a steak....coarse salt, black pepper, garlic powder and dried Greek oregano.

The mashed potatoes utilize Yukon Gold potatoes, roasted garlic, chopped sun-dried tomatoes, scallions and crumbled Feta.

The beans are simple...a quick saute of sliced mushrooms with some roasted garlic and olive oil and blanched green beans get tossed in at the end to warm through. This pairing was inspired by a recent beans and mushrooms recipe posted over at my dear friend's Kalyn's Kitchen.

Put the steak, mashed potatoes and green beans with 'shrooms and you have a wonderful steak dinner with "an eye towards Greece".

Pull up a chair, let me fetch a bottle (or two) and please do, have a seat. You're having steak at my place tonight. Let's sip some wine, talk food, think about summer vacation plans and enjoy a wonderful steak dinner!

Pan-seared Steak With Roasted Garlic and Oregano
(for 4)

4 New York Strip steaks, 3/4 - 1 in. thick
olive oil
unsalted butter
coarse sea salt
fresh cracked black pepper
garlic powder
dried Greek oregano

Mashed Potatoes with Roasted Garlic, Sun-dried Tomatoes and Feta
4 large Yukon Gold Potatoes
1 bulb of garlic
4 sun-dried tomatoes, finely chopped
the green tops of 2 scallions, chopped
1/4 cup of unsalted butter
approx. 1 cup of milk
crumbled Feta cheese to taste
salt and pepper to taste

Mushrooms and green beans
4 handfuls of green beans, trimmed
1 cup of Cremini or button mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup olive oil
2-3 cloves of roasted garlic
salt and pepper to taste

Pre-heated 375F oven

1. Peel and cut your potatoes into quarters. Place inside a pot and cover with water and reserve. Preheat your oven to 375F. Cut the top off your head of garlic and place in some tin foil. Drizzle with olive oil and wrap up, place in a oven-proof vessel and roast for about 40 minutes. Allow to cool. You may also use this time to boil your beans in salted water (until al dente) and then shock by placing in a icy water bath. Drain and reserve.
   
2. Bring your steaks to room temperature for cooking. Drizzle some olive oil on both sides of the steaks and season with coarse salt, fresh ground black pepper, garlic powder and dried Greek oregano. Start your pot of potatoes by boiling them in salted water and cook until fork tender.
3. Place your skillet on the stove-top over high heat and add a couple of pads of butter and some olive oil. sear your steaks in batches until both sides are a deep brown colour and reserve on a baking tray (reduce heat to medium-high).
4. When the steaks are all seared-off, place the baking tray in pre-heated oven for 10 minutes (for medium), remove from the oven, place on a plate and tent with foil. Allow to rest about 5 minutes before serving.
5. In the meantime, your potatoes should be ready to make your mashed potatoes. Strain the water from the potatoes, add butter and all but 2-3 cloves of the roasted garlic (for the beans and mushrooms). Add the milk, sun-dried tomatoes, and mash up some more. Now using a wooden spoon, mix in the crumbled Feta and scallions and then taste and adjust seasoning with salt & pepper. Reserve & keep warm.
6. In a skillet, add a few turns of love oil and add your sliced mushrooms over medium-high heat. Stir to coat the mushrooms with oil and season with some salt and pepper. Cover, reduce the heat to medium and cook off for another 5 minutes. Take the lid off and add the beans and the remaining 2-3 roasted cloves of garlic. Toss to mix and and taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper and keep warm.
7. Divide the mashed potatoes by spooning a big scoop onto the middle of each plate, place a steak on top of half the steak and place a mound of beans and mushrooms on the side.
   

PLEASE NOTE: You may certainly grill the steaks on your outdoor if it's warm enough in your part of the world.


If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://kalofagas.blogspot.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at truenorth67 AT gmail DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author. © 2007-2009 Peter Minakis

Grandma's Pork & Quince (Χοιρινό & Κυδώνια της Γιαγιάς)

My relatives can be divided into two camps: the father's side of the family and the mother's side. The two camps are also geographically divided with all of my dad's side of the family residing here in Canada and save for two of my mom's first cousins here in Canada, the rest of her family reside in Greece.

Many friends have asked why I go to Greece so often, is their not a whole other world out there to explore and enjoy? My obvious answer is "yes" BUT...I always remind them that I have aunts and uncles, dozens of cousins, friends and friends of the family and for a long time, maternal grandparents. It's important for me to stay connected with them.

My mom's parents have both since passed on but memories of them are triggered each time I go to Greece and I always visit the cemetary to light a candle for them.

My maternal grandmother's(yiayia) name was Agape, translated litterally as "love". What woman would marry at a young age, bear five children, embrace grandparents in the household, be the CEO of a household that had nine hungry mouths and manage sneak away some food to some less fortunate and starving relatives?

Only a lady with the name of Agape.

Having found a good and reliable source of quince this past autumn, my mom recalled a dish her mother (my yiayia Agape) would make during the winter months. My parents both also recall the annual slaughtering of the pigs for the winter and pork (like in much of the word) would get paired with fruits.

This dish comes from mom's memories as a child and this dish of pork & quince is one of those food memories. Basically you have paillards of pork meat that rolled around good slices of quince and placed over a bed of potatoes and quince and tossed in olive oil plus the zest and juice of one orange.

I was skeptical as to how tasty the resulting dish would taste like but that eroded to expose a roast that was aromatic, easy on the eye and absolutely delicious.

If you can still find some quince in your neck of the woods, give this bake a try...it's easy, it's old school Greek and it tastes delicious.

This dish brought back many fond memories of my yiayia Agape and for me, food and aromas transports me, triggers memories. I hope this dish does the same for you.

Grandma's Pork & Quinces (Χοιρινό & Κυδώνια της Γιαγιάς)
(serves 6)

1 1/2 of lean bonless pork (loin, or leg)
12 medium to large Russet or other baking potatoes
1/3 cup of olive oil
4 quinces
zest and juice of 1 orange
salt and pepper to taste
toothpicks

Pre-heated 450F oven

1. To slice your pork thinly, place the piece of meat in the freezer for about 30 minutes to harden. Cut thin slices of pork, say about 3-4 per person and place each piece between plastic wrap and pound out into paillards (cutlets). Reserve.
   
2. Peel and cut your potatoes into uniform sizes and place in the roasting pan. Peel and core your quinces. Two quinces should be cut up into chunks that are the size of the potatoes and the other two quince should be cut up into 1/2cm slices that can fit and rolled into the pork paillards (cutlets).
3. Pour the olive oil over the potatoes and quince, add the zest and juice of one orange and preheat your oven. Season with salt and pepper and toss to evenly coat the potatoes and quince. Taste the oil in the pan to check and adjust seasoning accordingly.
   
4. Assemble your pork and quince rolls by laying out a pork cutlet, lightly season the inside with salt and pepper and place a slice of quince at one of the cutlet. Roll the pork around the quince (snugly) and afix with a toothpick. Continue assembling your pork and quick rolls until all the pork has been rolled. If there's any pieces of quince left, toss them in the roasting pan with the potatoes and quince.
5. Lightly season the outside of your pork and quince roll-ups and place on the bed of potatoes and quince. Place in your pre-heated oven for 30 minutes and then take out the baking dish and flip the pork-rolls so that the underside also cooks to a nice deep-brown colour. Reduce the oven's temperature to 400f and continue to roast for another 15-20 minutes or until the the potatoes are fork-tender.
6. Serve each plate with a pile of potatoes and quince, drizzle some extra-virgin olive oil and serve with a winter green salad.

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://kalofagas.blogspot.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author. © 2007-2009 Peter Minakis

Swordfish With Skordalia (Ξιφίας Με σκορδαλιά)

For the month of January, I'm trying to keep with some fit, clean, easy to prepare and healthy dishes. The month of December saw most of us indulging in food and alcohol, saying yes to another serving, another helping of dessert and perhaps one extra beverage.

My neighbors were over last week for coffee and an array of Christmas treats and it turns out they consumed FORTY POUNDS OF BUTTER. That's alot of sweet and savory foods. Upon closer inspection of our grocery bills, we consumed a mere 25 pounds of butter...PHEW!

I'll do my best to showcase some lighter fare for the month but I do still have a backlog of treats to post about but I can assure you that NO TOFU will appear on this blog for January or any other month.

Today's subject is swordfish. It's a fish that can convert the hardest of pescio-haters out there. Consider it the chicken breast of the sea, if you will. It usually comes in a fillet, very neutral in flavour, forgiving to cook and moderate in cost.

If you do find yourself enjoying swordfish, try & limit the consumption to once a month. Sadly, our oceans are also becoming a sewers and larger fish have higher levels of mercury in them. The higher the fish is in the food chain, the higher the mercury levels.

On to the fish dish. This recipe comes courtesy of The Australian Women's Weekly Cookbooks and this dish comes from the Seafood installment. There must be dozens of these magazine-formatted magazines that offer quick, delicious recipes with photos for you folks that still like and read "pop-up" books like me!

So...there are three components to this dish: swordfish, skordalia and baby spinach. The sword fish, we've already discussed. The Skordalia, well it's a puree of boiled potatoes that are mixed with pulverized garlic in a mortar & pestle. Skordalia is traditionally paired with fried codfish but the paring with the swordfish works wonderfully.

Some of you might be tempted to try and make this skordalia in your food processor - resist temptation unless you want a garlic paste fit for applying wall paper or having the mixture split on you.

The third and final component is baby spinach that's wilted in some olive oil with a little bit of minced shallot, some mint and a bit of salt. Lay a bed of Skordalia on your plate, set your swordfish on top then crown everything with a mound of baby spinach and another dollop of skordalia.

Finally, the swordfish can be done on an outdoor grill or on one of those stovetop grilling pans. In either case, ensure the grilling surface is clean, lubricated with a vegetable oil (prevent sticking) and grilled over high heat.

Swordfish With Skordalia (Ξιφίας Με σκορδαλιά)
(serves 4)

4 swordfish steaks
sea salt
ground black pepper
extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp. olive oil
10 handfuls of baby spinach, rinsed
1 tsp. of fresh mint leaves
1 shallot, minced

Skordalia
3-4 large potatoes, boiled with skins on
4-5 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup olive oil
splash of wine vinegar or lemon juice
salt to taste

1. Prepare your mise en place (organize all your ingredients). Boil your potatoes with the skins on in salted water (retain nutrients), rinse and dry your baby spinach and have your shallots and garlic peeled and ready for use. Ensure your swordfish fillets are brought back to room temperature before cooking.
2. As soon as your potatoes are fork-tender, remove them from the boiling water and replace with cold water to bring the heat down to a safe handling temperature. Use the dull side of a knife to peel off the skins and set aside. Now add a little coarse salt and your garlic cloves and pound into a mash with your mortar and pestle. Now add the potatoes and a splash of vinegar and pound into a mash until the garlic and potatoes are incorporated. While stirring the mash, slowly add your olive oil into the potato mixture. Add in small stages until the warm potatoes have absorbed the oil. Continue until about 1/2 cup olive oil has been absorbed by the potatoes. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt.
3. Grill your fish either on your pre-heated outdoor grill or indoor grilling pan. In both cases, high heat is required and your grilling surface should be clean. Rub some olive oil on your fillets and season with salt and pepper. Grill your sword fish fillets for about 2-3 minutes a side and keep warm.
4. In a large skillet, add the olive oil and shallots and saute over medium heat for a minute. Add half of your spinach leaves and toss to coat with oil and to wilt for a couple of minutes. Turn the heat off and add the remaining spinach leaves and mint and continue to wilt the leaves for another couple of minutes. Season with some salt, toss and reserve.
   
5. Divide the Skordalia evenly on each plate (reserve 4 Tbsp. to top each plate), place a fillet on top, followed by a mound of wilted spinach, then a small dollop of Skordalia over the spinach. Drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil and serve.
   

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://kalofagas.blogspot.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author. © 2007-2009 Peter Minakis

Roasted Red Pepper and Potato Salad (Πατατοσαλάτα με πιπεριές Φλωρίνης)

I hope you enjoyed my travel and food journey through New York over the past couple of weeks. There have been many times since my return where I wished I could jet off each weekend, see some new friends again and sample more of the city's great food.

I'm thinking New York could become a yearly thing and I have some ideas for the next time! I have one more (final) post to add about my New York stay but I'll delay that one for a bit as I'm kinda hungry to get back into my regular blogging step.

I'm most comfortable creating or trying new dishes, photographing it (quickly as possible as my food photo subjects are also meal subjects) and ultimately sharing the dish with you.

This dish involves two of my favourite ingredients...potatoes and red peppers. Potatoes are filing, potatoes taste great and potatoes are versatile. Potatoes can be boiled, friend, baked, steamed and used in both sweet and savory dishes.

Peppers...Oh how do I love thee pepper. As the son of two parents from the northern Greek prefecture of Florina, it's almost by default that I would adore peppers. Greeks by and large enjoy peppers but I think the Greeks in the north love them just a little bit more.

My dad will have peppers in some form or the other in his meal. My father also has a thing for hot peppers. We're not talking spicy but hot, blow your head-off, speaking in tongues /I think I see God kinda-hot.

I had an uncle who was so enamored with peppers (especially hot ones) that he would bring small chilis with to a wedding reception and snip some into his banquet dinner!

Red peppers all across Greece are referred to as "Πιπεριές Φλωρίνης" or "Florina Peppers. Yes folks, we're that fond of peppers that the red ones are associated with the Prefecture of Florina!

As most of your will agree, tomatoes around this time of suck. Well, most of them. Here in Canada, we have quite the hot-house industry for growing vegetables indoors and I even saw some imported Ontario "on the vine" tomatoes at Whole Foods in New York!

I usually stick with cherry tomatoes in the winter as they are the only option for anything with taste but don't give up - there's an alternative....make the red pepper your winter tomato!

Red peppers have more vitamin C than an orange and so on a health aspect, you want red peppers in your winter diet and some of you might even have a phobia about scurvy. Eat red peppers!

The best way to roast red peppers is on a gas or charcoal grill. Us Canadians are crazy that way (we'll grill all year 'round) but we're also realists....standing for hours charring peppers is a sure way to get sick.

Each September, my family roasts bushels of sweet and hot peppers for the long Canadian winter. If your don't have a charcoal or gas grill, use your stovetop to char your peppers but be prepared for a hearty post-charring clean-up...it will be messy.

Bushels of peppers get charred/blackened on the grill and then they are placed on a large tray and covered so that they can "sweat" before being preserved.

My family's favourite method for preserving roasted peppers is to freeze them. In one of my earliest blog posts, I go into detail on how we do this but the short story is...bag them in zip-lock bags and freeze them for up to the next summer.

When you freeze your peppers, leave the charred skins on. The skins will provide added protection to your peppers from freezer burn and when thawed, the skins peel off rather easily, leaving you with perfectly roasted peppers that are ready for a salad or side dish as part of your winter meal.

Today, I'm going to show you one of my favourite combos, that is to say roasted red peppers and boiled potatoes. Here, I've also added some roasted red garlic, extra-virgin olive oil, chopped fresh chives, parsley and briny capers.

Roasted Red Pepper and Potato Salad (Πατατοσαλάτα με πιπεριές Φλωρίνης)
(for 2 or as a side dish)

1 large Yukon Gold potato
1 large red bell pepper, skins peeled and cut into ribbons
3 cloves of roasted garlic
(or 1 raw clove)
1 Tbsp. capers
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
1 Tbsp. chopped chives
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
red wine vinegar (optional)
sea salt
fresh ground pepper

1. Place a small pot of water on your stovetop and bring to a boil. Add some salt to the boiling water and carefully place the potato (with skin on) into the water and reduce heat to medium and boil until fork tender. Place under to cold water to cool the potato until you're able to comfortably handle the potato (you still want it to be warm).
2. Using the dull side of a knife, peel of the skin of the potato. Now carefully slice your potato into slices and set aside.
3. Wrap each slice of potato with a ribbon of roasted pepper and plate in a circular, overlapping pattern.
4. In a small bowl, add roasted garlic and mash it into a paste with a fork. Now add the olive oil and whisk the two ingredients until blended.
5. Sprinkle some sea salt over your roasted red pepper and potato salad and pour the olive oil and garlic mixture over the salad.
6. Grind some fresh black pepper over the salad, garnish with chopped fresh parsley, chives and capers and drizzle a little wine vinegar (optional) as a finishing touch.
7. Serve with grilled or fried fish or some good, homemade sausages.
   

Seafood Pie With Rösti Topping

Last year I recall seeing many seafood & fish pie dishes being presented by my Brit friends 'oer across the pond. To all of you, each and every pie you baked had me salivating and I promised you all and myself to add this dish to my roster.

The kicker for this dish is what the book calls a "rösti" topping. For those not in the know, rösti is a Swiss dish of grated potato, usually mixed with butter or animal fat and fried into lovely patties of spud goodness.

This seafood pie emulates that taste and texture on the topping. Many fish & seafood pies get the mashed potato topping but when I read this technique, I loved it from the the "get go" and the result is a textured, fab looking topping that will please the eye and the belly on these cold autumn nights.

The dish comes from a book called Easy Entertaining by Julia Aitkens. There are few few photographs in the book but it's jammed with many simple dishes that will WOW your guests with little effort.

This recipe originally called for smoked salmon - I had smoked mackerel. It's all good as long as you added something smoked for the proper flavour mix.

Seafood Pie With Rösti Topping

Filling
1 1 1/4 cups of cold milk
1 cup dry white wine
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter
1lb cod, haddock or other white fish 8oz. raw shrimp, peeled & deveined 8oz. of bay scallops
2 cups of frozen mixed vegetables (thawed & rinsed)
4oz. of smoked salmon
3-4 bunches of scallions, chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup minced dill pickles
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh dill
splash of Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp. of black pepper
1/4 tsp. of salt
1 large bay leaf
1 clove of garlic

Topping
2 large Yukon Gold potatoes
1/3 cup of melted butter
salt and pepper

Pre-heated 400F oven

1. For the filling: In a large sauepan over medium-high heat, combine the milk, wine and flour, bay leaf and whisk until smooth. Stir in butter and bring to a boil while whisking and the mixture becomes smooth and bubbly. Reduce to medium and whisk for a couple of minutes until it thickens.
2. Add the fish and seafood, mixed vegetables, scallions, herbs, pickles and Worcestershire, salt and pepper and stir gently. Taste & adjust seasoning with salt and pepper and remove the bay leaf and garlic clove. Spoon/pour the mixture into a 11 by 7 inch baking lined with parchment.
3. For the topping: Add the potatoes (skin on) to a large pot of water and fill with enough water to just cover. Bring to a boil and add salt and boil for 15-20 minutes, until just under-cooked. Drain and place in cold water to cool down just enough for you to safely handle them.
4. Peel the skins off the potatoes with the aid of the back of a knife and using the largest holes of your box grater, grate the potatoes evenly over the surface of your seafood pie mixture.
5. Using a brush, dip it in your melted butter and sprinkle over top of your potato topping. Lightly season the topping with salt and pepper and place in your pre-heated oven for 40-45 minutes. If necessary, heat the broiler and the broil your seafood pie for 2-3 minutes to get a golden-brown topping.
6. Remove from the oven, allow to cool for 10 minutes, cut into portions and serve immediately with a dry white wine.
   

Fennel Gratin

In keeping with the maxim that one should use up an entire ingredient, I also made a potato & fennel gratin with the my leftover fennel from the latest Royal Foodie Joust.

I've grown to really like fennel and I've also learned it mellows when cooked or sliced/shaved thinly.

I used Ina Garten's gratin as a reference but if you compare the two, I've taken quite a few departures.

I've added thyme into the mix, kept the skins on the potatoes, used Yukon Golds and rather than mix the gratin ingredients in a bowl, I layered the filling so as to have a more evenly distributed final dish.

If trying fennel in a potato gratin for the first time, don't tell anyone else what's in it. Your family or guests will love the flavour but won't exactly be able to pinpoint the ingredient. Fennel mellows when cooked and in a very nice way.

Potato & Fennel Gratin

2 small fennel bulbs
1 medium-to large onion, sliced
1/4 cup olive oil
2 lbs. Yukon Gold potatoes
1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 cup cream
1 cup whole milk
4 sprigs of thyme
2 1/2 cups grated Gruyere cheese
(1/2 cup reserved for topping)
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper

Pre-heated 375F oven

1. Butter the inside of a 10 X 15 X 2" baking dish
2. Remove the stalks of the fennel and the bulbs in half. Remove the cores and thinly slice the bubs crosswise (making approx. 4 cups). Saute the fennel and onions in the olive oil and butter on medium-low heat for about 15 minutes or until soft and translucent. Reserve.
3. Using a mandoline, thinly slice your potatoes and mix them in a bowl with your cream, milk and fresh thyme. Arrange an alternating layer of potatoes and then some onion & fennel, sprinkling a bit of salt and pepper and then some grated cheese. Repeat potato layer, onion and fennel, salt and pepper then grated cheese.
4. Pour enough of the cream/milk mixture to just cover the gratin and then press down to smooth the potatoes. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup of Gruyere on top and finally your bread crumbs.
5. Bake for 90 minutes, until the potatoes re very tender and is browned and bubbling. Allow to rest for 10-15 minutes before serving.
   

Succulent Poached Salmon With a Fennel & Orange Relish

It's Royal Foodie Joust time and this my first entry since I won back in July for my Apricot and Pistachio Cake.

The "Joust" was created by Jenn The Leftover Queen and the premise is simple...a friendly competition where a dish has to be presented using three chosen ingredients. The winner of each Joust chooses the select ingredients for the ensuing competition.

Everything is friendly & all but from seeing the dishes of late, I can tell you that many step up their cooking talents and although there can be only one winner each month, we are all well rewarded with a pageant of innovative and fabulous looking dishes.

The ingredients for this month were chosen by last month's victor, Peter from Souvlaki For the Soul who won with his elegant and eye-catching Halvas.

Today, I present thee to you, Succulent Poached Salmon With a Fennel & Orange Relish. This is a dish from Bobby Flay's book, "Grilling for Life" and once again,the dude amazes me with his creations.

The salmon becomes "succulent" as it's poached. Not just any old poached but poached in olive oil! The salmon is poached gently in the oil, so there's no fear of supping on a oil-soaked fish or fear of the olive oil breaking down at a high temperature.

The result is a moist, delicate tasting salmon, poached to perfection in a quivering poach from the olive oil. This is decadent as it uses alot of olive oil but no fear, the oil can be re-used (if you wish) in the future. I'll use it for frying and sauteing, no doubt.

The salmon gets crowned with an orange and fennel relish, which contain all three of this month's Joust ingredients: dairy, fennel and parsley.

The plate gets rounded out with a warm potato salad that I've eaten before but never warm...it takes on a whole new flavour!

The verdict? I think the last photograph says it all!

Succulent Poached Salmon With a Fennel & Orange Relish
(for 4)

Olive Oil Poached Salmon
3 salmon fillets
enough olive oil to just cover the salmon
salt and pepper

1. Season salmon on both sides with salt and pepper. Place in a large high-sided sauté pan and cover with olive oil.
   
2. Turn the flame to medium and let the salmon gently poach in the oil until just cooked through, 15-20 minutes (watch over your salmon to ensure that the oil just "quivers" and adjust your heat accordingly).
   
3. Remove the salmon from the oil and drain on paper towels. Serve in a large shallow bowl and top with the fennel-orange relish with potato salad on the side.

Orange and Fennel Relish
Pinch of saffron
1 head fennel, outer layer removed, halved and thinly sliced
3 Tbsp. of melted butter
Salt and pepper
1 small red onion, halved and thinly sliced
2 oranges, segmented
2 Tbsp. pomegranate molasses
1 Tbsp. honey
Juice of 1 lemon
3 Tbsp. chopped parsley
3 Tbsp. fennel fronds

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Place saffron in a small bowl and cover with a few tablespoons of hot water, let sit 5 minutes to bloom.
   
2. Combine the fennel, 3 Tbsp. of melted butter and the saffron, along with the soaking liquid in a large bowl and season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a roasting pan and roast until just soft, stirring occasionally, about 20-25 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly then transfer to a large bowl.
   
3. Stir in the red onion, oranges, pomegranate molasses, honey, lemon, parsley and fennel frond and season with salt and pepper.

Warm Potato Salad
2 lbs. potatoes, scrubbed and boiled until just cooked through
3 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
2 Tbsp. capers, drained
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
Salt and freshly ground pepper

1. Cut each potato into quarters, lengthwise. Heat the oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the potatoes and stir to coat with the oil.
2. Let the potatoes cook until just warmed through. Add the mustard and cook for 30 seconds.
3. Remove from the heat and add the capers and dill and season with salt and pepper. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Caper Salad (Καππαροσαλάτα)

I had every intention of writing and sharing about my vacation and food experiences in chronological order but it's my prerogative to change my mind. This is a food blog afterall...no place here for orderly behaviour!

This year I visited three islands in the Cyclades. The Cyclades are the most famous of Greek islands which are located in the Aegean Sea, southeast of Athens.

I stopped by Naxos, Paros and Sifnos. If one looks to a map you'll see that each island is quite close to each other but from ancient times, the waters made travel between the islands seem worlds apart.

It was comforting to see that each island had retained it's own character, feel, sub-culture and style.

One common food theme I found was the heavy use of capers in the islands' cuisines. Order a Horiatiki (Greek) salad and you'll likely see the addition of capers in the mix.

One dish that was new to me was the Caper Salad. I sampled two versions: one being a stewed onion based dip with peppers and a faint presence of capers and the second one being a plate of whipped mashed potato (cold) with the bold presence of capers in it.

I preferred the second Caper Salad and it's one I'm going to share with you.

Again, simplicity dictates this dish with the use of few fresh ingredients, all local and of course, delicious.

Offer this up at a picnic, as a dip with bread or as a side alternative for your starch.

It's easy, it's delicious and it will transport you to the Greek Islands each time you take a bite!

Caper Salad (Καππαροσαλάτα)

3 large potatoes
3 large Tbsp. of capers (drained), finely chopped
2-3 green olives, coarsely chopped
3 cloves of garlic, miced
2 Tbsp. wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup red onion, finely diced
1/4 cup chopped fresh chives + some for garnish
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
1 tsp. dried oregano
salt and pepper to taste

1. With the skins on, place your potatoes in water and bring to a boil. Add a generous amount of salt and cook until fork tender. Remove from the heat and cool until the potatoes are safe to handle. Peel the skins and mash the potatoes in a bowl.
2. Add your minced garlic, vinegar, minced capers, olives, diced onions and mix in until incorporated. Now slowly add your olive oil until you've achieved your desired consistency.
3. Add the chives, oregano and fresh chopped dill and mix in as well.
4. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper and serve room temperature or cold with a garnish of some chives and whole caper berries.
   

Happy Birthday Canada

July 1st is Canada Day or our nation's birthday. Tomorrow this young country will turn 141 and I'm every bit a proud Canadian as I am Greek.

Canada is a nation of the Native peoples, the French and English majority and the multicultural mosaic that's made up of all the other ethnicities.

I'm grateful for the opportunity Canada gave to my parents and my family to begin a new life where hard work was rewarded, that one could achieve any goal if they set their mind to it, a country full of tolerance, peaceful and safe.

Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict emailed me to see if I was interested in participating in a food event that captured the essence of Canadian flavours and foods.

Canada has some of the best that International cuisine has to offer and this is large part due to the rich tapestry of ethnicities within our borders.

After asking my parents and brother what food(s) captured the essence of Canada's food...a unanimous reply was French Fries and Gravy.

What's unique about Canada's fries & gravy is the Montreal specialty of Poutines. Poutines are basically a dish of french fries, cheese curds and gravy.

This dish will NOT appear on the menu of any diets currently being exercised but you only live once, life's not a dress rehearsal and Poutines are too damn delicious to not indulge in every now & then.

Cheese curds have the combined texture of Mozzarella and Halloumi and although widely available in Canada, some difficulty will be had in finding them elsewhere.

What you need here are french fries, cheese curds (Mozzarella is the closest alternative) and a deep brown gravy made from a rich beef stock.

There's no real recipe here other than to do your French Fries properly, seek out cheese curds and make a kick-ass, deeply flavourful and thick beef gravy.

Happy Canada Day!

Ranch Salad (Σαλάτα Έπαυλις)

One of Greece's regular food shows on TV is called the Nistiko Arkoudi "Hungry Bear". It started off as a regional show, produced by ERT3, out of Thessaloniki. For two years now, it's shown weeknights nationally, on it's parent station NET. I adapted the recipe for this salad on this episode.

Before I go any further, there's absolutely no Ranch dressing involved here. This potato salad is called "Salata Epaflis". Epaflis is translated as Hacienda, Estate or Ranch.

This potato salad features two of my parents' favourite vegetables, potatoes and sweet red peppers. My parents come from the Prefecture of Florina and Greeks often call red peppers "Piperies Florinis", after the region.

A small town in Florina called Sklithro (Municipality of Aetos) also holds a three day festival in honour of the potato, the other main ingredient of this salad.

This potato salad is robust in flavour...garlic, potatoes and roasted red peppers. This salad is excellent as a side or as a meze, served with a Greek rose.

Ranch Salad (Σαλάτα Έπαυλις)
(for 4)

4 boiled potatoes
1 medium red onion, diced
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/2 cup of extra-virgin olive oil
1/8 cup red wine vinegar
10 roasted red peppers, peeled and chopped
salt and pepper to taste

1. Boil your potatoes in salted water. When cool enough to handle, cut into chunks.
2. Char the skins of your peppers on your grill or on your stove top. Place in a bag, seal and allow the peppers to sweat for at least 30 minutes. Carefully peel the charred skins and seeds and chop the peppers and add to the bowl with your potatoes.
3. Add the remaining ingredients and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. For those that like a little heat, add a crushed chilli pepper into the mix.
4. Serve with a cold Greek rose.
   

Squawkin' Moroccan

When I made this dish, my mind went to an old friend of mine, Pat in Montreal. Pat was a raconteur of sorts, telling womanizing stories, jokes and numerous funny stories. He was obviously talkative and also of Moroccan extraction.

Ergo, he got the moniker of being the Squawkin' Moroccan and this dish involves a chicken. You do the math!

I've been dyin' to make this Moroccan dish but I wanted to do it justice...serve it in a Tajine. A Tajine is an earthenware vessel that's also sometimes painted or glazed. it's used to cook in Moroccan and other North African cuisines.

The first time I tried a Tajine was at a Moroccan restaurant here in the city. The dish read to me like poetry and I was even assured (by the menu) that my Tajine dish would be presented in...a Tajine.

My anticipation of the dish flattened when it was served merely on a plate. I asked the waiter to comeback and take my dish and re-serve my dinner in a TAJINE, DAMMIT!

For those not in the know, Tajine is a term to also describe any recipe or dish that's cook in one. The recipes are numerous, ingredients plenty. What is a constant in all these Tajines is that a slow braise of the meal takes place. This is slow food people, embrace it!

As I'm not one to veer too much from a recipe when I first try it, the ingredients I used remained largely the same. I used coriander seeds rather than chopped fresh coriander as I have a Coriander-hatin' family. All apologies to those who love Coriander but it's sparsely used in mainland Greek cuisine and we are not so accustomed to it's floral pungency.

This dish comes courtesy of the Australian-produced show called Food Safari. The saffron adds brilliant colour to the dish, the potatoes thicken the sauce and the fresh ground cumin permeate the entire home.

This dish looks exotic, smells exotic, tastes exotic. I have never been to Morocco but after eating this dish, I'd like to!

Chicken Tagine With Preserved Lemons & Olives

2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbsp chopped fresh ginger
1/2 preserved lemon, rinsed and thinly sliced
2 onions, chopped
½ birds eye chilli
1 tbsp sweet paprika
1 tbsp ground cumin
salt
2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander, stems and leaves
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon saffron threads, soaked in a little water
1/2 cup olive oil
2 bay leaves, torn in half

1 whole chicken, size 10 or 12
1 tomato, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 large potatoes, cut into wedges
1 onion, sliced
1 tomato, sliced
150g pitted green olives
1 bunch fresh coriander, chopped
1 cup water
1 preserved lemon, cut into 6 segments.

1. Marinade: Process all ingredients together in a food processor until finely chopped and thoroughly combined. Leave for 30 minutes before using. Can be stored in the refrigerator for up to seven days.
2. Wash and dry the chicken and remove backbone, wing tips and any excess fat. Cut into pieces. Rub all over with ½ of the chermoula marinade and refrigerate overnight or for at least 2 hours.
3. Combine the tomato and onion with a little more chermoula and spread into the base of the tajine (this will prevent the chicken from burning on the bottom). Arrange chicken pieces in the centre of the tajine on top of tomato mixture. Coat potato wedges with chermoula and arrange around chicken. Top with onion slices, then tomato slices and olives in between the potato wedges.
4. Mix chopped coriander with remaining chermoula and water. Pour over mixture. Decorate top with preserved lemon wedges.
5. Cover tajine with lid and cook on a very low gas heat for 45 minutes. Do not stir or lift the lid during the cooking process.
   
6. Serve the Tajine directly to the table and impress your guests with a waft of fragrant steam when it’s time to serve with couscous and harissa.