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

Pomegranate Vinaigrette

This is my first post for 2009 and I would like to wish you all a Happy & Healthy New Year!

My New Year's Eve was spent at one of favourite eateries in Toronto and I dined, laughed and drank with eleven good friends...right into the wee hours of January 1st.

The dinner was delicious, the company provided laughs (as always) and the memories....priceless. The next day (New Year's Day) could have been a really rough day but I stuck with a menu that I'm very comfortable with and as always, tested out a few new recipes prior to going "live" with the dishes.

One dish which is symbolic of New Year's for Greeks, seasonal and of course delicious, was this salad I made of mixed greens with a vinaigrette made of pomegranates.

Pomegranates are a part of Greek New Year's traditions as many families will smash a pomegranate in front of the home and hopefully disperse alot of seeds over a wide area. The more seeds are dispersed, the better the fortunes for the home.

I first tried this salad for our Christmas Day dinner and although it was delicious, the mere presence of just pomegranate juice leaves the dressing a little runny. I fine tuned the vinaigrette by adding some pomegranate molasses into the mix.

Pomegranate molasses can be found at a Greek or Middle Eastern market and if neither of those shops are near you, one could reduce the pomegranate juice into a thicker syrup.

Everyone at the table loved the simplicity of the dish, it's easy on the eyes and the contrast of crumbled Feta and pomegranate seeds bejeweling the salad made each forkful of salad a delight.

I don't have any specific measurements here but I can tell you now that my preferred method of making salad dressings is with a squeeze bottle that looks like those you find at a diner with ketchup or mustard in them. The one I use is opaque so I can easily eyeball the measurements of the vinaigrette ingredients.

Mixed Greens With Feta & Pomegranate Vinaigrette

seasonal mixed greens, washed and pat-dry (salad spinner)
juice of 1 pomegranate
seeds of 1 pomegranate (for garnish)
approx. 2 Tbsp. pomegranate molasses
approx. 1/2 cup olive oil
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
1 small clove of garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste

1. Cut your pomegranate in half and using a wooden spoon, smack the skin side of each half and place a bowl underneath to catch the falling seeds. Ensure none of the bitter pith falls into the bowl. Place your pomegranate seeds into a blender or food processor and whiz into a liquid. Pass through a strainer and discard the seeds.
2. In a squeeze bottle or jar, add the pomegranate juice, the garlic and eyeball how much olive oil you should add. Basic vinaigrette rule is 3 parts oil to 1 part acid (your pomegranate juice is the acid in this instance).
3. Add some salt, pepper and the Dijon mustard and shake to emulsify. If the vinaigrette is too runny for your liking, add some pomegranate molasses, shake and again taste and adjust seasoning.
4. Place your salad in a large bowl and squirt some pomegranate vinaigrette into the bowl and gently toss the salad until fully coated.
5. Divide among the plates, squirt some more vinaigrette, sprinkle some crumbled Feta and some pomegranate seeds for garnish.

PS. Lydia of the Perfect Pantry just wrote a wonderful article on Pomegranate Molasses, pomegranates and some background. There's even a recipe to make your own!

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.
   

Soup and Salad (Σούπα και Σαλάτα)

The next phase of the Greek themed Thanksgiving Dinner involved soup and salad. As I've written before, I'm more of a soup guy when the cooler weather arrives but this is here is an autumn salad, featuring a blend of seasonal greens and a vinaigrette with a Greek ingredient that's very ancient...Petimezi.

I first saw the dressing used here on a Greek food show called the Nistiko Arkoudi (Hungry Bear) and the show's title is a play on a Greek saying, "the hungry bear never dances". In the show's intro, the bear's dancing alright...a testament that the bear (and viewer are fed well).

The dressing is a sweet & sour combination involving Olive oil, balsamic vinegar, mustard and Petimezi. Petimezi is a grape syrup or mollasses that was produced and used in ancient times before the arrival of sugar on the scene. Back then, natural sweeteners like Petimezi were used.

The dressing was finished off with some minced garlic, salt and pepper and given a good shake in a jar to emulsify the dressing.

The salad ingredients are quite interesting too...bitter rocket leaves, red cabbage, leafy green lettuce and some Napa cabbage to round out the mix. The salad goes further with the sweet & savory theme with a topping of pomegranate seeds, sesame seeds, walnuts and roasted red peppers.

I had this salad during my stay in Naxos this past summer and I promised myself to recreate this wonderful salad. On the menu it was listed as Smyrneiko Salata, homage to the Greeks who fled Smyrna in haste, but brought their wonderful recipes back to mainland Greece with them.

The soup course of the night involved beets. My original soup idea was a roasted red pepper soup but despite it's wonderful flavour and result, it proved to be too good, a bold flavour especially since turkey and fixins' were next on the menu.

The pureed beet soup proved to be a wonderful surprise to me (during it's testing) and for my dinner guests. Everyone was expecting a very sweet soup - something more dessert than savory but this recipe makes it very much a savory soup with onions, potatoes, thyme and oregano to take the sweet edge off the soup.

Before I get on with the soup recipe, I must give due mention to the wine pairing for the soup and salad course: Steve Kriaris of Kolonaki Group recommended the Skouras Cuvee Prestige White.

The Skouras Winery is located in the northeast Pelleponese and the the wine is made from a 50/50 split of Roditis and Mosxofilero grapes.

Again, we agreed that a crisp, no oak white would complement the soup and salad course and I could detect the light florals as per the tasting notes from Skouras.

I'm really enjoying this Greek wine and food pairing and I'll endeavour to showcase more qaulity Greek wines in future posts.

In the meantime, here's that Beet soup recipe...

Beet Soup With Oregano
( serves 4, I doubled the recipe)

approx 400gr. of medium-sized beets
1/4 cup olive oil
1 large russet potato, peeled
1 large onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, smashed
1 bay leaf
chicken/vegetable stock
2 tsp. of ground coriander
salt and pepper to taste
2 tsp. of dried Greek oregano
strained Greek yogurt

1. Place your beets in some aluminum foil, wrap well and place in a pre-heated 450F oven for about 40 minutes. Allw to cool enough to be handled. With the help of a knife, peel away the skins, discard and cut the beets into chunks.
2. In a pot, add your olive oil and over medium heat add the onions and garlic, bay leaf, ground coriander and saute for 15-20 minutes. Now using your box grater, grate the potato into the pot and stir and simmer for another5 minutes (add some water if too dry).
3. Now add your beets and enough stock to just cover your beets and bring to a boil. Now simmer for another 30 minutes until thickened somewhat. Add salt and pepper to taste.
   
4. Remove from the heat, take out the bay leaf and using your hand blender, puree the soup until smooth. Return to medium heat and simmer for another 15 minutes or until you've achieved your desired consistency.
5. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper and allow to cool a bit.
6. Serve in bowls with a dollop of strained Greek yogurt and a sprinkle of dried Greek oregano.
   

Fresh Salad

During this past vacation in Greece I again returned to the warm embrace of Athens.

I visited some old friends, made some new ones and I also had to cook and film a pilot to promote the concept of "Kalofagas" as a TV show.

If you would like a sense of where I'm coming from when it comes to food and in particular, Greek food, visit Wandering Educators where you can read a brief interview that I recently conducted.

As for the sharing the footage from the taping in Athens, please be patient...it's a matter of time 'til I unleash my video debut!

The majority of the filming took place at the Fresh Design Hotel in the center of Athens, at the foot of the Parthenon.

Basically, we filmed some footage at the nearby Barbakeios Market and then I along with two of the hotels' chefs, Christos and Athinagoras,
cooked a few dishes.

I would like to thank the staff at the Fresh Hotel, especially Christos and Athinagoras who made me feel like part of their cooking team and for selecting the quality ingredients.

The biggest "thank you" goes to Dimitri Vorris, the writer/producer/director who originally contacted me about creating a flim version of Kalofagas.

The day was long, the work hard but when one is deep in something you love (look food & cooking), it was damn good fun.

We almost forgot to eat but during a break to a relocation of camera equipment to the rooftop restaurant & bar, we had a chance to catch our breath, chat a bit and have a well-deserved lunch in one of the hotel's cafe's.

One of the offerings was a play on the Cretan Dakos, which is a barley rusk served with grated ripe tomatoes, olive oil and crumbled feta (or Myzithra) with a final topping of Greek oregano.

This salad uses "almyra koulourakia" or dry savory biscuits, kinda like a Greek pretzel but with anise seeds in them. Ask for Taralli at an Italian grocer, they should do the trick.

The presentation caught my eye, the idea novel and the flavour with those anise seeds, fantastic!

Fresh Salad
(inspired by the Fresh Design Hotel's offering)

Some almyra koulourakia (savory cookies)
1 medium sized tomato, diced
1 Tbsp. diced red onion
1 small clove of garlic, minced
extra-virgin olive oil
Crumbled Greek feta
coarse sea salt
ground pepper
Dry Greek oregano

1. Arrange some Paximadia (savory cookies) on a plate to form a bedding for your salad (break them in half if they are too big).
2. In a bowl, add your diced tomato, red onions, garlic, some sea salt, pepper, oreegano and some olive oil and allow the mixture to stew for about 15 minutes.
3. Spoon the tomato mixture over the paximadia and then top with crumbled Feta, drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil and top with dry Greek oregano.
4. Share the plate with friends, spoon some onto your plate, crack the paximadia and eat each forkful with some paximadi, tomato and feta.
   

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.
   

Htipiti and More Appetizers

I didn't think I had to go into further detail on the Htipiti dip (as photgraphed here) but I'll run it down for you. It's quite a free-form recipe as the measurements depend on how hot your peppers are and how salty your Feta is.

You need three ingredients for this recipe: Feta cheese, Myzithra (ricotta) and roasted hot banana peppers.

First, you roast your hot banana peppers on the gas or charcoal grill until charred on the outside. Then place in a plastic or paper bag and allow them to sweat for at least a half an hour or until cool enough to handle.

By this time the charred skins should be easily removed and you'll be left with a succulent roasted hot pepper. I like whizzing a few banana peppers in the food processor and then I set them aside as I prepare the rest of the Htipiti ingredients.

Now take an equal amount of Feta and Myzithra and add a little olive oil and start mashing the cheeses with your fork until they are incorporated and smooth.

Now add some pureed hot peppers in small amounts, mix and taste. Keep on adding until you acheive your desired heat. In Greece, Htipiti is served mildly spicy, not "blow your head off spicy". If the mixture is a little stiff, slowly pour in some olive oil and blend it in. You now have your own Htipiti!

At this point in my Birthday party I served a new favourite of mine - grilled shrimp and Chorizo skewers. Again, there's no real recipe here but to soak the bamboo skewers for at least overnight and then slice your Chorizo to the thickness of the shrimp and wrap the body of the shrimp around the arc of the sausage and secure with a small skewer.

Lightly oil your shrimp & Chorizo skewers and grill on high heat for 1-2 minutes per side. Serve them immediately.

Finally, this next dish doubled as another appetizer and a side dish...a green bean and cherry tomato salad.

I originally saw this cold bean salad on an episode of the Barefoot Contessa and I was immediately drawn to this salad. It had beans, olive oil, tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, oregano, garlic and parsley.

After exploring regional dishes of Greece, I discovered that this dish is a specialty from the Greek island of Kythera, situated just south of the Laconian peninsula.

Here's a family favourite - a wonderful summer salad of green beans and my own touch with roasted cherry tomatoes. The sweet tomatoes play off on the tart vinegar and the garlic and pungent dried Greek oregano offer a deep bottom to this symphony of herbs and vegetables.

Green Bean & Cherry Tomato Salad From Kythera

1 1/2 pounds slender green beans, trimmed, cut into 2-inch pieces
2 pints of cherry tomatoes, roasted
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 clove of garlic , minced
1 heaping of teaspoon dried Greek oregano
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
salt and pepper to taste

1. Place your cherry tomatoes on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place in a pre-heated 450F oven and roast for 20-30 minutes or until they skins have cracked & shriveled a bit. Allow to cool and set aside.
2. Place a large pot of water on your stove-top and when it comes to a boil, add a good amount of salt and and place your beans in the water. Boil for 3-5 minutes until just tender (but still crisp).
3. Strain your beans and place in an ice bath to stop the cooking process.
4. In a large boil, add your balsamic vinegar, garlic, mustard and oregano and begin whisking in your olive oil. Add a little salt and pepper and now add your beans, cherry tomatoes and chopped parsley.
5. Toss the salad so that the dressing coats all the components. Ad just seasoning with salt an pepper and serve at room temperature or cold.

Tomato Salad With Fried Feta

Last night I had a few friends & cousins over for a backyard party but the weather Gods were not compliant. It was my birthday this past Friday and I'm a fabulous 41!

Rain was forecast for most of the day and we packed up and headed indoors...twice!

Regardless, after settling indoors I was able to commence the onslaught of dishes to my awaiting guests.

I served up a combo of dishes that were sure people pleasers and with just enough uniqueness to evoke the "Ooooohs & Ahhhhs" from the dining room.

One such dish is a tomato salad on a bed of greens with fried feta. This time I used a Mesclun Mix of greens, some firm Greek feta cheese, a mildly sweetened vinaigrette made with honey and extra-virgin Greek olive oil.

Frying cheese can be a tricky task but here's a few of pointers:

• Seek a firmer feta cheese. Some crumble easier than others. A firmer variety works best.
• Chill your feta before frying. My good friend Sam of Greek Food - Recipes & Reflections shared this tip and it definitely helped my feta cubes keep their form during the frying.
• Shallow fry your cheese in a non-stick pan with an oil like sunflower oil.
• Coat your cheese simply with beated egg and flour.

This salad immediately catches the eye, my Greek guests were in awe of the Greek cubes of feta and when I was prepping the next course in the kitchen, I thought I heard them meditating with what sounded like a chorus of "Ohmmmmmmmm" - it was really a "Yummmmm"!

Tomato Salad With Fried Feta
Serves 4

Vinaigrette
juice of 1 lemon (1/4 cup)
2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
1 tsp. of honey
2 tsp. dried Greek oregano splash of good balsamic vinegar
1 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. black pepper

1-2 ripe tomatoes, sliced
4 large handfuls of Mesclun (Spring) mix
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
Greek black olives
7oz/200 gr. Greek feta, cut into cubes
1 egg + splash of milk
some all-purpose flour
sunflower oil for frying

1. In a small Mason jar, add your vinaigrette ingredients and close lid and shake well. Taste and adjust seasonings and set aside.
2. Prepare the salad by arranging the tomatoes, onion, Mesclun mix and olives on individual plates or one large serving platter
3. Cut the feta cheese into cubes. Beat the egg and some milk in one bowl and have another separate bowl set up with some flour. Toss the cheese first in the egg, shale off excess and then dredge in flour. Place your dredged feta cubes in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to chill.
4. Heat the sunflower oil in a large, non-stick pan and fry (in batches) over medium heat, turning over the cubes of cheese until they are golden brown on all sides.
5. Scatter the fried feta over the salad and give your jar of vinaigrette a shake and spoon over the salad. Serve while feta cubes are still warm.
   

Strawberry Salad

After experiencing a longer and colder winter than usual, it comes as no surprise that Ontario's seasonal produce is appearing later on the shelves.

Local field strawberries are appearing in the markets and one bite into them reminds me that local is always best.

No need to steep these in sugar or any other flavour enhancer - a simple bowl of strawberries after dinner is fine by me.

Or I also like strawberries as part of my salad. The sweet and tart flavours of a strawberry play well against savory in a salad.

Here, I pretty much winged this salad, used what was on hand and I think I came up with a harmonious mix of ingredients, seasonal fare and as always, delicious.

When you're ready to eat this salad, hunch your back over, turn away from the others and protect yourself and the salad...the last time I made this, someone else's fork just dived into my salad and stole a forkful!

Strawberry Salad
(for 4)

4 large handfuls of Spring Mesclun Mix
1/2 pint of strawberries, sliced
1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
1/3 cup chopped walnuts
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh tarragon

Vinaigrette
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
1 small clove of garlic, minced
4 Tbsp. raspberry balsamic vinegar 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

1. Wash & rinse your salad greens and ensure most of the water has been removed from the leaves and reserve.
2. In a large bowl, add the mustard, garlic and vinegar and start whisking the ingredients until a paste has formed. Now continue whisking while adding a slow and steady stream of olive oil until you get a creamy, emulsified mixture. Taste and adjust seasoning and add salt and pepper according to taste.
3. Add your salad greens, strawberries and tarragon into the bowl and gently toss to coat all your salad leaves.
4. Divide your salad and top with the walnuts and crumbled blue cheese.

A Salad That Makes You Go...WHOA!!!!!!

A common theme that seems to repeat itself over the past few days is the demise of Tastespotting and many of you have already lamented of the void it left when it shut down.

In a healthy, free-enterprise and spirited punch of creativity, many of you have offered up to replace, emulate or substitute a site like Tastespotting, where we will be able to lick the screens of our computer screens again.

Dhanngit of Dhanngit's Kitchen contacted me this morning and invited me to join her new site called Recipe Muncher. I've joined the collective and I must say that enrolling was easy and painless.

I know there will be some other entitities that will pop-up in wake of the Tastespotting demise but for now, I've chosen Recipe Muncher, why don't you?

Isn't it also fitting that a salad like this would even make Granny wet and make Gramps dump all his Viagra?

Look at this beauty! In the Pantheon of foodporn, this salad dilates the eyes and if that weren't enough, it's mighty F-ing fantastic.

This salad is the work of Jose Andres and I recently caught one of his episodes in Made in Spain.

Unfortunately for most of us, Jose's site is stingy with dishing out recipes but after Googling the recipe, I smirked, smiled and then grinned as I found the recipe, as created by Amy and Jonny of We Are Never Full.

I made a few departures from the original salad but relax...I stayed true to the salad's approach: I left the apple peel on, added a squirt of Dijon to emulsify my dressing and garnished with some Chive flowers.

Once again, the star of this dish is the Spanish blue cheese called Cabrales. If you can't find it where you live, any other quality bleu should do.

Here, I've presented the salad in a one plate serving for two. Got a date coming up? Wanna WOW your S.O? Feeling a little frisky?

Break out a bottle of crisp Moscato wine, share this salad and see if you can finish the evening without licking each other in the process.

Salad of Green Apple and Cabrales
(for 2)

1 large Green apple
Approx. 2 oz. of Cabrales (or other) blue cheese
3 hazelnuts
3 Tbsp. of extra virgin olive oil
a dash of Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp. of good cider or red wine vinegar
chopped fresh chives
sea salt and fresh ground pepper

1. Rinse and then core your apple. Now using a mandoline, thinly slice your apple (from top to bottom) and if making ahead of time, squirt some lemon juice to slow down the browning of the apple.
2. Arrange your apple slices on a plate, overlapping each other and crumble your Cabrales cheese over the apples.
3. In a small jar, add your vinegar, olive oil and Dijon with a pinch of salt and pepper. Shake well to emulsify and spoon over your salad.
4. Now using your microplane, grate the 3 hazlenuts over the entire salad. This is your "hazlel nut" salt and in my opinion...this simple little attention to detail is brilliant.
5. Finish the salad with a topping of fresh snipped chives.
6. Uncork a crisp, chilled bottle of Moscato and share the plate of salad.
   

More Zucchini and Some Shout Outs

Earlier this week I received an email from Foodbuzz that announced the winners of their contest to see which food blogs could increase their traffic the most.

It was a pleasantly surprise to find out that I had come in third place, right behind Emiline of Sugar Plum and Allan of Eating Out Loud.

I'd like to extend my congratulations to both of them and I would like to thank all of you, my regular readers who made this possible.

My love affair with zucchini continues. Last year, I too made a Zucchini Carpaccio and a Zucchini Linguine AND during last year's vacation in Greece, I even surprised my friends and relatives with this refreshing salad.

Although zucchini is a much enjoyed vegetable in Greece, Greeks aren't the keenest on rare meats, seafood or certain vegetables like...zucchini. Conventional Greek cooking calls for them to be cooked.

Much to my surprise (and theirs), they enjoyed "raw" zucchini. Surprise your guests with a zucchini salad (or carpaccio).

Here, I've gone with the more rustic approach and I've sliced ribbons of zucchini with a vegetable peeler. Some of you might have seen Jamie Oliver make his own zucchini salad in his latest series, Jamie At Home. He's not the first nor the last one to make a salad of raw zucchini.

Herb-wise, I'm using what's available in my garden - chives and the new addition of lemon thyme. Play around and make this salad your way. Add some summer squash for colour, try different herbs, flavoured vinegars, add some berries. You'll add another salad to your roster and impress the heck out of your guests with little effort at all!

Salad of Zucchini Ribbons
(for 4)

2 green zucchinis
juice and zest of 1/2 lemon
1 fresh chilli, finely chopped
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
coarse sea salt
2 tsp. chopped fresh lemon thyme
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh chives

1. Using a vegetable peeler, slice your zucchini lengthwise to make long, thin ribbons of zucchini and drop them in a bowl.
   
2. Just minutes from when you're ready to serve your meal, add the lemon zest and a good sprinkle of coarse sea salt and allow the citrus and salt to "marinate" the zucchini for about 5 minutes.
3. Add approx. 1/2 cup of extra-virgin olive oil, your chilli and chopped fresh herbs and toss to coat. Adjust salad according to your tastes with salt, lemon juice or olive oil.
4. Serve immediately.

I'm Feeling Kinda' Blue

As in blue cheese, that is.

During one of my recent food shopping adventures, I was lucky to find some English Stilton for a very good price.

Stilton is one of the family of blue cheeses and as the saying goes, "the stinkier, the better".

I have two dishes for you today, the first being a salad that eats like a meal and the second being an easy pasta dish with blue cheese.

In both dishes, blue cheese is the star. With the salad, you get the crunch of the julienned apple and crisp lettuce, contrasted by the creamy blue.

With the pasta, a little blue cheese goes a long way to flavour this full-bodied pasta dish. Cheese lovers will lick the pasta bowl here.

Crisp Romaine Salad With Apple and Blue Cheese
(for 4)

1 Granny Smith apple, cored and julienned
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 head of Romaine lettuce, washed, dried and hand torn
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 tsp. of Dijon mustard
1 tsp. of chopped fresh tarragon
4 Tbsp. of Balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
crumbled blue cheese

1. In a large bowl, add your garlic, vinegar and mustard and mix. Now while whisking, slowly add your olive oil until you get a nice, thick emulsified dressing. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Set aside.
2. Using a mandoline, julienne your apple and add to your bowl of dressing. Toss the julienned apples in the dressing.
3. Add your Romaine lettuce and chopped tarragon and toss your salad.
4. Serve with chopped walnuts and crumbled blue cheese

Pasta With Blue Cheese and Walnuts
(for 2)

handful of walnuts, chopped
2 Tbsp. of Marsala wine
1 small onion, diced
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/2 cup mushrooms, chopped
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
1/3 cup crumbled blue cheese
1 Tbsp. of butter
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1/3 cup of heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste

1. Get a large pot of water boiling and and add a generous amount of salt when aboil. Cook your pasta (penne or taglioni) according to instructions.
2. Place a skillet on medium-high heat and add your onion, garlic and mushrooms and saute for 5-7 minutes or until softened and the mushrooms are cooked. Set aside.
3. In a small bowl, add your blue cheese and mash it with a fork. Add your cream, Marsala and parsley and mix in, set aside.
   
4. When your pasta is ready, reserve some pasta liquid and drain your pasta. Add the pasta to the skillet along with your blue cheese mixture, walnuts and toss to coat. Add some pasta water if the sauce is too thick.
5. Grind some fresh ground black pepper (you shouldn't need any additional salt).
   

Caesar Salad

My eating diet can be summed up in two seasons: Soup season and salad season. With the exception of the cold soup, it's salad days indeed. The only other exception I make when it comes to eating a salad 'year 'round is a Caesar Salad.

We've all had Caesar Salad and surely we've all had a bad Caesar Salad. Your quest for the ultimate Caesar Salad ends here. I have, what I consider to be the ultimate Caesar Salad.

Another early influence on my foodie DNA has to be my Theo (uncle) Vangeli, 1st cousin to my mom. Theo Vangeli came to Canada a young man and worked the restaurant trade for all of his working life.

This man to this day is culinary gold, having worked in an age when family restaurants made EVERYTHING from scratch. Theo Vangeli was an early riser, making the morning shift his work preference. In the old'skool fashion, he'd make sauces, soups of the day, prepare daily specials like Shepherd's Pie or a big tray of lasagna. His morning was also not complete without the preparation of a big, heaping pail of Caesar Salad dressing.

Today, I'm sharing with you, my Theo Vangeli's Caesar Salad dressing. It's a keeper.

An important note: this recipe uses only fresh, farm eggs so anyone sheepish about Salmonella or pregnant women might want to coddle your eggs before proceeding with this recipe.

Another aspect (s) I'd like to point out with a proper Caesar Salad is pay attention to detail:

• wash & dry your Romaine lettuce thoroughly
• make your own Croutons
• use real bacon

Caesar Salad

Dressing
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
3 fresh farm egg yolks
1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
3 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp. anchovy paste (or 2 fillets)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp. black pepper
splash of water
1/3 cup olive oil + 2/3 cup vegetable oil
salt to taste

Romaine Lettuce, throughly washed and dried
Homemade Croutons
Crispy bacon pieces

1. Using your food processor, add all the dressing ingredients except for the oil and the salt. Start processing on a medium speed for a couple of minutes or until you have a thick, yellowish cream.
2. Slowly pour your oil through the spout until you get a thick, creamy Caesar dressing.
3. Adjust seasoning with salt, pepper and sometimes, some more lemon juice. Keeps for up to 1 week in the fridge.
4. In a large salad bowl, add your Romaine lettuce and a dollop of dressing and toss to coat. If the salad is too dry, add some more dressing and toss to coat.
5. Grate some fresh Parmesan, a squeeze of lemon juice, a turn of fresh black pepper and top with Croutons and crispy bacon.
   

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.
   

Satiated

After a week of having mostly lamb, it's safe to say I've had enough of it (for now). I have one other lamb dish to write about but I'll save it for later next week.

Today's entry is more about free-form cooking. It's been awhile since I last had salmon and the fillets at my local market were looking, smelling and feeling very fresh...SOLD! "I'll have 4 fillets", says Peter to the old fishmonger.

My next challenge was thinking of side dishes to my salmon. I was inspired by Heather, Gild the Voodoolily, as I almost had a wet dream upon news of her return to the blogging world.

What would I cook for Heather to welcome her back into her blogging stride? A Rachel Ray dish is what!

I recently caught her daytime show and after she was done kissing-up to her guest Rosie O'Donnell, Rachel proceeded to show her audience a roasted Greek salad...SOLD! Heather would love this.....I think?!?!

I suppose all would be forgiven if I told her of my crafty (sneaky) dinner after the fact. The salmon is marinated in Soy, maple syrup, mustard and sesame oil, then grilled to perfection on my super-white-hot grill.

The salmon accompanied by a Spanish style fried potato that are tossed in a smoked paprika and the vegetable part of the dinner program brought courtesy of Rachel Ray.

Make no mistake, the girl irks me like sandpaper underwear but you have to admit, sometimes Rachel's people come up with some decent grub.

Heather, say AHHHHH...eat your Rachel Ray dinner and shut-up...you're doing dishes!

Marinated Salmon
(for4)

4 skinless salmon fillets
1 Tbsp. sesame oil
1 tsp. grated ginger
1 Tbsp. horseradish Dijon mustard
2 tsp. Soy Sauce
1 Tbsp. maple syrup

1. Add all the above ingredients into a large zip-lock bag and add the fillets. Gently squish the marinade to coat your salmon and allow to marinate for 30 minutes.
2. Pre-heat your grill to a very hot temperature. Brush off any residue from the grill and wipe/treat your grill with vegetable oil.
3. Grill your salmon for 3 minutes per side. Serve immediately.

Roasted Greek Salad
(for 4)

1 pint of cherry tomatoes (halved)
2 bell peppers, sliced
1 red onion, sliced
1 zucchini, cut into half-moon slices olive oil
handful of black olives
salt and pepper
1 slab of feta cheese, crumbled balsamic vinegar
Dried Greek oregano

Pre-heated 400F oven

1. Add all your vegetables (incl. olives) into a baking tray and drizzle them with olive oil and season with some salt & pepper.
2. Throw the tray into your oven and bake for about 20 minutes or until some caramelization is noticed.
3. Place in a serving platter and drizzle with some balsamic vinegar and crumble some Greek feta and a sprinkle of dried oregano.