A Simple Greek Sandwich

Roast some red peppers. Place in a paper bag to sweat for 30 minutes or so and peel the charred skins off. Season with sea salt and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.

Get yourself a slab of Greek Feta cheese.

Toast a homemade sesame seed bun and place some roasted red peppers in the bun, with a slab of Feta. Sprinke some dried Oregano and enjoy one of the easiest and tastiest sandwiches will ever have.

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

Frying Oysters

I do enjoy eating raw oysters on the half-shell but I admit, I'll pay someone else to shuck them. However, one can enjoy oysters in other ways and frying them up has to be one of the tastier alternatives.

The neighborhood Asian market always sells tubs of shucked oyster meat and from reading the label, this batch came from Washington state and I was pleased to see a "best before" stamp on the tub.

What ya get here today are fried oysters as an appetizer and then in the form of a sandwich. My craving for fried oysters was ignited by a "caesar salad with spicy fried oysters" dish.

The origins of the dish are bounced around between Kincaid's in Washington, DC, Louis's in South Carolina or Magnolia in Durham, NC. All three eateries are owned/operated by James Beard Award winners so it appears even the top dogs in food-dom seem to borrow ideas from each other!

The recipe calls for some Casear salad dressing but my gut was telling me "tartar sauce...yeah-yeah, go make some tartar sauce". I have a wonderful homemade tartar sauce from last year. It's easy, contains usual pantry items and tastes great.

Both dishes are simple...you'll need some hearts of Romaine lettuce, oyster meat, your favourite tartar sauce, a good toasted bun and some flour and spices.

My frying method uses the Greek taverna method of frying seafood by using a simple seasoned flour mix, then dunking in ice cold water and finally into the hot oil. The result is a thin breading where you actually see what you're eating and the crispyness is akin to a tempura.

Fried Oysters

1lb. oyster meat, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup corn flour
1 Tbsp. Old Bay Seasoning
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. smoked hot paprika
bowl of ice-cold water
sunflower oil for frying

1. Rinse and pat dry your oyster meat and then cut them up into bite sized pieces (my oyster was huge).
2. In a large bowl, mix the flour and seasonings with a fork and taste and adjust seasoning.
3. Pre-heat your oil until you get an approx temp. of 360F or drop a small piece of oyster (when it floats and starts frying, you're ready).
4. Set up your frying station from left to right, starting from your oysters, flour mixture, ice water and frying oil.
5. Dredge your oysters in the flour, then quickly dunk in the ice water and then carefully drop into the fryer.
6. Fry in batches for 2-3 minutes and reserve on a paper-towel covered plate.
7. Serve as an appetizer with some Romaine hearts of lettuce or in a toasted bun with some lettuce. Both dishes contain tartar sauce.

The Burger

The hamburger has to be one of the most popular and enjoyable sandwiches on the planet. Throw away your fast food chain coupons, don't tempt getting sick after eating a Big Mac and you don't have to buy those frozen shit-patties they sell at the market as hamburgers.

Make your own burger. It's easy, you tailor the flavour to your liking and the superior taste comes through.

Alot of you will invite friends and family over for a BBQ. Quite often the kids are tagging along so it's probably easier to just serve burgers & dogs.

However, do you have to serve hot dogs and frozen shit-patties? If you're going to invite friends and family over, have the decency to offer up home-made burgers and grill some quality sausages. Leave the hot dog for the baseball park.

I've got nothing fancy here. Upon closer inspection of my hamburger I have a homemade bun topped with sesame seeds, ripe Canadian (Salmonella-free) red tomatoes, Vlasic pickles, Bick's relish, slices of red onions, grilled bacon and old cheddar cheese.

Let's not forget the beef...a wonderful hamburger made with Pete's own hands and my perverted food imagination.

Please note: I use regular ground beef for burgers. The lean stuff leaves me with a dry burger. Not cool.

The Kalofagas Homeburger
(make 4 good burgers)

1 lb. of regular ground beef
1 medium onion, grated
1 large clove of garlic, minced
1 stale hamburger bun, moistened in water, squeezed the crumbled
1 Tbs. of dried oregano
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce
1 Tbsp. of liquid beef boullion concentrate
1 egg
1 tsp. salt and pepper to taste

1. Mix all of the above ingredients with your hands until incorporated. Fry off a small meatball to taste test seasoning. Adjust accordingly.
2. Cover the bowl and place in the fridge for at least 4 hours to allows the flavours to marry.
3. Form into burgers and return to room temperature before grilling.
4. Pre-heat your grill to hot. Brush off any residue from prior grilling and then wipe the grill with a towel that's been doused in vegetable oil.
5. Grill your burgers for about 3-4 minutes a side.
6. Toast your buns and serve immediately with fries and your preferred burger condiments.
   

Fast Food, The Greek Way

If any of you are thinking of going to Greece this year, I encourage you (again) to sample as much of the local food as possible.

Try out the specials, ask the server for help when choosing your items. Ask for a recommended dish.

As you're traveling, you will also sometimes be rushed for time and hey, that's okay...we all have trains, planes, ships to catch.

I just booked and paid for my vacation to Greece this summer. All I know is that I'm going in August, returning after Labour Day and I want to visit at least another neighouring country and perhaps a Greek island I've yet to visit.

One thing that is a "sure thing" is that I will be eating a Greek gyro. Here in Toronto we now have a few shops that sell gyro on a pita and it's very good, close to the Greek serving but, not the same.

I reckon the pig in Greece has a greater fat content. Fat = flavour. Just ask yourself how much bacon is sold?

When you're in Greece, if you're going to eat fast food...at least have what the locals are having. Souvlaki, Biftekia or my fave, the gyro on a pita! I vehemently urge you to avoid Rotten Ronnies (McD's), Burger Queen, the devil known as Starbucks and that purveyor of horrible pizza, Something Hut.

I get this craving every now & then and I had some left over pork available for my home-made gyro experiment.

As you can see, the experiment turned out pretty good.

I thinly shaved some roast pork, tossed it in garlic powder, sweet paprika, onion and garlic powder, fennel seeds and oregano.

I then placed the pork meat on a tray and heated the meat up in my toaster-oven until the pork crisped a bit. I found similar results were achieved using a Pizza seasoning which contains the similar ingredients.

Building your own gyro is quite simple, you need:

• Greek pita bread

• A good Tzatziki

• thinly sliced red onions

• ripe tomatoes

• french fries

1. All one has to do is seasoning and heat up your pork meat, warm up a pita bread and assemble. Smear some Tzatziki on the pita bread and then drop your pork meat in the pita, followed by the tomatoes, onions and french fries.
2. Roll up your Gyro, secure with a toopick and devour the "saand-weetz" (that's how Greeks say sandwich).
   

Merenda, The Other Nutella

Jenn, the Leftover Queen just posted a cupcake that contained dates and Nutella. You know, that chocolate spread in a jar that you secretly eat spoonfuls of? Yeah, that choocolate spread.

Not to be left out, the Greeks also have their own brand out in the market, called Merenda. While in Greece, I've tried both versions and I can't seem to taste the difference. When in Greece...eat Merenda right?

Greeks will often smear Merenda on slices of bread or have in a dessert crepe with ground hazelnuts and that's how I like it best.

I'm not a about to set up a creperie but I came close to recreating the joy in eating a crepe with Nutella and nuts.

I simply made a Merenda grilled sandwich! February 5th has been declared World Nutella Day and I pay homage to the chocolate spread with my grilled Merenda sandwich.

Catch the round up how others have been enjoying Nutella at Ms. Adventures in Italy.

Grilled Merenda Sandwich

2 slices of bread
non-hydrogenated margarine
Merenda (or Nutella) chocolate spread
Crushed hazelnuts

1. Place a non-stick fry pan on your stove and pre-heat on medium.
2. Spread margarine on both slices of bread and then spread a good coast of Merenda on the inside of each slice.
3. Sprinkle some crushed hazelnuts on the chocolate spread and then smack your sandwhich together and grill for about 3 minutes per side or until golden brown.
4. Cut your sandwich in half and enjoy the oozing goodness of your grilled Merenda sandwich.

Thai Clubhouse Sandwich

One of the advantages of surfing others' food blogs is seeing visually enticing foods but the recipes do not always use traditional ingredients one keeps in their pantry.

Katerina of Daily Unadventures in Cooking made a lovely Curried Mango Chicken Salad and I had all the ingredients except for the curry powder (it's almost taboo in my home).

I went to my local Asian market and I found a mild curry powder and my thought process was I could always kick-up the heat with something else.

Not to make a carbon-copy of Katerina's sandwich, I thought of what flavours come from Asia? Asian food is about yin-yang, hot-cold, contrasts, soft and crisp and I came up with the Thai Clubhouse Sandwich!

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed
1 Tbsp yogurt
2 Tbsp mayonnaise
1 green mango, diced
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 green onions, finely chopped
1/4 sweet red bell pepper, diced
a squirt of Sriracha hot sauce
a squeeze of lime juice
salt & pepper to taste

1. Combine all of the above ingredients in a bowl and mix well with a spoon. Adjust for seasoning.
2. Take a sesame seed baguette, cut in into the sandwich size you like, spread the Thai chicken salad on the bottom bun and then stack your cooked bacon slices, slices of red pepper and a leaf of lettuce and drizzle some sweet & sour sauce and munch on this heaping sandwich.
   

Tuna Salad With Toasted Pine Nuts

I'm always trying to exhibit/show something a little different when it comes time to write my entry for Weekend Herb Blogging. I made my tuna salad with toasted pine nuts and I I surmised that pine nuts would be a good topic. Before we go on to 101 pine nuts, make sure you click-on over to Chris' site Mele Cotte for her food musings and her round-up of the other WHB entries.

Pine nuts are exactly that, seeds/nuts from a pine (the Pinacaea family). Pine nuts can be found in native Indian, European and Asian cuisines. Pine nuts contain 31 gr. of protein per 100 gr (the highest of any nut or seed so, the next time you wince at the price of pine nuts be at ease that you're getting more bang for your buck! Pine nuts can go bad/rancid but a great way to preserve them is in a jar or ziplock bag in the freezer.

I have my stable of "go-to's" when it comes to sandwiches and tuna salad is right up there. It's not fishy, it's filling, inexpensive and nutritious.

I saw this recipe for tuna salad years ago but I can't cite the source, so if I've stepped on anyone's toes, mea culpa.


What stands out in this tuna salad redux is the tarragon and toasted pine nuts. Try it, you'll be pleasantly surprised!

Tuna Salad With Toasted Pine Nuts

1 tin of water-packed tuna, drained
1 shallot or 1/4 red onion, diced
3 Tbsp chopped fresh chives
1 Tbsp chopped fresh tarragon
1 tsp creamy Dijon mustard
1 rib of celery, diced
2-3 Tbsp of mayonnaise
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
salt & pepper to taste

1. In a pan on medium-high heat, throw in your pine nuts and contstantly swirl the pan to shake your pine nuts while they toast. They should take about 5-10 minutes and you know they are toasted when you can smell them. Take off the heat and reserve.
2. Drain your tin of tuna thoroughly. Add the remaining ingredients and mix with a fork. Adjust seasoning and , mayo for creamyness.

Egg Salad, I Did it "Myyyyyy Way"

If Ol' Blue Eyes Frank Sinatra were still around, how would he like his egg salad? That's the approach I took when thinking of how to "pep up" this old sandwich standby.

Eggs have a delicate flavour and I didn't want the ingredients to overpower but highlight egg's creamyness in the salad.

This will be my entry for this week's Weekend Herb Blogging hosted by Astrid of Paulchen's Food Blog. I'm highlighting my use of chives.

They are like mini-green onions, very easy to grow (perennial) and delicate in their "scallion" flavour.

If you're someone who's put off by the stronger onion, scallion or leek, give chives a try and you'll come around to loving this delicious herb. One last thing I'd like to mention is the use of a pastry blender was utilized to mash the eggs. I saw this method used at Nicole's Pinch My Salt recipe and I'm sure it contributed to the "saffron yellowness" of my egg salad.

Egg Salad for Ol' Blue Eyes

Serves 2

2 -3 tbsp Mayonnaise
1 1/2 stalks of celery, thinly diced
1 tbsp Keane's dry mustard powder
4 tbsp chopped fresh chives
1 tsp Old Bay Seasoning
1/2 tsp celery salt
1 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
4 hard boiled eggs

1. Place the eggs in a bowl and use a pastry blender to mash the eggs up
2. Add your celery, dry mustard, paprika, Worcestershire and Old Bay Seasoning and mix well.
3. Adjust for seasoning by adding celery salt and ground pepper. Add your chives, mix well.

Montreal Smoked Meat (take home version)

I'm now fortunate to have a person who regularly travels between Toronto and Montreal and he's happy to bring back orders of Montreal Smoked Meat from Schwartz's. Have a look at their website and read of this Montreal landmark's history.

Now like myself you're probably thinking, "how is one to enjoy this at home, just like at the deli"?



Not only did the smoked meat arrive as promised but instructions were included as well:

Take out a double-boiler/steamer and get some water boiling. Next step is to take out some cling-wrap and lay out about a 12X12" piece. Place your smoked meat for your sandwich on the cling-wrap and seal it.

Place the package into your steamer and allow the meat to steam for 5 minutes.

Unpack the cling-wrap, smear your bread of choice with good Dijon mustard, pile that smoked-meat up high and serve yourself with a pickle or two!

It will taste just like you had it in the deli!