Your Dreams Coming True In The Kitchen

Kayseri or Caesarea is the capital of Cappadocia pronounced (Kappadokia) in Antalia region of Turkey. The word Caesarea comes from the Roman Emperor, Julius Caesar, who was born by Caesarian Section (non natural way to deliver a baby). During his reign many areas of the Roman Empire were named after him including Caeserea in Israel. It is known that all that region was once Byzantine, then fell under the Ottoman Empire which later became Turkey. And to think all that all these places might still have been Greek if the Byzantines knew how to take better care of their affairs and not try to stab each others backs as the Greeks do now. Kayseri was well known for its culinary delights such as the Pastirma (dried meat) not Pastrami which is a totally different food, and Socuk (sausage). Today we are going to make a Kayseri Pie similar to the Basterma pie made on August 7th 2011 but with a difference : this one contains tomatoes....

A fter nearly a year of daily posting I sort of feel close to my readers and would like to believe that they are close to me. What would blogging be anyway if we cannot express our feeling, sentiments, ideas, mess-ups, successes etc. Today all three of us, (by now you guys should know that we are three in the family). Barbara was in Piraeus, Maria and I were running after three important meetings where both of us had to attend together. This meant there was no food at home for lunch. So here's what we did...

H ad leftover chicken and spinach from yesterday, ( I had boiled a skinless chicken for chicken salads, snacks, club sandwiches etc.)  sliced very thinly a couple of nice white onions, half used tomato,  added butter, salt, thick Greek yogurt, MILD Madras curry, Garam Masala, two ladles of chicken broth, freshly scissored cilantro and had today's lunch ready in ten minutes!!

M y heading is supposed be funny if you know good slang French. Poulet in French slang means policeman, but in proper French means chicken. So basically I mean Chicken sausage. In two words it is nothing but a stuffed boned chicken. On condition of course that you know how to bone a chicken which is not easy. Chef Jacques Pepin in his book "La Technique" very well illustrates on page 232 /technique 90 how to bone a chicken. E ven Julia Child said: and I quote "I am really thrilled with Jacques Pepin's 'La Technique'. It will be a classic for years and years to come, and there is nothing like it anywhere, including in France." Pepin goes on to explain the difference between a Galantine , a Balotine and a Saucisse de Poulet. The Balotine  is a roasted boned chicken and a Poulet en Saucisse is roasted boned chicken similar to what I am preparing in this post....

W e have finally learned how to make a Mexican salsa. This salsa is basically made of fresh vegetables. My fridge is full so is my freezer (don't know till when)  what can I do with the extra salsa...

The Right Honourable The Earl of Sandwich PC FRS "John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich , PC , FRS (3 November 1718 – 30 April 1792) [1] was a British statesman who succeeded his grandfather, Edward Montagu, 3rd Earl of Sandwich , as the Earl of Sandwich in 1729, at the age of ten. During his life he held various military and political offices, including Postmaster General , First Lord of the Admiralty and Secretary of State for the Northern Department , but is perhaps best known for the claim that he invented the modern concept of the sandwich . " The above passage was copied verbatim from Wikipedia on Google. When someone is retired, it very often  happens that he or she, just does not want to do anything.Not even write a decent post for his readers. So this time I am going to share with you a very lazy sandwich I fix myself for lunch when I am in this state. Can you imagine not to even have the energy to make myself a spaghettata.?! Yes it is that bad...

Caution: Very Spicy Hot!! Ingredients For Our Salsa - You See The Long Greek Chilies.. T here are many things I don't know. I have this great urge to learn and share them with you. Like "Salsa" for example. I don't mean Salsa the Latin dance or the Greek salsa which means a sauce of any kind , I mean Salsa used with Mexican food.  Today I am going to learn how to make it which I know is very easy and I am sure many of you guys out there especially people of Alaska and the rest of United States know how to make. So...now for salsa...