Your Dreams Coming True In The Kitchen

December 22nd 2013....Gees! Time flies... I began blogging December 16th 2010...that makes three years and an all time page visit of nearly  67,000. Not bad. Blogging is writing: if you don't feel like writing nothing comes out. If what you cook is not interesting then there is nothing to blog about. However I had a couple of surprises with my semolina cakes.....

W hat can be healthier than Boiled Beef Short Ribs With Steamed Broccoli And Cauliflower. Everything is boiled...the carrots, the celery, onion, and whatever else your little heart desires, such as turnips, leeks, etc., if you happen to have it in your fridge. I have not used any garlic (funny enough) because I don't like boiled garlic! Furthermore I steamed in a so called " Coucoussière " the broccoli and cauliflower cut in small florets. Nothing wrong with this food...start your week nice and light....

F ava is a Greek word meaning the yellow machine cut bean. It does not need to be soaked overnight in water. It can be boiled for a maximum of 45 minutes with enough water to cover it by 3 cm when cold. Be careful to take off the foam when it start boiling.Once the fava beans are boiled to the soup consistency, you can take it one step further by letting more liquid evaporate leaving the fava beans "nearly" dry  but  NOT COMPLETELY DRY.   You would want to keep just enough fluid in there so when you purée it with the vertical  hand mixer, the outcome would be a thick, yet slightly fluid, purée. 

C orn bread is one of the main staples in American food. Corn bread is filling, nourishing and delicious especially the way I made them. Usually corn bread is baked in a round,  or square 2 inch deep mold and cut in square pieces or triangles, baked for 20 to 25 minutes at 200 degrees C (400 F). I chose today to pour the batter onto a cookie sheet, spread it evenly and bake it at the same temperature but for 12 minutes only. It came out yummy. So yummy that I don't think there will be any left for lunch! Here is how they were made....

L eek pie is a quick, easy and inexpensive vegetarian starter to make without using cheeses. All you have to do is sauté the leek, onion, scallions and parsley...

L ive and learn!! That's what happened to me with lemongrass.....

I love stuffed tomatoes and bell peppers! It is not an easy dish to make so it should be made on a Sunday when we have no plans to go out or have nothing to do. This dish is international.  Every country makes it, but...in its own style. This is the Greek house-wife recipe.

Green String Beans With Cauliflower And Semolina Squares. Green string beans with cauliflower and semolina squares is a meal by itself.  String beans are bought frozen and already cut  in pieces so as to make it easier to use in a meal like this. This dish can be considered vegetarian if chicken broth is not used to make the tomato sauce and generally to cook the whole meal in. So basically it depends on who cooks it to decide. Broth is used to improve the taste, and the body of the dish.  Of course many herbs and condiments could be used instead of the broth but that really would change the overall taste of this recipe. The health benefits of green string beans are....

A utumn is the time for mushrooms so we will be proposing lots of mushroom ideas. One of these is the following where I have chosen to separate the porcini mushrooms, once boiled,  from their juice and by using the juice to prepare the rice, and the mushrooms themselves to make the sauce for the boiled chicken and rice. I would like to emphasize the fact that one whole chicken has been boiled in water in a pressure cooker first and then used the broth to make the sauce and to cook the rice in.

Octopus Sauce is the result of cooking octopus on its own without adding any water. We all know that sea food contains about 90 % water, so when you let an octopus cook in a pot, it spills its own liquid and ends up cooked. Since of course octopus lives in the sea, the water comes out salty so never add any salt while cooking octopus.

S ome friends of our went to the north west of Greece to the Prespes Lakes famed for their white elephant beans. These beans are even bigger than the giant beans you have maybe read about in my previous posts. They are perfect to half braze half bake with a tomato sauce and Italian chicken sausages. By the way these sausages are the only salty ingredient in the whole recipe. I am still aiming at a minimum Na+ (sodium) diet.

W ell, we are in November now in Greece and the weather is getting chilly although we are still going around with short sleeved shirts and no jumpers. I am proposing today something "homely" which came out very pleasant even if it was not made according to Sharon Ryan's Irish recipe. I only had half of the ingredients so I improvised the other half! The original recipe is called Baked Cabbage with Bacon. But since I am trying to avoid bacon, (I didn't have any anyway) here what I did.....

T his is the second time I make a risotto in my life. The first was about 30 years ago and it was a disaster. Since then I never ate it even in Italian restaurants. This time my risotto with dried Porcini mushrooms was a masterpiece! (At least Maria and I thought so!). Here's what happened while we enjoyed some 1998 Cabernet Reserve...

T he Italians have succeeded in making delicious sausages made from chicken, not pork. They taste very good and can be mistaken for the real McCoy! Of course, like any other charcuterie, they are salty. One sausage every now and then is not bad when everything else is without salt at all. Eating them with an omelet is fantastic, even more when the omelet is a frittata, Italian style....

O k ok!! I confess! I bought myself a new BBQ. My 24" in diameter RÖSLE is a beauty. She is the new love of my life (apart from Maria of course) Here are some pics!

S oy pieces can definitely take the place of meat, specially when they are the size you see in the picture. Perfectly vegetarian and healthy. Including string beans gives us the extra vitamins needed and the addition of a curry sauce gives a little "kick" to the whole dish. Here is how:

S emolina comes from wheat. It is very cheap and is used in Greece to make sweets. Today I used it to make semolina cakes to pour a string bean curry over them. Here is how...

I have already spoken to you my friends regarding Omega 3  and how essential it is for your health. Well today we are having sardines but in a different way...

Fresh Coriander Instead Of Parsley. F resh Coriander, Cilantro known in Hispanic circles, or Coriandolo in Italy, is used extensively in foods to give a special "note" to the overall taste.  Fresh coriander is very much used in India, Pakistan, and other Eastern and Far Eastern countries for their wonderful dishes. It is also used in Mexico, Central and Latin America. Fresh Coriander On The Left, Dry Coriander Corns In The Middle, Finely Ground, Right. Courtesy Of Google Dried Coriander is very much used in the Middle East for Falafel, Foul, Humus, mixed and fried with garlic for Molohia soup. In short it is one of the most used herbs/condiments in oriental cuisine.

T andoori is definitely the Indian way of grilling. A tandoor is an non glazed clay pot which is heated on the outside and bottom by wood, coal whatever creating high heat in the interior. By sticking the food to the walls of the pot, it cooks giving the food a fantastic taste.  Here are some photos of tandoors is a courtesy of Google.....

Bacalao With Za'atar, Jalapeño Peppers, Garlic,Cilantro & Olive Oil Bacalao known as Cod in English, is one of the tastiest fish existing in the seas and oceans of mother Earth. Bacalao is not only very much eaten  by the P.I.G.S. (Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain) but also in France and the United Kingdom. Bacalao or the Atlantic Cod is easily distinguished from most other marine fish by its three rounded dorsal fins and two anal fins that are mirror images of the second and third dorsals. Wheels Of Bacalao Ready For Baking. It also has a prominent barbel ("whisker") on the chin. The Atlantic cod occasionally reach lengths in excess of 5 to 6 feet and lives in about 300 feet of water. Bacalao does not travel in schools but in small groups when searching for food. Bacalao is healthy, has no fat, and 93% protein  http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/finfish-and-shellfish-products/4045/2 .  We all remember the Cod liver oil our mothers used to give us to...

A delicious dessert for warm days is made of thick Greek yogurt, fresh cream, a sauce, and all sorts of berries. My friend Sonia Peronaci, founder and owner of the famous Italian food blog site www.giallozafferano.it presented this recipe during August into translatable Italian and I would like to share it with all my English speaking friends around the world. Here goes...

T he spinach pie in Greece is one of the most common street food you can find. It can be found in every street corner and is considered as a snack for breakfast or lunch up to about 3 pm. After that all the shops making it run out and that's it for the day until 6 a.m. the next day when they start again selling fresh ones. These shops are cafeterias selling other pies as well such as meat pies, cheese pies, sausage pies, little pizzas etc. Today we shall talk about the spinach pie. The spinach pie is divided into two types: with feta cheese or just spinach for those who fast or don't eat cheese for some reason. Today I decided to go ahead and make the simple spinach pie because I am avoiding salty cheeses due to my high blood pressure. Of course using feta, or a mixture of other cheeses is better, tastier, and of course, richer in calories. To make a spinach pie you will need: 2 kg of frozen spinach (leaves or finely cut).  After thawing they have to be very wel...

Quit Salt And Eat A Nice Side Dish Of Millet With Cilantro. Cilantro  is the Hispanic word for fresh coriander used in many Eastern dishes especially in India. Mexico uses lots as well. Today we are going to make  Millet  with Cilantro. Millet has many health benefits. Some of them are Millet in Greek language is Κέχρι. The following passage has been copied, as is, from the link  http://www.care2.com/greenliving/12-health-benefits-of-millet.html Millet provides a host of nutrients, has a sweet nutty flavor, and is considered to be one of the most digestible and non-allergenic grains available. It is one of the few grains that is  alkalizing to the body . Millet has always been a favorite grain of mine since I discovered it in my hippy days in the 70’s! Read about millet’s 12 health benefits, some interesting trivia and history, 10 tips how to use it, and 3 delicious millet recipes. 12 Health Benefits: 1. Millet is alkali...

Friday 13th Omega 3 Fish Eating Day! T oday is Friday and good Christians must not eat meat. So since we are good Christians we ate fish. We had poached fresh salmon and roasted fresh sardines.  We usually eat salmon and/or sardines once every 15 days because we know that these particular fish have high Omega 3 content. On the other hand, though, we try not to exceed eating such fish because of their alleged heavy metal content. We are therefore limiting our intake to twice per month. I would recommend eating fish in general more than any other protein (meat or chicken) but as mentioned above, only twice per month fish rich in Omega 3. I would on the other hand advise not to offer fish in general to your guests. Unfortunately the majority of people like meat and chicken. Here is how we had them. Serves 4. Ingredients:  600 gr fresh filet skin on one side of salmon  all bones taken out (you know the vertical line of big bones running on the side from up to down...

T his morning I felt like cooking. I had bought some red sweet peppers (not bell peppers) from the market the other day which told me (the red peppers did) "make a sauce out of us". This is a sauce which can be used hot or cold, on pasta, meat, fish, or even Quinoa, Cracked Buckwheat, or Millet for those who wish low glycemic index foods.

  J une 16 th is father’s day .  We had guests and decided to make something different not very known in Greece or maybe Europe. It is, however, quite well known in the United States Of America. It is “Chicken with beer in the butt” . We all know what butt means but in this case the butt of the chicken is the big hole between the thighs .   I think is a marvelous idea to stick a small beer can at room temperature with lots of holes on the top in this hole…let the chicken stand and cook in this manner.

Maria loves lasagna!! For today Sunday I promised her lasagna al pesto which she loves...Since we are not eating pasta made out of wheat flour anymore, our pantry had some pasta left. I was sure we had a whole box of lasagna (500 gms) . When it was time to make the lasagna I saw I only had 5 sheets of lasagna but I had a whole box of canneloni!! Since I could not go back on my word, I used the canneloni as well. This, guys, might happen to you someday (when you get old like me). So this is what I did....

F or some reason we all woke up this morning and decided to break our usual light no salt, no sugar diet so we decided to have charcoal grilled breast of turkey, country sausage, burgers, and fried Haloumi cheese (you know the cheese that squeaks while chewing).