STUFFED SQUID / KALAMARAKIA YEMISTA (Καλαμαρακια γεμιστα)

Kalamarakia Yemista is Greek for stuffed calamari.  Calamari is, of course, squid.  It’s my favourite thing to eat (my second favourite has got to be sushi)!  My last meal would include fried calamari, stuffed calamari, a variety of sushi, and a Diet Pepsi… Whoops… now I need some Diet Pepsi.  Excuse me while I visit the kitchen for a cold, bubbly glass of the stuff!  Be right back….

Here I am!  Did you miss me?  Anyway, I prefer a plate of calamari to a plate of roast beef the latter being what most people would like to order for their last meal. But I could be wrong. 

My favourite way of eating calamari is to have it breaded and fried.  Heaven! However, I prefer to have someone else fry them- like a cook at a restaurant- because I am not fond of the odour that tends to linger in the kitchen after having fried any type of seafood. Stuffing them is a nice way to cook them at home. Italians like to stuff their calamari with bread crumbs and herbs, while we Greeks prefer a stuffing made with rice and herbs. It’s all good.  

Kalamarakia yemista are usually eaten in the summer or at Lent time. I am making these in December, 29 December to be exact, because that’s my birthday, and I always have calamari to eat on my birthday. 

You’ll need to buy small, fresh squid as they are the most tender. Get mostly the mantle, or sack-like part of the squid, because that is a cavity, just right for stuffing. If tentacles are included with your purchase, chop them up very well and include them in the stuffing, or bake them along with the stuffed calamari by tucking them snugly into the same pan.  

On either side of the squid, attached to the bottom of the mantle, are small fins.  Those are easy to remove with a knife, and just like the tentacles, can be chopped up to be included in the stuffing.  Whatever you do, my advice is to make sure that you buy cleaned calamari. Cleaning them at home is a tedious and very messy job. I've watched people do it, and I've come to the conclusion that it's not for me. 

    

Most recipes for kalamarakia yemista are similar.  One interesting variation is the addition of raisins and pine nuts in the stuffing.  My version is simpler, so let's go to the kitchen and make stuffed squid (for my birthday!):

Ingredients:

1 pound cleaned baby squid

tentacles from the squid, some chopped into small pieces, some left whole 

1 onion finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

3 scallions, white and pale green part, finely chopped

3/4 cup long-grain rice

1 cup chicken broth

3 tomatoes, skin and seeds removed and chopped well
Salt and pepper

3 tablespoons fresh parsley

2 tablespoons fresh dill

1 tablespoon fresh mint

1/2 cup tomato sauce

1 cup white wine

olive oil
pinch of thyme 

Toasted pine nuts (optional)

Directions:

• Place the squid in a bowl and season with salt and pepper.  Pour 1/2 cup of the wine over them, drizzle with a bit of olive oil, and marinate in the refrigerator for about 1 hour.
• In a medium skillet heat 3 or 4 tablespoons of olive oil and sauté the onions until they are soft.  Add the chopped up squid and cook for about 2 minutes.  Add the garlic and the rice and stir to coat with the olive oil.  Cook for about a minute, stirring.  
• Add the scallions and 2 of the diced tomatoes.
• Add the chicken broth, the rest of the wine and the marinade from the squid.
• Season with salt and pepper and bring to a boil.  Cover and simmer on low until all the liquid is absorbed, about 20 minutes.
• Let the rice cool slightly, then add the herbs and mix well.
• Preheat the oven to 400° F. Prepare the baking pan:  Pour the tomato sauce and add the remaining diced tomato on the bottom of the pan.  Season with a little thyme.    
• Stuff the squid with the rice mixture.  This is a job best done by using your hands.  Make sure the rice gets to the bottom of the squid cavity, and keep pressing the rice with your fingers so that the cavity is nicely filled  You may want to secure the top of each squid with a toothpick so that the rice does not spill during baking.  
• Place the squid in the baking pan and roll it around in the tomato sauce. Add the tentacles if you have any left. Drizzle olive oil over the squid and bake it uncovered for 30 minutes.
• Remove the squid from the oven.  Have a serving platter ready.  Spread some of the sauce from the squid on the platter.  Place the squid on top and spoon a little more sauce over them.  Sprinkle with the pinenuts if using, and serve.  

  

CORNBREAD TURKEYS FOR THANKSGIVING!!!

Cute.  That's the word for it.  Really cute.  Such a jolly thing to have at the Thanksgiving table!  It's cornbread baked inside a turkey-shaped mould. One corny turkey! I found this recipe in a Thanksgiving issue of Martha Stewart's magazine, and since I am too, too corny myself, I had to make it. First off I needed to buy a mould. I had no idea which store to visit that would still be selling one, considering we were really close to Thanksgiving. I thought of checking Amazon.com, and there it was! Amazon had the exact mould I needed! I ordered it and it arrived in three days, on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.  

Here is a link to the pan I ordered: Nordic Ware 3D Turkey Cake Pan

It's a sturdy, heavy pan, no problem to deal with, and the cornbread did not stick to it at all. When the turkeys were made, I was able to easily stand both halves on their own, and they stayed that way, decorating the buffet table until the time came to eat them. 

Cute, very decorative, and very easy to make. Martha Stewart's recipe is wonderful! This is the best cornbread, with actual corns kernels in it, with chopped sweet peppers, buttermilk and cheddar cheese and thankfully, with very little sugar; I love the sweetness of corn muffins but dislike sweet cornbread. Here's a prerfect cornbread:

Ingredients:

Vegetable oil cooking spray
1 1/4 sticks unsalted butter
2 cups corn kernels
2 shallots minced
1 red sweet Italian pepper, minced 
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 1/4 cups yellow cornmeal 
1 teaspoon salt 
3/4 teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 large eggs
2 1/4 cups buttermilk, well shaken
1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350.  Coat the pans with cooking spray.  Melt one stick of butter and let cool.

Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in a skillet.  Cook the corn, shallots and peppers, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 6 minutes.

Whisk together the flour, cornmeal, salt, black pepper, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda in a large bowl.  Make a well in the centre of the mixture and add the eggs. Whisk the eggs into the flour mixture.  

Whisk together the melted butter and buttermilk and then stir it into the flour mixture, along with the corn mixture and the cheddar cheese.  Mix until well combined.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans.  Smooth the tops and place in the oven. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, rotating halfway through.  Insert a cake tester into the centre and make sure it comes out clean before taking the cornbread turkeys out of the oven.  Serve warm or at room temperature.  

I'll say it again: Cute! And one more thing: Delicious!

ORANGES FILLED WITH SORBET, FOR HALLOWEEN OR FOR ANY TIME

On the menu at a favourite restaurant is an item I usually can't resist: a frozen lemon filled with lemon sorbet. Delicious! A refreshing dessert for sharing! I think it's also a nice idea to fill oranges with sorbet.

If  Halloween is close by, why not cut out jack-o'-lantern faces on the oranges before filling them up?  Big and little kids will love them, and little kids will find carving an orange is lots easier than carving a pumpkin!  The oranges will be my Halloween offering to my nephew Alex, who I am sure will be very happy to receive them.  

Ingredients:

1. 4 navel oranges
2. 2 pints softened mango or strawberry sorbet (or use another flavour you like)  
3. some mint leaves

Directions:

• Slice off the top quarter of each orange and reserve to use as a lid. Using a spoon or small knife, carefully scoop out the interior of the oranges. Reserve the flesh for another purpose.
• If you will serve the oranges for Halloween, draw a jack-o'-lantern face on each orange.  Cut out the features with a small, sharp knife.
• Pack each orange with sorbet, and top it with its "lid." 
• Transfer the oranges to a parchment-lined baking sheet, and place them in the freezer until they are firm.  This should take at least 30 minutes.
• Before serving, top each orange with some mint leaves.  These can be secured with toothpicks.

CRAB AND SHRIMP CASSEROLE

Often, back in the days when I was a college student, I would come home from class and throw together a quick dinner made of rice, frozen vegetables, a can of tuna and a can of cream of mushroom soup. It was easy to make and (probably?) healthier than the usual student fare of pizza and diet soda. The recipe for my "tuna casserole," had come from a magazine advertisement for a famous brand of canned tuna fish. Just recently, I remembered those meals ... and I decided to revamp the recipe by throwing out the canned ingredients and replacing them with fresh ones. The result was really good.  My recipe contains long grain rice and crunchy wild rice cooked in broth. I have some sauteed vegetables, crab and shrimp, and a delicious homemade bechamel sauce that holds all the ingredients together. The dish is topped with panko breadcrumbs and then it goes into the oven. It comes out bubbly, and delicious. I am glad I revisited and revamped this recipe. It took two tries. Version one needed further tweaking, version two was spot on.  You'll see that I did not use any salt, and that's because I thought that the seafood was salty enough to flavour the whole dish. Here then is my recipe for shrimp and crab casserole:

Ingredients and Directions:

For the seafood:

1 pound of cooked crab meat
1 pound of medium shrimp, cooked only until they just turn pink
Juice of one medium lemon

• Peel the shrimp and place it in a bowl along with the crab.  Sprinkle the lemon juice over the seafood and set aside. 

For the rice:

3/4 cup uncooked long grain white rice
1/4 cup uncooked wild rice
3 cups of vegetable broth
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
about 3 sprigs of thyme
1 bay leaf
dash of black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil

• In a medium-sized bring the broth to a boil and add all the ingredient. Bring back to the boil, lower the heat to simmer, cover the pot and let the rice cook until the liquid is absorbed but the rice is still moist. Remove the thyme sprigs and bay leaf and set the rice aside.

For the Vegetables:

3 tablespoons of olive oil
1 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels
1 medium or 1/2 of a large red sweet pepper, chopped
3 ribs of celery, chopped
1 shallot, chopped
2 scallions, sliced
4 mushrooms, sliced

• Cook the corn and set aside.
• Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the celery, pepper, and shallots and cook until the vegetable begin to soften (about five minutes). 
• Add the mushrooms and scallions and saute for three minutes.   

For the Bechamel Sauce:

2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
2 cups of lukewarm milk

• In a saucepan over medium heat melt the butter. 
• Lower the heat and add the flour, mixing it with the butter.
• Add the milk slowly, whisking constantly.
• Keep whisking after the milk is added. Whisk well, until the sauce thickens and is ready to use. The sauce starts to thicken from the bottom of the pot where the heat is more intense, so make sure that you stir the thickened sauce from bottom to top in order to incorporate it well.

Now, preheat the oven to 350° F/180°C.

To assemble:

1 cup of panko breadcrumbs
1 or 2 tablespoons of butter, cut into small pieces
a few dashes of cayenne
black pepper to taste

• In a baking dish large enough to hold all the ingredients fold everything together: the rice, the seafood, the vegetables, the bechamel sauce, and the black pepper. 
• Smooth the top and cover it with the breadcrumbs.  
• Sprinkle some paprika over the breadcrumbs and dot with butter.
• Place in the oven and cook for twenty minutes until the top turns golden brown.
• Serve right away! We had leftovers and the flavour was still great the next day. Enjoy!

EGGPLANT SALAD GREEK STYLE (MELITZANOSALATA)

Every summer our love affair with eggplant is renewed.  Grown in backyard gardens and sold at vegetable stands all over the world, eggplants come in various sizes, shapes and colours.  Bake them, stuff them, fry them, grill them, or even make sweet preserves out of them (yes, very small eggplants can be turned into a spoon sweet, a type of Greek dessert).  One of the most popular ways for Greeks to cook eggplants is to turn them into this luscious salad.  It's served as an accompaniment for drinks or as a starter to a meal. You can spread it on a piece of bread or eat it plain.  Either way, it is a heavenly summer treat.  Its texture is that of a spread or a dip, but Greeks simply refer to it as a salad. 

There are two types of eggplant salad:  One is really smooth and is made with grilled or roasted eggplant which is pureed with just some olive oil, lemon juice or vinegar, and a touch of garlic.  The other type, the one I prefer, is country-style rustic and chunky.  Its ingredients depend on regional interpretations.  For example, southern Greece produces a tremendous amount of tomatoes, therefore tomatoes tend to be added to just about anything, including eggplant salad. In Macedonia, where peppers are really plentiful, roasted peppers are added, and in Thrace, folks like to add walnuts. You could say that just about every Greek cook has his or her own version of this  salad. Being descended from Macedonian and Thracian stock, I add peppers and walnuts. That's how my grandmother made eggplant salad, and I follow suit.
  

The key to making a great tasting eggplant salad is to get fresh off the farm eggplants. Not long ago I bought some from the supermarket; they wound up tasting like cardboard. This time around I drove the two extra miles to a wonderful farm stand and there I found some really cute, and as it turned out great tasting minuature  eggplants. They were turned into a delicious salad. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

 black pepper to taste

1 teaspoon white balsamic vinegar

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1 shallot or the half of a small onion

1 small clove of garlic 

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

2 Italian frying peppers or 1 large sweet pepper
2 tablespoons walnuts to make walnut butter

1 tablespoon well crumbled feta cheese 

5 or six baby eggplants

Directions:

• Prick the eggplants with a fork, set them on a baking sheet and roast them in a 400°F /200°C oven until the skins are wrinkled and the eggplants have collapsed. This should take about 40 minutes. 
• During the last half hour place the peppers in the oven and let them roast. 
• Remove the eggplants and peppers from the oven and allow them to cool until they are safe to handle. Peel the skin from the peppers and remove the seeds.
• Slice the eggplants down the middle and remove their flesh. Chop it up, chop up the peppers too, and place everything in a large bowl. 
• Chop the onion and garlic and throw that in the bowl as well.  
• Add the parsley, oregano and crumbled feta.
• Place the walnuts in a food processor and grind them until they are smooth and begin to release their oils. That's the walnut butter. Add it to the rest of the ingredients. If you don't want to go to all the trouble of making walnut butter, just chop the walnuts really well and use them that way. I alternate between the two methods, depending on my mood. If I feel that I'll enjoy washing the food processor, I'll make walnut butter.  If I want to stay away from suds, I just chop up the walnuts, and that's that!
• Now add the olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar, and salt and pepper. Mix all the ingredients well.  You may need to play around with the amount of oil you're going to use.  Sometimes eggplants want just a bit more oil, sometimes they don't.
• I hope you love this recipe. The salad will keep covered in the refrigerator for about three or four days. But the longer it hangs around, the more potent the taste of garlic becomes (keep that in mind when you are adding garlic to it). If you're having company, the eggplant salad will be polished off, no worries! 

CREAMY AND CHEESY ARBORIO RICE WITH ASPARAGUS AND ARTICHOKES

How about a cheater's risotto? Here's a recipe for it, boys and girls! If you would rather not stand over the stove to keep adding liquid as the rice cooks, here is an alternative method of making risotto. The rice is left to cook on its own, and then cream, Gruyère and Pecorino are added to make a good, creamy rice. 

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup arborio rice 
3 and 3/4 cups no-salt vegetable broth 
1 lb asparagus trimmed and peeled

1 cup frozen artichokes, thawed and sliced into quarters
2 tbsp unsalted butter plus one tablespoon olive oil
2 shallots, chopped 
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/3 of a cup grated Gruyère cheese

1/4 cup Pecorino Romano cheese 

1/4 cup heavy cream
2 scallions, white and light-green parts only, sliced
some herbs: 

fresh parsley, fresh chives, fresh dill, chopped well

some dried tarragon
pepper to taste

Directions:

• In a medium pot heat the oil, add the rice and stir over medium heat for about three minutes. 
• Pour in a quarter of the broth and cook, stirring until the broth is absorbed. 
• Add the rest of the broth, bring to a boil, and cover the pot. Lower the heat to low and cook for twenty minutes. Turn off the heat set the rice aside, letting it finish cooking on its own. 
• Cut the asparagus into two-inch pieces and reserve the tips. 
• Bring a small saucepan of salted water to a boil. Drop in the asparagus and cook for two minutes. Scoop it out and reserve.
• Throw the asparagus tips in the water. Allow them to cook for two minutes and drain. 
• Over medium heat, melt the butter and add the shallots and artichokes. Cook stirring for about five minutes. Halfway through cooking add the garlic. 
• Stir in the asparagus pieces (not the tips) and remove from the heat.
• Over low heat, stir the cheese into the rice. 
• Add the heavy cream.
• Add the shallot and asparagus mixture.
• Mix in the scallions and herbs. 
• Season with pepper.
• Place into a serving bowl and top with the asparagus tips.

SHRIMP WITH RICE

 

 Here is one of my favourite recipes for shrimp and rice, easy to make any time. It's my idea of comfort food. Try it, it makes a great dinner! It has a nice mixture of vegetables, and the tomatoes and broth make the rice taste wonderful.  Peas are a nice addition here, and I usually include them, but this time we did without because I forgot to buy them. I think the best part about making this dish is having leftovers. They make an excellent non-liquid nightcap!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped 
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 green pepper (or red if you like), finely chopped
1 cup of sliced mushrooms
1 cup frozen peas
1 1/2 cups long-grain rice
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup white wine 
3 cups hot vegetable broth
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1 small bay leaf
1 cup of tomato sauce
1 tomato, peeled, seeded and chopped.
2 pounds shrimp, peeled, deveined.

Directions:

• In a large skillet heat the olive oil and add the onions, celery, and green pepper. Cook until the onions are soft, about ten minutes.
• Add the rice and cook while stirring, until the rice turns golden in colour.
• Add the garlic and stir for about a minute
• Add the wine and the mushrooms, stir, and then simmer for five minutes.
• Add the broth, tomato sauce, tomato, parsley, thyme and bay leaf. Cover and cook for about twenty minutes or until the rice is soft, stirring occasionally.
• Add the shrimp and the peas. Simmer about 6 to 7 more minutes, until the shrimp are done.
• Remove the bay leaf and serve.

BREADED PAN-FRIED HALIBUT

I'm almost embarrassed to post this recipe because it was so simple to make. I had purchased some halibut fillets wanting to cook them in a completely different manner, but my mother convinced me to pan fry them since that's her favourite way to eat fish. I didn't know how breaded pan-fried halibut would taste, and I was a bit nervous about the outcome.  I shouldn't have worried.  The fish came out delicious. 

• The most important thing was to make sure the fillets were completely dry before being prepared for cooking.  So I washed them well and then patted them dry with paper towels.  
• Next, I seasoned them with salt and pepper. 
• I got the frying pan ready: a nice heavy one, large enough to accommodate the fillets and have room to spare. They should not be overcrowded while being cooked. I poured some good vegetable oil into the pan, enough so that it would reach about 1/4 up the sides of the halibut fillets. 
• I prepared three bowls.  In one bowl I poured some flour.  In the another I beat an egg along with the juice of half a lemon. Then I chopped a large basil leaf and added it to the egg mixture. In a third bowl, I poured some panko breadcrumbs.  Panko is good to use here, because it doesn't absorb too much oil and because it stays crunchy after cooking.  
• I waited for the oil to heat up in the pan and then I dipped each fillet first in the flour, then in the egg mixture and then in the breadcrumbs.  
• As soon as each fillet was well coated on both sides, I placed it in the frying pan.  I cooked each side until it was browned, then I placed the halibut on a serving platter.
• The last step was to sprinkle just a little lemon juice on each fillet. Yup, never forget the lemon juice. It's a Greek thing. Greeks are obsessed with lemons and lemon juice: good in savory foods good in desserts, makes one's hands really soft, deodorizes the kitchen, and I think sprinkling a little lemon juice on laundry will make it come out of the washing machine a lot cleaner... well, I haven't actually tried lemon juice on laundry, but who knows, there might be something to it.  
• To keep things tidy while frying, I used the same hand to do the dipping in the flour, egg and breadcrumbs. I kept my other hand clean so I could use it to touch surfaces and utensils without leaving spots of batter all over them. That's a really neat trick!
• The halibut came out moist, not greasy at all, and it made a great dinner. 

PANZANELLA, a lovely bread and tomato salad

There are so many ways to make panzanella! Sometimes, in summer, I make a very simple version just by cutting up stale bread into chunks, combining it with a sliced tomato, and mixing it up with some lemon juice and olive oil. If I want to get fancy I top it with a little crumbled feta cheese. Very simple and it hits the spot.   

Panzanella is a summertime bread salad made popular by the Florentines. It's a good way to use up leftover bread, and it's true peasant fare, which means it's really good. In addition to the bread, panzanella includes tomatoes, lots of basil, and sometimes other fresh vegetables. The salad is dressed with olive oil, lemon juice, or vinegar. It's a great choice for dinner on a hot, hot, day. I made some recently when the temperature was hovering around 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and here's how I put it together:

Get a piece of stale bread and cut it into cubes. Sprinkle with olive oil and mix well. Place the bread cubes in a skillet and cook them on the stovetop. Make sure they are cooked on all sides. As soon as the cubes finish cooking add some grated pecorino cheese and mix. Set the bread cubes aside and let them cool. 

In a large bowl toss the following: 1 sliced large tomato, some cherry tomatoes of various colours cut in half,  a few Kalamata olives cut in half, lots of basil leaves coarsely chopped, and a little Italian parsley coarsely chopped. 

Make a dressing by combining 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, 1 tablespoon of white balsamic vinegar, 5 tablespoons of olive oil, some black pepper, a dash of salt, and a pinch of fresh thyme. Pour it over the salad. Add the reserved bread and toss everything well. Top the salad with a small amount of crumbled feta cheese. Chill for about an hour in order to allow the flavours to blend, then serve and enjoy!!! 

FILLET of COD en PAPILLOTE

Here's a recipe for fillet of fish en papillote that can be prepared both with salmon or cod. I happened to find some nice cod in the market, so cod it was. There just aren't enough good things I can say about this recipe.  The fish came out tasting incredibly delicious! This is a recipe by Dorie Greenspan that's meant to treasure and make again and again. 

En papillote is a method of cooking by wrapping food in parchment paper or aluminium foil. This method seals in the flavours during the cooking process and renders a more aromatic and tender product. That's exactly what happened here. The aroma of the cod was incredible and its texture was truly succulent.
 

I made two fish packets.  To start off, I washed the fish well and patted it dry. Then I placed it in a bowl and seasoned it with salt and pepper. I sprinkled the juice of one lemon over the fish and I let it absorb the lemon flavour while I continued my prep work. I made some tomato concassé, which is nothing else than diced tomatoes, peeled and with the seeds removed. I always do this when I cook with fresh tomatoes because I really dislike finding loose tomato skins or seeds in my food; they are tough and bitter, so out they go! I salted the tomatoes and sautéed them in some olive oil. Then I cut two large pieces of aluminium foil and placed them on the counter. After that, all that was left to do was a layering of ingredients. Some basil leaves went on the foil, then the fish, then the tomatoes then some lemon rind.

The layering continued with some chopped scallions, a couple of thinly cut lemon slices, a few dashes of olive oil, a bit more basil and a sprig of fresh thyme. I folded the foil over the fish and herbs, forming well-sealed packets. The fish cooked in a 400° F oven for about 12 minutes. 

I opened up the foil packets and a fragrant puff of steam rose up from them, catching me by surprise. But I soon breathed in the aroma of basil, thyme and lemon.  

The fish was plated and served right away. It was seasoned perfectly, and the en papillote method had ensured the cod came out very tender. 

How can I not cook this again?

Beet Salad with Goat Cheese, Mint, and Mustard Vinaigrette

Beets! This root vegetable makes a delicious and nutritious salad, especially in fall and winter. Boiling is the most common way of cooking beets for salad. However, beets are messy to boil. The solution is to bake them and also to arrange parchment paper on the baking dish so that it's easier to clean. You can combine the greens to be used and you could also add pistachios to the salad. The beets go really well with walnuts and the goat cheese goes well with pistachios. You could also add feta or substitute the goat cheese for feta. Enjoy putting the salad together. Make it yours!

Ingredients:

3 beets 
2 cloves garlic, peeled and cut in half
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil
white balsamic vinegar

lemon juice
some dried oregano

some walnuts, roasted

mint leaves

goat cheese, cut in bite-sized pieces

arugula or lettuce or both

one small, red onion -- slice and place in a bowl of cold water, then place the bowl in the refrigerator until it's time for the onions to go on top of the beets. This way, the onions will have a very nice crunch.

Directions:

• Slice the onion and place the slices in a bowl of cold water, then place the bowl in the refrigerator and leave it there until it's time for the onions to go on top of the beets. This way, the onions will have a very nice crunch.
• Preheat the oven to 375 F. 
• Cut off the leaves and wash the beets. Peel them and cut them in half.  
• Choose a baking dish with a cover and line the bottom and sides with parchment paper. Add the beets and the garlic, season with salt and pepper, sprinkle with olive oil, cover and bake for about forty minutes until the beets are soft.
• Take them out of the oven and let them cool until they can be handled. Discard the garlic pieces and cut the beets into slices. 
• Make a vinaigrette using Dijon mustard, lemon juice, salt and pepper, dried oregano, white balsamic vinegar and olive oil.  
• Toss the beets with the dressing, cover them and place them in the refrigerator for at least an hour.
• When ready to serve, take the onions out of the refrigerator and drain well. 
• Arrange some arugula or lettuce on a serving platter and top these greens with the beet/vinaigrette mixture. 
• Decorate the salad with chopped mint leaves, goat cheese, sliced cold red onions, and some chopped roasted walnuts. 

FRUIT WITH HONEY AND MINT FLAVORED GREEK YOGHURT

Here's something very simple, quick and really delicious to make: fruit with Greek yoghurt, mint and honey.  

I used honeydew, peaches and strawberries.

I love this way of serving fruit. On warm summer evenings, it makes a very nice late supper. The mint and fruit cool down the palette, and the honey sweetens it up. 

This was something my father often requested as his night-time snack.  Eating it reminded him of his boyhood in Greece when his mother offered similar fare for supper. Dad always finished off his meal with a cup of tea. It didn't matter how hot it was outside; his habit was to eat the cold fruit and yoghurt and then sip a warm cup of tea flavoured with lemon and honey.  During all of his 87 years, he definitely had a sweet tooth. 

Lemon, honey, yoghurt, mint and sweet summer fruit: some of the flavourful gifts the Mediterranean soil offers for our enjoyment.  The earth gives but it also takes. Father died a while ago, a sudden passing. May he rest in peace. Εἰρήνη πᾶσι. Peace be with all.

A ladybug visited while I was picking mint 

Ingredients:

• nice summer fruit such as cantaloupe, honeydew, peaches, mango, strawberries or blackberries.
• 2 cups Greek yoghurt 
• 1/4 cup mint leaves, chopped. Leave some whole for decoration 
• 2 or 3 tablespoons of honey
• optional: some chopped walnuts or sliced almonds 

Directions:

Clean and cut up the fruit into serving pieces. Arrange it on a platter.
Place the yoghurt in a serving bowl, drizzle honey over it and sprinkle the mint on top. Also, offer some nuts on the side: Chopped walnuts and sliced almonds would be nice. 
Bring the yoghurt, the nuts if using, and the fruit to the table and serve it to your friends and family.

P.S. Instead of honey, maple syrup can be used.

PASTA WITH SAUSAGE AND BLUE CHEESE, EPIRUS STYLE

I came across this recipe on the Saveur website. A little more than a year ago, Saveur magazine published a "Greek Food" issue. I would have purchased it, except I didn't find out about it until months later; I missed out! However, most of the articles and recipes are now on the Internet and trust me, I checked them out thoroughly. 

This pasta with blue cheese is a recipe I was not familiar with, so I decided to try it. It's pasta and sausage in a creamy blue cheese sauce, and it's flavoured with lots of fresh oregano. I found that the tangy-tasting blue cheese brought a nice kick to the dish, complementing the sausage very well. As for the sausage, if you're lucky enough to find Greek sausage, use it. Each Greek region has its own sausage recipes, but generally, most contain pork and lamb and are flavoured with fennel seed, orange peel, garlic, leeks, and wine. If you can't find Greek sausage, substitute with an Italian one, or any other type that you enjoy. Try not to use a variety that's heavily seasoned; allow the kick in this recipe to come from the blue cheese. (Alternatively, you can omit the sausage and turn this into an excellent vegetarian dish)!  

The native name for this recipe is "Makaronia me loukanika kai tyri," which literally translates to "pasta with sausages and cheese." It hails from the province of Epirus, which is a mountainous region in  Northwestern Greece. The shores of Epirus rest on the Ionian Sea, and right across the sea, only a short ferryboat ride away is Italy. Ioannina, a city with a history that dates as far back as 700 CE, is the capital of the province of Epirus. I imagine that this recipe was created in Ioannina or its surroundings because it includes the addition of blue cheese, which is not a traditional Greek-type cheese. The city has always been a busy trading centre so I can see how foreign traders could have introduced the locals to blue cheese. 

Currently, near Ioannina, there is a cheese cooperative that specializes in making Italian and other types of European cheeses. Dairy production, especially cheese making, is a big business in the area.

From a postcard, a lakeshore view of the city of Ioannina surrounded by the Pindos mountain range. 

I've had occasion to visit Ioannina, and I'll never forget the adventure of getting there! First, I should tell you that Ioannina is surrounded by the Pindos mountains, which, at elevations of over 2,500 meters in some places, are the highest mountains in Greece. We had to drive through the Pindos mountain range to reach our destination. For the most part, the road consisted of two narrow lanes running in opposite directions, with nothing such as a median between them. Our car climbed round and round, winding higher and higher and making harrowing, sharp turns that put the fear of God into us. We had some very scenic views of mountain vistas, but we were also concerned about the steep drops which would suddenly appear on either side of the road. Did I mention there were few guard rails? Mishandle the steering wheel, and it would be goodnight and goodbye and down you go, all the way down a sheer, cavernous drop. The terrain reflects the names given to the villages: the place where we stopped to fill up with petrol was named Katara, which means "Curse." The driver of our car was none other than my brother, and in his estimation, the ride was "awesome" and "exhilarating." He knew I found the road dangerous, so he thought it would be funny if, once in a while, he scared me by yelling out, "Oh, no, we're going to die!" I wasn't too amused at the time, but now, as I write this, I can't help but chuckle.

   

This photograph brings back so many memories...  I will never forget the stark beauty of the Pindos range.  By the way, the road appears wider in the picture ... 

Things started looking better when we began to descend the mountain. The road widened, and the city of Ioannina became visible in the distance. I felt such relief that I started singing along with the song playing on the radio, a song that, up until that day, I strongly disliked. Believe it or not, since then, I have been happy to hear it (usually happy to hear it — not all conditioning lasts a lifetime): Jethro Tull, Ian Anderson, Aqualung! 

Part of the Pindos range





I found this photo and the one above it on the Internet. The road is just as I remember it. This is part of the Via Egnatia, initially constructed by the Romans in the second century BCE ... No kidding here: built by the Romans, the Via Egnatia (a continuation of the Via Appia) was a path which reached from Epirus to Byzantium. It has obviously been widened and paved since then. The surrounding areas are abundant with forests and wildlife. This is also a biker's and a hiker's paradise. 

I'd like to ask WHY? Some may say the recent improvements to the road were necessary. I believe this bridge is an eyesore. Sometimes, you've just got to let the mountain win (this is also a photo from the Internet). 

It's been a little more than twenty years since we took that trip. I have been told that today, there is a new, safer highway going through those mountains. It's been constructed with lots of tunnels and bridges to avoid the sharp turns. Also, because of the tunnels, this new highway doesn't have to close down as often during the snowy, icy winter months. As recently as ten years ago, it had been too perilous for traffic to go through during winter, and the road was closed for about a two-month period. 

Epirus is a rugged country, and its folk have been toughened by centuries of hardship.  The cooking is no-nonsense yet versatile; recipes are uncomplicated, consisting of a few key ingredients. Many contain dairy products, which are plentiful because shepherding is a mainstay occupation in the region. The livestock, mostly made up of sheep and goats, graze freely on the large variety of wild grasses, greens, and herbs. Their milk, which carries the taste notes of the various herbs they consume, is used to make excellent cheeses that are popular all over Greece. It's interesting to note that "Dodoni Feta," one of the best brands of feta cheese, is made in Epirus. 

A previous incarnation of Pasta with Sausage and Blue Cheese. The sausage here is sweet Italian sausage. 

Here then is how to make the simple and delicious pasta with blue cheese and sausage Epirus style: 

Ingredients: 

3 tablespoons of olive oil
8 ounces Greek or mild Italian sausage, sliced into 1-inch pieces. Remove the casing.
8 ounces pasta such as penne, or this curly type I used. What is it called?  I've forgotten its name. 
1/2 cup white wine  
1/4 cup blue cheese, crumbled, plus 1 tablespoon crumbled blue cheese to use for garnish
1 clove of garlic, smashed and chopped very well
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup fresh oregano leaves - reserve about 1 tablespoon for garnish.
1/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
salt, to taste

Directions:

• Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook, then strain. 
• Meanwhile, begin cooking the sausage: heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sausages and cook, stirring occasionally, until they are browned, about 7 minutes.   
• Add the wine and cook to deglaze the pan. Cook until the wine is reduced by one quarter, about 2 minutes.
• Add the blue cheese, garlic, cream, and oregano, and cook until the mixture is thick and the cheese has melted, about 2 minutes.
• Stir in the pasta and season with salt and pepper to taste.
• Transfer the pasta to a small platter and add the grated Parmesan cheese. 
• Season liberally with black pepper and mix. 
• Garnish with the reserved oregano leaves and blue cheese.