Greek Recipes

I have returned from my Blog Interruptus with a tale of autumn adventures on the island of Crete, along with a recipe for all those tomatoes in the pantry. Enjoy! Cretan Dakos - Click to Enlarge Image In my travels about Greece, I have been to Crete twice. The first time I touched foot on the legendary isle of King Minos, I spent a day there as one leg of an Aegean culture cruise; we visited Knossos and the Herakleion Museum. I was so inspired by my visit to the former that I was left with a burning desire to return someday and see more of that famous isle. As I sailed away that first time from the Cretan shoreline, I half-expected Talos to appear along the coast to see me off... Years later, I landed on Cretan soil again. This time, I spent a couple months exploring the island by foot, motorbike, and boat. It would not be an exaggeration to say that my sojourn there had the character of a sacred pilgrimage, or perhaps it was something akin to an initiatory walkabout or rite of...

Village Greek salad in all its glory - Click to Enlarge Image Exactly when the tomato arrived in Greece is a matter of conjecture; there are various apocryphal anecdotes and references but nothing definitive. One thing is certain; it arrived sometime after Columbus returned from the New World in 1493. The tomato is native to the Americas and was introduced to Europe after the Discovery made by the great 15 th Century navigator on his celebrated voyage across the Atlantic . If Christopher Columbus was of Greek origin as some claim, it may have arrived in Greece earlier than commonly supposed. In any case, the tomato qua tomato has been a part of European and Greek recipes for no more than a few centuries all told. It is downright astonishing how this species of nightshade spread and insinuated itself into the national cuisines of the European continent in such a relatively short time. After all, where would Italian cooking be without the tomato? How about the Spanish food fig...

An excellent seasonal eggplant salad - Click to Enlarge Image This posting is all about appreciation. Appreciation for the people who visit this Greek food blog and take the time to comment when they see something they like; appreciation for those who share this blog with their friends, and those who share its contents with the world by Digging , Stumbling , or otherwise adding it to their social networks; appreciation for the many friendships I have made with other bloggers who post about their lives and passions, whether these be Greek food related or not. It continues to be my great pleasure to share my thoughts and Greek recipe selections and reflections with all of you. I am deeply moved and inspired by the encouragement and support you have shown to a perfect stranger who rambles on about Greek cooking and history and the like. Truly, your example typifies the concept of xenia (Greek notion of a guest-host relationship) and I graciously thank each and every one of you for...

Grandma would be proud of my variation on her Greek 'risotto' recipe. I will never forget the first time I tried a Risotto dish at an Italian restaurant. My vegetarian date was all aflutter about this particular Italian recipe called ‘ Risotto al pomodoro ’ so it was the must-have dish on the menu for me that night, and it was not cheap! Now, when the ‘ Risotto al pomodoro ’ arrived at our table, I could not suppress a quick laugh. Immediately, I recognized the dish as similar to my grandmother’s recipe for ‘ Domatorizo ’ (pronounced “Doe-ma-TOW-reezo”). But, my grandmother had never been to Italy, and in fact, I would have been surprised if she would have been able to point Italy out on a map… About all that my grandmother knew about Italy and Italians was that they had attacked Greece along with the Germans in the Second World War, when she was a young woman. So, I ate the ‘ Risotto al pomodoro ’ that night and it was tasty enough, but with the memory of my grandmother’s...

My Greek Rigatoni in my special pasta bowls This pasta dish is one of my original signature dishes. I make it when I am short on cooking time, as it only takes 15 minutes to prepare. However, this does not mean that this dish is lacking in any way; as far as I am concerned, my Greek Rigatoni is one of the healthiest and tastiest pasta recipes around. Try it and let me know what you think… A couple points: As much as possible, I use only authentic Greek ingredients for all my recipes as I know it makes a difference in the taste of the final product(s). Any style of pasta noodle can be used for this recipe, though I recommend using something like rigatoni, penne, and farfalle as opposed to linguine or spaghetti type shapes. I alternate between rigatoni and a Greek pasta type known as “makaronia kofta” or “cut macaroni”, which is short-cut tubular pasta (“tubetti” in Italian). Same recipe with the Greek short tube pasta Recipe: ½ lb. Rigatoni (or other) pasta ½ lb. G...