Beware people, pumpkin craziness season is upon us! All sizes, all colours and shapes, some ridiculously overprices, but all so lovely, pumpkins are currently les belles of the ball. You really can’t escape them- but honestly, why would you want to? Sweet in taste and with such deep autumn-y colours, they stand out both as decorations but also as part of so many dishes, sweet and savoury as well. [READ MORE]
Wednesday was all about the little bits and bobs that’ll help us embrace fall. Now that we have that part all figured out, it’s time for more comfort, more fall love. And what better way to give and receive love than through food? (There are some other ways, sure, but let’s stick to cooking here). [READ MORE]
Of all the pulses out there, lentils are my least favourite. Actually, let me clarify: lentils, the way they are usually prepared in Greece -as a watery stew with onion and/or garlic, bay leaves and often times carrots- that’s one of my least favourite pulse dishes. I can’t bear it now, couldn’t bear it when I was living at my parents’ house and my mom would make her own variation, slightly thicker, with some chopped tomatoes and different spices and herbs thrown in the mix. I would overload my plate with vinegar, grab a fat slice of bread and reluctantly dig in hoping for the best. [READ MORE]
Spetzofai is one of my favourite summer dishes and probably the one I most enjoy eating at our summer house. It’s a very popular traditional quick summer stew of sorts, named after the word spetza, an alternative name for pepper, and the word food. The reason why we make it so often is probably because it contains two of the season’s most delicious produce, fresh tomatoes and sweet and crunchy green peppers, which our garden always has in abundance. The addition of sausage makes the tomato sauce even more flavourful and wholesome. [READ MORE]
Remember how last week I was all about grapes and how melons and watermelons should make way for them already so they could shine they way the should? Well, just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in. Watermelons that is. They’ve charmed me once again. [READ MORE]
One of the ingredients from back home I miss the most is fish. Don’t get me wrong- you can find many delicious varieties in London and, since I eat fish at least twice a week, I enjoy them thoroughly. But, there’s something about Greek fish I just can’t get over; maybe it’s that I’ve associated them with my mom’s cooking (huge fish fan, barely cooks meat, etc) and especially with the world’s most delicious fish soup I grew up eating; maybe it’s because I’ve had fish and seafood so many times by the sea, like literally, a few steps from the water, on warm, starry nights, carefree and happy. [READ MORE]
This is one of my all time favourite dishes, an adaptation of a Diane Kochilas recipe. I first came across it when I was in college, featured on a monthly food magazine, amongst ten of her favourite dishes. It wasn’t just the recipes that I loved, but also the way she was writing about food: I could almost taste the ingredients described and feel their significance for the writer. I think it’s after reading that segment that I started not only cook properly, but actually really read and pay attention to a recipe and the ingredients it listed. Around that time, along with my awareness of ingredients and techniques, my love for a quality home cooked meal also started to develop. [READ MORE]
Aubergines are probably my favourite summer vegetable. The ones I find in London, somehow often seem not quite right. That’s probably because I’m so used to a specific kind: the kind that comes straight from our garden, chubby and shiny, sometimes a little bruised, always in different shapes, always so beautiful. [READ MORE]
A few weeks ago, I became full on obsessed with making (and eating) pizza at home. This happens at least once a year, much to the delight of my partner and the dismay of my summer clothes. But as I love him more than clothes (and, truthfully, because at least once a year I love pizza more than anything), I always give in and to hell with summer dresses and bikini season. [READ MORE]
I left home for college when I was 18. I couldn’t wait. I was not a particularly rebellious teenager, although I was a big pain in the butt, and had a pretty good relationship with my parents, but I.could.not.wait to leave. So I went to college in the north, in Thessaloniki, a gorgeous city by the sea. [READ MORE]