Blog Archives

The butternut squash has been featured before on this blog, in the very famous, but elaborate recipe about the butternut squash ravioli. I just quote from that blog the few words about the humble star of the dish. Butternut squash (Cucurbita moschata), also known in Australia as Butternut pumpkin, is a type of winter squash. It has a sweet, nutty taste that is similar to pumpkin or sweet potato. It has yellow skin and orange fleshy pulp. When ripe, it turns increasingly deep orange, and becomes sweeter and richer. It grows on a vine.

Spices and herbs is the spirit of every food. The common ingredients of the dish can be elevated and can actually take you to new places. Some curry mix will take you to India, ginger and sesame will travel you to China. Oregano and thyme will take you to Greece. All spice (bahar) will take you to Turkey. However as is true for most ingredients, proper handling and storage is not just crucial, but fundamental to gain access to the full spectrum of the flavors that are the spices. In this post, which is a purely technical post I will describe the basic of storing and handling the spices and herbs.

I am going to start of this month by paying tribute to the one thing that I love the most. As you probably picked up already, it is the kitchen, the place where I cook most of those recipes I post here. It has served my as experimental space for the whole time I ‘ve been here. The people who know me have heard me complaining many times about the size, and the discomfort it causes every time I tried to cook something that involves more than one pot or more than a pot and a cutting board. But you know… It is functional and I love to hate it. It is small but I don ‘t have to travel a lot around. I just sit in the middle and I can each everything pretty easy. 

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Tzatziki is one of the most widely known greek dishes, served in every greek restaurant and dinner. It is a dish that is served, with, grilled meat, stew meet, fried vegetables, stuffed vegetables, seafood, on its own as an appetizer with ouzo, or even with bread just like a spread. Although a very popular dish, there is no particular story associated with the tzatziki. Its origin is lost somewhere in the area of the middle east & balkans. In turkey there is a similar concoction that is called "cacik" (pronounced "tzatzik") and is a soup with cucumber, garlic and yogurt. All around the Balkans there is a similar dish that calls for yogurt and cucumber.

Again here staying in the same tunes as the last entry we will be dealing both with tomatoes and with summer food. Fresh tomatoes and summer food are made to go together. This recipe brings the element of the seafood, something that we have not dealt that much in this blog. Well there is not much more to say about the tomato itself since all is reported on the previous post. However it is worth taking sometime to talk about the king of misunderstood food the krab meat.

Tomatoes is one of the most stable, vegetables around the world and especially around the Mediterranean, and more pronounced in Spain, Italy, Greece and Turkey. What a proud title for a vegetable that was not even known 500 years ago in that region. The Spanish brought the tomato to Europe. It grew easily in Mediterranean climates, and cultivation began in the 1540s. It was probably eaten shortly after it was introduced, though it was certainly being used as food by the early 1600s in Spain. The earliest discovered cookbook with tomato recipes was published in Naples in 1692, though the author had apparently obtained these recipes from Spanish sources. However, in certain areas of Italy, such as Florence, the fruit was used solely as tabletop decoration before it was ever incorporated into the local cuisine until the late 17th or early 18th century.

I have noticed that the recipes I add are usually post, or almost all of them are usually, related to a famous dish. I never present a dish that is on my own an inspiration of the moment. Well I have but it always has to relate to something. So with out further delays I am presenting a dish that is completely my creation of the moment. It is the fusion of different recipes and methodologies, I learned overt the years.Starting with the star of the dish, the salmon.

Staying tuned to the same frequency as the previous post, I will have a second summer dish, that I love. It is a simple humble summer dish that can be eaten warm, but I prefere it room temperature. It is a cauliflower casserole… Just that. Cauliflower and a simple sauce, one of the four mother sauces, baked in the oven. I got this idea from Ece a friend of mine that she made a similar version a few years back. The homeyness of that food will never be forgotten. But since we are having the first entry ever for the cauliflower as it is custom to this blog, we will start with a small history of the cauliflower, a distant cousin of the broccoli and cabbage.

Cau...

I will start today a series of post that will be randomly posted through the summer, highlighting foods that are perfect fro the summer, either because the ingredients are available through the summer very cheap and at the pick of their ripeness, or because they are refreshing and summery. The first one is probably one of the simplest salads I ever conceived and it can be made in matter of minutes. As is true with those dishes, quality of the ingredients maters. Buy fresh, preferably locally and don ‘t fear to shed some extra bucks for organic products. As, typical in this blog, it is really important to take some time and talk about the star of the dish, which is the red onion for today.