Vegetable

This is the fourth significant recipe towards the countdown. In a way it is one more tribute to my island. It is the traditional way we are curring the green olives. And this recipe is from my grandma. The one person that knows how to make them perfect. She is making them every year for more than 50 years. This particular variations in Crete are called tsakistes ( τσακιστές ). This means crushed. You used to take the olives, and crush then with a rock or a small hammer, enough to crack open the meat of the olive. More on why later. They are served with lots of lemon and sea salt. My favorite treat since I was a kid.

This is the second very special post. It is one other special recipe that was made for some good friends long time ago and it was promised that will be featured on the blog. Promises in a way work like thermodynamics. They tell you if something is going to happen and in what degree, but not when. Time is the elusive dimension that although very interesting does not belong to this blog. Here we talk food… Speaking of which… This is recipe the was kinda featured before to the blog, but never full. It is based largely on the meatloaf cake that I made before for Kathryn for her birthday. This one is very particular, however. Oaklianna, a dear friend, is among the people that have the intolerance to gluten the wheat protein. Damian, her then boyfriend, had always been vegetarian and never head meat. So the plan for the alternative cake had to find another base. That base is non-other than the best thing that ever happened to soy, tempeh.

Exposure to various cuisine is the portal to understanding and embracing cultures around the world. The flavors represent not only the people’s lifestyle and philosophy but their attitude towards life. And I don ‘t speak of the food you eat when you go out, or the food you make when you have guests. I talk about the food you eat when you are wearing your pajamas and your hair is all messed up. I am talking about real down to home food that is family, nationality and you… Thee real you. The food you eat from a house in India, Bolivia, Ecuador, Greece, Russia, Pakistan and you think you are back home. For a split second that house becomes your home. 

That was exactly ...

This is an alternative salsa, something you do not see very often. It is a sweet and hot spicy salsa, that is very good compliment to white meat like fish (tilapia, mahi-mahi etc) and chicken or pork. A quick method to turn this to a marinate is to pass it through a blender. This will pulverize the salsa to a thick marinate. An additional effect of this is the papain. It is an enzyme primarily found in papaya and it has the ability to break down proteins like collagen. This will tenderize the meat making it juicer. Its primary utility actually is the breaking down the tough meat fibers and has been utilized for thousands of years in its native South America. 

The summer is here and nothing reminds of summer better that the fresh veggies, the cold refreshing food and the porch snacking. Among probably the most common foods that can compete as the most summery food snacks is salsa. The mexican traditional food that took over the world. It is refreshing, easy to make, and a good way to polish your knife skills. 

Recently I was trying to find a alternative to the tomato sauce I use for the pasta. The tomato sauce is fine, but it is used for the last years of my life and it is boring. Tomato is quite acidic and not as creamy as would like to be.  So I thought about it and I found a few recipes for what I was looking for, and suddenly I found it. It is a combination of recipes I found on line, and recipe cooked for me long time ago from a dearest friend. So I did some changes and I made it. As you probably guessed by the title it is a sauce based on the roasted red bell peppers.

here are only few things that can initiate reactions that smell home. There smells, sounds and tastes that when combined properly they can take you all the way back to your childhood. One of the is the dished featured here today. All the way from the island of Crete, the island whose velvety soil, I felt for first time under my feet.The island were I had my first steps in life (and secretly wish to have my last steps). It is a simple dish with simple and humble ingredients as everything in life. Some bread some olive oil tomatoes and cheese, all bind together by the universal greek herb of oregano.