pepper tagged posts

This blog had already made the two most famous brews: coffee and tea. The one item that is mostly used in cooking is the stock chicken stock, beef stock, fish stock, vegetable stock…. or is it broth? Stock or broth? Is it different? The terminology stock and broth can be confusing not only to the daily household user, but also chefs all over the world. It is actually said that many languages do not have two different words for those two definitions. Even here in the US, the Department of Agriculture, for its purposes, uses the words interchangeably and does not define them as being different. In a few culinary schools define them different but are they? Well technically there are different at least in my book. According to the webster dictionary:

Risotto is one of the most well known dishes of the italian cuisine. There are many elements involved in making risotto and frankly making a risotto quickly is like making fat free butter. But there is no reason why we cannot replicate the taste, and the texture of the risotto in an alternative dish. The two basic structural elements of the risotto texture are the chewy, but cooked, rice, and a very creamy texture. The creamy texture, although there is the addition of the a little cream, come mainly from the rice. Rice… A quintessential class of a grain that literally changed the world. A grain that for centuries has been the power of an entire continent, the asian condiment that is, and there was no surprise that it took over the world. It is a commodity became a stable item in may different cuisines. I am happy to say that we already dealt with it in this blog with rice recipes. Today we will not.

This is a very simple dish… Well simple in the flavor and tones that it has, but not so much in the process. The star is again the gallus domesticus aka chicken. It is a hear warming dish that combines three basic cooking skills and techniques to make a unique dish. A dish that can be easily moded changed and reinvented. Chicken with mashed potatoes and cream sauce. Three items that are independent from each other and the real trick is how to bond them. You want them from a trio they are, to make them sing like a chorus. So this post is an attempt to show you how three items can be brought together under the same flavor roof.

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A few weeks ago, I was watching the modern god of cookery, Alton Brown and he gave me the idea of making a savory muffin. I tried his recipe and although it was great, I was thinking I could twist it around to make it a bit more to my taste. So this is a recipe that does not have much of an intro, just the ingredients and the execution.

This is most certainly a post that is not catching anyone in surprise. This dish featured in the previous post as a companion to the awesome tenderloin. Here I used a vegetable that was the anti-hero of my childhood. My mom and grandma used to prepare cauliflower by boiling it for long period of time till it became a mushy white disgusting thing. Needless to mention the unbearable smell of the boiled cauliflower. Yaicks! Later they made it with tomato. The typical greek tomato sauce dressed dishes. Green beans, eggplant, okra, zucchini, etc. Although much better it was just a different vegetable in the sauce.

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.

Among my best cooking dishes (?) is grilling. I use the question mark in the dishes part, because it is not really a dish, or at least when friends come over, things get much out of control and the food is massive, the plates are useless and manners are gone! We very mage look like a group of savage eating and having fun. Grilling as a mentioned before, it is the ultimate expression of primitivity, since it combines meat, the fire and the man.