salt tagged posts

The coffeeshop right next to my work has a very tasty treat. It is called the mudslide cookie, and it is the fusion of chocolate with chocolate in a chocolate envelope. What I am saying is that that particular cookie, has so much chocolate that really gives you the idea of the mud. The bad thing is that it is a very popular treat, and it is gone probably by 10:00, the time I usually show up for coffee. So I was wondering how can I make them.

When most greeks when they hear Santorini, think of the historic island of Greece, that one of the biggest volcanic eruptions recorded in human history. The one that destroyed the Minoan civilization. On the other hand, foreigners that hear Santorini, think of the island of the sun, the fun, the girls, the weather the sunset. Especially the last one was voted, as the best sunset on the world. One of the characteristics of the island, however, is the very dry and hot climate during the summer time. 

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.

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.

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.

This is going to be a short entry and I will have it here, just because is the perfect compliment to the dish I described right before, the butternut squash raviolis. First however lets see what is a salad. Usually a salad is a dish that mostly, or exclusively, contains vegetables, usually in a cold state, hold together by a liquid that again usually contains a form of fat, and an acid. You see that the salad is very well, but also very loosely defined. That ‘s the meaning of the world usually. But I have develop some gold guidelines on how a salad should be made, or what it should contain. I think of it as the yin-yang of the food world. So let ‘s see the so notorious golden rules.

It ‘s been months since my last post, and even longer since I posted a recipe. I feel I should be back to posting what I like the most. I recently found a new inspiration that pushes me to discover new frontiers in food and in taste and flavor. The following dish, is one of my favorites. Simple but elaborate, elegant but humble, sweet sour and salty. It is the food that reminds me of fall, somewhere around October, when the trees are shedding their leafs, the sky becomes gloomy and the breeze is a little colder. I would not have much to say about the history of the dish or the ingredients. Just a few words about the butternut squash. 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. The most popular variety, the Waltham Butternut, originated in Stow, Massachusetts, on what is now the Butternut Farm Golf Club.