Category: How-To

Tomato puree is a very common and important ingredient in Greek cuisine. It is made by grating tomatoes on a box grater, but there’s an easier way these days: puree them in a food processor.

Nothing could be …

Why is it that I can make a great omelet but I can’t fry an egg worth a damn? Thank goodness, Zoe taught me how to fry eggs like her mama does, and now I can face the world …

Many of the recipes I’ve gotten from Mama are authentically regional, but this one for “pitakia” is purely a family recipe. How much more regional than that can you get? Mama learned it from her mother, and who …

Greek recipes calling for yogurt, such as Tzatziki, invariably call for Greek-style yogurt, which means that the yogurt has been drained of its liquid whey. But you can easily drain American yogurt to use in Greek recipes, and …

How do you serve leftovers like a Greek? The answer is two words: French fries. It’s possible I’ve just been hanging out with the wrong crowd, but from my observations, Greeks have an enormous capacity to eat …

It’s grape leaf time! Late spring wherever you are is the time to harvest grape leaves for cooking, most especially for making dolmades.

I usually forget …

You will need:

A dozen eggs
Either one packet of Easter Egg Dye -or- The skins from 15 yellow onions.
Vinegar
Some old pantyhose (clean)
Some small leaves

I used (starting at the top and going clockwise) cilantro, parsley, bamboo, geranium, japanese maple, and dill. …

You don’t have to be able to identify internal organs to clean squid. Thank goodness! I always feel inferior when a recipe for lobster tells me to “reserve the tomalley.” What’s the tomalley anyway? Fortunately there’s …

For the Orthodox world, Lent began last Monday, and so did the 40 day Lenten fast. In this context, “fasting” doesn’t mean not eating at all, rather it means restricting one’s diet by eliminating all meat, eggs and dairy. …

This is the world’s easiest way to cure olives, and it’s fun! Here’s the gist of it: Put fresh, ripe olives in a pillowcase with an equal weight of salt. Hang outside. Shake up every day …