all the recipes

The secret to their "domed" shape is not just due to using a mini ice-cream scoop. The cookie dough must be chilled and then baked in a very hot oven (just at the beginning) so that they retain their shapes and don’t flatten and spread out ! And the rest is easy : 1 cup of flour and ½ cup of everything else and 1 egg,...

It’s a Greek and Turkish version of SPAGHETTI & MEATBALLS but the KEFTEDES meatballs are braised in a spicy KOKKINISTO sauce, which means “reddened”; a rich and warming blend of tomatoes, onions, garlic, red wine, oregano, bay leaves, cinnamon, cloves, black pepper, allspice and nutmeg and the rice grain-shaped...

It’s a double-post weekend with 2 recipes so you can make a very autumnal mixed roasted nuts & milk caramel pie, right after reading this !  Shortcrust pastry can be prepared following the simplest equation : 2 to 1 or twice as much flour as butter as opposed to puff-pastry that is 1 to 1 or equal amounts of butter to flour, and...

It’s a wonderfully delicious dough and it’s more interesting if you make 6 DIFFERENT MINI-PIZZAS. The toppings can be a variety of thicker spreads (instead of thinner sauces), like red tomato, green pepper, white mushroom, purple eggplant and black olive preserves called caviars, “confits”, tapenades or just spreads,...

A traditional greek RUSK made with BARLEY, SPELT and WHOLE-WHEAT flours, water, olive oil, honey, salt, yeast and some malt powder is not a dry, leftover thing nor a by-product of old or stale bread. It’s a purposely planned and twice-baked preparation that many folks prepare regularly as a replacement for fresh...

Every season needs its SALAD, according to what’s available and how hot or cold it is out there. It’s autumn so it’ll be some colder and fresher ingredients combined with some warmer, fried or boiled or toasted ingredients on top; and even though my modest version of such a well-known dish, from the southwest of France,...

It’s a treat, like a candy bar, but more sophisticated than that. What is often called a «millionnaire» shortbread is now a «billionnaire» shortbread (perhaps because of inflation and all that) but moreso because of our evolving palates and taste expectations. We always want more. Like when we were kids and...

A preparation that can be added to or included in almost any savory dish : quiches, omelettes, pizzas, pastas, lasagnas, sandwiches or just as a side-dish with roasted meats and fish … And with a special ingredient that we often don’t think off when we roast things : VINEGAR ! It adds just enough depth and acidity, like and alongside...

… with a mix of stone fruits like bright orange APRICOTS, FLAT VINE PEACHES, WHITE NECTARINES and YELLOW PEACHES (but you could add some PLUMS too), all bathing and lolling around in their sweetened syrupy juices, topped by a nutty cake that rises as it bakes on top, almost floating (until it cools and settles down again) and then some...

… But please understand that one man’s DONER KEBAB, is another man’s SOUVLAKI, is another man’s GYRO, is another man’s SHAWARMA, is another man’s SHASHLIK, is another man’s CHUANR, is another man’s KATI ROLL, is another man’s TACO, etc. (and when I...

It’s something LIGHTER & CLEARER & ZESTIER and more of an autumnal or northern Mediterranean style fish stew or soup, without the tomato base and heavier spices typical of a summery and southern Mediterranean Fisherman’s or Bouillabaisse fish stew, which I also love, especially when its intensity and heat inevitably make me...

What do you get when you combine mixed roasted nuts and a milk caramel filling made with sweetened condensed milk and some eggs, and you place it inside a sweet shortcrust pastry pie shell ? You get this amazing autumn tart (or pie) ! You have the recipe & instructions for the sweet shortcrust pastry pie-shell because I posted that too...

We have a tall LOQUAT TREE in the shared garden of the property-owners. The LOQUAT isn’t a well-known fruit and it is still often called a Japanese MEDLAR or PLUM, even though originally from China and Central Asia. The other European names for this fruit that you might recognize are NISPERO, NESPOLO, PIPA, MISPEL, MOUSMOULIA, BIBACE or...

TOMATO, FETA, CUCUMBER, GREEN PEPPER, RED ONION, OLIVES, OREGANO, OLIVE OIL, WINE VINEGAR and RUSKS. I’ve convinced myself that this simple and purist GREEK SALAD recipe could like a magical spell that you can cast on the Earth, the Skies and the Sea and if you prepare it and make it today on Augusts 31st, then the goddess of...

A 'traditional' TZATZIKI should be denser, drier (thus less wet and runny, so-to-speak) and more concentrated in texture (thus chunkier) and in flavor (especially if made with goat’s milk and/or sheep’s milk yogurt too) and the ultimate texture test is that a spoon placed upright in its center, should be able to remain...