-
Kolokithopita Triangles
-
Yiaprakia (Stuffed Grape Leaves/Dolmades)
“And we’re rolling!” Just a couple of hours after a promised “this will be quick” beginning to end, fresh-from-the-vine, stuffed grape leaves session, Mom and I set out on rolling the first of about a hundred individual grape leaves for our large batch of the day. Mom has been on a yiaprakia roll this summer, burning through the leaves she froze last summer and using up the fresh (and frozen) leaves from this year’s harvest.
-
Kolokithopita – Pumpkin Pita
My mother’s questioning became more urgent as the weeks progressed. “I still have the pumpkin. Can we make the kolokithopita when you visit? Do you think you’re coming soon?” The great pumpkin had been sitting in the dining room corner, as if in time out, since Thanksgiving. It was now well into March. Would it even still be edible? My dad was the biggest skeptic. We cut it one afternoon, not long before I had to leave NJ to get back to Philly for class. We were all pleasantly surprised to find the meat inside okay.
-
Chicken Avgolemono Soup
The last half of January has been filled with some downright bone chilling days. Even though the sun was shining for some of them, it just hasn’t been enough to warm me up. We’ve been working on butchering whole chickens in class the past couple of weeks and were told asked to make some chicken soup. So the timing was just right for this hearty chicken avgolemono. This is the chicken soup I grew up with. No noodles, just chicken and rice in a silky smooth and creamy lemon flavored broth. The magic of this chicken avgolemono (egg-lemon) soup is that it comes together pretty easily and packs enough bright…
-
Spanakopita
Spanakopita (spinach pie) is a dish that just seems to bring people together. My mother first learned how to make her highly sought-after spanakopita not in Greece, but in the United States. Like tiropita (cheese pie) it is one of her go-to recipes to feed a hungry crowd and one of her signature savory dishes. And let’s just say it has a bit of a following. Who knew spinach could be so uniting.
-
Thanksgiving Pastitsio
“I’m not really sure what we use, you’ll have to ask mom when she gets back. You’re going to make pastitsio? It’s a lot of work.” my dad replied. “Well, how do you start it then?” I followed up. “How much butter and flour?” “I don’t know. Ask mom.” This? This is the answer to what kind of milk I should use for the béchamel my parents make for their pastitsio and moussaka I get from my dad? My dad is the béchamel man of the house. He has literally been making it for at least 30 years, if not longer.
You May Also Like
Kolokithopita Triangles
-
New York Pita Culture
Greece has a “pita culture” and the round or oval flatbread that most non-Greeks instantly think of when hearing “pita” is just a small part of it. Greek pita can refer to one of two dough products. One is the flatbread used for scooping up an assortment of appetizing dips and for wrapping many Mediterranean sandwiches like gyros, souvlaki and falafel. Perhaps more importantly to Greeks, pita also refers to a phyllo-based pie. Pites, the savory or sweet phyllo pies that most Greeks think of when they hear pita, or mean when referencing them, come in many varieties. My intention in starting the pita challenge was not only to nail…
-
Day Tripping For Greek Treats and Provisions: Astoria, New York
I was staring at the selection of pites, cookies and pastries at the baked goods counter in Mediterranean Foods when it finally sunk in that a “quick” visit to Astoria was a foolish thought. Why come all this way and not allow Astoria to absorb us in to its unparalleled selection of Greek goods? “If we leave by 10, we can get there in time for some coffee and pites, hit a bakery to pick up some pastries, then grab groceries at Titan. We should be back by 5.” And I really believed this when saying it to my sister Evelyn over the phone several hours earlier.
You May Also Like
New York Pita Culture
-
Working With Phyllo
Want to impress someone with your cooking skills before they even taste your food? Or make them think you worked away for hours to make something special for them? Make them something with phyllo. Ok, you might still be cooking in the kitchen for hours, but it won’t all be time spent on phyllo. Phyllo dough is a basic flour and water dough. The dough is rolled out into incredibly thin sheets for use in making both sweet and savory Mediterranean dishes, where the phyllo dough is often used as a wrapping. Phyllo is an intimidating ingredient for many people when they first start working with it. Due to its…
-
Tiropita
Tiropita, two ways, two times, practice makes perfect. Recipe testing is important when writing, developing, and sharing them. That’s how the first pita challenge ended up as a two-attempt trial. It wasn’t the result of a classic misunderstanding between my mother and me. No. Of course not. Tiropita is one of my mother’s staple go-to recipes for gatherings large or small, occasion’s special or regular, impromptu visits from friends, family or a hungry kid or grandkid. She’ll make a single large pie for gatherings, and almost always has some individually wrapped triangles in the freezer for last minute or smaller gatherings. As delicious as it is, tiropita is relatively straightforward…
