Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska

Recipe from Athens Seafood Restaurant Logia tis Ploris

Clams Tis Ploris

 

One of the dishes we enjoyed during our recent visit to restaurant Logia tis Ploris in Athens was Clams with Onions and Dill (Όστρακα “της Πλώρης”). The restaurant served the shellfish in a boat-shaped dish, and used a collection of cockles (Κυδώνια or Cerastoderma glauconum), smooth Venus clams ...

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Seafood Restaurant in the Heart of Athens: Logia tis Ploris

Beets

Traveling provides opportunities to encounter new foods, new ingredients, and new preparations. I’m always on the lookout for eateries run by talented chefs. I’m thrilled when I find a dish I’ve never heard of before, and order it immediately, just to discover what I’ve been missing.

As a visitor, it can ...

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Anatomy of a Recipe (with Recipe for Savory Fish Cakes / Ψαροκεφτέδες)

Recipe Book 002

Before I wrote Tastes Like Home: Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska, I rarely wrote down recipes, though I occasionally made a few notes about what I’d prepared. If I ever went back to the notes, and I rarely did, they were incomprensible, full of half sentences and incomplete thoughts. I could ...

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How to Prep Celery Roots and Roast Beets

Prepping Celery Root (Celeriac)

Pristine beets, fresh from the garden or farmers’ market, make me crave skordalia, an intensely flavored Greek garlic spread that combines perfectly with oven-roasted beets. When the two are eaten together, each flavor improves and completes the other.

Our latest CSA box contained beets and two healthy celery roots (aka celeriac). ...

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All About Leaf Celery aka Cutting Celery

Leaf Celery and Onions

Two readers asked for information about leaf celery, also known as cutting celery, the celery I often recommend using in Mediterranean recipes: “What is the difference between leaf celery and the celery at the grocery store? Can I substitute one for the other?” “Where can I buy leaf celery?”

Three kinds ...

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Love, Italian Style (with Recipe for Anchovy-stuffed Peppers Basilicata)

Dad

My Dad has had a long love affair with Italy.

It started with Giovanni, an Italian who lives in the Ligurian town of La Spezia and who worked in the same field as my Dad. When they met, the two hit it off immediately and, eventually, became fast friends. ...

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