Posts tagged “Tastes Like Home”

Recipe for Squash Blossom Frittata

Flemish Peony Poppy

Haul from Wednesday’s Farmers’ Market: parsley, dill, Swiss chard, beets, spinach, broccoli, orach, zucchini, squash blossoms, cucumbers, tomatoes

Farmers’ market season is upon us. Stalls are bursting with fresh greens and herbs. Early broccoli and zucchini are spottily available. The first bunches of baby carrots appeared today.

Continue reading > >

Braised Green Beans (Fasolakia) with Lemon (Φασολάκια Λαδερά με Λεμόνι)

Fasolakia - Braised Green Beans

“If there are three Greeks in a room, you’re bound to hear five different opinions about the correct way to cook just about anything.”

Or so goes the self-deprecating joke at Holy Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Church in Anchorage, Alaska. Although it may not be literally true, the joke helps lighten the ...

Continue reading > >

Tasty Palestinian Spinach Pies are Vegan and Fasting Friendly

 

My friend Salwa comes from Beit-jala, a small village just outside Bethlehem on the West Bank of the Jordan River. She came with her husband to Alaska, where they’re raising twin sons far from the violence that has disrupted the West Bank for too many years.

Salwa is an excellent cook. ...

Continue reading > >

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 ...

Continue reading > >

Leftovers: I Love Them, You Should Too; or Don’t Throw Away Your Pie Dough

Melitzanosalata (Eggplant and Red Pepper Spread)

Some time ago we went to a friend’s house for a wonderful, well-cooked meal. I helped her clean up afterwards, and asked where she kept her storage containers so I could stick the leftovers in the refrigerator. She laughed, and said, “Just throw it in the garbage; I don’t bother ...

Continue reading > >

Cookbook: Pork with Celery-Lemon Sauce (Hirino me Selino kai Lemoni)

Pork Celery Lemon Stew

Pork with Celery-Lemon Sauce is a popular Greek stew with countless variations, but it’s a tricky recipe to get right. Too often the sauce overwhelms the pork, or goes in the opposite direction and vanishes into blandness. Some recipes taste good, but because the sauce is thick, gloppy, and pale, ...

Continue reading > >