Greece

Touring the eastern Mediterranean, one tasty plate at a time

Touring the eastern Mediterranean, one tasty plate at a time

Posted on by Pat and David
Alexandria, Egypt - Photo by Patricia Niven The new book Chasing Smoke: Cooking over fire around the Levant by Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich (Pavilion, $35) poses an organizational dilemma for us. Do we file it with our cookbooks—or with the shelves of travel reference? The authors grew up in Haifa and Jerusalem but their home grill, as they put it, radiates from the acclaimed Honey & Smoke restaurant (216 Great Portland Street, London, UK; +44-20-7388-6175; honeyandco.co.uk). It's an extension of their original traditional Middle Eastern eatery in London, Honey & Co. This book is essentially a food diary of their travels in the eastern Mediterranean—Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Greece, Turkey and other points. We don't know whether to swoon more over Patricia Niven's photographs of...Read More
World on a Plate: Pastitsio’s immigrant life as Cincinnati chili

World on a Plate: Pastitsio’s immigrant life as Cincinnati chili

Posted on by Pat and David
In our last post, we ended our exploration of Greek cooking with a recipe for pastitsio, the hearty dish of layered meat sauce, noodles, and béchamel. As we made the cinnamon-laced meat sauce, we realized it tasted hauntingly familiar. We hadn't encountered in it Greece, but in Cincinnati at Camp Washington Chili (3005 Colerain Ave., Cincinnati; 513-541-0061; campwashingtonchili.com). It turns out that Cincinnati chili is actually a New World adaptation of Greek pastitsio. Greek immigrants opened the Empress restaurant in Cincinnati in 1922 and began serving the deconstructed pastitsio. It became such a huge hit that other restaurants run by Greek immigrants began making their own versions. Unless you are an aficionado, they all seem pretty similar, though Cincinnatians are always ready to debate the...Read More
Fassolia Piaz: Greek bean salad for summer

Fassolia Piaz: Greek bean salad for summer

Posted on by Pat and David
Back in March, when no one knew what the pandemic food supply chain would be like, we reflexively purchased bags of dried beans. They were cheap, shelf-stable supplies that could guarantee a source of quality protein if we were suddenly faced with food insecurity. In hindsight, we overreacted. On the bright side, we have a lot of beans on hand to make summer salads. Fassolia piaz is the Greek variant. In its simplest form, boiled beans are mixed with chopped parsley, lemon juice, and olive oil. We like it expanded a bit to include chopped tomato, chopped cucumber, and skewers of fresh tuna cooked over hardwood charcoal. That makes it the Greek cousin to Salade Niçoise. You could add Kalamata olives or even sliced hard-boiled...Read More