Remember Mark Bittman’s Paella with Tomatoes that caused me to drool all over my keyboard last week? Well, I finally made it. It was the simplicity of this dish that drew me but when I saw some Spanish chorizo at the store, I decided it wouldn’t hurt to complicate the dish just a bit.

Since I’m in Italy, arborio (of risotto fame) was my rice of choice and it turned out to be a good one. The grains were firm yet creamy, a texture I can’t get enough of. For the smoked paprika, I used a combination of hot and sweet, one teaspoon of each. This added just enough heat to make it interesting. Both types came from The Spice House and I was glad to have them both on hand!

I’ve never used Spanish chorizo (not be be confused with Mexican chorizo, which is completely different) and I thought this was the perfect dish to give it a try. The chorizo I picked up at the store was just the prepackaged Goya brand sausage. I’m sure there is better chorizo to be found but tasted good and it turned the dish into more of a main course. If you can’t find chorizo, I think any kind of precooked or cured smoked sausage would be good. Continue reading →

I love olives. I’ve never met an olive I didn’t like except, perhaps, straight from the tree. Whatever you do, don’t eat an olive straight off the tree! But, I love olives.

I grew up in the middle of California, in olive county. Yes, Spain, Italy and Greece may be known for their bold and flavorful olives but if you’ve ever popped open a can of black olives from the supermarket, chances are it came from California!

I’m sure there are olive snobs out there that turn their noses up at the canned variety. It’s true that they are nothing like ‘real’ olives, but canned olives have their place. On American pizza, for instance. Or Nana’s tamale pie. And when you’re a kid, it’s fun to stick them on the ends of all your fingers and then eat them one by one. Continue reading →

For this week’s WHB entry, I finally tried a recipe that I’ve had my eye on for weeks. Aloo Paratha from Veggie Cookbook. Aloo Paratha is an Indian flat bread that is stuffed with spiced mashed potatoes. Aloo=potato Paratha=a type of flatbread. I’ve never attempted any type of Indian bread. I’ve read about lots of different types of breads: roti, chapati, paratha, naan. I’ve even found and watched videos online of how some of them are made. I just hadn’t tried any on my own. Sometimes I feel a little intimidated trying something brand new, especially when I have never seen or tasted something similar. But the great thing about food blogs is that not only will you often find step-by-step photos to help you along, you can usually e-mail the author with any questions or concerns you have about the recipe. How many times have you been looking through a cookbook or magazine, seen a great recipe or photo but then realize that the instructions are somewhat confusing. Haven’t you ever wished that you could just call up the cookbook author and ask for clarification? Well, thanks to the internet, you can often do just that. Continue reading →

Just found an interesting tip over at Kalofagas - In Pursuit of Delicious Foods. Roast a big batch of peppers during the summer and freeze them for year-round use! Visit Kalofagas for instructions and while you’re there, check out Peter’s recipe for Htipiti dip - a Greek roasted red pepper dip.

For this week’s entry to Weekend Herb Blogging, I’m sticking with the two herbs I’ve used for my previous entries…fresh mint and chives. I didn’t mean to do it but I was looking through my favorite cookbook and was inspired to make a lime and mint vinaigrette to drizzle over the salad I was planning to make for lunch.

I’m sure you’ll forgive me for using these herbs again because this dressing is really good! The original version of the dressing uses only lime juice for the acid but I added some vinegar too because that’s the way I like it! I also substituted chives for scallions because quite frankly, I don’t like raw onions…even the little green ones! But I love the milder flavor of chives. They add a bit of onion flavor but aren’t overpowering. I also used only half the amount of mint that is called for in the original recipe. What I ended up with was a light, refreshing dressing that perfectly complimented the ripe tomatoes that I picked up yesterday at the organic farmer’s market. In addition to tomatoes, my salad contained a mixture of romaine lettuce and baby spinach (also from the organic market), cucumber, and crumbled feta. A nice, simple salad. Continue reading →

Just a quick note!  Peter over at Kalofagas got creative with my Creamy Feta Dressing and made his own version of it to be eaten with some really yummy looking fries!  According to Peter, Greeks like to eat their fries with feta and, after seeing the photo and reading his post, I’m convinced that this will be one of my new favorite combinations!  Go check out Feta Frites at Kalofagas now!

First of all, I would like to say happy Father’s Day to my Dad! I don’t think he will be reading this online but maybe someone (Kathy, Pauline, I’m talking to you!) will print it out and show it to him. This Web site would not be in existence if it weren’t for my Dad’s influence on my cooking. My willingness (and sometimes compulsion) to experiment with food is definitely something I get from my Dad and if it weren’t for that, I wouldn’t have started creating my own recipes. I am extremely lucky to have come from a family where both parents were great in the kitchen! Happy Father’s Day, Dad! I love you!

For this week’s Weekend Herb Blogging entry, I made some tzatzki using fresh mint. Mmmmmmm…tzatziki! Have you ever tried it? Can you pronounce it? Tzatziki is a Greek sauce made of thick yogurt and chopped cucumber. I called it a sauce but it’s more like a cross between a sauce and a salad. I guess we could just call it a condiment. It can be served with pita as an appetizer and it’s a standard accompaniment to gyros. But you can really do whatever you want with it. I like to just eat it by the spoonful Continue reading →