Heirloom Tomatoes

I tasted heirloom tomatoes for the first time last year. I had seen them in stores before　but never tried them. This was because they were quite expensive comparing with other tomatoes. In addition, their black, yellow and green colors and strange shapes looked artificial to me.

Last year I found out heirloom tomatoes was introduced before 1920’s. They are non-hybrid and have a genuine tomato aroma and taste. After I tried them, I cannot think of buying other tomatoes when heirloom tomatoes are available.

I kept some heirloom tomato’s seeds from the tomatoes I ate and this spring I planted in my vegetable garden. It is time to harvest. The more ugly figures and weird colors they are, the better their taste are. Hope I can harvest enough to preserve some for winter!

Insalata Caprese (Tomatoes, Mozzarella and Basil Salad)

Basil green, mozzarella white and ripped tomato red remind me of the flag of Italy and hot summer days in the Mediterranean. Insalata caprese is the ultimate summer dish and my most favorite salad. It is very simple to make but amazingly delicious.

Usually I use *garlic-infused olive oil, which makes this dish lovelier. Do not forget to serve this with lots of slices of toasted Italian bread!

* Please note that garlic-infused olive oil may carry botulin toxin, which is very deadly. There is a lot of information available about the products and how to make garlic-infused olive oil. Make sure garlic-infused olive oil you use is safe!

Chicken Tikka Masala with Chickpeas

When the weather gets hot, I long for curry. Since my neighbor gave me a lot of fresh jalapeño peppers, I decided to make tikka masala.

Usually I roast chicken, which is marinated with yogurt, ginger, garlic and species over night, and add it in tikka masala. This time I boiled marinated chicken wings along with my homemade tikka masala paste, vegetables and chickpeas. Of course, I used a lot of jalapeño peppers, which make this dish extremely hot and flavorsome :)

Shrimp with Orzo in Tomato Sauce

If the current oil spill continues more than 50 days, it would be the worst oil spill in the U.S history. This was the article I heard a month ago. Today is the 51st day after the oil spill started. It is already the worst oil spill in the U.S. history. Yet, no one knows when the spill stops. Depressing.

The shrimp dish I made before the oil spill was Shrimp with Orzo in Tomato Sauce. It was so delicious because of the tasty and big shrimps from the Gulf. But now it makes me very sad since many of the shrimp beds in the Gulf are destroyed…

Spaghetti in Meat Sauce

My husband, Greek native, taught this meat sauce recipe. He put a touch of cinnamon to give a subtle sweet flavor. Sweet meat sauce is a Greek standard. Some people put sugar. Others add cinnamon. I had never thought of using cinnamon in any meat dishes. But after I tried this, I loved the idea and delicate taste.
Cinnamon is one of the popular seasonings in Mediterranean cuisine. Add a pinch of cinnamon in meat sauce. It will give you a distinctive and delicious essence!

Cabbage Soup

My husband, who is a Greek Orthodox Christian, and I observe a fast before Easter. So we had this simple but very delicious cabbage soup. I found this fresh and tender cabbage in a local farmers market. Cabbage is excellent for soup. Use it with various kinds of vegetables so that the soup becomes very rich and flavorsome.

Stuffed Cabbage with Egg and Lemon Sauce

Stuffed Cabbage is one of my favorite dishes since I was a little kid. This is a Greek version of stuffed cabbage. Rice, tomato, onion, beef, lamb and lots of dill leaves are used for the stuffing. The egg and lemon sauce is called avgolemono, which is a traditional Greek sauce. It was a lot of work to make them. But it was definitely worth it!

Imam Baildi (Eggplants with Tomato Sauce)

This dish is originally from Turkey. However, this is also one of the most popular dishes served in Greece. It is also a very familiar dish for my husband. He is native to Greece and was born in northern Greece where the border between Greece and Turkey was just one mile away from his village. Many of the homemade dishes in his village were influenced by Turkish cuisine.

Imam Baildi means “fainting priest” in Turkish. There is an interesting story behind this dish. One day a poor family generously invited a Muslim priest (or imam) for dinner. Then, they served this simple dish for the priest. It was extremely delicious so the priest eventually fainted. Another interpretation is that the priest started pouring lots of olive oil over this dish. Since olive oil was very expensive at that time for poor people like this family, they fainted in agony.

My husband told me a few tips about making this dish. First of all, do not hesitate using lots of olive oil. I mean “lots”. When I first saw him pouring a large amount of olive oil, I almost fainted. Second, use a pinch of cloves, which makes this dish irresistible. Cloves are one of the most essential incent substances in Japan. But personally I have never used or tasted this seasoning in cooking. A touch of this amazing seasoning makes this simple vegetable dish delicious. The priest might have indeed fainted of the extremely rich flavors.

Ingredients:
4 eggplants (Holland eggplants)
3 rip tomatoes, diced
1 large onion, finely chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 tablespoons of tomato paste
½ cup of white wine
¼ cup flat-leaf parsley
1 teaspoon oregano
1 – 1 ½ cups extra virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
A pinch of cloves

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 325 F degrees.
2. Slice the eggplants in half lengthwise. Add plenty of water and a pinch of salt in a large bowl.

3. Soak the sliced eggplants in the water for about 15 minutes. Drain them well and pad them with paper towel.
4. Heat plenty of olive oil in a large fry pan and fry the eggplants until they become soft. Transfer them to a baking pan.
5. Heat the olive oil in the same fry pan and fry the chopped onion and garlic until they become translucent. Add the tomatoes and tomato paste and stir them well. Add the white wine and stir the mixture well.
6. Season the mixture with salt, freshly ground pepper, oregano and cloves. Turn off the heat and add the parsley and ½ cup of extra virgin olive oil and cover the pan.
7. Pour the tomato mixture over the eggplants. Add ¼ cup of extra virgin olive oil. Bake it in the oven for 50 to 60 minutes.
8. Serve with feta cheese.

Chickpeas with Beef Soup

The first snow of the season came last weekend in the northeast of the USA. I remember when I lived in New York City this time of the year a heater started working. It seems winter is arriving a bit earlier than usual.

We also are having a very cold October in the south. Unexpectedly, we started using our fireplace last weekend. According to my husband who has been a residence of Louisiana for more than a decade, it is one of the coldest Octobers if not the coldest one.

I long for hot soup when I feel the air become cold. So I decided to make chickpea soup. Chickpeas are very common and popular in Mediterranean cuisine. They are high in protein so it is one of the essential food items for vegetarians.

Most of the time I cook simple vegetarian chickpea soup. However, this time my husband asked to add a few short beef ribs. They give a wonderful broth to this soup. Plus the meat, which cooked slowly, is amazingly tender and delicious to add an extra joy eating this soup in a cold day.

Ingredients:
2 cups of chickpeas
1 onion, finely chopped
3 carrots, diced
3 stalks chopped celery
3 rip tomato, diced
2-3 cloves of garlic
1 bay leaf
½ lb of short beef ribs
¼ cup of finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Dried oregano
¼ cup of extra virgin olive oil

Directions:
1. Place the chickpeas, onion, carrots, celery, tomato, garlic, short beef ribs and bay leaf in a large soup pot.
2. Add water and bring to boil on medium heat.
3. Reduce the heat to low after it boils. Cover and simmer for 60 to 90 minutes until all vegetables, chickpeas and the meat are soft. Season it with salt and pepper (or Cajun seasoning).
4. Turn off the heat. Add the flat-leaf parsley and the olive oil. Cover and leave it for 5 to 10 minutes. Serve hot!

Fried Shrimps in Tomato Sauce

My husband and I tried not to eat shrimps frequently because they are high in cholesterol. But recently, one of our friends said that shrimp’s cholesterol is “good” one. So I did a little research on Google. Indeed, I found a lot of articles mentioning that shrimp’s cholesterol is “good” cholesterol. As a result, I think we can be more generous when eating shrimps.

My most favorite way of eating shrimps is simply steaming/boiling them with just some lemon juice and olive oil. To fry shrimps in tomato sauce is the next preferred way. A crispy garlic flavor, sweet tomato and wine enhance the taste of juicy shrimps. They can be good with pasta or rice.

Of course, steamed / boiled shrimps are healthier than fried ones. Eating shrimps may be healthy but it should not be done everyday. Certainly, variety and moderation may be the keys to enjoy this healthy seafood.

Ingredients:
1 lb shrimps with their heads and shells on
3 cloves of chopped garlic
2 ripe tomatoes, diced
1 tablespoon of tomato paste
¼ cup of white wine
¼ cup of finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil to fry

Directions:
1. Wash the shrimps well and cut off their whiskers.
2. Heat the olive oil and the garlic in a fry pan until sizzling. Add the shrimps and fry them until their color turns to pink. Add the white wine and stir.
3. Transfer the shrimps from the fry pan to a plate. Using the same fry pan, add the tomatoes and tomato paste. Simmer them together for 10 to 15 minutes. Season the mixture with salt and black pepper.
4. Add the shrimps, again and stir them well with the tomato mixture.
5. Before turning off the heat, add the parsley. Stir them well.
6. Serve with crispy bread to wipe the delicious juice!

Moussaka

I was very disappointed when I read an article long time ago. The article was on a food website mentioning about “What to eat” and “What not to eat.” It was about food from all over the world. It said, “Don’t eat moussaka when you visit Greece because it is oily.”

Moussaka is one of the classic Greek dishes. In my opinion you got to eat moussaka when you visit Greece.

First of all, it is very delicious. Beef/lamb meat in sweet tomato sauce matches tasty tender eggplants and potatoes. The béchamel sauce, which is used on the top of the layers of the meat and vegetables, is very flavorsome with aromatic nutmeg seasoning. All of the layers rouse my appetite a great deal.

Next, it is time consuming if you cook it by yourself at home. Frying eggplants and potatoes, cooking meat sauce and béchamel sauce require lots of time and effort. Not to mention, cleaning after the mess in the kitchen (I love my dishwasher!). Usually it takes 2 to 3 hours for preparing/cooking and 50 to 60 minutes for baking moussaka. By the time I serve my moussaka, I am generally exhausted.

Finally, Greek restaurants use olive oil to fry (I believe) eggplants, potatoes and meat. Everyone knows olive oil is good for you since Goddess Athena sent an olive tree to the citizens of Attica as a gift for naming their city after her! So, don’t hesitate to consume olive oil.

Thus, if you visit Greece, please try this traditional Greek / Mediterranean dish!

In case, you do not trust the oil that Greek restaurants use or you do not have a plan to visit Greece soon, plus you do not mind spending lots of time and effort to cook moussaka, please refer to my recipe here and enjoy this delicious dish!

Ingredients:
5-6 sliced eggplants
5-6 peeled and sliced potatoes
1 lb of ground beef
1 chopped onion
2-3 cloves of finely chopped
3 cups of diced ripe tomatoes2 tablespoons of tomato paste
1 cup of white wine
½ cup of chopped flat-leaf parsley
A pinch of cinnamon
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil
½ cup of breadcrumbs
3 tablespoons of shredded/ground Parmesan cheese

Béchamel sauce:
5 tablespoons of butter
½ cup of all-purpose flour
3 cups of milk
1 freshly ground nutmeg
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons of shredded/ground Parmesan cheese

Directions:
1. Add plenty of water and a pinch of salt in a large bowl. Soak the sliced eggplants in the water for about 15 minutes. Drain them well.
2. Heat plenty of olive oil in a large fry pan and fry the eggplants and potatoes well. Transfer them from the fry pan. If you do not like the idea of frying the vegetables, bake them in the oven after you have sprinkled then with olive oil.
3. Heat the olive oil in the same fry pan and fry the chopped onion and garlic until they become translucent. Add the ground beef and cook till well done.
4. Add the tomatoes and tomato paste and stir them well. Add the white wine and stir the mixture well.
5. Season the mixture with salt, freshly ground pepper, and cinnamon. Turn off the heat and add the parsley and cover the pan.
6. For béchamel sauce: Heat the butter on another pan and let the butter melt completely. Add the milk and flour little by little. Stir and simmer on low heat until the mixture is thickened.
7. Turn off the heat and add the egg, lemon juice, nutmeg, salt, black pepper and Parmesan cheese. Mix them well.
8. Preheat the oven to 350 F degrees.
9. Place half of the potato slices and make a layer on the large oven pan. Next, place half of the eggplant slices and make a layer. Pour and spread half of the tomato mixture. Make one more layers in the same way. Pour the béchamel sauce and spread evenly over the top. Sprinkle the bread crumbs, the 3 tablespoons of shredded Parmesan cheese.
10. Bake it in the oven for 50 to 60 minutes until the top is brown.

Caponata / Ratatouille (Mediterranean Simmered Summer Vegetables)

I was about to make briami, which is an oven-baked summer vegetable dish and a traditional Greek food. However, baking this dish in the oven takes more than one hour. This discouraged me a great deal. Therefore, I decided to cook this dish in a large pan.

This simmered vegetable dish is called Caponata and/or Ratatouille. Caponata is a traditional Sicilian and Neapolitan dish. Ratatouille is the typical South French dish from the Provençal region. Even though these two dishes have some differences, both of these Mediterranean dishes use many different kinds of summer vegetables.

This Caponata / Ratatouille dish has many benefits. First of all, you can eat many various vegetables all at once. Second, it is very easy to prepare and delicious. Third, it can be served either hot or cold! Finally, it is very-very healthy.

Some people add sugar, vinegar, wine or bacon/meat in Caponata and Ratatouille. However, I like simply cooked summer vegetables with salt and pepper. These vegetables produce plenty of juices. The flavors of basil and oregano enhance these delicious summer vegetables. Thus, no need for additional seasoning.

Ingredients (4 servings):
2 ripe tomatoes
2 zucchinis
2 Japanese eggplants (or Holland eggplants)
1 squash
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
½ teaspoon of dry oregano
3 strings of basil leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil
Optional: other summer vegetables!

Directions:
1. Cut the eggplants into small pieces. Soak them into salty water for about 10 minutes. Then, drain them well.
2. Cut the tomatoes, zucchinis, eggplants, squash, and onion into small pieces. Cut the garlic finely. Wash the basil leaves.
3. Heat the olive oil in a large pot and fry the chopped onion and garlic. Add eggplants, squash, zucchinis and tomatoes. Add the dry oregano. Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes until all of the vegetables become soft.
4. Season with salt and black pepper. Before turn off the heat, add the basil leaves and cover the pot.
5. Transfer to the serving plates. Serve either hot or cold!

Eggplants in Tomato Sauce (Melanzane a fungetiello)

It was a cozy neighborhood restaurant in my parents’ hometown where I first tasted eggplants in tomato sauce (Melanzane a fungetiello). I found out very recently that this restaurant is one of the first Italian restaurants in whole Japan, if not the very first one. Mr. Abela from Sicily, Italy, found the restaurant in 1946 and since then “Amore Abela” (as the restaurant is called) has been successfully run by the Abela family.

At this historical restaurant, I had very delicious spaghetti with eggplants in tomato sauce for the first time. It was more than two decades ago but I still clearly recall the little surprise I felt about the combination of eggplants and tomato sauce. Our family had never thought that they could turn out so well with each other on top of pasta. After that, pasta with eggplants in tomato sauce became one of our family’s favorite dishes.

When I recently found small eggplants in the local farmers’ market, I immediately recalled my favorite dish, pasta with eggplants in tomato sauce, and decided to cook this dish. I added fresh mozzarella cheese to enhance the tasty flavor of eggplants, tomato sauce and basil leaves. You should try it too. Buon appetito!

Ingredients (4-5 servings):
7-10 small eggplants
1 finely chopped onion
3 cloves of garlic
3 cups of finely chopped tomatoes
2 tablespoons of tomato paste
½ cup of fresh basil leaves
8 oz. fresh mozzarella cheese
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil
1 lb linguine

Directions:
1. Wash the eggplants and slice them. Place them in a large bowl and add water to cover the sliced eggplants. Add a pinch of salt. Leave them for about 15 to 30 minutes.
2. Heat 3-4 tbsp of olive oil in a large fry pan. Place the eggplants, finely chopped onion and garlic in the pan and fry them well until the eggplants become soft and onion becomes transparent.
3. Add the chopped tomatoes and tomato paste. Simmer them for 15 to 20 minutes.
4. Slice the mozzarella cheese. Chop the basil leaves.
5. Add the mozzarella cheese and chopped basil on the top of the sauce and turn off the heat. Cover the pan and leave it for 5 to 10 minutes until the sliced mozzarella cheese melts.
6. Boil water in a large pot and cook the linguine in the pot for 8 to 10 minutes or al dente. Drain the linguine well. Toss them with 2 to 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.
7. Transfer the serving plates and pour the sauce. Serve with pieces of crispy bread! Buon appetito!

Meatballs with Rice in Tomato Sauce

Tomato sauce was my grandfather-in-law’s favorite. He loved tomato sauce with a lot of extra virgin olive oil and black pepper. Whenever I make tomato sauce, I think of him with high regard, a person I have never met and have known only through my husband’s descriptions.

My grandfather-in-law was born in northern Greece when it was still under the Ottoman Empire’s occupation. Including his native language, Greek, he fluently spoke, wrote and read English, French, Slavic and Turkish, and he was able to read and understand Ancient Greek, Latin, and Arabic. While none of the people in his village hold a high school degree, he earned a college degree in Education. Later he became an elementary school teacher. He was excessively simple, honest and faithful for his entire life.

This simple man loved gardening, the “Les Misérables” by the famous French author Victor Hugo, and tomato sauce. Because of the Ottoman influence on the cuisine in his region, he especially loved spicy tomato sauce.

I usually cook meatballs with rice in spicy tomato sauce, which became our family’s standard. Certainly, a lot of extra virgin olive oil and black pepper are essential. I enjoy this dish under the blue sky indulging myself in imagination of my grandfather-in-law’s humble life.

Ingredients:
3 potatoes
3 cups finely chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato paste
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Water

Meatballs (about 40 meatballs):
1 lb ground beef
1 finely chopped onion
2 cloves of garlic
¼ cup finely chopped mint
1 egg
½ cup rice
1 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon cumin
½ cup all-purpose flour

Directions:
1. Place all of the ingredients except the all-purpose flour for meatballs in a large bowl. Mix them well.
2. Break off pieces of the mixture and make very small meatballs (the size of walnuts). Coat the meatballs with the all-purpose flour.
3. Peal the skins of the potatoes and chop them small squares.
4. Heat the olive oil in a fry pan and fry the chopped potatoes for around 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes and tomato paste and stir them well.
5. Add 2 to 3 cups of water and bring to a boil. Add the meatballs one by one. Add more water if all of the meatballs are not covered by water.
6. Season with salt. Simmer and stir time to time for about 30-40 minutes.
7. Serve them hot!

Udon Salad

July 7th was tanabata, a star festival, in Japan. This seasonal festival originally came from China. It is a sad but lovely story behind this celebration.

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful lady, named Orihime, who was a daughter of the Empire of the Sky and an excellent cloth waver living on one side of the Milky Way. One day she met Hikoboshi, who was a hard-working cow keeper and lived on the other side of the Milky Way. They immediately fell in love with each other. Soon after their encounter, with the Empire’s permission, they happily wedded. However, soon after that they abandoned their working duties. Orihime stopped waving clothes and Hikoboshi let his cows free, which made the Empire extremely angered. Therefore, he separated them across the Milky Way. Yet, the Empire only permitted them to see each other once a year on July 7th. For that reason, you can see Orihime (Vega) and Hikoboshi (Altair) meet in the middle of the Milky Way once a year on the 7th of July. But, in general it is raining on that day, which makes the lovers’ rendezvous private. So you are not able to see the two stars approaching each other.

This was the story I have known throughout my childhood from my mother. I was a little astronomy geek when I was a kid. Therefore, I was enormously fascinated about these two bright stars, Vega and Altair, coming across each other. I remember that I stared at the sky for hours to try to locate this amazing phenomenon once a year. However, of course, it never saw it myself. Plus, unfortunately it was very difficult to see any stars in the light polluted Japanese urban sky. Soon enough, I realized that it was just one of the many mythologies, which disappointed me very much.

July 7th of this year, I prepared this udon salad dish to celebrate this star festival. I used udon to resemble the Milky Way and vegetables and wakame (seaweed) to make look like stars (too much twisted?!). This cold udon salad can be an excellent dish for one hot summer day.

Ingredients (2-3 servings):
3 bunch of udon
1 tomato
½ cucumber
2 tablespoons of wakame (seaweed)
5-7 leaves of Japanese green perilla or 2-3 tablespoons of finely chopped green onions
¼ teaspoons of wasabi or freshly ground ginger

Soup:
4 cups of water
3 square inches of dried kombu sheet (dried seaweed)
¼ cup of dried bonito flakes
½ cup of mirin
½ cup of soy sauce

Directions:
1. Put 3 cups of the water for soup in a large pot. Put the kombu sheet and leave it for about 1 hours. Bring to a boil. Before it is boiling, take out the kombu from the pot. Add the dried bonito flakes. Lower the heat and cook for a minutes. Turn off the heat. Take out the bonito flakes. Add the rest of the ingredients for the soup. Mix them well and leave the mixture in a refrigerator from 30 minutes to one hour.
2. Soak the wakame into cold water for about 30 minutes (or follow the instruction on the wakame package).
3. Boil water in a large pot. While it is boiling, add the udon. Cook them for about 10 minutes (or follow the instruction on the udon package). After it is done, place them in a bowl filled up with cold water and ice cubes. Drain them well.
4. Cut the tomato and cucumber into pieces. Chop the Japanese green perilla or green onions.
5. Put the udon in serving plates and decorate them with the tomato, cucumber, wakame and Japanese green perilla. Put the wasabi or ginger in the soup and mix well. Pour the soup on the udon and vegetables.
6. Before you eat, mix them well with this delicious soup!

Lamp with Orzo in a Clay Pot (Youvetsi)

In Greece lamp with orzo in a clay pot is often served on Sunday, which is the special day of the week among Greek Orthodox Christians. I usually cook this dish on a special occasion too. This month I made this dish twice for serving two of my good friends.

One of them is my new friend, Akiko, who is a professional nutritionist and recently moved to the USA from Japan. She is also an expert on Japanese cooking. Her ideas and tips about cooking are always fun and useful. Also her professional advice regarding diet and many kinds of food products are very valuable.

Since Mediterranean cuisine is totally new to Akiko, I decided to cook this special dish for our lunch. Unlike her tiny figure, she ate up the big portion of a lamb chop, Greek salad that I additionally made, and a big piece of crispy ciabatta bread. She congratulated my cooking and enjoyed my dishes very much.

Therefore, when Peter, who is a good friend of mine from New York City, decided to visit me in Louisiana in the middle of June, I immediately chosen to cook lamb with orzo in a clay pot, too. He is a gourmet, coffee lover and also good cook. Furthermore, his parents and sister are amazing cooks. Their creative table settings and fabulous ways to present food are incredible and astonish me any time I visit them.

Thanks to the tender and juicy lamb chops and ripe tomatoes, I was glad that Peter liked this dish very much.

Two food experts plus my husband, who is a native Mediterranean and foodie, applaud this dish. Thus, I proudly recommend you to try for your special events.

I already decided to cook this dish for my next guest and I started thinking what I am going to cook when Akiko and Peter visit me next time.

Ingredients:
4 pieces of lamb chops
1 finely chopped onion
3-4 cloves of garlic
3 cups chopped ripe tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 and 1/2 cups of red wine
1 lb orzo
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
A pinch of cloves
1/3-1/2 cup Ground Parmesan cheese
Extra virgin olive oil

Directions:
1. Season the lamb chops with salt and black pepper.
2. Heat 3-4 tbsp of olive oil in a large fry pan. Place the finely chopped onion and garlic in the pan and fry them for 3-4 minutes. Add the lamb chops and fry them till the surfaces of the lamb chops become slightly brown and crispy.
3. Add the chopped tomatoes and tomato paste. Add 1/2 cup of the red wine. Season with salt, black pepper and a pinch of clove. Simmer them for 30 to 40 minutes.
4. Transfer them into a large clay pot.
5. Preheat the oven to 370 F degrees. Bake the clay pot for about 20 minutes.
6. Add the orzo, 1 cup of the red wine and about 1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil. Note that the orzo should be covered with the lamb chops and sauce.
7. Bake in the clay pot for 15 minutes. Sprinkle the ground Parmesan cheese when it is almost done.
8. Bake them for another 5 minutes. Transfer them into serving plates.

Meatballs in Tomato Sauce

I hate Stelios, who was one of my husband’s high school classmates in Greece and he is still a good friend of my husband. Stelios is very pleasant to be with and I am always happy to see and talk to him. However, I have a reason to hate him.

When I was still living in New York City, Stelios visited my husband in Louisiana. During that time, he cooked spaghetti for my husband.
“It was mindboggling, “ my husband said.
“He boiled the spaghetti for nearly 20 minutes and it became just like the one I used to have when I was in Greece. It was so good!” He congratulated Stelios for his spaghetti. Since then he calls overcooked spaghetti, the “Stelios’ spaghetti.” This has impressed my husband very much but has made my life so difficult.

Long time ago, one of my Italian friends taught me how to boil spaghetti. First, boil plenty of water in a big pot. Add a pinch of salt. Then, coil a bunch of spaghetti and release them at once in the pot. In order to boil them the spaghetti evenly, stir them from time to time and cook for about 10 minutes or until it is “al dente” (which is Italian for having it a little bit hard on the inside). I thought this was the Mediterranean standard to boil spaghetti for a long time and more importantly, I like the “al dente” spaghetti very much.

Since Stelios made spaghetti, my spaghetti preparation became very complicated. I have to take out half of the spaghetti what I boil after about 10 minutes, and them continue to cook the rest for my husband for more than 10 minutes.

Meatballs in tomato sauce are excellent with spaghetti. However, since cooking spaghetti for my husband and myself gives me a lot of work, one day I served them with steamed rice. It went very well with meatballs in tomato sauce. Also pilaf (butter fried rice) goes well with them.

Maybe I should appreciate Stelios instead of hating him. He was the one who gave me an incredible opportunity for me to try steamed rice and pilaf with meatballs in tomato sauce, which are excellent combinations after all!

Ingredients:
Olive oil for frying

Meatballs (about 20 to 25 meatballs):

1 lb ground beef

½ cup panko (bread crumbs)

1 finely chopped onion2 cloves of garlic

¼ cup finely chopped flat leaf parsley

¼ cup finely chopped mint

1 egg

½ cup red wine

1 teaspoon salt

Freshly ground black pepper

A pinch of cumin and cinnamon

Lemon juice
½ cup all-purpose flour

Tomato Sauce:
3 cups chopped ripe tomatoes
1 finely chopped onion
3 cloves of chopped garlic
2 tbsp tomato paste

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
1. Place all of the ingredients except all-purpose flour for meatballs in a large bowl. Mix them well. Leave the mixture for 10 to 15 minutes in room temperature.
2. Break off pieces of the mixture and make small meatballs. Coat the meatballs with the all-purpose flour.
3. Heat the olive oil in a fry pan and fry the meatballs until they are well done. Take out the meatballs from the pan.
4. Using the same pan, heat the olive oil and fry the chopped onion and garlic for tomato sauce till the onion becomes translucent.
5. Add the chopped tomato and tomato paste. Season with salt and black pepper. Occasionally stir and cook them for 5 to 10 minutes.
6. Add the meatballs and continuously cook for 20 to 30 minutes.
7. Serve over rice/pilaf or pasta!

Çoban Salata

When Erika, one of my girlfriends, was dating with an Arabic boyfriend, she took me to a Turkish restaurant in Boston. I was very excited because it was the first time for me to taste Turkish food.
“Let’s start with Turkish salad and rice. They are really good, “ she said.
So we started with Çoban (pronounced “tso-ban”) Salata and pilaf. They were supposed to be appetizers. However, after we finished them, we decided to order the same dishes, again. I just fell in love with this simple yet delicious salad. The salad simply consists of tomatoes, cucumbers, onions and parsley. But there was some particular spice I could not figure out at that time.

Turkish food is famous for various kinds of spices. That was why I believed the salad had some special spices until just a few weeks ago when I took the first Turkish cooking class. Unexpectedly, the menu was Çoban Salata, pilaf and two other dishes. I was thrilled. Then I found out that the secret of the delicious flavor was a popular herb, mint.

Mint is very easy to cultivate. In my garden, mint grows like weeds and out of control. It had never crossed my mind that this herb gives such a precious flavor.

By the way, Erika is still a beautiful and joyful bachelorette living in Boston. Her current boyfriend is Italian. So she takes me to Italian restaurants in Italian District whenever I visit her. She introduced me to numerous kinds of good food. I admire her excellent choice of food and, of course, her patient and generous men.

Ingredients:
4 tomatoes
2 cucumbers
1 green pepper
1 cup chopped green onions
¼ cup finely chopped flat leaf parsley
¼ cup finely chopped mint
3 tbsp chopped dill
Extra virgin olive oil
2 lemons
Salt
Optional: Feta cheese

Directions:
1. Dice the tomatoes, cucumber and green pepper. Place them in a large salad bowl.
2. Add the chopped green onions, parsley, mint and dill. Pour the olive oil and sprinkle lemon juice. Stir them well.
3. Add salt and stir right before you serve. Serving with feta cheese is optional but it is good.

Green Beans with Tomato Sauce (Fasolakia)

One thing that extremely surprised me about my husband’s cooking is the use of lots of olive oil. His olive oil consumption is about 500ml per week. This is equivalent to mine for a few months.
“It has to be Greek, cold pressed, extra virgin olive oil,” my husband, whose native country is Greece, said and poured plenty of olive oil on meat, fish, vegetables, breads and even many of the Japanese dishes I make.

Fasolakia (or baby green beans in English) is one of the typical Greek summer dishes and requires lots of olive oil. Usually, I try to use less olive oil than my husband wishes. But for this dish, I do not hesitate to use tons of olive oil. Green beans match with tomato sauce and olive oil flavor very well.

Although green beans are a very popular summer vegetable in Japan, I did not know they are very nutritious food. Green beans are an excellent source of vitamin K, which prevents blood clotting, osteoporosis and oxidative cell damage. They are low in calories and very healthy food.
Fasolakia is usually served with feta cheese or anchovies. If you would like to try in a Greek way, cut down the salt in this dish and enjoy it with salty anchovies or feta cheese!

Ingredients:
1 lb green beans
1 chopped onion
2-3 cloves of garlic
3 cups chopped ripe tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato paste
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 bay leaf
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Optional: 3-4 chopped potatoes

Directions:
1. Wash the green beans well. Cut off both ends. If they are too long, cut them half. If they have strings on the sides, remove the strings.
2. Heat 3tbsp of olive oil and the garlic in a large pot. Add the chopped onion and fry them until they become transparent. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste and bay leaf. Add the green beans and the chopped potatoes (optional). Season the mixture with salt and black pepper and simmer for about 30 to 40 minutes until the green beans become soft.
3. Add the 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil and simmer for 3 to 5 minutes. Serve this with feta cheese!

Risotto with Calamari and Scallions

“May 1st is the Festival of Flowers Day” uncle George from Greece said over the phone the other day. Like Greece, there are already a lot of flowers blossoming everywhere in Louisiana. It is the best time to be in the South! My husband and I bought a lot of plants to fill out the empty spaces in our garden this spring. Some plants already have many flowers. Their sweet fragrances and stunning colors make me very happy.

A Japanese proverb says, “dumplings are better than flowers”, which is similar to the sayings “pudding before praise” or “bread is better than the songs of birds.” This means that eating dumplings may satisfy you more (in a materialistic way) than just watching beautiful flowers. In order to make myself fully satisfied and also celebrate the “Festival of Flowers Day” on May 1, I decided to cook this seafood risotto.

I used ripe tomatoes in this risotto, which were grown in Louisiana that I found at a local market. They look a little unattractive, but very juicy. As I mentioned before for the Greek Salad dish in this blog, tomatoes are a very healthy vegetable. They are rich in vitamins C, A and lycopene. Unfortunately, cooking tomatoes may damage their vitamin C potency, because vitamin C is easily destroyed by heat. But humans can absorb lycopene in tomatoes more successfully (three to four times more!) if they are heat processed.

Sadly I ran out of dill and I was not able to find any in the market (our own dill in the garden is still to young to be harvested). So I used green onions instead of dill. However, using dill is highly recommended!

Ingredients:
1 lb calamari
1 lb scallions
1 chopped onion
1-2 cloves of garlic
3-4 chopped tomatoes
1 bay leaf
2 cups rice
¼ cup green onion (dill is better!)
½ cup red wine
2 tbsp tomato paste
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Directions:
1. Wash the calamari pieces and scallions well. Cut the bodies of the calamari into rings.
2. Heat 3tbsp of olive oil and the garlic in a large pot and fry the chopped onion until they become transparent. Add the tomatoes and fry them for 3 to 5 minutes. Add the wine, tomato paste and bay leaf. Season with salt and pepper and simmer for about 20 minutes.
3. Add the rice in the tomato mixture. Stir and simmer for 5 minutes.

4. Add the calamari pieces, scallions and green onions. Stir and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or "al dente" (Italian for having it a little bit hard on the inside). Turn off the heat and add ¼ cup of extra virgin olive oil.