In the winter, this dish is also made with peeled and sliced celeriac (celery root), along with bunches of the leafy, dark green celery that is common in Greece and the rest of the Mediterranean. This fragrant celery can be found in Asian markets under the name kun choi or kin tsai, or sometimes, Chinese celery.

Serves 4 (more…)

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The meat, cooked together with the artichokes, takes on a delicious sweetness that is complemented by the tartness of the lemon juice. In many parts of Greece the sauce is often thickened with egg, making it avgolemono (egg and lemon sauce). But I prefer this much lighter version of the dish, based on the recipe given to me by Claire Ksida, from Chios.

Claire and her husband, own the tiny Perleas hotel, which they created by restoring an old Genoan villa, beautifully situated among extensive orange and tangerine groves, in Kambos, just outside the island’s capital. Claire prepares the dish for her guests in the spring, with the fresh tender artichokes she grows in her garden. “I have plenty of artichokes so I freeze some because I like to be able to continue making the dish throughout the summer” she told me. (more…)

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There are many recipes for keftedes (plural of kefte). Practically every cook has a unique mixture of ingredients. The following is a combination of recipes from Macedonia and Thrace that I developped for my first book The Foods of Greece . It’s my favorite because the mixture has bulgur and grated zucchini, instead of bread, which make it exceptional. Chef Jim Botsacos of Molyvos restaurant in NYC serves a variation of these keftedes.

Serves 6 (about 35 pieces) (more…)

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This is my mother’s lemonato, the best I have tasted. Although this dish is commonly cooked at home all over Greece, it is rarely included in cookbooks. American veal is different from ours, in that comes from free range animals and, although very tasty, is tough and requires a special cooking method. I have adapted my mother’s recipe for the American and European veal. One of my aunts used to cook the meat with no other liquid but lemon juice, and her version was also delicious. But it had very little syrupy sauce—not enough for cooking the potatoes. I think this is a great disadvantage, because the potatoes are the best part oflemonato. In any case, the secret of this dish’s success is to keep the heat very low and to simmer the veal for hours.

Serves 4-6 (more…)

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