Tonight we wanted to cook a Greek dinner (since we just got back from Greece). We decided to make lamb chops marinated in a Greek herb mix we bought in Crete, a “real” Greek salad, tzatziki, pita bread, olives, rice, wine (from Greece, of course) and peas from our garden. We were lucky enough to have help from a great sous chef, Stuart Haber, who helped us cut all of the tomatoes, kumatos (purple tomatoes), onions, peppers and cucumbers for the Greek salad. Also, Russ Bogin brought extra lamb chops and a dessert (a chili-chocolate cake) and Dad helped grill the lamb chops (because it was raining). Also Erica Adelberg advised on the dressing for the Greek salad (lemon juice, olive oil and oregano). Anyway it was a fun night. (And happy 88th birthday to Russ’s mom, who contribute an amazing eggplant caponata (we hope that is the right spelling:). It’s really fun to cook together with friends. Thanks to everyone who helped.
Vegetables for the Greek salad, with our great sous chef, Stuart Haber.
Greek Salad (the Greek way)!
Mixing Tzatziki in blender
Chives fresh from the garden, for Tzatziki
Tzatziki with fresh chives
Spice Mix for Lamb (from Crete)
Lamb marinade.
Lamb chops marinating in Greek herb mix
Russ’s amazing chocolate cake (no flour!!!)
The real treat in Santorini is sweets. From amazing pastries to Vinsanto, the naturally sweet wine, Santorini is all about sweets. When in Santorini, you must visit a traditional bakery. We found one near the town of Meglochori. They have some of the most interesting delicacies in Greece. The “must eats” are: baklava, chocolate chip pain au chocolat (there are chocolate chips on the outside, decorating the sweet, and chocolate inside), apple walnut cake and kataifi (it looks sort of like a birds nest but tastes delicious).
Our favorites: chocolate chip croissants, apple walnut cake, baklava, and kataifi
More sweets
And more!
The bakery …
Another sweet thing that we had in Santorini was Vinsanto. Vinsanto is a wine made from white sun-dried grapes. It is aged for up to 20 years in french oak barrels. Vinsanto has a deep amber color and tastes like butterscotch, caramel, and even raisins. It can last for 100 years. We got to taste it (just a tiny bit) at a winery our parents went to called Estate Argyros.
Of course, you can’t just eat sweets and drink dessert wine. There are lots and lots of restaurants in Santorini, even a Mexican restaurant (which we DID NOT go to). For traditional Greek food, our favorite was Dionysos in Fira. We had lamb shank there, a traditional Greek beef stew, Greek salad (of course), and we even tried falafel. And if you feel the need for some pizza, or good pasta, try Conivium, also in Fira. The pizza there was very good (not quite NY style, but still tasty), and they even had fresh mozarella! After all the feta cheese we’ve been eating, it was nice to have mozarella and tomato.
Lamb Shank (Dionysos)
Falafel (Dionysos)
Pizza (Convivium)
Tomato and mozarella (Convivium)
Crete is all about fish. From sea bass to sea bream, you can’t go wrong with fish in Crete! You should always ask your waiter what’s the catch of the day. Make sure the fish you choose is local and fresh. The best restaurant in Crete that we went to was called Taverna Giorgos, located in a small town named Plaka, which is very close to a bigger town named Elounda (on the eastern side of Crete). It has a beautiful view of the island of Spinalonga, a former Venetian fort. We went there twice. The first time we got two sea bass and one sea bream fish. For a family of four this is a little much, but it was quite fun watching the waiter fillet the fish. The second time we went to Giorgos, we got two servings of a fish called Dorado. It is HUGE! (See pictures). That amount was enough for us, especially with a big greek salad and tzatziki. Another important aspect of Cretan cuisine is spices. They use it to flavor everything from fish to lamb, and even the feta cheese on your salad, or in your burger. Also, many restaurants in Crete will give you a large platter of fruit (and probably some liquor for the adults), so be prepared. Note:This does not happen everywhere in Greece.
The Dorado fish.
Greek Salad
The sea bream and sea bass.
The sea bream and sea bass filleted.
Bolognese Pasta,in case you are not into fish.
Fruit Platter (with a few pastries)
Spices and Herbs
We have just spent 3 days in Athens and wanted to report on the good, the bad, and the ugly food (actually there wasn’t any ugly food :). Our favorite casual restaurant was Massina, just down the street from where we stayed at the Intercontinental Hotel (Massina had a great Greek salad, souvlaki, souvlaki wraps, pita bread and tzatziki).
Our favorite place in the old part of Athens (near the Parthenon) was Akropolis (at 248 Mnisikleous Street…you will get lost trying to find it but that’s part of the fun. We were perched on ancient steps, and they just kept bringing the food. Max had great (enormous) pork chops, Ali had an omelette, the parents had something Greek (eggplant rolls and feta cheese?) and then we had desserts and a huge platter of fruit. The most disappointing place? the restaurant at the New Acropolis Museum. The food was ok (pasta bolognese for Max, burgers for Alex but the service was really awful…downright rude. [NOTE MOST OF THE TIME WHEN YOU ORDER A BURGER IN GREECE, DO NOT EXPECT KETCHUP OR BUNS, BUT DO EXPECT THAT YOUR BURGER WILL HAVE LOTS OF HERBS IN IT.]
But, the best place we ate (and the most wonderful experience) was Orizones, on top of Mt. Lycatteus. First of all, the view is amazing: you look over all of Athens with a birds eye view of the Parthenon. You take a funicular (like a gondola on a track) to get up there. We watched the sun set and then the Parthenon glow. Everything was beautiful (the table setting, the food, and the view). To start off dinner, the restaurant served us a wonderful gazpacho soup (on the house). Then we all shared a Greek salad. Then we (Max and Alex) shared an magnificent rib eye steak with potatoes. Mom had sea bream and dad had pork chops. Then we (Max and Alex only) got a tour of the kitchen and got to meet the head chef because he had heard about our website: kidscookdinner.com. It was really interesting to talk to him and to learn about what being a restaurant chef is like. After that we had a napoleon pastry filled with whipped ice cream… delicious.
To burn off that meal we walked down the mountain (note use Uber when you get down to the bottom otherwise you will never find a cab, plus uber is cheaper than most cabs).
QUICK TIPS FOR ATHENS EATS: burgers are not what you expect; ketchup is hard to find, Greek salads do not have lettuce here, and they will charge you for bread. Also most of the time they will only give you bottled water…just go with it. As my mom says, when in Greece, do as the Greeks do.
Massina Photos
Soulvaki wrap from Massina
Greek salad, pita and tzatziki from Massina
Pork skewer from Massina
Orizones Photos
Orizones gazpacho
Orizones Greek salad
Orizones ribeye steak
Orizones Sea Bream
Orizones Ice cream Napoleon
This week we cooked on a Wednesday night because we will be traveling overseas starting this weekend. (We will try to find a chance to cook while we are away, but at least we will report back on what we are eating:). We decided to do pasta two ways, along with a tasty green salad and peach cobbler made from peaches our generous upstate neighbors (Patrick, Virginia & Wyeth) gave us. We made linguine with lamb bolognese and linguine “cacio e pepe” (or linguine with a lot of butter, pecorino cheese and pepper–the recipe calls for cacio di roma, another cheese, but we couldn’t find it so we used all pecorino…still delicious but a little salty). The salad we made was arugula with avocado, tomatoes and pumpkin seeds. And, of course, the dessert was peach cobbler (along with some amazing macaroons our friend at Action Against Hunger gave us.)
The full meal: lamb bolognese, pasta cacio e pepe, salad and extra cheese for grating.
Alex cooking the ground lamb for lamb bolognese
Max grating pecorino for the pasta cacio e pepe
Teamwork on the salad
Working on the avocado, arugula, tomato salad.
Before the peeling…
Peeling the peaches (messy!)
Cobbler ready to go in the oven
Peach cobbler just out of the oven!
These little loaves are perfect for anytime-from breakfast to an evening snack. We were just tasting one,and by the time we were finished “tasting” we had eaten the whole loaf. The zucchini was from our garden,which makes it all the more delicious.
Zuccini bread-with the already half-eaten loaf on the side.
We decided to make dad a special birthday dinner even though his dinner was on July 27 (we were away at camp then.) So we made couscous, lamb chops, baba ganoush (eggplant spread), arugula salad, raita (yogurt sauce), fresh peas from our garden and a double layer vanilla cake with chocolate frosting. We also had naan bread on the side (but we didn’t make the bread). It was good to have the sauces and spreads (the baba ganoush and the raita) on the side so that people could try as little or as much as they wanted.
The full meal.
Cutting tomatoes for raita
Scooping out baked eggplant for baba ganoush
Finished Baba ganouj-with a sprinkle of paprika.
Making & tasting the cake batter
Frosting the cake (adding chopped chocolate chips to middle frosting layer)
Harry’s cake-finished.
Lamb chops…ready to cook!
To try to better understand hunger worldwide, we decided to take the $1.50 challenge. Over 1 billion people survive on less than $1.50 in food a day EVERYDAY. So Max, Alex and I decided to try it just for one day. We pooled our resources to get $4.50 worth of food. We didn’t actually purchase the food, since we had it already, and we estimated the cost of the food assuming we were purchasing in bulk and that we were purchasing from a low cost store such as Walmart.
This was our menu: Breakfast 1-1/2 cups oatmeal (70.6 cents) wild blackberries (we picked them along the road: no cost) 1/2 cup sugar (13 cents) (for sweetening berries & oatmeal) 1 cup coffee (for Kate) Lunch 1 cup white rice (22.25 cents) 2 eggs (48 cents total) (Kate didn’t get an egg since she had coffee) 1 can black beans (62.5 cents) Dinner 1 cup white rice (22.25 cents) 6 eggs (144 cents) 1 cup green peas (from our garden: no cost) pear sauce (pears from our pear tree) 1 cup milk (14 cents) More wild blackberries (no cost) Lots of water (no cost) Total cost: $4.27*
*the extra 23 cents should be applied to the tiny bit of butter we added to the rice, and to the salt we used.
It was a really tough day. We tied Koko’s leash around the refrigerator to remind us we couldn’t just snack from it. And it was a good thing we did…both kids said the challenge made them realize how often they just go to the fridge and grab something. It was the same for me. But the really hard thing for me was not having a glass of wine with dinner! I was cranky from hunger by the end of the day, so I really needed it. We also realized that we were incredibly lucky to have a garden and fruit growing around us. If we hadn’t had the fresh peas, black berries and pears, I don’t know if we could have done it.
PS: Max says he is going to wake up at midnight and raid the fridge.
Koko’s leash securing the fridge.
Breakfast!
Lunch: craving PB&J!
Dinner…still hungry
Alex commented, “I was so happy to be done with the $1.50 challenge that the next day that I made everyone chocolate fudge brownies. They were delicious and eaten really fast.”
Making the brownie batter.
Brownies frosted with melted chocolate chips. (ready to eat!)
Today the kids didn’t just cook dinner, they cooked all day. I guess they missed having their own kitchen while they were at camp. Max started the day with banana-chocolate chip pancakes; Alex made tomato-mozarella-basil bites for lunch (with fresh mozarella from DiPalos, tomatoes from a nearby farm stand, and basil from our garden), and together they made us a dinner feast of barbecued ribs, grilled vegetables, corn-on-the-cob, green peas from our garden and blueberry crisp. One thing I know is that I won’t be losing any weight now that they are home.
Max’s Banana-Chocolate Chip pancakes
Alli’s Tomato-Mozarella Basil Bites
Before the feast…
Ali chopping zucchini from our garden
Max chopping the meat
Marinating Vegetables
Max Grilling
Ali Grilling
Adding crisp to blueberry mix
Cooked Blueberry Crisp
The final product.
We are back from camp and ready to cook again. The first night back Mom made dinner for us (steak and potatoes, arugula salad and chocolate chip cookies) but we wanted to help out so we made cooked apples with cinnamon. The recipe is easy: peel and slice whatever apples you have in the fridge (slice about 1/8 of an inch thick). Melt butter in nonstick pan (2 Tablespoons per 4 apples is about right); Add apples and cook over low heat. When the apples start to soften sprinkle with a mix of cinnamon and sugar. The sweeter the apples the less sugar you need to add. Eat for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
Spiced Apples
