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
The kids get back Friday from sleep away camp, and I can’t wait. I miss them and I miss their cooking. Fortunately their garden has been doing well, and I’ve picked lots of peas (and other veggies). But the green peas have been amazing and I’ve frozen pounds and pounds of them for the kids to cook when they come home. Not sure what they will make with them, but I will make sure they post it.
Peas fresh from the garden
Blueberry crisp is one of our favorite desserts, and the kids have made it once for us. I just picked a large basket of blueberries and froze most of them so they can make it again for one of their Sunday dinners when they get back from sleepaway camp. Here’s the recipe, and a photo of one of their half eaten crisps. (And photos of the berries I just picked)
What you need: For the blueberry filling 6-1/2 cups fresh blueberries 1 tablespoon flour or corn starch 1/4 cup sugar
For the crisp topping 6 ounces softened, unsalted butter 1/3 cup sugar 1/2 cup all purpose flour* 3/4 cup rolled oats 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt * subsitute finely chopped walnuts for flour if you want to to gluten free.
What you do: 1. Take out butter at least 1/2 hour before you want to start cooking to soften it. Don’t try softening in microwave…it just doesn’t work 2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees 3. Mix blueberry filling ingredients in bowl, transfer to 8×8 baking dish 4. Cream butter and sugar together in large bowl until pale yellow & well blended 5. Combine flour, oats, baking powder and salt together in separate bowl 6. Add flour/oat mix to butter/sugar mix and use your hand to form into clumps 7. Spread crisp topping on top of berries in baking pan 8. Set timer for 45 minutes, may take up to 1 hour, but check at 45 minutes. Crisp is done when topping is golden brown and berries are bubbling through
Blueberry Crisp–half eaten before I could even take a photo!
Just picked organic blue berries from Thompson Finch farm
Close up (they are just so blue)
Alas, the kids are still at sleep-away camp, but we did see them this weekend and I asked them what dinners they would be making for the the family when they got back. Max said his dinner would involve steak and crepes (I am not sure if he meant together…steak-filled crepes? or separately…steak and then dessert crepes. Alex said that her menu would focus on gruyere cheese because she missed it so much.) They asked me to post some of their favorite recipes, but this one is for Judy:
Really Really Good Roast Chicken: (Max & Alex made this in March for us, served it with a green salad and mashed potatoes, and, of course, wine for the grown-ups.)
Ingredients: 1 four-six pound roasting chicken (six is better because the left overs are “really really good” 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter 2 medium yellow onions, peeled and sliced across 3/4 inch thick 3 cloves of garlic 1 lemon 1 Cup Chicken stock fresh thyme if you have it (not essential, but nice)
What to do: 1. Wash hands. 2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Remove all the stuff in the chicken (giblets etc.). Rinse chicken inside and out under cold running water. Let butter and the chicken stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Dry chicken (with paper towels). 3. Place sliced onions flat in a heavy-duty roasting pan in two rows (they serve as the “grill rack” for the chicken). Roll lemon on hard surface with your hand to soften and then pierce lemon all over with fork. With side of knife gently smash garlic cloves to open. Put garlic, lemon and thyme (4 sprigs if you have it) along with salt & pepper in cavity of chicken. Cut 2 feet of kitchen twine and tie chicken legs together. Place chicken in pan on top of onion slices. 4. Spread the softened butter over the whole surface of the chicken (if you don’t let the butter and chicken sit at room temperature for 1/2 hour, this won’t work…the butter won’t spread). WASH HANDS. Salt & pepper the chicken and put in the oven and roast until the skin is deep golden brown (about 1 and 1/4 hours for 4 pound chicken; 1 and 1/2 hours for 6 pound chicken, but it always depends on your oven). To check to see if the chicken is done, prick the chicken near the thigh, the juices should run clear, and if you have an meat thermometer, the temperature in the thigh should be 190 degrees. 5. Remove chicken from oven and transfer to a plate/cutting board. Let sit for 10 minutes. You can make gravy from the drippings if you want but this chicken is so juicy that you don’t need to. The onions are also delicious (but beware they have absorbed so much chicken fat that they are a meal in themselves.
