I made this dish using the boiled chicken that I had when I made the chicken ginger soup.

Unfortunately I can not tell you the quantity of pasta, as I forgot to weigh it before I started! Sorry! But what I usually do is decide first which oven dish I’m going to use, then fill it with one layer of uncooked pasta. Just one layer no more, it will be more than enough.

Cook the pasta till aldente, drain and put in your dish

sprinkle a layer of grated Parmesan over the pasta

arrange the chicken pieces above it

make your bechamel:

roughly I used 3 heaped soup spoons of flour to 1 litre of milk.

Cook the flour in some olive oil (I never use butter for cooking only for baking). The secret to a good bechamel is the ratio of flour to fat. While you’re cooking your flour, it should look “loose” in the pan, not lumpy

add the milk gradually, salt, pepper and keep whisking till you get the right thickness

add some grated cheese, whisk some more

pour about ¾ of your bechamel over the pasta & chicken, poke a few holes here & there with the back of a spoon to ensure that the bechamel goes down through all the layers and not just sit on top

add the remaining bechamel

sprinkle some more cheese

Bake in a 200C pre-heated oven for about ¾ of an hour until the top is the right colour.

I know this was a quicky bechamel recipe, I’m sorry. But I was rushing to make it while I also had the soup going, so I forgot to take enough pictures to show the various stages. I promise to make up for it when I post my Pastichio recipe. When? Only God knows. Just bare with me, this woman cooks by “whim”!!!

Enjoy!

My first experience with this soup was in my friend Lina’s house. It was love at first “taste”, and I haven’t stopped making it and remaking it ever since. This delicious soup has its origin in the Philippines, but through years of my remaking it, over and over and over again, I am sure that it has now become my “butchered-up” version of the original one.

Nevertheless it is unbelievably good, and for me rates high on the comfort-food scale. It especially appears on my radar whenever my husband or I have a cold. And what better for a cold than a good old fashioned home made chicken soup. Especially when it has tons of fresh ginger in it! I absolutely swear by ginger. It’s my very own version of antibiotics, which I steer clear from if I can help it.

Step one: the broth

1 medium onion

1 medium potato (or 2 small)

2 carrots

2 cardamon seeds

2 bay leaves

a bunch of sage leaves

salt

pepper

1 whole chicken (about 2kgs) I always ask the butcher to remove the skin and to cut it in 4 pieces so it can fit nicely in the pot.

Put all ingredients (except the chicken) in a large pot filled 1/2 with water.

When the water comes to a boil, add the chicken. Simmer until the chicken is tender.

Remove the chicken & vegetables on a separate dish & keep aside.

Strain the broth and keep aside.

Step two: what goes in that broth!!!

1 medium onion chopped fine

1/2 cup round rice

1 two-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped

In a frying pan: put chopped onion & rice, add a bit of olive oil, and keep stirring until mixture looks dryer & begins to separate. Don’t leave this on the stove and do something else, as it will burn before you know it! Just keep stirring. When its ready, remove from the burner & stir some more as it tends to keep cooking with the heat left in the pan even after removal.

Add the chopped ginger.

Add above mixture to your strained broth, and return to the stove.

Meanwhile clean your chicken and save the biggish peaces for another meal (see pasta w/chicken & bechamel which I will post after this.)

Take all the small pieces and add to your soup pot.

Keep cooking until the rice is done. Remove from the heat immediately (or else the rice will keep cooking and become too mushy). And keep the lid OFF until its cool.

I like to eat this soup with some toasted village bread.

P.S. This will make a huge pot of chicken ginger soup so you should have plenty of leftover. When you come to re-heat the left over next day, the rice may have swelled up some more and the soup may have thickened. Just dilute with some ready chicken broth, or some water & chicken flavoured Bouillon if needed).

Enjoy!

I’ve been reading a lot about health & nutrition these past couple of years, and I don’t mind saying that at the end of the day, it can get pretty confusing! So much “contradictory” advice out there about what’s good and what’s not, and each argument pretty convincing in its own way, and backed up by its own research. Which to follow? I believe my own body is quite capable of telling me what suits it and what doesn’t!

In summary, the big culprits out there are: sugar, flour, and processed & refined products of any kind. Fine. I got it. Most of us got it I think. Not to forget the big back-and-forth about fat! Keto vs. plant-based diets? Butter vs. olive oil? Or no fat at all? What about the no dairy of any kind? Frankly it can be quite exhausting, and I do hate “extremes” of any kind.

Having said all that, I do try to cook healthy for the most part. And for me – “most part”- is plenty good enough….

Here is a super healthy dish, with no added fat of any kind, except for the salmon itself ofcourse. No measurements mentioned, nor quantities, just use your imagination.

Ingredients:

2 portions salmon filets

broccoli (cut into fairly uniform flowerets)

carrots (peeled & cut diagonally)

a piece of ginger (sliced thin)

parchment paper

Method:

Mix all the veggies together, add a bit of apple cider vinegar, some sea salt, a smidgen of olive oil (maybe a teaspoon at most), mix well with your hands and place on the paper (you could also add some soya sauce if you wish)

place the salmon filets on top of the veggies

sprinkle with sea salt and coarse ground pepper

close the paper well, tucking the edges in on both sides

Bake in pre-heated 200C oven for 30-40mns? it depends on the thickness of your filets. I open and peak in after 20mns to ensure I don’t overcook.

You can serve with some brown rice on the side.

Enjoy!

Talk about the abundance of seafood these days, here is a recipe that always pops up on my “lazy days”. Any time of year. It is incredibly easy, and incredibly fast. Not to mention healthy, and always delicious.

It is also great for last minute company. All you need is maybe some roast potatoes, a nice big green salad, and you’ve got dinner for four!

Ingredients:

1 kg fish filet (I always use frozen perch filet since that’s what’s readily available in the frozen section of our supermarket. It is also not very fish-y if you know what I mean. But any thisck-ish fish filet will do just as nicely).

1 red pepper cut in large wedges

1 lemon sliced

cumin seeds

sea salt

olive oil

Method:

cut the fish into fairly decent portions and place in a baking tray

sprinkle salt, cumin seeds, and drizzle some olive oil

place the lemon slices on top of the fish

place the pepper wedges in between

bake in 200C pre-heated oven until its done

(I honestly never timed it, just look at the colour, and test the fish for done-ness)

Enjoy!

Recently someone gave us a whole bunch of beautiful fresh lemons right off their tree. As they sat in the fruit bowl on my kitchen counter, the smell was absolutely heavenly for days on end. I have been agonising since as to what I can do with all those lemons, screaming to be used every time I passed them by!

From the very start “Lemon Squares” popped in my mind, but I’ve been resisting since. I knew that I would be the one to end up “inhaling” the whole lot myself, ingesting all this flour and sugar and butter.. I know, guilt is not a very pretty thing, I’ve been reading way too many articles on health and nutrition lately!

Tonight we’re invited to our friends Paola & Vincenzo’s house for dinner. As soon as she asked us, I voluntered desert, please? Lemon Squares. Delicious. Let me make them?

YESSSS!!!!

Finally!!!!

Pastry:

312grs flour

1tsp baking powder

142 grs sugar

1pkt vanilla

2 eggs

142 grs butter

Mix above ingredients, knead lightly, roll onto a rectangle & lay on a baking sheet. After mixing the dough, I layed it in pieces on the baking sheet, and used my fingers to smooth it out. I made a slight indentation around the edges to prevent the filling from s[pilling out.

1) Bake in a 225C pre-heated oven for 10mns. Set aside to cool

Filling:

1/4 cup corn starch

1 1/4 cups water

1)Blend together in a saucepan & cook gently until thickened.

58 grs butter

115 grs sugar

2 egg yolks

peel from 2 lemons

juice from 2 lemons

Add ingredients to thickened corn starch in the order indicated above.

2) Let thicken lightly and pour on cooled pastry

Crumb topping:

192 grs flour

225 grs sugar

170 grs butter

3) Rub with fingers and sprinkle on top of lemon filling

4) bake in 200C pre-heated oven for 30mns.

Let it cool a while, then cut into squares and transfer onto a serving dish.

Will I sneak a few squares away and keep them in my freezer? You bet! For the days when “being good” just isn’t good enough, and a “sweet” is the only thing that will put your mind at rest.

Enjoy!

This past Monday was “Kathara Deftera” (Clean Monday), the start of the 40-day fast preceding the Greek Orthodox Easter.

That’s when my favourite bread finally shows up: the Greek Lagana bread. Made only once a year. Only on that day! (I talked about it briefly a couple of years back … you’ll find it in the “Appetizers” section).

On that day, along with that delicious bread, they also serve a wonderful feast of non-meat foods, special to the pre-Easter fast. Its typically an outdoor day, usually beautiful, sunny, and warm. Nature almost always cooperates, and this year was no exception! Everyone is out in the open air, eating, drinking, celebrating. That’s when children -and their parents- show off with their bright colourful kites, to adorn the skies for everyone.

One of the many specialties served that day is of course Taramoslata. A tangy dip made of fish roe, bread, onion, lemon, and olive oil. Fairly easy to make, just keep tasting as you go along, adding a bit of this, a bit of that, and you will for sure end up with a delicious taramosalata!

Before I start, I’d like to show you the difference between the types of taramas that you can buy. Steer clear of the reddish looking one, its got dye, and it is very salty. You want to buy the beige coloured one, also known as “aspros” (white).

Ingredients:

200 grs bread

120 grs tarama

a small onion

juice of 1 lemon (or 2)

olive oil

Method:

The bread needs to be 2 or 3 days old. Also never use what I call “plastic” bread (the pre-packaged kind sold in a supermarket!), as once you put it through a food processor it turns to glue!

So, remove the crust off the bread, slice it, put it in a colander and soak it in water. Squeeze out the water with your hand, and put it in the food processor.

grate your onion very fine (as in picture), and add it to the bread

squeeze a whole lemon on it and start whirling in the food processor

add a bit of olive oil as you’re whirling just to get a nice smooth mixture

add your tarama, whirl, taste, add more lemon if needed

add olive oil a bit at a time while processing (a bit like making mayonnaise)

Personally I keep tasting as I’m going along and I add more of what’s needed according to my taste.

That’s it, you’re done!

Spoon some on a flat plat, and drizzle some olive oil on top.

Serve with sliced bread. I always toast my bread even when its fresh, as I prefer it a bit crunchy.

Store left over in a tupperware and keep in the fridge.

Enjoy!

This delicious, delicate, always successful, and certainly impressive dish, used to be one of my go-to appetizers for years! It used to be my sister-in-law Katheline’s favourite as well, and since it freezes so well, we always made sure that one of us, had a few hidden dishes stached away in her freezer for last minute emergencies.

Then somehow it fell off my horizon, and I forgot all about it, until last night! when my niece-in-law asked me for the recipe. So… here it is Claudia, enjoy! And thanks for the reminder, I had forgotten how much I love it!!!

Ingredients:

500 grs chicken liver (cleaned)

1 stick butter

1 medium onion finely chopped

1/2 handful dried sage chopped

1 clove garlic crushed

1/2 cup cream

2 tbsp cognac

chicken liver pate-2

Method:

melt 1/2 the butter

add onion & garlic and saute gently

add cleaned livers and saute till cooked through

let cool

place in food processor & work it till the mixture is smooth

melt the remaining 1/2 of the butter & cool slightly

add butter, cognac & cream to the mixture and process briefly till well combined

pour into 6 to 8 individual ramekins (or two larger ones) and chill

it can stay in fridge up to 3 or 4 days

or you can freeze for up to a couple of months, and defrost when needed

serve with toasted wedges of bread

Enjoy!