Month: July 2019

Hi everybody! I Jeremy, am a mix of Italian, German-Austrian, English, Egyptian, and a hint of Greek. When people think of Greece, they think of scenic islands, surf and turf dinner and “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” 1 and 2. (We liked the sequal better, but that’s not the point.)

We went to Greek Fest in Troy NY: (Attach video 1, Video 2, Video 3) and found a cookbook, “The foods of the Greek Islands” by Aglaia Kremezi next to the miniature structures of the Parthanon. There were a couple recipes that we wanted to try. Good thing we both love cheeses.

We started out with the Ticanopita Me Feta, an egg and cheese pancake made in the oven with a very loose batter full of black pepper and oregano. You can use other herbs and even honey according to my investigation. Just don’t forget to GREECE the pan before it goes in. Get it?         Please excuse that, he thinks he’s funny…I am!    Not.

Eggs are a must. This one took __. That’s about % of a dozen. It’s something to keep in mind when grocery shopping. Suddenly those 4-packs look REALLY skimpy. We go through eggs very quickly in my family. 2 per person is 8 gone. Then Jeremy darling c came into my life 3 years ago. 2 more eggs come into account at breakfast. 12-8 becomes 12-10, thus only 1 dozen is simply not enough.

This may be classified as a “pancake”, but clearly this is more like a 4-6 person breakfast cake since we had to bake it in the oven and slice it with a knife. The most important thing about using oven recipes is to grease your pans heavily. We once tried to bake popovers, and we didn’t use enough grease, so it stuck to the bottom and we had to scrape i.e. scratch a perfectly good baking tin. Not exactly our brightest moment. Good thing it was off-camera.

Our favorite part was by far the ample amounts of feta cheese. It can be very chalky if it’s made cheaply, skimping out on good quality. We find the Athenos brand to be very solid, cheesy, and has next to no salt added. I’d describe it as being like mozzarella, but without the stretch and more of a crumble. It breaks apart super easily. 

If you don’t have feta laying around, goat cheese will suffice. It’s creamier than most cheeses, isn’t chalky at all and usually has great body to it. A farmer’s market vendor sold us a few ounces of goat, sheep and cow cheese blend for our Arabian night a month ago. 

Once we finished baking and started eating, we were treated to real Greek comfort food. I swear it was like a square of baked macaroni and cheese! Yes, it took us a while to cook, about 40 minutes, but for some things like this, it’s worth the wait.

Everyone who knows about “Spongebob Squarepants” has heard of Krabby Patties. These are a derivative, crab cakes. It sounds like a dessert, but it’s pretty much a staple in the summer sect of the sandwich family. I personally love mine with a creamy tartar sauce.

Not me. I prefer to spice things up with a few drops of hot sauce. There’s a reason they give you a tiny bottle of Tabasco sauce at oyster bars. Not so you can make a jewelry out of it! (Though I loved the triquetra bracelet you made for our 3rd year of dating.)

We grabbed some claw meat and some regular both out of the bagged section of the seafood department so we could have a nice blend of the meatier and shredded pieces as if we had gone out to the Ortley beach bay area in Seaside Heights near Lucky Leo’s and caught them ourselves like when I was a little girl. I’ve known how to catch blue crabs since I was 3 years old.

My best advice to anyone hooking a piece of frozen fish on a string tied to a boat one at a time: Tails work the best as bait because it makes it look like it’s swimming away, then the head because it has that dead smell that . Take it up slowly when you have a nibble so as to not scare the poor thing away. Bring a net and a bucket just like you’re fishing and don’t forget your hat, sunglasses and sunscreen.

After catching, you’ll have to clean them out. Just pop the shell in the back and clear out the gray, brown and orange bits with tools or your hands. Those shells can be sharp, so you might want to wear Nitrile gloves. At least these guys won’t bleed on you like a fish. Are you confused? CLICK HERE for a video on cleaning crabs.

We diced up a red onion, celery and a mix of yellow and red bell pepper to obtain a crunchy texture and fresh sweet and tangy flavor thanks to the recipe on Food Network.com

 

Capers are green-gray pearly bliss. They’re the buds from caper plants called capparis inermis, while caperberries are the fruit. The ones we eat are pickled like cucumbers in vinegar or some other kind of brine, hence they stay preserved for long periods of time and have that distinct sour taste. Usually these go with salmon, lemon and Mediterranean puttanesca. (Puttanesca comes from “puttanada” meaning, “A bit of nothing”, so Klaus missed the ball slightly in the movie “A Series of Unfortunate Events”.) The biggest ones come from Greek rocky crags, some of them are as big as small figs. Mostly us North Americans use them as toppings on bagels, pizza, salads and deviled eggs. The Spruce Eats has all the details. I’ve come to enjoy these little suckers very much.

 

Now, we mix it all up, crab meat vggies and spices, you know the usual: salt, black pepper and a mess of garlic. 

 Now we mix in our bread crumbs and voila, patty batter! We cut them up into circles and laid them on the indoor grill top until they had a good crust on each side. After that, you can eat them on a bun, or as they are now. It makes most sense to me to eat them sandwich style and add on like a true Krabby Patty. I like fork and knife if I want to cut out the extra bread, dip it in sauce on the side, mix it with something else like a side dish or just look high class. All and all, you can eat these the way you want! Enjoy this video of some of Spongebob’s best Krabby Patty moments and comment your suggestions! We’ll be glad to listen and try them out. Bye!