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Yiaprakia (Stuffed Grape Leaves/Dolmades)
“And we’re rolling!” Just a couple of hours after a promised “this will be quick” beginning to end, fresh-from-the-vine, stuffed grape leaves session, Mom and I set out on rolling the first of about a hundred individual grape leaves for our large batch of the day. Mom has been on a yiaprakia roll this summer, burning through the leaves she froze last summer and using up the fresh (and frozen) leaves from this year’s harvest.
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Kolokithopita – Pumpkin Pita
My mother’s questioning became more urgent as the weeks progressed. “I still have the pumpkin. Can we make the kolokithopita when you visit? Do you think you’re coming soon?” The great pumpkin had been sitting in the dining room corner, as if in time out, since Thanksgiving. It was now well into March. Would it even still be edible? My dad was the biggest skeptic. We cut it one afternoon, not long before I had to leave NJ to get back to Philly for class. We were all pleasantly surprised to find the meat inside okay.
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Chicken Avgolemono Soup
The last half of January has been filled with some downright bone chilling days. Even though the sun was shining for some of them, it just hasn’t been enough to warm me up. We’ve been working on butchering whole chickens in class the past couple of weeks and were told asked to make some chicken soup. So the timing was just right for this hearty chicken avgolemono. This is the chicken soup I grew up with. No noodles, just chicken and rice in a silky smooth and creamy lemon flavored broth. The magic of this chicken avgolemono (egg-lemon) soup is that it comes together pretty easily and packs enough bright…
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Spanakopita
Spanakopita (spinach pie) is a dish that just seems to bring people together. My mother first learned how to make her highly sought-after spanakopita not in Greece, but in the United States. Like tiropita (cheese pie) it is one of her go-to recipes to feed a hungry crowd and one of her signature savory dishes. And let’s just say it has a bit of a following. Who knew spinach could be so uniting.
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Thanksgiving Pastitsio
“I’m not really sure what we use, you’ll have to ask mom when she gets back. You’re going to make pastitsio? It’s a lot of work.” my dad replied. “Well, how do you start it then?” I followed up. “How much butter and flour?” “I don’t know. Ask mom.” This? This is the answer to what kind of milk I should use for the béchamel my parents make for their pastitsio and moussaka I get from my dad? My dad is the béchamel man of the house. He has literally been making it for at least 30 years, if not longer.
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Kolokithopita Triangles
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Tiropita
Tiropita, two ways, two times, practice makes perfect. Recipe testing is important when writing, developing, and sharing them. That’s how the first pita challenge ended up as a two-attempt trial. It wasn’t the result of a classic misunderstanding between my mother and me. No. Of course not. Tiropita is one of my mother’s staple go-to recipes for gatherings large or small, occasion’s special or regular, impromptu visits from friends, family or a hungry kid or grandkid. She’ll make a single large pie for gatherings, and almost always has some individually wrapped triangles in the freezer for last minute or smaller gatherings. As delicious as it is, tiropita is relatively straightforward…
