Greek-style macaroni and cheese inspired by the flavours of spanakopita

It’s hard to know what constitutes comfort food for some people. Often comfort comes from memories that are associated with a particular food, even more so than what it actually tastes like. Ultimately, we believe that comfort food tastes like home, safety, happiness and love. It’s not unusual for comfort food to be hearty and humble. They are often stews or soups, meals with rich sauces, and very frequently, they are full of cheese.

Mac and cheese is a popular comfort food, and it rates high in our families as well. For one of our husbands, a rough day at work or a need for indulgence means boxed mac and cheese (you know, the kind with the powdered orange cheese in the package) with fried ground beef mixed in. Topped with ketchup and freshly cracked black pepper, and you have a very satisfied man.

A quick and delicious Mediterranean recipe from HelloFresh

One of our favourite things to do when we travel (remember travelling?) is to visit local grocery stores and markets. We could spend hours walking up and down the aisles, discovering new and exciting food and ingredients that we don’t necessarily find at home and which are new to us.

But even when we are at home, we actually enjoy grocery shopping. The browsing, the choosing, the inspiration that comes when we are surrounded by the building blocks of culinary delights. What we don’t enjoy is coming home with bags full, and then having to put the groceries away.

A classic Greek one pan meal of fresh green beans baked alongside chicken and potatoes in a rich tomato sauce

Our parents’ garden is full of delicious things to eat, including a large section devoted to a few varieties of green beans. Growing tall, these plants are secured by using things like long bamboo shoots, old broken hockey sticks (because, Canada) and thin planks of wood that our dad has found, somewhere. Perhaps not the most elegant set up, but certainly functional. Like many things in their garden (old feta buckets as planters) practicality and availability supersede beauty, always.

Simple yet delicious way to prepare tender and flavourful pork chops

We feel that we need to apologize. Close to 300 recipes later, we still haven’t shared what is probably one of the most popular family meals in many Greek homes. Yikes!  What were we thinking? (Well, we guess we were thinking about moussaka, youvetsi and baklava…but still!)

Growing up we ate a lot of pork chops, called hoirino bridjoles, (or brizoles) in Greek.  The word bridjola actually means steak, and can be either pork or beef. However, in our home, if our mom said we were having bridjoles, we automatically knew she was referring to pork chops.  Steak from beef was simply called steik!  

An elegant and delicious way to serve grilled salmon

Isn’t it lovely when you can present a meal to family and friends that makes it look like you either spent hours in the kitchen, or possess master culinary skills? We love that! And we also love to explain to impressed eaters that sometimes looks can be deceiving. Like this cedar planked salmon. The beautiful presentation of this salmon is so simple and so elegant that it can be served on a busy weeknight as easily as it can be served at a fancy weekend dinner party.