Perhaps your new favourite potato salad!
Our parents are from the Peloponnese region of Messinia, the western-most peninsula of the part of Greece that looks a little like a hand which is missing a finger. Messinia is where our heart lies in Greece, and where many of the recipes which we share originate. However, the Peloponnese is rich with variety and this potato and orange salad is named for the middle finger of the Peloponnese, the Mani peninsula.
A grilled vegetable salad with a fresh herb dressing
Once again, zucchini feature prominently in this recipe. We just can’t get enough of this summer squash staple, whether we are turning them into chips, fritters or mixing them with other summer vegetables to make a quick meal. In this recipe, we use both green zucchini and yellow squash (which is often called yellow zucchini). Although both of these vegetables have very similar flavours, the difference in their colour makes this salad more interesting visually. Add to that the colourful bell peppers and the fresh green herbs and before you know it you will have a bowl of coloured goodness to serve.
Not just another pretty salad!
Do you think that the combination of tomato and mango sounds strange? We do too! In fact, if you had suggested a few months ago that this flavour combination would be delicious, we would have rolled our eyes and suggested that you put your tomatoes to a better use, like with a nice Greek salad perhaps.
The Cobbopoulos; a delicious, Greek-inspired, Cobb salad
This salad is satisfying in so many ways. First, it delivers in flavour, with simple and fresh ingredients that come together in a delicious way. Second, it manages to put a Greek spin on a classic salad making it, in our opinion at least, even better; feta and Kalamata olives tend to do that. Finally, the presentation speaks to each of us, at different moments. The initial plating, ordered and with each ingredient clearly in its place, satisfies the need for organization that one of us has. When the salad gets tossed together to coat every little bit with the delicious dressing…well that’s organized chaos in a bowl, and hits home with the other one of us.
A salty and sweet salad perfect for summer eating!
This recipe proves (to us at least) that our parents have always been ahead of the game, trendsetters and taste-masters, flavour fanatics. What appears to be a warm-weather craze these days has been a staple in our parents’ kitchen for as long as we can remember; watermelon and feta salads are incredibly popular, and with good reason. People are in love with the salty, sweet, fresh and bright combination that is created when a ripe, juicy watermelon is tossed together with some great Greek feta. Although ingenious and surprising to many, we grew up on this stuff. As kids we loved watermelon, as did our girls, and our parents discovered that combining other foods with this favourite fruit was a sure-fire way to maximize nutritional intake (giagia and pappou goals!). Feta and watermelon was always a winner combination and it was therefore on constant repeat. Other combinations were less popular (for the record, don’t try to feed anyone you love watermelon mixed with spanakorizo…it’s gross).
Cucumbers! Who doesn’t love a fruit (yup, a fruit!) that can be used as a vegetable, which is a good source of Vitamins A, C and folic acid, and that can reduce eye puffiness. That’s right! Did you know that you can place cucumber slices on your eyes, lay back for about 5 minutes, and then look 10 years younger. It’s true! Now, that last little bit could be credited to the fact that during your do-it-yourself spa treatment, cucumber juice seeps into your eyes, blurring your vision temporarily…but whatever.
If you have been following Mia Kouppa for a while, or even for a little bit of time (Welcome!), you may have realized a few things. Feta should always be Greek (as should olive oil), fresh bread usually goes beautifully with just about any meal, and if you have a well stocked Greek pantry, you can make thousands of recipes (this is only a slight exaggeration) . You may have also noticed that we are firm believers that beans should never come from a can. But never is a really big word.
One of us loves orange! One of the brightest and most vibrant of colours, it just screams happiness, don’t you think? That’s part of the reason this carrot salad is so loved. How could you be sad, or stressed, or frustrated when you’re eating a salad that is joyful, refreshing and so, so easy to put together?
Carrots have long been a staple in our family meals. Our parents always tried to find ways to incorporate this versatile root veggie, super rich in beta-carotene and other vitamins and minerals, into our diet. They add carrots to their fakes and fasolatha, they add a few to the roasting pan when they make roasted lemon potatoes and to the chicken stock when they make avgolemono soup. When we were young, as we would head out to play, our parents would often pass us raw, peeled carrots that seemed to appear out of nowhere, to have as a snack. These were never chopped up into rounds or carrot sticks and placed neatly into a plastic bag; they didn’t have time for that. These were whole carrots, meant to be chomped on as Bugs Bunny would.
This summer we were so fortunate to have our cousin visit us from Australia. His mother and our mother are first cousins, but if you ask our mom, they were actually as close as sisters. Raised in the same house, they grew up sleeping in the same room (actually, the same bed), eating at the same table, and living similar experiences, from schooling to household chores, to family joys and struggles. When our mom left Greece to come to Canada she fully expected that her sister-cousins (there were 2) would soon follow her, as would her own siblings. Unfortunately, Canadian immigration laws at the time prevented her cousins from coming to Canada as they were too young; they instead immigrated to Australia. Although the cousins speak often, they have not seen each other since they were young women.
There are some foods which were always considered somewhat of a treat when we were growing up. Shrimp was one of those foods. Maybe because it was often a little pricier than our usual fare, or maybe because our parents tried to reserve seafood dishes for periods of lent, when they would be appreciated even more. Whatever the reason, when shrimp made its way to the table, it was a good thing.
The great thing about cooking with seafood like shrimp, is how easily a delicious meal can come together; shrimp literally cooks in minutes. It’s also incredibly versatile and is delicious grilled, fried, steamed, boiled and baked. There is no shortage of ways to prepare shrimp (did you see what we did there?) 🙂
