Garde Manger in Wien
After six months work in the Montessori school in Graz, I was accepted (I hope at least- because still everything is flowing and anxious!), in the position of the Chef Garde Manger in Zum Weissen Rauchfangkehrer restaurant in Wien!! 
That’s a good reason to go back to the basics. I will prepare, for today, a classical potato salad, with mixed vegetables and home-made mayonnaise sauce…
Summer Potato Salad
for 2 persons
3 medium potatoes – washed
1 carrot – blanched (read below)
1 cucumber
Emmentaler Cheese
1 spring onion
…you can also add for garnishing tomatoes, pickles, olives or whatever suits your taste.
1. Put the potatoes in boiling water for around 45min. or until tender (fork test)
2. On the same time, de-seed cucumber and cut into long stripes. Cut Emmentaler cheese julienne. Cut onion in small stripes or dices.
3. Blanch technique: Put the washed carrot in boiling water for 3-5 min. When ready put it in a cold bath for the same time duration. Cut it into julienne stripes.
4. When the potatoes are cold enough to handle them, cut into 2-3 cm dices and mix all together with all the other vegetables.
Herb Mayonnaise
1 egg yolk
100 ml sunflower oil
5 ml red vinegar
2 ml lemon juice
1 tsp. mustard (taste of your choice – piquant, mild, tarragon)
herbs TT (dried or fresh)
salt, pepper TT
warm water
1. Put the egg yolk, together with mustard, half of vinegar, herbs, salt & pepper.
2. Hit like crazy, with a whisker the eggs until it becomes really fluffy.
3. Pour the oil, drop by drop, until it emulsifies with the egg!
4. Now you can pour the remaining vinegar, a bit of lemon juice (slowly), and continue to add olive oil until you achieve the consistency you want.
Note: The more oil you add to the sauce, the more thick it becomes. If you want to make it lighter, add a bit of warm water, vinegar or lemon juice –depending on the taste you want to achieve.
Baked Apples (as winter goes by…)
Few days left. I will leave my house and my normal life for a special nine-months
army intermission…(!)
Meanwhile as winter get stronger and the temperature gets lowerI decided for a last recipe to present a sweet traditional one:
Baked Apples with Marmelade
for 2 persons
2 halved apples – deseeded
a handful of raisins (soak in a glass full Muscat sweet wine for half an hour)
four spoons of marmalade (orange, strawberry or..?)
1 spoon of brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinammon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
a bit of fresh ground black pepper
1. Take the apple halves and put in a 200 oC prepared oven.
2. Put the raisins in the holes that were left by the seeds.
Top it up with some of the marmalade, sprinkle brown sugar around and pour
the sweet wine in the roasting pan (and maybe add a another glass of water!)
3. Leave for about 45 minutes until the apples are golden. Add the spices before serving.
Enjoy with hand made ice-cream!! 
and have a nice time everybody…
Love
y.
Ice Shake!
Today I discovered Ben & Jerry’s (homemade) ice-cream! Judging from Chunky Monkey the flavours are extra-ordinary!! I think that now it’s included in my top 3 ice-cream list (if you are curious the other two were in Rome and in Nafplio, my hometown, but with an Italian pasty chef
Anyway, I was saying about the flavours! I fell in love with Imagine Whirled Peace one!! An ice-cream with fudge peace signs? Impressivo..
After all these do you really need a milk-shake recipe? Just put milk and one of these flavours, crushed M&M’s or Smartie’s and maybe some heavy cream to top….You can also add some alcoholic liquid like Baley’s or a fruit liquer (banana, kirsch, tangerine, etc) if you use the classic vanilla ice-cream!
Have a lovely summer!!!
Moroccan Dinner: Hot Stuff.
The temperature today is 36 oC! Even though in August in Marrakesh the temperature is more than ten degrees higher, in Athens it feels worst than that 
Thinking about that, I decided to prepare a genuine Moroccan dish: Vegetable CousCous! You are free to make variations…replace/add/remove vegetables depending on the season and availability! It will still taste delicious….
It’s time to try.
Moroccan Vegetable CousCous
for 2 persons
1 cup couscous
a handful sliced and roasted almonds
a handful of raisins (soak in hot water for 10 minutes)
3 cups mixed vegetables (eggplant, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots
zuchinni, cauliflower, sweet potato/butter squash, red onion, hot pepper, garlic)
1 cup chickpeas
about 1/2L vegetable stock
salt and fresh ground pepper
turmeric
moroccan spice mix
1. Heat the olive oil in a pan and add the chopped onions, hot pepper, garlic and spices until golden colored (about 1min).
2. Add the remaining vegetables (whichever you are using), the almonds and the raisins to the pan and saute for 4-5 minutes.
3. Pour into the vegetable stock and leave for 5-10 minutes or until everything is tender!
4. Prepare the couscous (just soak it in boiling water for 10 minutes)
5. Strain the cousoous. Put in in a plate. Serve the vegetables on top and enjoy!! )
My presence on 13th Biennale – Puglia
Here you can see my proposed menu for 13th Biennale of Young Creators. It was to be organized in Alexandria of Egypt but something changed and we finally went to Puglia, Italy. It is a very traditional city (medieval with a big harbour) with lovely people who are smiling and eager to help you with anything!
It was a great experience…a week between artists of every kind! A music group from Palaistine, a theater group from Greece (Alogi), performances, exhibitions and a very hard time for me (I was very sick, with high fever, headache, aphtous ulcers…(!))
But I am happy I was there! Here’s the link!
Kagianas with potato chips
After a stolen bike and many success stories it’s time for new posts.
Kagianas is a traditional Greek recipe from Peloponnese region. It’s like the English “Scrambled Eggs”. Probably the main difference is, that it is cooked on a tomato sauce, onions and herbs.
Enjoy with fresh bread and potato chips!
Kagianas
for 2 persons
3 big ripe organic tomatoes
1 tbsp organic Ketchup (Heinz has a nice blend of spices)
3 eggs
1 medium onion (finely chopped)
2 tbsp olive oil
feta cheese
salt and fresh ground pepper
a mix of dried herbs (oregano, chilli, marjoram, thyme, rosemary)
1. Heat the olive oil in a pan and add the chopped onions until they get a nice golden colour (about 1min).
2. Grate the tomatoes and put in the pan together with 1 tbsp of ketchup sauce, salt and pepper and one tsp of dried herbs mix.
3. Leave the tomato sauce for about 15 minutes and wait until it’s thick and firm.
4. At the same time beat lightly the eggs with some salt and pepper.
5. Put the egg mixture in the tomato sauce and mix with a wooden spatula. Leave for 4-5 minutes.
6. Serve hot with crumbled feta cheese on top, the potato chips and more fresh pepper if you like! Enjoy…
Arabic Theme: Falafel with Harissa-Yogurt Dip and CousCous with Mint and Lemon
Today I’m satisfied with my college laboratories preparations, so I prepared a festive Middle Eastern meal!
Falafel is a very popular dish for vegetarians. It’s made from fava beans or chickpeas, with spicy herbs and is a very common dish in Middle East. Every patty has about 2g of protein and 3g fat. Let’s make it (or you can buy a ready-mix from organic/health food shops!)
Also, this dish is highly recommended to be served with arabic (or plain) pita bread! Bon Apetit!
Falafel (from epicurious.com)
about 20 patties
1 cup dried chickpeas
1/2 large onion, roughly chopped (about 1 cup)
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro
1 teaspoon salt
1/2-1 teaspoon dried hot red pepper
4 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon baking powder
4-6 tablespoons flour
1. Put the chickpeas in a large bowl and add enough cold water to cover them by at least 5 cm. Let soak overnight, then drain. Or use canned chickpeas, drained.
2. Place the drained, uncooked chickpeas and the onions in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Add the parsley, cilantro, salt, hot pepper, garlic, and cumin. Process until blended but not pureed.
3. Sprinkle in the baking powder and 4 tablespoons of the flour, and pulse. You want to add enough bulgur or flour so that the dough forms a small ball and no longer sticks to your hands. Turn into a bowl and refrigerate, covered, for several hours.
4. Form the chickpea mixture into balls about the size of walnuts, or use a falafel scoop, available in Middle-Eastern markets.
5. Heat enough oil to cover the balls (180 oC) in a deep pot or wok and fry 1 ball to test. If it falls apart, add a little flour. Then fry about 6 balls at once for a few minutes on each side, or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.
Lemon – Mint CousCous
for 2 persons
100 gr instant cous cous
2 tbsp lemon (lime preffered) juice
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
a bunch of finely choped fresh mint
salt and fresh ground pepper
Prepare the cous cous according to package directions. After it’s ready (about 5min), add and stir well the remaining ingredients! Now you have a very fresh side dish, exactly what you need for a hot sauce like the one following!
Harissa-Yogurt Dip
Harissa is a very (!!) hot sauce made from red peppers and spices like cumin, paprica…It’s very common in Middle Eastern countries -
for 2 persons
1 tsp harissa sauce (maybe more but becareful because it’s really hot!)
about 150 gr of greek yogurt
some finely chopped fresh mint
a pinch of salt and pepper
Stir all the ingredients together. Garnish with mint leaves.
Taramosalata – Vegetarian Version
I am sure that you are trying to image how can I present a vegetarian version of a dip made from caviar! The answer is simple: from kidney beans!!
Ok. I know. I cheated you. But before you start yelling, taste it and instantly you will change decision!
Taramosalata without Tarama 
for 3-4 persons
1/2 can of red (kidney) beans
1 clove of garlic
2 tbsp Organic Red Vinegar
Drops of lemon juice
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Sea Salt
Fresh Ground Pepper
Put in the blender the beans, the garlic and enough olive oil (2cm above the beans). Add some drops of lemon juice and enough red wine vinegar to boost the acidity (use about 2tbsp or according to the taste). Ground fresh pepper and salt and pulse the dip until smoothy!
Transported.
Today I decided to switch from LiveJournal. I had nice memories but I think the whole site is a bit complicated even for paid accounts…:S
Just a note. All the work in this site (except otherwise noted) is done by me, including thinking, photography, recipes, etc. All of the above is licensed under the Creative Commons License Attribution-Share Alike 3.0.
Biennale des Jeune Createurs de l’Europe
I am on the team! I was chosen to represent Greece for the Biennale of Young Creators of Europe…More info about my menu is coming..
Until then, a vegetarian version festive recipe for a Greek dip made from fish-roe, TaramoSalata.
