Horiatiki Salata

This salad is the real Greek salad. The "greek salads" you get in America are not real greek salads. They are just garden salads with some crumbled salty feta, a couple olives, and fattening creamy dressing. If you go to Greece and order a greek salad it will look and taste much different. Horiatiki means "villagers salad". It's a salad with whatever is freshest. The main difference is that there is no lettuce. The important thing about this salad is to get the freshest and highest quality ingredients possible. The tomatoes, olive oil, and feta are the three ingredients you should try to get the highest quality of. Don't use the domestic feta, go to a specialty store and buy either Dodonis or Barrel feta. These are much less salty, and way creamier than the domestic feta. You won't want to eat that salty crumbled domestic feta after you try these. This salad is very colorful and very healthy. I eat this salad every day, usually twice a day. One day in Greece I ate 4 of them in one day. I only use olive oil as the dressing because I'm fortunate enough to have Cretan olive oil from my Theo and Thea. If you have store bought olive oil, you can put some vinegar on the salad too. When you are done the salad, there should be a pool of olive oil and tomato juice with feta swimming in it. This is the best part in my opinion because you can soak it all up with a nice piece of crusty bread. This traditional greek salad is going to change the way you see Greek salads. Try it!

Recipe (serves 2)

3 tomatoes
2 cucumbers
1/2 pepper (any pepper works here)
1/3 onion (red or white)
5-10 kalamata olives
2 pepperoncinis
A huge slice of high quality Feta cheese
Oregano
Extra Virgin olive oil

Cut the tomatoes into large pieces. Peel and slice the cucumbers. Slice the pepper into thin rings then cut in half. Slice the onion in thing long pieces. All of the vegetables do not need to be cut perfectly or uniform in size. This salad is rustic. Put these ingredients into a bowl and mix. Then add the olives and pepperoncini. Slice a large piece of feta and cover with oregano. Now load the salad with olive oil. I mean a lot of olive oil. There should be a pool in the bottom of the bowl. Enjoy!

Gyros, the street food of Greece

Gyros, pronounced (yee-ros) are the fast food of Greece. Wherever you go you can see the cylinders of meat vertically roasting away. Gyros are the best late night drunk food I've ever come across. After a long night of partying in Greece, you stumble down the streets back to your hotel. You probably haven't eaten for hours and have only consumed alcohol along with lots of dancing to tire you out. You need something greasy, salty, and filling to soak up all the alcohol. There's most likely a gyro place open into the very early hours of the morning. For around 2 to 3 euros, your going to be full and veryyy satisfied. Thin chicken or pork is marinated and layered onto a skewer to form a cylinder of meat. This slowly turns and is crisped away on one side by a vertical burner. As the meat cooks, the fat slowly drips down basting the rest of the meat. The meat is shaved off skillfully with a large knife. The meat is put into a grilled pita with garlicky tzatziki sauce, tomatoes, onions, and one other key ingredient to a gyro. In Greece, and sadly not common in America, is to stuff your gyro with French fries that have been deep fried in olive oil. I can't eat gyros any other way after this. Its the perfect salty and fattening finish to a gyro. The last bites of the gyro are the best, because the juices of the meat, tomatoes, and tzatziki, have all mixed together and been soaked up by the French fries and the pita bread. This is the street food of Greece and can be found almost anywhere. It's really cheap to fill yourself up on gyros, if you eat one, you're full. If you eat two, your stuffed and don't want to eat again for hours. These may not be very good for you, but who cares? They're delicious

My homemade version of a gyro

Caprese Salata

This salad is inspired by my first culinary experience in Europe. I had layover in Switzerland on my way to Greece, and I had some time to kill in the airport. I sat down at a café but wasn't really in the mood for coffee. I was starving and I also wanted to take advantage of my newly acquired drinking opportunities. The bartender didn't speak English so I had to point at what I wanted. I ordered a draft Ittinger bier and a caprese salad. I thought the price of the salad was 8 euros, but it ended up being 18 euros! I said screw it because It was my first meal in Europe and I was starving. I could see the girl preparing my salad, she cut the tomato right there. She drizzled it with olive oil and pesto. The presentation of the salad was perfect. I had to take a picture and put it on instagram :) My first bite of this salad, and I couldn't believe how much different the tomato's tasted than in America. They were so fresh. The olive oil they used was such a good quality it made the salad taste much richer. The arugula was perfect with the tomato and giant ball of fresh mozzarella. The quality of the ingredients in this simple salad are extremely important. Try and find the best quality olive oil you can and try and get the tomatoes from a farm. I spent 25 euros at this café for my beer and salad. This is equal to 32 U.S. dollars. I would've never spent that on a salad and beer anywhere else but I'm glad I did. It translated into a culinary experience that you don't want to miss out on.

Pesto Recipe

2 cups packed fresh basil
1/2 cup packed fresh arugula
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup pine nuts (walnuts work too)
2/3 Extra Virgin Olive Oil (evoo)
1/2 cup pecorino romano cheese
Sea salt and ground black pepper to taste

In a food processor, combine all the ingredients. Depending on how garlicky you like your pesto, adjust accordingly. If the pesto is too thick you can add a splash of water, or more olive oil.

Caprese Salata Recipe

1 ripe tomato
Baby Arugula
Fresh Mozzarella
Pesto (see recipe above)
EVOO
Sea Salt

Drizzle the bottom of your plate with EVOO. Slice the tomato into thick slices and arrange in a circle on the plate. Put one bunch of arugula on each side of the plate. Slice the ball of fresh mozz into thick slices and place in the middle on the tomato. Drizzle pesto onto the entire salad. Sprinkle a pinch of salt, and drizzle with more EVOO. The presentation of this salad is important because we eat with our eyes. If it doesn't look good, it won't taste as good. Enjoy!

My Style of Cooking

Hey my name is George, I'm a 20 year old college student in Massachusetts. My cooking is inspired by my childhood and my recent travels. My whole life I've been eating my Yia Yia's (Greek for Grandmother) olive oil drenched Greek dishes. She makes traditional Greek food as she was born in a small village in Crete. I love Greek food with a passion and try to replicate the flavors of my childhood. My Mom is 100 percent Armenian and her parents loved to cook. They taught her their recipes and now she's passing them on to me. She is an amazing cook and loves to cook mediterranean inspired dishes. The third influence on my food is when I worked at BT's Smokehouse, a local BBQ joint that absolutely kills the BBQ game. I dish washed and prep cooked there. My boss was extremely experienced in the food business and is extremely creative in his recipes and specials. They do BBQ the way it should be done and I've taken this knowledge ran with it. Smoked BBQ is a passion of mine and I'd love to share the passion with you. The last thing that truly inspired my cuisine is my trip to Greece this summer. Seeing the way Greeks prepare food, enjoy food, and utilize olive oil, has made me obsessed with recreating the flavors of Greece. I will tell in depth about my week of getting fed by my Thea (aunt) in Crete. Her and my Theo produce their own olive oil from their olive trees. They literally live off the land. This is one of the healthiest diets i've experienced and I can see why Cretans live so long. I also traveled all around the mainland of Greece experiencing many different regional dishes across Greece. All of these inspirations have shaped my culinary mind and made me want to share my tastes with others. I rely on the freshest ingredients I can get my hands on. I try to keep dishes simple but still tasting delicious. I will travel for food.