SAUSAGE AND TOMATO PASTITSIO

I know it was along since i wrote but i was full of chores so i didn't had the time . But it was today that i found some time to slag with some friends and cook for friends. Since it was short noticed i didn't had the time to buy things or came up with ideas it was more like: WE HUNGRY WE EAT NOW !!!!! So i rushed into the kitchen an made a quick browse. What i found wasn't much taking noticed i wasn't at my house but at anothers guy apartment that his relation with the kitchen is something like night and day.

But at the end with that i cooked it was a hit that was reduced to none  in such a matter of time that i didn't even made it to take a picture :(

i found the bare necesities at a bachelor's kitchen i made something simple drawned by the most traditional greek dish PASTITSIO using only 3 tomatoes , 1 pack of sausages, gouda cheese and rigatoni pasta. So heres the deal i hope you enjoy .

i found : 1 pack of rigatoni
              3 tomatoes
             1 pack o sausages
            4 handfouls grated gouda
             half glass of water olive oil
            1 l of milk
            5 table spoons  flour
             1 pack of yogurt
           salt
           1 table spoon premade pesto sauce
           oregon

What i did was :
   
i bring water to boil to make tha pasta

i warmed the olive oil and then made a roux with the flour when it was ready i added the milk and salt
and i stired it until thicken then melted the cheese into the cream and off the fire i added the yogurt

i roasted the tomatoes in a pan and then i put them in the food processor i added it a gain in the pan added also the sausages cut into chunks the pesto sauce  some salt and let it to boil for 10 minutes

i mixed the pasta with the sauce in a gastronome and pour the cream on top of it .

i baked it in the over for 40 minutes in 180C at air mode.

Seriously it may not sounded that good but it was really a blast !!!!!!
MUST TRY SERIOUSLY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PRAWNS WITH RICE AND A TOUCH OF OUZO

Past week was the easter.I don't really like easter, because we can't eat meat .In my home my mother doesn't like to eat meat so she asks me to cook non meat or dairy products . So i am limited to asian style or mediteranian dishies.

I woke up in the morning found 10 euros to buy ingridients  i added 4 euros from my coin keeper and set sail to the market. I so in the fish market i have an old college that now owns a fishshop ,i went there to see if there was anything intresting, but the olny thing i found there were prawns. I though good now limited options i got a little frustrated. But when i stayed there for for chit chat my friend bring ouzo to have something with the chit chat.You'll think of your self ouzo in the morning shouldn't the had coffe instead ? First it was noon and 2nd we're greeks get used to it .

After that i returned to home a bit tipsy , but then it struck me , the prawns of my hand , the taste of ouzo in my  mouth and the sight of shreaded coconuts that was there and me telling : now you 3 play together while i am geting ready . An idea was born what if i make a sause out of bisk ouzo and coconut ?  i look up my notes for a special rice to go with and behold .

So what i used was :
Rise basmati
Olive Oil
Garlic
Ginger

Prawns
Bisk
Onion
Shreaded Coconut
Ouzo
Spearmint

salt n pepper

What i did was:
First i took a pot and put the rise in it then i put enough water to cover it and 1 inch higher to the level of rise
then i added some oil garlic shreaded ginger salt n pepper and there is a trink now
i putted the pot on full heat and when it came to boil i turned lower to the pilot and let it alone for 30 minites
after that i took the rise out of the pot into a wooden basin and colded like the same way you do when you make shushi rise that way it makes the rice better of frying it later in the pan with the sause and prawns.

Then in a pan i sauted the prawns and the i added the onion until golden , after that i poured about a glass of ouzo and twice as much of bisk some salt to taste and let it boil for 5 minutes . When reduced i added the coconut and some freshly choped spearmint  let it for 3 minutes more till i added the rise and mixing it very well. before serving i remove the prawns so i could easily divided among portions so we could all eat of 4-5 prawns .

thats it enjoy it for now see you soon

PS. thanks to spiros my best friend for the picture  i hope he will help me again and again and again

MEATLOAF 'N' EGG MUNCHIE

This morning i woke up and during sundays is mother's day to cook. She made a meatloaf and when i saw the meatloaf  in the oven i said "meatloaf!!!" picturing in my mind Redman from Red n Meth show witch i love... But due to outer violence i was kept away from it. So i had a really bad day in terms or getting tired so when i returned back there was no appettite a "aint diz me'tloav" as redman would say . So i sat on the tv and watch a movie while smoking a blunt  to chill of a while.

Right after the movie ended the munchies strating to deploy, thought in a military way( i was whatching G.I.joe movie) so i run into the kitchen. There, like a delayed date it was my meatloaf waiting. I cut a slice and ate as fast i could, but it was cold and a bit tasteless.And then i felt it, like a spark turning into purgatory of inspiration. A wild run of thoughts of how the afroamericans developed and mastered the art of meatloaf for the leftovers of meat back in 1800s, the faces of redman in any pose saying MEATLOAF MEATLOAF i crushed into 2 oldshcool french originated recipes for breakfasts. So add a bit of this and remuve a bit of that, the goblin magic worked ans i salvaged form the pile, something. than you could say afroamerican/oldshcool french fusion wich i marveled 20 minites later.

And what i made looks like this:

in a way it resembles the eggs benedict or eggs florendin i rather call it
MEATLOAF 'N' EGG BIG MUNCHIE

SO HERE IS THE RECIPE:
you'll need : Spare Meatloaf (any kind)
                   Eggs
                   White English Bread Sliced
                   Butter
                   Grounded Cheese
                

And it goes like this :
Step 1: melt some butter and salt and any sessoning (i used paprica) and saute the bread slice add some cheese to make a crust  remove the crouton clean'n'dry the pan well repeat for as many you want.

Step 2: Use some butter and fry the egg sunny day up (with a runny yolk) and some salt

Step 3: Warm in the pan or in the over the meatloaf .

SET UP:
Place the crouton on botton.
Put the meatloaf on top of crouton.
On top of all the egg.
decor with rockets and chives(i used selery leaves and tomato ketchup good quality)

So that all , i'll call it a night so untill then
peace out.

HOW DO I WORK IN MY HEAD

Hi there again ...

Before i will start posting recipes i feel the need to clarify the way that i am thinking or move inside a kitchen or when harvesting the ingridients so that you may have a better understanding to the recipes.

First my ideas comes out of 3 basic principles . 1st my surroundings , 2nd accidents in the kitchen and 3rd reading books and collecting the parts that i like and then combining to something new or rearrange some details , after all we all copy each others techniques and ideas. The 1st works better when i am chilling or noticing the world around me or the people its somehow  i have my "house" moments (from house MD expression) even from something that others might say for fun . The 2nd i believe is the most well known among us for we will always make mistakes and there is nothing that we can do about it rather that to face it with a huge amount of humor. Now the triky part, the 3rd, well this one it has a strange 2 way logic. At first you have to divide the books and magazines or forums and other similar blogs into 2 categories: 1 technical info and 2 exibitions (more like a photo album of a famous artist).

We have to say before that, if you are an amateur it is better to start with 5-6 good technical books in order to learn the basics because  you can not run if you don't know how to walk. After you'll leard to do the basic recipes and techniques it will come on its own ,the will to create something totaly yours and new .
I must admit that even i read alot of books and magazines and i copy/harvest/collect others ideas i will rarely leave something untouched or unchanged because i whant to give a personal tone of mine. I really hate it though when people just copy and reproduce the exact replica of the recipe , that tactic will only make you a robo-cook (more like a dalek with a pan) and not a real cook. It is essensial to maintain a steady way or habbits and styles so in the years you will create your own style, and once again i found a similarity to the martial arts here, so if you don't understand let me explain. In every martial art there are the basics, basic punches ,basic kicks ,basic defences and the list can grow to infinity. Up untill one point you need to learn the raw basics and philosophies of the art so that after years of training and practice you'll create your own individual style based on these basics .

So back to food , don't copy down to the letter others people recipes or else you won't been able to create your own insticts and moves and techniques and etc etc. Thats the way i work also, i can read a whole cookbook in 1 day and at the end of the day i won't remember anything, but if i write down parts that i liked or notes i create something new like a tasteful collage :)

One good exersise to start thinking that way of creating is when you go at the grosery store or at the buchers shop the best way is to go hungry . There's a japanese saying that goes like this " hunger is the best spice " and the best cook advisor too if  i may be alouded to add.

That's all for now ,so up until my next post may you all find something new through this exersise i suggest.Oh and don't get to glommy at failing because we all do mistakes or wrong judgement calls .

So until my next post i bid you farewell .

INTRODUCTION & REVIEW

first of all greetings to you all and thanks for your time to read this

i always wanted to write my thoughts as a journal or something but due to my carefreeness i must admit
i always postponed it up until now .

so to begin  i will start to summarize what i will try to write here whenever i will write here

i strongly belive that food is  art and  philosophy at the same time and while i think or study about food sometimes i start to dream, have deeper thoughts, or thinking about the past and as a outcome i make points that usualy only i can understand so i will write that down in order to remember or disscuss it with others.
Taking notice my bio as a cook and beliving that i have some skills throught out my experiance and studies
i plan to use this blog  to advance theese skills but also to widen my way of thinking and such .
JUST TO CLARIFY I USE ENGLISH SO THAT I CAN WORK GLOBALY AND NOT ONLY DOMESTIC(greece) AND BECAUSE I AM A BIT ASHAMED OF MY GREEK DICTIONARY DUE TO DISLEXY(i don't know if that the correct word)
what you need to know about me is that i always try to see the fun side o life and every thing around me i try to make it into pleasure or else i drop it .

SO coming into my first post i really needed to say my feeling after my participation in greece's master chef show and my recor there.
i belive that my mistake was that i took it to seriously and i couldn't enjoy it to the maximum, plus my short fused character stoud in way of reaching to a higher ranking or something. But its ok,  i had made peace with my self a long time ago and i was prepared for something like this to happen. Basicly the whole show whent really good judging by the greek traditions in reality/tallent shows to project the rivalry and the fights between the participants . In other words it had nothing to do with theese events and it was stayed focused to the cooking and the experiance we harvest throught out the game.

reaching to the first point of my post is  WHY I CRIED OVER MY DEFEAT AND DEPARTURE FROM THE GAME . fist it happend sooner that i expected but its ok ,the opponent that i lost Antonis was and is a realy good cook so i am kind of glad that i didn't lost to someone worse that me, but thinking about it at the top 20, who whoundn't be a good cook . My mistake was that i didn't put my whole heart and soul into the "DUEL" as i always use to see theese events , with the outcome of not cooking well the meat and got disqualified.And that was the reason i cried .Since i was a little i got into martial arts(shotokan karate-do to be precise) i learn to be competive but with a sence of honor and fair play, dont't be fooled by my extravagant apearance i have an "oldshcool" way of thinking, something like a code of conduct, or a bushido. Every defeat of mine becomes an obbesion to the point of insanity, really after my defeat i was making the same dish for 4 days straight untill reaching perfection . But as an honorable person i didn't blame others but only my self ,accepted defeat and bowed in regret infront of the judges/teachers, becauce in my mind i felt like i was disapointing them .

But the real thing i want to share with you is what i missed from this experiance in the show. There are a lot of things after all the projection of someone's persona through television, is something nice, make you feel acceptance from the crowds and opens a lot of doors of oportunities.(thats a greek expression i know).Anyway i am not very fond of that but i can't deny that i liked it .But there are 2 ocasional events that i miss the most , one is the invention test trial and the crazy discussions i had with Giannis Bourodimos (http://bourodimos.blogspot.com/) an other participant from there. For those who don't know the invention test was a solo competition wich we had a special ingridient and up to 10 other ingridients to create in 45 minutes one original and new recipe. Through that time i could feel my mind that was working so fast and hard that i sometimes i mesmerized by it. something like a feeling of burning inside me and steam came through my skin and flesh . A body and spirit experiance which i am addicted for a long time (put the karate here to blame). This feeling is such intoxicating that every day that passes  for me i am thriving to feel once more so when i cook something i try to put my self under these circumstances again and again and again , i even play the dialoges with the judges (especialy with chef Giannis Loukakos http://www.psomialati.gr/el/ wich was my favoured one).

But the absence of a jugde or a fellow cook in theese times is noticable so i will try sometimes to post my inventions , ideas and experiments in my personal kitchen for further discution,notes, corections or ideas of yours for every-ones advancement and our beloved gastronomy's well being.

So until my next post i bid you farewell  :)