So, with our morning meal down pat, what to do with our after-dinner sweet?  Well we have that figured out too: Greek yogurt mousse with a fresh berry topping.  It is light, airy, creamy and made with good old-fashioned whipping cream, vanilla and of course lots of Greek yogurt.  Simple to prepare and impressive to serve, Greek yogurt mousse is unstoppable!

Once the Easter dinner table has been cleared, the coffee is brewing and the desserts are making their way to the table, our family is busy selecting an egg from our basket of Easter eggs for the Easter Egg-Cracking Game.  It is fun for all ages and a yearly tradition.  The objective of the game is to be the last person standing with an Easter egg perfectly intact.  So choose your egg wisely!

To partake in this fun tradition you will need to hard-boil 2-3 eggs per person.  We like to dye our Easter eggs red with a food-safe dye readily found in grocery stores.  Place the eggs in an Easter basket or decorative plate.

To begin, everyone must choose an egg and sit with a partner.  One partner holds their egg in their hand with the pointy tip up and the opponent attempts to crack the shell of the opponent using their pointy tip.  When the two eggs meet, only one egg will crack!  The person whose egg has cracked is out of the game and the person with the egg intact moves on to the next round.  All first round winners form new partners and so on until there is only one winner remaining.

In our family, people always want to play again, hence the need to boil 2-3 eggs per person.  

We hope that your families enjoy this game as much as ours.

To enjoy the eggs once the game is over, try this recipe idea below.

The mastic tree has been making beautiful history for millennia.  Mastiha has long been a prized possession of ancient Greeks, Turks, and middle-Easterners for its therapeutic properties.  Mastiha, also know as mastic, is the sap found on trees that grow on the island of Chios, a large Aegean Greek island.  In fact, Chios mastiha has been acknowledged by the European Union as a Protected Designation of Origin.  Only the trees on this island release this sap, often referred to as “tears”.  Early on, this resin was used for oral hygiene, as a perfume or as incense and it wasn’t long before mastic found its way into food.  Mastiha is a key ingredient in many traditional Greek baking recipes; Easter bread, or Tsoureki (Tsou-REH-kee) being the most popular.  The mastiha crystals are ground with a mortar and pestle until a fine powder is formed and this is what gives traditional Easter bread its unique sweet smelling scent.  It is also a key ingredient in sweet confections such as Loukoumia, alcoholic beverages like Ouzo and spirits like Skinos.

Mastiha is widely available at your local Greek bakeries and shops.   You can also order mastiha online from this beautiful store that is stocked full of mastiha products in New York City.  Visit Mastiha Shop NY.

If you’d like to read a little more about mastiha then have a look at today’s timely article in The Globe and Mail.

We recommend devoting an entire day to making this traditional Greek Easter Bread.  Enjoy.

Sweet Easter Bread - Tsoureki

YOU WILL NEED:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 ½ tsp baking powder¼ tsp salt
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 6 tbsp unsalted butter, cold, cut into ½-inch pieces
• 2 cups feta cheese, crumbled
• 2/3 cup milk
• Flour for dusting
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 tbsp milk

In a large food processor add the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and pulse 3 to 4 times to just mix the ingredients.

Add the butter and pulse until the butter breaks up into small crumb-like pieces, about 5 to 6 pulses.

Add the feta cheese and milk and pulse until the flour is moistened and a dough is about to form, about 5 to 6 pulses.

Transfer to a lightly floured work surface and gently knead the dough until it just comes together.  Roll the dough into a flat disc about ½-inch to ¾-inch thick.  Use a round 3-inch cutter to create small disc-shaped biscuits.  Re-work the scraps of dough to create additional biscuits.  Transfer biscuits to a parchment-paper lined baking sheet.  In a small bowl whisk the egg yolk and milk, and use a pastry brush to brush the tops of each biscuit.  Place in the middle of a preheated oven (350F) for 15-18 minutes, or until lightly golden in colour.  Serve immediately or set aside to cool on a cooling rack.

Makes 20-22 biscuits

We love hosting Oscar parties.  Below we thought we’d share with you our top ten things that we believe make for an unforgettable night.

1. Greet your guests with a  “shot”.  The stars are greeted by paparazzi shooting photos, so join in the fun with a “Paparazzi shooter” as your guests set foot through the door.  Choose something mellow so that you don’t knock your guests off their feet too soon!
2. Do ask your friends to bring along a drink or appetizer, but don’t let them just bring anything.  Challenge them to pick an appetizer that highlights a nominated movie.  Examples: Mai-tai’s in honour of the “Descendants”; Chocolate Pie for “The Help”, or Brad “Pitted” Olives (our yummy Olive Tapenade on page 56) for “Moneyball”.  Other great ideas, Dragon sushi rolls for the “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”; Mini Lemon-Mousse Cakes for the “Iron Lady” – this sinful dessert was supposedly a favourite of Margaret Thatcher’s, or simple pâtés and French cheeses for “Midnight in Paris”.   A more adventurous guest could bring cupcakes of muppet characters such as, Miss Piggy or Kermit the Frog – there are several wonderful cupcake cookbooks out there nowadays. One of our favourites is Cupcakes, Cookies & Pie, Oh My! available from Amazon.
3. The Oscars are formal, but that doesn’t mean you need to have a formal dinner – appetizers are key.  In fact, this year, the stars aren’t even sitting down for a formal dinner; so neither should you! Dips are easy to make and can be made ahead.  They can be brought out just before the party begins and they will last the entire night.  Our fiery feta dip recipe is a cinch to make and tastes great with breadsticks and veggies.  For the recipe, head to the bottom of this blog.
4. Have a signature cocktail for the evening.  This year we suggest enjoying a Crystal Cocktail in honour of host Billy Crystal.  To a champagne glass add a shot of Pama Pomegranate Liquer and fill the remainder of the flute with champagne.  Keep the “Crystal Cocktails” flowing!
5. Buffet-style is a must.  Drape tables with black tablecloths and gold accents and have trays of your stemware, plates, napkins and cutlery available.  This night is about mingling and watching.  You want to be able to discuss Angelina Jolie’s dress with your guests, not hear about it from another room.
6. Do have seating for everyone.  This is a long show.  Even if you have to throw large pillows on the floor for seating be sure that your guests feel comfortable gathering around the television.  Extra blankets are always appreciated.
7. Get a friendly Oscar pool going – this makes watching the awards, even the “Best Editing” award, fun. The winner of the most points wins the pool.  Ballots can be printed out here simply click on “Printable ballot” in top right corner.  Guests can mark each other’s ballots and a running tally can be announced throughout the show.  Be sure to have enough pens for marking!
8. Hand out an Oscar statuette at the end of the evening for a category of your choosing – it could be Best Food, Best Drink, Best Dress, or even Best Shoes so that someone at your party leaves a winner!  These statuettes can be found at most Party stores at this time of year.  You can even hand out movie tickets for the person who has seen the least number of nominated movies.
9. A chocolate fondue is a lovely dessert for Oscar night.  Arrange your fruit slices into an Oscar statue.  Blueberries are the perfect fruit for this.  Fruit and chocolate is always appreciated at the end of a long night of appies.
10. Last thing, be sure to have an acceptance speech ready!  At the end of the night, let your guests know that you loved having them there and that you’d like to host them again next year.

Fiery Feta Dip – Tirokafteri (Tee-roh-kahf-teh-REE)

• 1 yellow banana pepper
• 2 cups feta cheese, crumbled
• ½ cup Greek yogurt
• 4 tbsp olive oil

Place the pepper whole on a preheated grill.  Remove from grill when charred black on all sides.  Set aside to cool.  Once cooled, peel the charred skin away, cut the top and remove the seeds.  Place in a food processor.

Add the remaining ingredients to the food processor and process until smooth and creamy. Refrigerate until ready to serve. (Makes 2 cups)

Growing up, it was quite natural to see our parents pick dandelions (yes, those weeds) from the back yard and make lunch.  In fact, our parents can identify most weeds, and most we are told are both edible and good for you.  Greece has over 300 edible plants growing in the wild.  Our relatives will cook these greens and serve them as a warm salad; they will also stuff phyllo pastry with greens or even add them to meat dishes, like a pork or lamb fricasse.  Greens like chicory, sorrel, amaranth, and dandelions all find their way to the dinner table.

Our challenge for you this month is to pick up a dark, leafy green from the grocery aisle, and take it home with you.  Sauté or boil these greens, season them, add garlic, olive oil and a slice of lemon and do your body good!

Some favourite recipes using greens in our book are:

Kale and Black-Eyed Peas, page 117

Fricasse (Pork and Celery Stew), page 173

Summer Greens (Dandelion Greens can be found year-round in supermarkets), page 119

Sweet Spinach with Dill & Rice, page 111

If you tune into Cityline this Monday, January 16th then you can watch us prepare three of the recipes above with host Tracy Moore.  Tune it at 9am and then we encourage you to give them a go.  Please also let us know how your recipes turn out and if you’ve decided to adopt them into your weekly menu.

Happy Cooking!

• Our book-signing trip to Eastern Canada tops the list.  We visited New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.  We ate lobster, seafood chowder, appeared on Breakfast Television Halifax and met wonderful people along the way.

• Seeing our faces on posters with funny man Angelo Tsarouchas during Ottawa’s Greek fest!

• Falling off the stage during a cooking demo at Ottawa’s Greek fest (not just one sister, but two!)

• Having a tweet re-tweeted by Nia Vardalos.

• Appearing in Hello! Canada magazine.

• Appearing in Ottawa at Home magazine.

• Appearing in Athens News and Proto Thema newspapers of Greece.

• Winning Best Cookbook at the New York Book Festival.

• Making a hundred women laugh at the Federation of University Women in Mississauga.

• Being a part of the Delicious Food Show in Toronto and filling our class with people thrilled to learn about Greek food!

• Making lunch for Father Nicholas host of “Personalities”.

• Hearing Father Nicholas call his friends to tell them the meal was out of this world and that he couldn’t wait to make it for his family and friends.

• Making our first “sizzle” tape with Magee T.V.

• Reaching a milestone of 10,000 book sales!

• Being a part of 2 great charity events, “Smash Hunger – Feed Nova Scotia” and “Breast Cancer Action Kingston”

• Reading hundreds of thank you emails from women who are grateful that they have finally impressed their Greek mother-in-law!

• Launching our apron line.

• Appearing on CityLine, Breakfast Television Toronto, CTV Ottawa Morning Show, and Sun News.

• Being interviewed by the hilarious Mike Bullard during the summer’s Taste of the Danforth Festival.  We survived relatively unscathed!

Still left on our list!

• Dancing the zorba with Ellen DeGeneres.

• Launching our second cookbook.

• Being a part of L.A.’s Greek fest.

• Bringing Greek food to television.

• Traveling to Canada’s west coast for a book-signing tour.

• Launching informative but low-budget webisodes.

Our list keeps growing.  Let us know what you’d like to see on our list too!

Having remembered seeing this recipe in Gordon Ramsay’s cookbook, In the Heat of the Kitchen, we grabbed our green tomatoes, sliced them into 1/4-inch slices and dipped them into flour, then a wet mixture of milk, egg, baking soda and baking powder and finally a dry mixture of cornmeal, all-purpose flour, a dash of cayenne pepper and some salt & pepper.

We got the vegetable oil nice and hot – 350 degrees to be exact and fried away.  The baking soda and baking powder worked together to make a wonderfully fluffy and crispy batter.  We drained them on paper towels and ate them like popcorn.

The fried green tomatoes were an exciting addition to a weeknight meal and a definite repeat next fall season!  Not Greek at all, but hey come to think of it, they would be quite delicious dipped in tsatziki!

MORE ABOUT GORDON RAMSAY
Unfortunately, Gordon Ramsay’s cookbook, In the Heat of the Kitchen, is not that easy to find. He has authored so many cookbooks since 2003 that you will likely find his more recent cookbooks on the shelves than this one. If you do happen to stumble upon it, it’s worth owning. Feel free to browse our list of readily available books by Gordon Ramsay on Amazon.

And if you’re so inclined you can pick up a used copy of In the Heat of the Kitchen by clicking the following link:  I want a used copy of Gordon Ramsay’s In The Heat Of The Kitchen!.

Have you heard about the The Food Network Delicious Food Show? It is just a week away and we are thrilled to be a part of it.  We are on the first day of seminars, on Friday October 21st at 11:30 in the morning. So, we are basically encouraging you to skip the day off work and come to our workshop!  We promise lots of good stories, laughs and definitely some good food to go along with it!  Read more about our seminar.

The Delicious Food Show is 3 ½ days of food, kitchen, cooking and entertaining. This show is about immersing yourself in all things related to food. There are cooking demonstrations, information on food pairings and lots of hands-on seminars. Plus, the centre stage is full of celebrity chefs – Lynn Crawford, David Rocco, Padma Lakshmi, Marc McEwan, and Bal Arneson to name a few.  A complete list of all of the chefs can be found here.

The culinary show kicks off on Thursday October 20, 2011 with the Delicious! Opening Night Party. The night will include traditional grape stomping where you will be able to feel the grapes between your toes whilst listening to the Argentine tango! Plus, you can sample rare new cocktails and enjoy some unique gourmet menus. We are definitely going to be joining the opening party. And only one of us still needs to find an outfit!

There is definitely something for everyone at the Food Network Delicious Food Show – olive oil tasting, shucking oysters, Indian spice blends, afternoon tea, salsa making, craft beers, sweets, cupcakes and of course, the 3 of us, demystifying the Greek kitchen!

The show takes place at the Better Living Centre in Toronto.
195 Princes Boulevard
Exhibition Place
Toronto, ON M6K 3C3
Canada
on Friday October 21-23, 2011.
For ticket information, click here. To purchase tickets, click here.

Join us!

So what are these Food Network Chefs writing about these days:

And they will all be at the Food Network Delicious Food Show!