Caper Leaves: Mystery Solved!

The Greek Store in Kenilworth, New Jersey, has the coveted caper leaves! Thanks to my mom for checking with them.

I should have thought of them first. This expansive store on the main street in town carries every imaginable Greek item from olive oils to prepared dishes. In fact, when planning my Greek-themed wedding shower, my mother and friend found everything they needed here. It was a delicious afternoon.

Can’t wait to drive up from D.C. and fill up the trunk!

Greek Caper Leaves

We did our best in Greece to ask locals for restaurant recommendations. A taxi driver recommended “The Dolphins,” a restaurant on – literally right on – the Akrotiri Beach. That’s where we had our first salad of pickled caper leaves. The salty flavor and smooth surface was delicious on that hot day overlooking the beach. It tasted almost exactly like caper berries, except the texture was different. With some bread on the side, it was perfect.

I had never heard of eating caper leaves and imagined they’d be hard to find Stateside. We bought one jar of caper leaves on Santorini and are now afraid to open it. In typical Chloe’ fashion, I’ll probably hoard it until it goes bad. I should have learned the Mediterranean lesson to enjoy life in the moment!

I think they might be even harder to find than I thought. An internet search didn’t find them for sale at particular gourmet markets (Whole Foods, Zingerman’s, Morgan and York, Foodzie, Balducci’s, etc.) or through more general searches.

So, aside from growing capers ourselves and pickling their leaves, does anywhere know where I can find them?

Food in Greece and Italy

I’m scratching my head as I try to figure out how to summarize the amazing dishes we ate in Greece and Italy during our honeymoon. Should I start with the creamy lemon sauce on stuffed grape leaves we tried in Athens? Or the crawfish cooked in a garlic and ouzo sauce on Santorini? What about the osso bucco in Milan?

I can only think of broad, sweeping adjectives to describe the dishes. Delicious! Great! Amazing! And what do they offer you? Nothing, really. As I organize my notes and photographs, I will share them with you along with addresses and helpful travel information.

For now, I will start with the bilingual cookbook that I picked up in Mykonos. The book, “Mykonos – Tastes and Traditions” published by Eikon offers wonderful explanations of the traditions followed by recipes paired with photographs. We haven’t been home long enough for me to cook many dishes, but I did try the Zucchini Pie and it was delicious: grated zucchini baked with bread crumbs, feta cheese, eggs, mint and other herbs.

In Greece we ate stuffed grape leaves, moussaka and other traditional Greek-American restaurant favorites, but we also tried many new dishes, too. From this island cookbook, I look forward to trying the sausages cooked in cognac, wild chicory salad and coconut rolls.

More in the upcoming weeks…

I'll Be Right Back...

This blog will take a brief break and return on July 15th while I celebrate my great aunt’s 102nd birthday, honeymoon with my handsome groom and prepare to move to Washington, D.C. I look forward to returning with many new food-finds from Greece and elsewhere.

I write many poems related to food, from the preparation to the eating of many dishes. If you're interested in hearing some, I’ll be reading a selection of these poems with poet Hila Ratzabi at Made with Love Organic Bakery in Jersey City, NJ on Monday, June 7th.

For those of you who like writing about food – and other subjects – consider taking my one-week, online Beginning Poetry Writing Workshop in July. This class runs from Thursday, July 22 – Sunday, July 25th. From Monday, August 1 - Friday, August 13, you may be interested in Memoir Writing Workshop II. Think of these classes as “staycations” for writing.

To register, email me (chloemiller(at)gmail(dot)com); I’ll save you a virtual seat and send you billing details. I’ll be checking my email periodically while I’m away.

See you soon!

Rice Stuffed Grape Leaves

The Greek Cookbook Vefa’s Kitchen has not let me down. I recently made Stuffed Grape Leaves and they were delicious, even if the project took much longer than I’d anticipated.

The ingredients were easy to find. I bought the grape leaves, quite inexpensively compared to Whole Foods costs, at Jerusalem International Market (1713 Plymouth Rd, Ann Arbor, MI 48105; 734-668-7773.) This also happens to be where I regularly buy olive oil in the huge jug that you can see in the picture above. (Yes, we go through quite a lot of olive oil.)

Ok, so perhaps my husband rightfully noticed that I made too much when he joked, “Whose wedding are we catering this weekend?”

You can purchase the cookbook Vefa’s Kitchen on Amazon.

Healthy Breakfast at Home

Yes, advertising executives, we know summer is coming and you think we should be worrying about our figures.

Instead of trying on our “skinny pants” to see what damage winter left behind, let’s be active in our daily lives and work towards health while we plan our meals.

I don’t count calories or measure my food in any way. Living a healthy life daily (i.e. not dieting, but rather integrating healthy meals into your routine) includes fresh fruits and vegetables, limited fatty foods and eating when you’re hungry.

Breakfast is a good place to start. What is your favorite healthy breakfast? I don’t mean that terribly dry and gag-inducing cereal or tasteless “healthy” bread you can only swallow with a full glass of water. I mean that healthy meal that you crave and enjoy while you eat it.

Being on the Greek-kick that we are as we plan our summer honeymoon, I’ve been eating Greek yogurt with fruit and honey for breakfast. (Trader Joe’s offers a less expensive and low-fat version of the yogurt.)

Does this mean I’ve sworn off luxurious brunches and waffles? Of course not! Moderation is the key to everything.

(I’m not a doctor and we all have different needs. For more information on what’s best for your health, you should always speak with your doctor first.)

Greek Food Resources

My husband and I are taking our honeymoon in Greece this summer. To prepare, we’ve been learning about the language, history, culture, myths and food.

My favorite Greek cooking blog Peter Minaki’s Kalofagas, which means "gourmet" in Greek. He offers regular and numerous recipes that look and sound delicious. I can’t wait to try the recipe for Pasta Shells Stuffed with Roasted Red Peppers and Feta.

The cookbook Vefa’s Kitchen has also been helpful.

What’s your favorite Greek food resource?

Greek Cooking: Vefa's Kitchen

In preparation for our honeymoon to Greece next summer, I’ve been trying out Greek recipes. Vefa’s Kitchen, published by Phaidon who also publishes the Italian Silver Spoon Cookbook, has an amazing collection of recipes.

For a romantic dinner one night, I tried the Pot Roast Lamb with Lemon. I bought the lamb at Knight’s Market in Ann Arbor and cooked it in my Dutch oven. It was tender and flavorful, but I do think that the flavors could have been stronger. Lemon juice and oregano were the main additions to the dish.

I love a challenge to prepare a new dish, but the risk is that it doesn’t always work out perfectly. The Christmas Honey-Dipped Cookies were delicious (and clearly lasted forever since I made enough for our apartment complex), although the dough didn’t work out for me. The recipe called for rolling it out and stamping out the cookies. My dough wouldn’t roll and simply broke apart. I formed little balls with my hands and baked them that way. With the baklava-like-honey syrup poured on top, they were delicious, although I’m guessing not very authentic.

If you have suggestions for Greek recipes to try or what went wrong with my Christmas Honey Dipped Cookies, I'm all ears!