Cooking Greek Recipes

Cooking Up Greek Recipes

with our

Executive Chef Pinelopi

Pinelopi's (pee-neh-law-pee) mother of the same name had eight children, of which Pinelopi was the youngest. Pinelopi's mother designated the young girl as her kitchen aid, which she rather enjoyed. As they cooked up Greek recipes for family meals together, Pinelopi's mother would share colorful stories of her childhood in Greece, and of the favorite Greek foods she had learned to prepare there. These were Greek recipes that were passed down through generations, and the young girl studied attentively. Little Pinelopi vowed to herself to always replicate these treasured Greek meals to the best of her ability.

Pinelopi's mother enjoyed a natural luxury of Greece, a perivoli or grove of many trees that thrived on the family property, including a variety of fruit and citrus trees, as well as olives and almonds. As a result, Pinelopi tells us, "Mother would make many "teaspoon sweets", which were always served with a cold glass of water. These were made for presentation to visitors, as a requisite offering of Greek hospitality."

Pinelopi (Penny) still views her mother as the best cook ever. She loved cooking Greek food, and inherently passed this passion on to her daughters. Penny says, "Mother not only loved cooking for the family; she loved cooking for everyone, because, simply put, she loved everyone." A sweet example of this generosity was her habit of saving mayonnaise jars, which she would have Pinelopi wash out for her. "Mother would fill the jars with soup for the hobos who rode the railroad." Penny and her mother would pack them in paper lunch bags and leave them for the men to find on the front porch.

"These homeless strangers would inform one another of mother's warm offerings of welcomed homemade soup and sustaining bread. On occasion the men would see mother sweeping the porch or watering her plants, and they would tip their hats to her and call out, "Thank you Mrs." Mother would reply in her broken English, "You welcome.""

Pinelopi has carried on her mother's passion for cooking and also sharing her wonderful dishes and sweets with family, friends, neighbors and strangers. Like many Greek families, hers also endeavored to create entrepreneurial restaurants and diners, but Penny mostly just cooked at home and for family celebrations. Penny wants to share her wonderful treats now with you.

Pinelopi looks forward to sharing her mother's passion for Greek cooking within her new column here. Our Executive Chef will author a series of articles offering these wonderful Greek food recipes, which will warm the pages of Wall Street Greek.

We also invite readers interested in sharing their own Greek recipes or variations of Greek cuisine with us via email to recipes@ WallStreetGreek.com. It will be our pleasure to publish your recipes here and give credit to you, and we will also publish a photograph of you with the dish if you like.

Pinelopi's Greek Recipes:

• Melomakarona - Greek Honey Walnut Cookie
• Vasilopita - Greek New Year's Bread
• Lentil Soup
• Shrimp and Rice Pilaf
• Lamb Souvlaki or Shish Kebab

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