Tag Archives: #appetizers

Going out to eat…

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I know I cook, a lot, but I do enjoy going out to eat as well. We’re lucky to have a great Greek community not so far away. Our favorite place in Tarpon Springs is a restaurant called Mykonos. (See reviews here.) It’s a simple place that gets loud and frenetic during lunch and dinner (constant yells of “Opa!” fill the dining area when the flaming Haloumi is being brought from the open kitchen).

We basically get the same items every time we go to Mykonos. Here are our go-to’s: a trio of dips which are: 1) Skordalia (mashed potatoes flavored with garlic, crushed almonds, lemon juice, EVOO and a shit ton of garlic – NOT A FIRST DATE DISH!!), 2) Melitzanosalata (eggplant dip, much like babaganoush) and 3) my (personal favorite) Taramasalata (roe/caviar, lemon juice, breadcrumbs, onion garlic and olive oil).

We also get grilled calamari – which is amazing. No need to bread and fry truly fresh fish, throw it on the grill, splash with fresh lemon and enjoy, like they do in Greece. For a main course my hubby got grilled shrimp in a fresh tomato sauce, it was very simple and delicious. I always get a peasant salad (tomato, red onion, cucumber, feta cheese and pepperoncini-no lettuce) with a side of gyro meat. It’s ALWAYS too much, but so simple, fresh and delicious.

If you’re ever in the area, I highly recommend this place. Oh, and don’t let the turkey vultures in the back parking lot scare you (they terrify me).

Killing Keto…

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We’re getting very creative with Keto. Last night we prepared an appetizer of Italian wedding soup, which strangely I’ve never made before. Honestly, this could have been a main course. It was hearty and flavorful and very satisfying.

I started this by making little baby meatballs. For my mixture I used diced onion, garlic powder, fresh chopped parsley, a beaten egg and…wait for it…crushed pork rind chips…which replaced breadcrumbs. The pork rinds that I’ve found locally that I like are these:

I simply put some pork rind chips in a Ziploc bag and crush them up using a mallet (or you can use a baking pin or wine bottle).

I roll these cuties into petite meatballs and put them on a wire rack over a cookie sheet and bake them for about 15 minutes at 350 degrees.

While the meatballs were cooking I sautéed some fresh chopped onion, celery and fresh parsley seasoned with salt, pepper and some red pepper flakes. I then added eight cups of water and 3 chicken broth cubes and let this come to a boil. When it was really rolling I tossed in the meatballs and lowered heat a bit. After five minutes, I added a full head of well cleaned and coarsely chopped escarole. I let this boil for another 5-7 minutes (or until the escarole is wilted but not mushy).

Voila! Low carb/keto Italian wedding soup! I plated this with a dash more of red pepper and a ton of grated cheese. It was excellent!

Apps, Nolacco style…

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Two of our favorite Sunday appetizers are fried cubed eggplant and zucchini flowers (I’ve mentioned in the past how hard the flowers are to find).  The eggplant is the brainchild of my hubby.  It’s simply cubed eggplant, dipped in scrambled egg, breaded in breadcrumbs, fried and salted. It’s so good, I forgot how much I liked eggplant until he started making this on Sundays.  The zucchini flowers are prepared similarly, dipped in egg then in flour (no breadcrumbs) and fried and salted.  Much to my horror after buying these at a farmer’s market once I found that several of the flowers had bees in them – so do check before frying them.  There are several recipes (and I’ve tried a few) that stuff the flowers with either ricotta or mozzarella.  I find that stuffing the flowers really overpowers the delicacy and earthiness of the flower, but to each her own.

Little dishes everywhere

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We often have a dinner of meze, tapas, small dishes, apps…whatever you call it – we love a dinner of many small plates to share. For Thanksgiving, there is no such thing as “small” anything. These are some of the appetizers we made this year: stuffed artichokes (full disclosure: my husband makes the crowd favorite artichoke…I still don’t know how that happened, but here we are), stromboli, sauteed rock shrimp (not always easy to find, but if you can DO IT!) and, the piece di resistance, sauteed zucchini flowers. These beauts are super hard to find, very seasonal and exceptionally fragile. I can always find them at Eataly in NYC (Flatiron) anytime of the year (they are imported from Israel) and during the late Spring at the Union Square farmer’s market. They only stay fresh for a day or two so you pretty much have to cook them immediately. If you want the 411 on how to purchase and prepare these yummies, send me a message and I’ll fill you in.