Good Greek!

One of the things I’m trying to do is cook more.  A little more than a year ago, I worked myself into a nasty kidney infection and vertigo.  It took months for the vertigo to go away, and during that time my boyfriend and I got into the habit of ordering food since I was too sick to cook and he too tired.  But now, one  year later, we’re stuck in the same pattern, and at this point its sheer laziness on my part (seeing as I’m the one without a job.)  Of course I still have days that I feel really sick (fibromyalgia problems, the vertigo comes back when I have a cold), but that’s no excuse to not cook the times I am feeling well.  But at the same time, fibromyalgia is a difficult balancing act: if I stress my body a little to hard one day, it makes me useless the next (and if it’s really bad, the day after.)  With fibromyalgia and gluten sensitivity, everything thing you do has to be taken slow whether you like it or not.  So I’m still not going to cook every meal, but am instead setting my goal of cooking two nights a week.  I can do two nights a week.

I decided to try my hand at Greek food since it is really effective against my reactive hypoglycemia (part of fibro) and my boyfriend is part Greek.  Win-win.  So I picked up How to Roast a Lamb: new greek classic cooking by Michael Psilakis, mainly because it had a recipe for Avgolemono Soup, the one dish my boyfriend and I (and his mother) have horrendously failed at every single time.

Ironically, Avgolemono Soup is one of our favorite dishes and a staple of every Greek restaurant visit.  For those of you that haven’t tried it, it’s kind of like the Greek equivalent of Chicken and Rice Soup.  It’s chicken broth mixed with egg-lemon sauce (very common in Greek cooking) and either rice or orzo.  Next time you’re at your neighborhood Greek restaurant, try it (I have yet to see a decent Greek restaurant that doesn’t have it.)

Last night I did not feel daring enough to make the Avgolemono and opted for “Pasta with Kima (meat sauce)” instead.  Although some recipes in the book are quite challenging (like roasting whole lamb on a spit), this one was quite easy and yummy.  I am no stranger to homemade pasta sauces; when I was a teenager, I often had dinner with my Italian neighbor and her family.  But this sauce was unlike anything I had tasted before.  I am used to Italian sauces, in which the tomato flavor freshly zings you tongue and is then followed by the meat.  With the greek tomato sauce, everything harmoniously combined to form a single flavor identity that was both savory and sweet.  A real treat!

Pasta with Kima

If you’re ever in the area, try Greek Islands.  It is the best Greek restaurant I’ve ever been to, and is certainly one of the best (if not the best) in the Chicago.

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