Cat Cora’s Kitchen

I love Greek food. It’s one of my favorite cuisines- I just love the flavor combinations and the freshness of most Greek inspired food. This past Sunday for Company Dinner it was Greek night, and for me that always means a big Greek salad at the very least. I wanted something a little different to accompany, and while I originally had been thinking pork or turkey tenderloin, I decided to peruse a yet-to-be used cookbook instead.

Cat Cora’s Kitchen is a gorgeous cookbook. Every single recipe looks really good and appetizing. My only problem with this book is that many of the recipes are daunting. There are several steps or long cooking processes. Overall though, it’s a keeper. Especially when the first recipe out of the gate is a winner.

Aegean Meatballs are excellent. A moist and flavorful meatball that was perfect for dunking in tzatziki, or would make excellent sandwiches in some pita bread. That is actually what the recipe called for, but since I didn’t feel like making pita this past weekend, we did without. (Since I learned to make it, store bought pales in comparison.) I followed Cat Cora’s recipe with three changes. One change I made was to eliminate the mint. I can’t stand mint in savory cooking, so instead I used oregano and parsley. The second change was that I didn’t use the egg. I was out, and another run to the store didn’t sound fun to me, so I just went ahead without- the meatballs still held together nicely. And the last change I made was to use far less oil than called for. Both in the meatballs and for cooking them. Instead of the 1/4 cup called for in the meatballs, I just added a healthy drizzle- maybe a tablespoon or so. And for cooking them up, I used a non-stick pan with a drizzle in the pan. Worked just fine, and I had no problems. Aegean Meatballs were excellent and will be a repeater here. You can also find my recipe for Tzatziki here as well.