Twin Tastes - - Page 3

by Twin Tastes

Spanakopita Spawns a Salad

Spanakopita—spinach and cheese pie encased in phyllo dough—is our absolute favorite Greek dish. So for summer, we decided to create a potato salad inspired by spanakopita. To celebrate our yiayia’s famous pastry, we mixed the savory, cheesy filling with warm, garlicy roasted potatoes. The addition of kalamata olives, sundried tomatoes and fresh dill adds color while keeping the Greek theme and further amplifying the tasty side.

While spanakopita is notoriously a labor-intensive dish, this potato salad is an easy, foolproof side for any summer BBQ.

Spanakopita Potato Salad

by Twin Tastes

Not Your Typical Burger

We have to say that with all of our travels, there’s nothing better than returning home to an all-American burger. Whether you’re indulging in a juicy beef burger hot off the grill, or an extravagant veggie burger stocked with funky toppings, the first bite is pure bliss.

To add a Spanish spin to a summer BBQ, we created a burger featuring three of our absolute favorite tapas staples: Manchego cheese, chorizo and roasted red peppers. The finely-chopped chorizo adds a smoky intensity to a classic Angus beef burger, and we sprinkle a layer of sharp Manchego cheese on top. Finely, we substitute classic ketchup with a staple in Catalan cooking: romesco sauce.

We are obsessed with romesco and will put it on anything. If you find yourself with extra sauce, try spreading it on a grilled baguette for a quick and impressive appetizer, use it as a spicy dip for cocktail shrimp, or drizzle it atop grilled chicken or fish. You can’t beat this fiery pesto!

Spanish-Style Chorizo and Romesco Burgers with Manchego Cheese

in Cheese / Recipe / Red Meat / Sandwich 2 comments

by Twin Tastes

Eyes Before Taste Buds: Panzanella Salad

Sure, it’s great when food tastes good, but any food blogger will tell you that what’s really important is presentation. Colorful, vibrant food is instantly appealing. Looking at a wall of penny candy or a heaping bowl of fruit, you are mesmerized by the abundance of color. If it’s appealing to the eye, it must be appealing to your taste buds, right? We felt this way when we first created this summery, visually enticing side dish. Panzanella salad, a classic Tuscan summer dish, celebrates fresh garden produce.

Classic panzanella incorporates stale, unsalted Tuscan bread. Since we do not keep stale bread on hand (who doesn’t finish bread before it goes stale?) we decided to char a fresh French baguette. The toasted baguette inside the dish absorbs the vinaigrette while maintaining its crunch alongside the fresh cubed vegetables. The married flavors are a kaleidoscope of color and texture.

Panzanella Salad

in Recipe / Veggie 2 comments

by Twin Tastes

Towering Food: Greek Eggplant Stacks

The eggplant is a vegetable famous for its glossy, deep purple beauty. With its pleasantly spongy texture and mild flavor, it complements any ingredient. Looking at the tear-dropped gem, we got creative and brainstormed whether to take an Italian route incorporating mozzarella and basil, an Indian route with curry and raisins, or a Thai route with spicy basil and coconut milk. Ultimately, we opted for a Greek-inspired stack. The salty, briny feta paired perfectly with the mellow eggplant. To add some pop in taste and color, we layered sautéed spinach and tomato sauce.s

When we prepare food, we almost always have the same vision. This time around, we had slightly different approaches, so decided to each make our own layered stack. While the eggplant towers both follow the same recipe, they differ slightly in presentation.

Eggplant, Spinach, Tomato and Feta Stack

in Cheese / Personal / Recipe / Veggie 1 comments

by Twin Tastes

A Dashing Brie

Twin Tastes here. For those of you who enjoyed our Cyprus-inspired melty cheese, here is another sweet and savory appetizer with a major KICK.

We first created the oozing brie after touring the Ryan & Wood Distilleries in historic Gloucester, MA. After sampling the copper-colored rum, our minds churned with ideas for how we could incorporate the dark, robust flavor in cooking. To tie in our New England routes, we incorporated Vermont maple syrup. Cooking down the rum with the maple syrup subdues the intense, robust flavor and creates a subtle, sweet, caramel-like topping for the buttery wedge of cheese. To add a little texture, we stirred in some toasted pecans. The firm spicy ginger snaps and tangy apple slices hold up to the incredible mess of the luscious wedge.

Rum, Maple and Pecan Topped Brie

in Cheese / Featured / Recipe 1 comments

by Twin Tastes

Complementary Colors, Complementary Tastes

With an artist for a mom, we tend to think that the aesthetic presentation is equally as important as the taste. She always taught us that when red and green or purple and yellow or blue and orange are paired together in a work of art, the contrast intensifies the presentation. Like complementary flavors, complementary colors excite a dish.

So here’s a Mothers Day recipe that will impress Mom no both sight and taste levels. White fish is like a blank canvas. It’s delicious but has no range of color. To add dimension to a swordfish dish, we added slivered red onions (purple) served atop a base of sweet spaghetti squash (yellow). The resulting dinner was both visually enticing and delicious!

Baked Swordfish with Red Onion and Caper Relish over Sauteed Spaghetti Squash

in Fish / Holiday / Photos 0 comments

by Twin Tastes

An Olive Even Olive-Haters Will Love

Personally, we love all kinds of marinated olives, from Spanish to Greek to Italian. While we always seek out olives on a tapas menu and could eat a whole bowl in one sitting, many people are turned off by the pungent taste and slippery texture. So to transform these briny orbs into something even olive-haters could enjoy, we decided to fry them and serve them with a creamy aioli.

The crispy, salty marbles maintain everything that is right about an olive, and add a little fried bready goodness to boot. These will disappear quickly, so make sure to plan ahead if serving for a crowd…

Fried Green Olives

in Featured / Recipe / Veggie 3 comments

« Previous