Despidoodle

the digital alias of Despina Panagakos Yeargin

  • Roasted Cauliflower With Muhammara Sauce

    Roasted Cauliflower With Muhammara Sauce

    Want now? Click for the recipe. Friends Mike and Jennifer Sonntag introduced me to Muhammara sauce as a dip several years ago. Since then, I’ve taken their recipe and adapted it to suit my taste and needs. It’s good to have interesting friends who love to cook! Syria it is! We are told by numerous…

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  • Basic Baked Custard

    Basic Baked Custard

    My husband, Dewey, and I love custard as a pie, crustless in a ramekin, just with vanilla, also with a bit of lemon zest and so on. This is my favorite way to prepare custard—in ramekins. It comes together quickly, no crust to worry about, and you can get a multitude of things crossed off…

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  • Pickled Beets, Walnuts, Goat Cheese. Condiment or Salad

    Pickled Beets, Walnuts, Goat Cheese. Condiment or Salad

    Condiment or salad? At our house, we say salad, but we serve it in small bowls. What you call it and how you serve it in your home is entirely up to you. The printable recipe can be found here. Inspired by a Greek Heritage Kitchen recipe, which calls for using cooked beets and greens,…

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  • GREEK Goddess Dressing and More

    GREEK Goddess Dressing and More

    NOT A TYPO. I wanted to make my mark with a salad dressing, so I took inspiration from the justly famous Green Goddess dressing and turned it GREEK! It’s still green, but now it’s also Greek. To be clear,  this is in no way a traditional Greek recipe. This is a new recipe  inspired by…

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  • Strange Saladfellows

    Strange Saladfellows

    Asparagus. Goat cheese. Pine nuts. Strange bedfellows, or (as in this recipe) strange saladfellows! Indeed, but also quite delicious! Sometimes, the greatest challenge in developing a recipe is to work with what you have on hand, something like the Food Network’s popular show, Chopped. Dinner desperation is what I call the mood I was in…

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  • Clafoutis, the Dessert With a Catchy Name

    Clafoutis, the Dessert With a Catchy Name

    Clafoutis. Catchy name or confounding? Well, if you’re French, it just rolls off the tongue, but if you’re the rest of us, it kind of gets caught. So, catchy it is. How about Flaugnarde? Yes, an even catchier name. Recipe is very similar. And we have our own Dutch Baby Pancake, which is an Americanized…

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  • Bean Salad With Spunk

    Bean Salad With Spunk

      SPUNKY: Creamy, crunchy, sharp, assertive. What makes a spunky? It’s the clean and interesting flavors. Not hot or spicy. Spunky! It’s the assertiveness of the vinegar, the crunch of the fennel against the creamy texture of the beans and the saltiness of the cheese. And let’s not forget nutrition. Beyond the protein and fiber…

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  • GrecoSoCo Grits & Black-Eyed Pea Gravy

    GrecoSoCo Grits & Black-Eyed Pea Gravy

    Another Greek Heritage Cooking and Southern food MASH UP! Another GrecoSoCo recipe. This time it’s my favorite grits, Jimmy Red Corn, and the Greek black-eyed pea soup that I love and turned into a soupy stew, a.k.a. gravy. Meat sauce or vegan gravy? Recently we had invited friends Angela and Charles to dinner. They are…

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  • Essential Pots & Pans

    Essential Pots & Pans

    Recently, my stepdaughter Tara asked me for cookware recommendations. She’s had a full set of a popular brand that her mother gifted her about twenty years ago. Today she’s looking to replace this set. Maybe you’re in the market also? If so, read on. This is not my kitchen. It’s a photo I took during…

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  • Independent Recipes

    Independent Recipes

    Today is Saturday, July 2nd. It’s not the Fourth of July, but the holiday that celebrates independence also promotes independence, so some people are celebrating with food and fireworks today. I imagine that it suits others to gather and grill on Sunday, July 3rd. That’s fine. We’re talking about a country of independent people, minds,…

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