A Mother's Love on Every Plate: Gus Constantellis Interview about His New Book My Greek Mom's Recipes

When a mother is gone, her recipes often become the most beautiful way we remember her love. In this heartfelt episode, we celebrate the brand-new cookbook My Greek Mom’s Recipes: She Died. I Wrote This Cookbook by comedian and food storyteller Gus Constantellis. Gus shares how cooking his late mother Julia’s village-style Greek dishes helped him heal and honor her memory. Through laughter and tender reflection, he shows us how food nourishes the body, calms the mind, and lifts the spirit long after the cook has left the kitchen.

Visit the Gloria Goodtaste website to view the full stories and available recipes highlighted in this podcast with pictures and additional info to further enjoy this episode.  Go to: https://www.gloriagoodtaste.com

Photo credit - Sheneur Menaker

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Hello everyone, and welcome to Food for Body, Mind, and Spirit. I'm Gloria Good Taste, joined as always by my co-host Tech Towns.

SPEAKER_05 0:24

Today we're exploring a very special thing. A mother's love at every place.

SPEAKER_00 0:37

In this heart episode, we celebrate a brand new cookbook. My Greek mother's recipe died. I wrote this cookbook. I committed a food storytellers. Simple ingredients.

SPEAKER_05 1:27

That's right. And we're so excited to bring you Gus's interview right now. Let's listen in as Gloria sits down with Gus Gusta Telling.

SPEAKER_00 1:38

Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited. Okay. Well, now I understand that you enjoy storytelling and discover stand up at NYU talent show. Now, were these qualities you had from the time you were little?

SPEAKER_01 1:53

Yeah, absolutely. I grew up around a very funny family, and like my parents are definitely characters, and so I've definitely taken a lot from them. So I definitely learned how to be funny early in life as a way to like get people on my side. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:08

Great. Well, I know growing up in Brooklyn in a Greek immigrant family had to be very interesting, right? Can you tell us just a little bit about that experience?

SPEAKER_01 2:19

Yeah, absolutely. Um, my mom, you know, she was in America for 42 years and she didn't speak any English. She she never learned English, she never wanted to learn English, so I was like the translator for the family. I mean, my brothers were too, but I had to like help her around and navigate and translate for her. So uh it was like, and we also grew up around a lot of different immigrant communities, and so like it was not really strange for me growing up, but as I got older, I realized how like much out of the norm we were, really. Uh, especially my mom not speaking the language. Um, but it was a very interesting experience because we got to go back to Greece every summer to visit family and friends, and while like everyone in America thought we were going to like Greece, like Mikinos or Stanzerini, we were going to like my mom's village in the middle of nowhere. Like it wasn't like a nice, beautiful family vacation. It was like we're just gonna go see my cousins in the village, and uh so that was like always fun to do in the summer. So, yeah, it was an interesting, unique childhood that like as I've gotten older, I've really begun to appreciate.

SPEAKER_00 3:21

Now, before comedy, you had a very successful career writing for children's television. Did you really enjoy doing that experience?

SPEAKER_01 3:29

Yeah, it was really great. I always wanted to write for television, and so I was glad I got to do it through that means. I wrote for like a bunch of really cool shows, one of them being Gabby's Dollhouse, which was really successful for Netflix. And I think they just had a movie with Kristen Wig last year, which was really cool. Um, I didn't work on the movie, but it was fun to work on that show. It was from the same creators uh of Boo's Blues, and it was a really great experience. I also got to write an episode for Rugrats, like the reboot that they did on Paramount Plus. This was really fun because I grew up on that show, so I got to like be a part of it in some way. Um but yeah, it was great. The first show I ever worked on was The Lime Guard, and that was Lion King spinoff. So it was it was just great. I had a great, like, fun time doing it, and the people in the in the community are really great.

SPEAKER_00 4:17

All right. Well now let's talk a little bit about your love of food, especially Greek food. How did your family celebrate special occasions?

SPEAKER_02 4:26

Um, with as much food as humanly possible.

SPEAKER_01 4:29

Like I think she was with my mom, where I'm like, What'd you make today? And it's two minutes just her listing things, and you're like, what else? What's going on in here? Um, but it wasn't just even like special occasions, it was like daily and weekly. Like it was always home-cooked meals. Like my mom would like take one day off from cooking so she could like clean the whole house, and that was it. Um, but like we always had food in the refrigerator. So, and on special occasions, it was just that like we made special things. Like we we would do uh a full lamb on the spit outside roasted in our backyard pre-Easter, and then for my my nephew's birthday after when he got born, and any holiday that we felt fit. Um, and so it was always lamb, it was always like lots of food, lots of like just potatoes everywhere, and so it was I don't know, and then also just stuff with lots of desserts. So like special occasions are very dessert-they in Greek culture, I find. So it's like you're gonna get your cookies and your and your and your big walnut cakes and things like that, which is great.

SPEAKER_00 5:30

So, did you find yourself using your mom's recipes in your own kitchen when you went on your own?

SPEAKER_01 5:36

Oh yeah, absolutely. Like the first year I left home, I was like missing her meatballs, and so I called her and I was like, I gotta make these meatballs. I'm in Los Angeles, I'm too far away from home, so can you just teach me how to make them? And she taught me how to do it over the phone. And so when I would go back and forth living in LA, I would like learn one or two things here and there, and like after a while, like I got to know how to like make my favorite things of hers, which was great.

SPEAKER_00 6:00

Uh-huh. And do you think that those kind of recipes really bring the family closer together? Did you find that happening in your family?

SPEAKER_01 6:08

Oh, yeah, absolutely. Especially now that she's gone, we really uh we we find connection through that. Like, I made the meatballs for my grand for her grandkids, my niece and nephew once, and uh they like, you know, the fact that they even ate them, I was like, okay, they must be similar to to grandma's. This is great. So it was it's nice to have that like memor like memory of a of a connection to things like that, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:31

And how did you ever find yourself a s like a star on social media?

SPEAKER_01 6:36

That was truly through impersonating my Greek mom. I like a blonde wig and I started just doing like these funny impersonations of her, and it just took off one Easter during like the pandemic, uh, that first Easter, it just popped off. I posted it on on like all social media platforms and it went viral like on every single one of them.

SPEAKER_04 6:57

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 6:57

It's one of those weeks. Yeah, I know. It was crazy. It just it like it really was just a good piece of content. Like it went like so viral, and I got to like 10,000 followers that that like weekend. And then after that, it was just, you know, you keep on working at it and you keep on churning out these videos.

SPEAKER_00 7:15

Isn't that something you must have been really surprised at that?

SPEAKER_01 7:19

Yeah, because at that point I was kind of even sick of doing those videos. I was like, oh, this is not really taking off. I think I'll stop doing this, and then boom, it is.

SPEAKER_00 7:29

Surprise, right?

SPEAKER_02 7:30

Yes, surprise. Here you go.

SPEAKER_00 7:33

Well, with Mother's Day right around the corner, let's just talk a little bit about your new cookbook. My Greek mom's recipes. You know, that seems like such a beautiful tribute to a very loving mother. Why did you decide that this was like the perfect way to honor your mom?

SPEAKER_01 7:51

Because she didn't speak the language, the way that she found connection with people that didn't speak Greek were her food. Like the way that she connected with my friends was through food, and her daughter-in-law, and her other and and then her future daughter-in-law, and then so she truly and with my boyfriend, so she truly only connected to these people through food because she didn't have language. And uh, so it was always an important part of our lives, but it also an important part of her life and the way that she found value because I think some of sometimes in her life she she kind of felt stuck because she didn't know the language and she felt like she didn't have as many opportunities, and this was her way of being like, I have this beautiful thing that I can offer the world. And so to be able to like tell her story with her recipes was very special to me, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:40

Well, now losing your mom had to really be di very difficult for you. How did, you know, sharing those recipes and those memories with others, how did that really make help you to heal over this?

SPEAKER_01 8:54

You know, I would sit and write every day and like for like two or three hours, and then I would just like get it all out, and then I would feel so sad that I would like go for a walk. And uh and it really that was it. It was like me just sitting and reflecting with it every day was the thing that made me grieve. And like putting it on a page, like it it really took time to like fine-tune everything, but like it was in all the fine-tuning that I was able to like really express kind of all the different parts of grief in those first two years.

SPEAKER_00 9:23

Uh-huh. Well, how many recipes really are included in your book?

SPEAKER_01 9:28

So it's 75, and then there's 75 stories that accompany each recipe.

SPEAKER_00 9:32

Oh, okay. Now, many of your viral TikToks, okay, and comedy bits are kind of based on caring classical Greek mom, right? Now, which recipe feels like the most would be food for your soul to you?

SPEAKER_01 9:51

Ooh, I think it would probably be like a lamb roast with sun and potatoes, a nice Greek salad, and then like for dinner for for dessert, you would make like a slice of you know, walnut cake with syrup. It's like made with cinnamon cloves in it. It's really nice and just very like homey.

SPEAKER_00 10:12

Oh, now does that take a long time to make?

SPEAKER_01 10:16

The cake? No, actually, no, it's quite easy. You just make the battery you stick it in the oven for like, you know, 45, and then it's it's quite easy, yeah. Lamb, the lamb takes a while. The lamb will take like two or three hours. You have to be quite diligent, you have to make sure it's not drying out, you know. It's you really have to like be washing it and making sure it's it's good. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's really that's the tough part, but the but the walnut cake is not.

SPEAKER_00 10:37

The walnut cake is not, okay. Well, now tell me tell me why the walnut cake is not. I think it's take a long time. It's a simple battery and you put everything, you know, you just mix everything together, you put it in the oven.

unknown 10:48

It's it's quite and it's just that's it. And the syrup is very forgiving.

SPEAKER_00 10:53

Uh what kind of syrup is it?

SPEAKER_01 10:55

It's uh it's just sugar water, it's just a very simple syrup, and then you just drizzle it on all the way over it.

SPEAKER_00 11:00

And it doesn't have any Greek touches to it?

SPEAKER_01 11:04

Um, there is cinnamon and cloves in it, which is very quite nice.

SPEAKER_00 11:08

Oh, okay. It's not too spicy though, right?

SPEAKER_01 11:12

No, no, no. It's just a moist, lovely cake. It's so nice.

SPEAKER_00 11:16

And then what do you do? Sprinkle walnuts on top of it?

SPEAKER_01 11:20

Yes, you can. That's optional, but uh my mom did not do that. She would put a like she would cut it into diamonds and then she would put a single clove in the middle of each slice.

SPEAKER_00 11:29

Oh, I like that. Yes. That's nice. Well, do you see your mom's no fuss recipes kind of fitting into a modern time though? You know, they usually take so much time, and and people who look at recipes say, oh, I want to do them faster. Do you see that as a problem?

SPEAKER_01 11:48

No, I don't because I I'm not a chef and I'm not a cook, like a professional cook in any way. So I was able to do this, and I was able to pull these things off, and I've been able to like get even in just the you know, two, three years that she's been gone, like I've been able to get so much better at so many things.

unknown 12:06

So this is a very accessible cookbook for people.

SPEAKER_00 12:09

Oh, alright. Now you have to be able to describe your mom to me. Okay, so I want to know a little bit about about your mom. Tell me about her.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

She was like, I mean, it's it's she was kind of the life of every party. Like she really knew, like, when she would like be with her with her friends and her Greeks, like she would be the one making jokes, the one always messing around with people. Like her goal was to make people laugh. Like she probably would have been a stand-up comedian if she you know did speak the language. Um but she was also truly like the most hardworking person I've ever met in my life. Like, she wouldn't stop. And she she made you feel lazy for just existing. Like she just would always be on the run somewhere doing something and like taking care of somebody at every single moment. And so she just knew how to like fear everybody and like knew the little nuances of everybody and kind of like where they stood in in a way that felt deep and but like and you just didn't know when it was coming, because you kind of expected her to be like, Oh, you don't speak the language, you don't know what we're talking about in the room, but she knew everything, she was really, really smart, and I don't know, just always the funniest person in the room. So, and like even when I started filming her, I could tell that she was like, I don't want to do this, but then eventually she was like, No, no, no, no, no. I want to say some funny ass shit to these people now. And I thought that was, I don't know, really lovely.

SPEAKER_00 13:31

Uh-huh. She sounds like just the person that I'd like to meet. Yeah, yeah. Well, well, well, tell me, what is one of your favorite recipes to make? Absolutely favorite. Not the lamb. Okay, your favorite recipes. You know, something really different.

SPEAKER_01 13:48

What's that walnut cake? I I you know what I love. She she makes the spaghetti bolonese that is so good. We call it Macaronia Mekima, and it's uh a bolonet sauce that's made with cinnamon, and it is so good. It is so delicious, and uh I make that all the time, and that's really good. And there's also a spinach rice dish in there that I make exactly like her that is really nice called.

SPEAKER_00 14:12

Oh, what is it called? Alright. Well tell me a little bit about that dish. Is it creamy? Is it uh chunky?

SPEAKER_01 14:25

Fanokorizo is uh a lot of spinach, like a ton of spinach, and a bit of rice, and you make uh you put some tomato sauce, uh-huh, and you cut up some you cut up some leeks and some dill, and you mix that all together with some water, salt, and pepper, and it just you let it simmer for like an hour, and it is so delicious.

SPEAKER_00 14:45

Oh, that that does sound pretty good.

SPEAKER_01 14:48

It's really good. Very healthy, yeah. It was also like one of the only healthy things I would eat as a kid, so my mom was so happy.

SPEAKER_00 14:56

Well, now let's look at the bad stuff, the desserts. Your absolute favorite dessert besides the walnut cake.

SPEAKER_01 15:04

Oh, I'm trying to think. I really love so for Christmas, we make these almond shortbread cookies that are like drizzled in powdered sugar called cura piedes, and they're so good.

SPEAKER_00 15:16

Okay, you're gonna have to tell me more about those.

SPEAKER_01 15:20

Yeah, so they're almond shortbread cookies. Um you put in, they're also made with a little bit of uzo. I don't know if you've ever had uzo.

SPEAKER_00 15:29

Yep, yep.

SPEAKER_01 15:31

It kind of tastes like licorice, yeah. There's a little bit of that in there. So with the almond and the shortbread, it just makes it so, so good. They're like crumbly, but they melt completely in your mouth. And then there's just powdered sugar on top that just makes it just like the extra step of like bad for you, uh, but so good. Um, but yeah, I like the object.

SPEAKER_00 15:51

Oh. That sounds delightful. Sounds like a really great kind of cookie to save for Christmas time.

SPEAKER_02 15:58

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:59

Did was it served at Christmas time?

SPEAKER_02 16:02

Yeah, it was. It's it's a Christmas cookie, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:05

Oh, that that is really neat. Well what about if I was having a Greek party now and I wanted to have and make Greek dishes? All right. What kind of things should I serve at this Greek party?

SPEAKER_01 16:20

I mean, if you wanted some appetizers, you should definitely do some pia bread with a zaziki sauce and probably like uh there's a spicy feta uh dip in the uh book called Firo Caferi that is really good. And uh that's exactly what it is. It's just a spicy feta dip and made with like roasted red peppers. And then uh if you wanted, you could do the eggplant dips. You could have a trio of dips, which is really nice, and then uh maybe you can make some. There's these like zucchini fritters in the book called Coloquipo Kiftebes. That's a real mouthful, let me tell you. But uh, that's really good. These are zucchini fritters that are made with uh zucchini and feta and a few herbs, and they're so delicious, and they're fried.

SPEAKER_00 17:08

That sounds easy.

SPEAKER_01 17:10

Oh yeah, they're really easy to make.

SPEAKER_02 17:11

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:13

Okay. Because sometimes the the fried foods are kind of difficult to make at home, but these would be kind of easy, right?

SPEAKER_01 17:21

Yes, they are. You know, you just have a you just need a deep pan and about like a like a quarter or a half cup of oil. These are fritters, they're not no, they're not quite balls, but they're a little bit flatter. So on a frying pan, they're they're easy to flip and it's it's they're easy.

SPEAKER_00 17:35

Oh, okay. Now what about the what about the rest of it? What about some drinks? What would I serve for my drinks?

SPEAKER_01 17:41

Oh, drinks, so I have um, you know, it's funny, I have a couple of cocktails in the book that are are quite nice. Um there's this Greek liquor called mastisa that is made, it's like mastic, uh, if you've ever seen like in a recipe anything mastic, gum or something like that. Um it's made from like the sap tree of this tree in Cyprus, and it is really delicious. It's not like oozo, it has a different taste that I think is honestly better, and it makes for like a really nice cocktail to serve. And um, yeah, yeah, it's really nice. And then um I don't know, if you wanted to do like a coffee, you could do like a frappe or something like that. That's like a an easy Greek instant coffee thing.

SPEAKER_00 18:22

Mm-hmm. Well what sounds like I'm all ready for my party.

SPEAKER_01 18:27

Yeah, exactly. And then I think for your mains, you should probably just make a big pasticho.

SPEAKER_00 18:32

Oh, what's that?

SPEAKER_01 18:33

Pasticho is a it's kind of like a big ziti. It's pasta with a meat sauce and beige chamel sauce on top.

SPEAKER_00 18:42

Ooh. All right. It sounds like your cookbook is gonna be on my shelf.

SPEAKER_02 18:49

Excellent. I'm so happy.

SPEAKER_00 18:51

Well now, if I said to you, hey, make making meatballs is so difficult, how would you change my mind?

SPEAKER_01 19:03

Um, it's funny because my my mom would my mom would be so just like, you don't know if I can pick meatballs and you're useless, but I because she was just so funny. But I think I think it would be something like honestly, I what I would say is get a food processor.

unknown 19:25

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 19:26

I'll tell you why, because I was cutting things up, I was doing it the old-fashioned way for a long time, because that's how my mom did it. And then one day I got a fruit processor and I was like, wow, it really is so much easier doing everything with this little ninja. And it made my life so much easier, and I was like, I don't know, this is this is really a game changer. So I would say like you have to start to get the right tools for yourself. Because I didn't have them for a while and I was doing it the old-fashioned way. Uh-huh. Just I got some tools for myself, it made things a lot easier.

SPEAKER_00 19:51

Oh, so it's gonna make my husband really happy to hear he's gonna be buying me some new tools, right?

SPEAKER_01 19:57

Yes, exactly. Get everything you need as long as you feel like a professional.

SPEAKER_00 20:03

Uh-huh. Well, now I understand that your book has lots of personal anecdotes, all right? And I want you to share one of your anecdotes that are funny with me.

SPEAKER_01 20:16

Ooh. I have a really funny one. So, okay.

SPEAKER_00 20:19

Um, you know, immigrant parents, uh, they they have so my immigrant parents, they keep things in random places.

SPEAKER_01 20:27

Like, you know, instead of like there's this, there's these like cookies containers, these like metal tins, and in every immigrant household, I guarantee you those metal tins are probably filled with like sewing equipment, uh, used batteries, just anything you wish for. Um, and like there was little things like that throughout the house where my mom would be like, okay, well, I'm gonna use this like old container of this to keep all these brushes, and then I'm gonna use this to keep this. And in our shower, she used to keep uh polio ricotta cheese container to hold all the sponges in our shower. And I was like, it was there for so long. It was always there that it even started to fade the whole thing. And I went back recently to my dad's house, now you know, in my parents' house, and I went to take a shower. It was like Christmas and I stayed the night, and I went to take a shower, and I was like, is the stupid ripata container still in here from like 20 years ago? This is crazy. And so I decided to take this like blue container of hers that she kept her feta cheese in, and now I use that for my cheese. It's kind of like this generational container thing.

SPEAKER_00 21:38

That's cute. That's really nice. Yeah. Thank you. Well, what message do you really hope that readers are gonna take away from your book?

SPEAKER_01 21:46

You know, I think that it's gonna really help people that have lost a parent, and I think it's really gonna help people that have a complicated relationship with their parent. But I also think it's gonna help people that haven't lost a parent yet either. I think it's gonna help people that like

SPEAKER_00 22:10

It has been such fun just talking to you, and I really appreciate you giving all this input to for our listeners. And it's been great chatting with you.

SPEAKER_01 22:24

Thank you so much for having me. This is awesome.

SPEAKER_00 22:27

Okay, thank you. Welcome back, everyone. What a beautiful and moving conversation with Gus. You know, his stories about his mom Julia, they just really touched my heart.

SPEAKER_05 22:42

Absolutely. And now let's take a closer look at four wonderful recipes straight from his new book that we all can try at home. First up, macarino pita.

SPEAKER_00 22:56

Oh, and you know what that is? That's macaroni cheese pie. That has to be everyone's favorite dish. Because this is a classic Greek comfort food that layers tender baccatini, pasta, creamy feta, and eggs between flaky phyllo sheets. It's easy to prepare, always a crowd pleaser, so perfect for family meals or informal gatherings.

SPEAKER_05 23:29

Those phyllo sheets can be a problem, right, Gloria?

SPEAKER_00 23:32

They certainly can be. And you know what most cooks really forget? They forget how to treat the phylodil. And if you take it out or get it from the store, in fact, it will usually be frozen. And you can't do that until you defrost it. There's the first problem, okay? So you need to make sure you have it defrosted. The second thing is after you start using them, the first sheet will come off nicely, and you go and you use it, forgetting that there are other sheets there. Now, what happens to the other sheets?

SPEAKER_05 24:15

They dry out.

SPEAKER_00 24:16

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 24:17

And what happens when they lose their moisture?

SPEAKER_00 24:19

Crack up.

SPEAKER_05 24:21

And have you have incomplete phyllo sheets?

SPEAKER_00 24:24

Really? So phyllo dough, you really have to treat correctly. And the best thing to do is make sure that you defrost it. Second one, make sure that when you open the box and you take it the first sheet out, that you have a damp cloth that you cover the rest constantly with. So when you take the next sheet, cover it up again. Then guess what? You will not have any problems, and it will be an easy dish to prepare.

SPEAKER_05 24:56

And when you take it out of the freezer and put it in the refrigerator to defrost, do it a little bit ahead of time.

SPEAKER_00 25:02

Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 25:02

Don't try to rush it.

SPEAKER_00 25:04

No. You're absolutely correct. We've made every one of those mistakes, haven't we?

SPEAKER_05 25:11

Authoritarian comments.

SPEAKER_00 25:13

Okay. All right. What's the next one he shared with us?

SPEAKER_05 25:18

Kolakitakaya and Tigrinina.

SPEAKER_00 25:21

Oh my goodness, that's a mouthful. And the simple name is Greek fried zucchini crisp.

SPEAKER_05 25:30

That sounds a lot easier to me.

SPEAKER_00 25:32

It certainly does.

SPEAKER_05 25:33

Kola kita kara and tikarara.

SPEAKER_00 25:36

Well, these transform simple zucchini rounds into golden crunchy bits of deliciousness. You dredge them in seasoned flour, eggs, and breadcrumbs. That's not too hard. That's kind of like, you know, coating chicken or coating any of the pork chops and things that you make. So that'll be easy. And then you just fry them until they're brown. So that's pretty simple. They're best served warm with classic Greek dips like normally served with Greek gyro sandwiches. Or what else can we put? Spicy feta?

SPEAKER_05 26:16

Cheese.

SPEAKER_00 26:17

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_05 26:18

Okay, make sure it's spicy feta. So it has a little kick.

SPEAKER_00 26:22

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 26:23

An eggplant dip.

SPEAKER_00 26:25

Right.

SPEAKER_05 26:26

And lastly suggest fish row di uh dip. Never had it.

SPEAKER_00 26:32

I haven't had that one.

SPEAKER_05 26:32

I've had fish row, but not dip.

SPEAKER_00 26:34

Not the dip, right. So that would be a new something that we could try.

SPEAKER_05 26:38

Right.

SPEAKER_00 26:39

Such is an easy and authentic Mediterranean experience.

SPEAKER_05 26:45

Well. The whole trick is the slicing of the chips. They must be uniform. The easiest way to do that is with a mandolin slicer. But you got to be careful that you don't slice your fingers. So there are many slicers on the market. Some are very safe and some are naked.

SPEAKER_00 27:06

Oh, that sounds wild.

SPEAKER_05 27:08

Well, you need gloves to protect your fingers. So when you're slicing, you get close to the knife, you're not going to cut your fingers, you're going to cut the zucchini. But the big thing is to get them even. So they fry even and they bite even and they cook even. If you don't, you're going to have some burnt ones and you're going to have some juicy ones.

SPEAKER_00 27:27

So having something to help you slice them is a good idea.

SPEAKER_05 27:31

Right.

SPEAKER_00 27:32

Second thing you have to watch with this kind this kind of recipe is what kind of zucchini are you going to be using? You know, zucchini comes in different slices.

SPEAKER_05 27:45

Different sizes.

SPEAKER_00 27:46

Well, sizes and sizes. So if you have a big, big one from the garden, that's not going to work very good. If you have a little teeny baby one, that won't work good either. So you need the one that's right in the middle.

SPEAKER_05 28:03

And you have to get twins. Or triplets. Depending how many zucchini slices you want to make. But they all should look the same, the same size, the same diameter. So they all, when they slice up, they're like potato chips. They're all pretty uniform.

SPEAKER_00 28:18

Mm-hmm. If you do those couple of things, actually this recipe is quite easy to make because it really will take little, and most of the times you'll be able to pick up at most grocery stores the medium-sized zucchinis that would be just about the right size to make chips out of. So that should work for them, I think.

SPEAKER_05 28:41

Right. And our next recipe is T Roll Caftiri.

SPEAKER_00 28:46

Ah, that spicy feta dip. Mmm. This irresistible Greek appetizer brings a zesty kick to any table. It's made by blending tangy feta cheese with fresh chili pepper. Ooh, that makes it a little bit hot. Okay. Fire roasted red peppers that gives that that smokiness. And a touch of garlic. Well, the result is a smooth, spicy spread that's both bold and comforting. You know, you could serve this with warm pita, fried zucchini chips, and fresh veggies. It's kind of like Mediterranean magic at a party.

SPEAKER_05 29:32

It reminds me of a jacuri plate. You put the zip in the center and you can put your vegetables and cheeses and and uh meats, sliced meats all the way around it. So, I mean, if you want to call it the dip is the center part, but you can do your ad lib on the outside part.

SPEAKER_00 29:50

And then you'll be able to make those nice Greek fried zucchini chips to go with it too. Right. That's a good thing. I like the two of those together.

SPEAKER_05 30:00

Yeah, they work well.

SPEAKER_00 30:02

Absolutely. I'm glad he shared both of those recipes.

SPEAKER_05 30:06

And now we have Avgoli Mimono chicken lumbe lemon soup.

SPEAKER_00 30:10

Mmm, this is a classic and comforting dish filled with rich tangy broth and tender chicken. It's carefully blended with egg and lemon to create a silky texture that complements the delicate flavors of the chicken without overpowering them. It's quite easy to prepare, always a family favorite, and it brings the warm taste of Greek tradition right to your table.

SPEAKER_05 30:40

It reminds me of chicken noodle soup without the noodles that my mom used to make and squirt some lemon juice into it.

SPEAKER_00 30:48

That's interesting. Can you think of any problem with that one? Leftovers, maybe. But you know, I think there's a great answer to that. If you have any of the soup left over, you could probably use it as a great pasta sauce. It has all the right things in it to do that with.

SPEAKER_05 31:12

Right.

SPEAKER_00 31:13

Because it has that nice tangy chicken that would be in there a little bit, and it would have the silky texture. So guess what? Leftovers? Wonderful, right?

SPEAKER_05 31:26

Right.

SPEAKER_00 31:29

Okay. So now we've had what, four recipes?

SPEAKER_05 31:34

Straight from Gus's book?

SPEAKER_00 31:35

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_05 31:36

Which is a heartfelt tribute to his mother?

SPEAKER_00 31:39

Absolutely. Well, all four recipes come straight from the Gus's heartfelt tribute to his mom. And they remind us that when we cook the recipes that we inherit, we're feeding more than just our bodies. We're feeding our hearts, our souls, and we're feeding all those memories that we have.

SPEAKER_05 32:02

If you would like full recipes and instructions, head over to GloriaGoodtaste.com. We've posted them all there for you to try this week. And of course, if you want more recipes, pick up a copy of Gus's book, which is available now.

SPEAKER_00 32:16

Absolutely. Thank you for joining us on this special episode. We hope these stories and recipes bring a little extra warmth and love into your kitchen. And I'm Gloria Good Taste.

SPEAKER_05 32:30

And I'm Tuck Tom.

SPEAKER_00 32:32

And wishing you good food, good health, and good spirit. See you next time on Food for Body, Mind and Spirit. And remember, always put a little good taste in your life.