Thursday Sips & Nibbles

I am back again with a new edition of Thursday Sips & Nibbles, my regular column where I highlight some interesting, upcoming food & drink events.
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1) Beginning Thursday, January 17, Legal Sea Foods will be celebrating crustaceans with the “Shrimp Classic” feature menu available at Legal Sea Foods, Legal C Bar, Legal on the Mystic and Legal Harborside locations.

Available until February 13, seafood lovers will indulge in a series of special starters, light entrées and entrées:

STARTERS
Coconut Shrimp (orange ginger marmalade) $14.50
Shrimp Risotto Cakes (lemon aioli, herb oil, romano) $8.95
LIGHT ENTREES
Chipotle Lime Shrimp Tacos (salsa verde, queso fresco, roasted corn salsa, ham hock braised black beans and rice) $16.95
Shrimp BLT (chorizo aioli, bacon, arugula, tomato, griddled flatbread) $15.95
Buffalo Shrimp & Blue Cheese Salad (frisee, romaine, blue cheese vinaigrette, radish, celery) $16.95
ENTREES
Pesto Shrimp (pea and pancetta tortelloni, roasted tomato, pesto cream sauce) $23.95
Tempura Kung Pao Shrimp & Vegetables (snap peas, cauliflower, red pepper, pineapple, jasmine rice) $22.95
Shrimp Pad Thai (rice noodles, stir-fried vegetables, egg, bean sprouts, peanuts, Thai basil) $22.95
Grilled Bacon Wrapped Shrimp (jalapeño cheddar polenta, grilled broccolini) $23.95

2) Diane Kochilas, award-winning cookbook author, television personality, consulting chef, teacher, and one of the world’s foremost authorities on Greek cuisine, will launch Season 2 of her delectable cooking program My Greek Table with Diane Kochilas. The new season premiered locally Saturday, January 12 at 2:30 p.m. on WGBH. With 13 episodes, the new season also premieres on public television stations across the country. The series takes viewers to the source, as Diane introduces the breathtaking natural beauty, fabulous food, easy, nutritious recipes, and the unmatched hospitality Greece is known for worldwide.

To celebrate Season 2 of My Greek Table, Diane is launching her latest cookbook, My Greek Table – Authentic Flavors and Modern Home Cooking from My Kitchen to Yours (St. Martin’s Press, January 2019; $35.00).

On Thursday, January 31, Committee Ouzeri & Bar will host a Meet & Greet and Cookbook Signing with Diane. Diane and Chef de Cuisine Theo Tsilipanos will be serving treats from the new cookbook such as: avocado taramosalata, phyllo wrapped feta with poppy seed crust, mini sea bass wraps, stuffed baby eggplants and more. Should be a fun and tasty event!

There is so much more to Greek cuisine than tzatziki, souvlaki and gyros. In both Season 2 of My Greek Table and her cookbook, Diane digs deeper into the specialties and traditions of Greek cuisine, exploring ancient Greek flavors for modern cooks, the scope of Greek breakfast, the mountain roots of traditional Greek yogurt, the food and flavors of the Eastern Peloponnese, Grilling, Retsina, and the unique food and music of the Greeks who came as refugees from Asia Minor to Mainland Greece almost a century ago.

The start of the new year inevitably brings an onslaught of dietary focused resolutions and many of Diane’s recipes showcase the breadth and variety of Greek cuisine, with regional specialties, an array of delicious vegetable and bean dishes, succulent grilled specialties, authentic seafood dishes, healthy desserts, and, twists on some of the country’s most iconic classics. Adapting a Mediterranean diet in 2019 does not have to be at all about deprivation, but more about healthful whole foods and choices. Diane is an authority on the Mediterranean diet and has a wealth of knowledge from living and teaching in Ikaria which is known as “the blue zone” for the health and longevity of all who live there.