Grandpa Louie

Grandpa Louie's Dream Greek Vacation

Tom’s demo at Hot Stove Society rocked! Tom, assisted by his cookbook coauthor Shelley Lance, cooked the entire Greek Vacation chapter out of Tom’s Big Dinners, from the ouzo splashed Santorini-tini cocktail and lemon scented stuffed grape leaves to the succulent red wine glazed lamb skewers to those luscious olive oil fried goat cheese turnovers drizzled with honey and scattered with pistachios!

This is one of our favorite chapters from the book: straightforward, accessible recipes filled with the flavors of olive oil, lemon, and fragrant dried Greek oregano. Every guest got a big bunch of dried Greek oregano to take home. The name of the chapter, by the way, comes from Jackie’s grandfather, Louis Kakaris, who came to America when he was 18 and settled in eastern Washington to work on the railroads. Grandpa Louie always dreamed of revisiting his homeland in Greece, but never made the trip. Another interesting aside: a year after Big Dinners was published, Tom and Jackie opened their Greek inspired restaurant Lola, which is right next door to the Hot Stove Society.

Tom showed us how to butcher and break down an entire leg of lamb in record time (which was fascinating to watch, but don’t worry- when you make the recipe at home you can just pick up some boned out lamb to make the lamb skewers.) Tom also had some intriguing tricks for draining yogurt and using the whey, and for making the smashed potatoes super crisp.

The Hot Stove Society team outdid themselves cooking up those delicious recipes. Our guests, while sipping on cocktails, Greek wines, and Retsina, enjoyed generous tastes of each dish while being educated and entertained by Tom.

Tom does a Hot Stove Society class about once a quarter, so keep your eyes peeled for a new Tom Douglas class sometime this summer.