Hungry Mouth

A Greek Way with Octopus

At almost every seaside village restaurant on Lesvos we saw octopus hanging from clotheslines to dry. Prior to drying, it undergoes a rigorous treatment which we were fortunate to observe one afternoon while sitting outside a taverna in Mytilini. An elderly fisherman, standing in water up to his knees in the harbor, laboriously tenderized octopus. Holding the octopus by a few tentacles he smashed it against a rock with great force over and over again...about 15 times. He then laid the octopus on the rock and took hold of a flat mallet, rather like the bottom of an ore, and hammered the octopus repeatedly. He then massaged the octopus against the rock for a few minutes. He repeated this with about a dozen octopus over the course of an hour. He then took his catch and headed off. Given the price of octopus, I hope he made a decent day's wage.

Here is the octopus salad I ordered in Sigri. It could have used a bit more pounding.

The Judge is smoking!

He arose early this morning and lit the fire under my $29.95 Brinkman Water Smoker. Mesquite chips were set to soak. The Judge is a master smoker and amazes me with what he can produce on a simple, inexpensive water smoker.

As usual this past Thanksgiving I bought about 4 turkeys when they were .29/lb. I took one out of the freezer on Tuesday and deposited it in the fridge so it was perfectly defrosted by this morning. I also bought about 4 pounds of pork ribs on sale yesterday. The Judge mixed up his masterful rubs which he has no recipe for, of course.

Here is the turkey before it went on:

Here are the ribs:

(

Well, I demanded a recipe and he says his rubs are as follows:

Turkey rub ingredients---

New Mx medium chile powder is the main ingredient
Cayenne
Mustard Powder
Cumin
Oregano
Ground ginger
Garlic Salt
Crushed red pepper
S & P
Tony Chachere's Creole seasoning
Paprika

For the ribs--

take above seasoning mix and blend with equal amount of brown sugar.

Three Little Pigs: the Athens Meat Market

Warning! Go no further if you are squeamish. Not for vegetarians!

The Athens Meat Market is fascinating. Don't miss it. As I wandered down the aisle I wondered how anyone distinguished between one booth and the next, they all seemed to have basically the same products. I was bothered by the lack of customers but it was mid-morning. Hopefully they are hopping early in the day. Check out my photo album in the left column.

Three Little Pigs:

No such thing as a bad tomato...(in Greece)

Well, I won't apologize for the fact I am enthralled with Greek food. One dish we ordered everyday was Greek Salad. Sounds like a tourist dish but the Greeks were ordering it, too. I am not surprised considering that in April the tomatoes were excellent. How can that be? Where do their tomatoes come from?

A Greek Salad in Greece does not include lettuce ever. Here is how it was composed:

2 parts tomato wedges
1 part cucumber chunks
1/4 part red onion slices
1/4 part green bell pepper slices (optional)
a handful of black kalamata olives
one giant slice of feta that was marinated in oil and oregano
a splash of olive oil
(I like to add a squeeze of lemon but Greeks don't)

That's it. Addictive. The cukes were Persian though probably grown in Greece, but I can't explain the high quality of tomatoes in what should have been the off season. Makes me even more irritated with the state of produce in America. Sigh...

The title of this post comes from a Brit we met who has spent years off and on in Greece. We did score some Greek tomato seeds...we are planting this summer.

Beets

I am still on a Greek trip in my head. But I have an excuse...the food was delicious. For the most part we ate inexpensive food and it blew American fast food away. It blew American middle level food away. Everywhere in Greece the food was impeccably fresh, perfectly cooked and beautifully served. The mezes served at every taverna were particularly notable.

So let's talk beets.* Greeks have a wonderful way with beets. They serve them with their own greens. Let me add that my sweetheart who despised beets was completely converted. If all you have tasted are canned beets this will open a new world for you. Here is my attempt to recreate a typical taverna Greek beet dish.

1 red onion, halved and sliced
1 juicy lemon
1 t Greek oregano
1 bunch of fairly young beets (2-3 inches or less in diameter) with greens
EVOO
S & P

Marinate the onion with the juice of lemon and oregano.

Scrub and top the beets leaving an inch of green...leave the tail intact (this keeps the juice from leaking). Line a baking pan ( a metal loaf pan works well) with tin foil and place beets in one layer. Cover pan tightly with foil and roast beets til done in 400 oven...1-2 hours depending on size. Test with a skewer to make sure they are tender throughout. Let cool for a a few minutes then remove ends and peel (I use rubber gloves so I can handle them while quite warm and avoid staining my hands). Slice.

Meanwhile wash greens and remove tough stems and icky leaves. Chop roughly. When ready to peel beets, throw greens into a saute pan with a splash of water and cook til wilted/tender which should only take a couple minutes. Drain in a colander and press out excess water. Chop into smaller pieces. Immediately toss with warm beets, EVOO, onions and S & P to taste. Serve with a lemon slice. This is great warm or at room temp, as well as the next day.

*Apologies to my friend, Pim.

Fava

After 3 weeks in Greece, it remains a mystery to me why the Greek dish called "Fava" is not based on fava beans. I adore fava beans and was excited to order it the first time we saw it on the menu in a tiny beach town taverna on the north coast of Lesvos. We were served a plate of mashed beans..delicious but bright yellow in color. Huh? What did they do to fava beans to make them bright yellow? Well, I had not done my research. A couple days later reading through my notes on Greek food I saw that "Fava" was actually mashed, seasoned yellow split peas.

So as soon as I returned home I had to try to remake Fava. Luckily, I had yellow split peas on hand due to my recent preoccupation with Indian food. Here is my attempt to recreate Greek Fava loosely based on a recipe from Diana Kochilas' interesting book "The Glorious Food of Greece". I recommend this book highly for reading purposes but it is not easy to cook from for me. It's organized by region which means that all the different courses are mixed up. I can't just pick up the book and look in one section for lamb recipes. I prefer books that are organized by course when it comes to cooking. Reading is a different matter, though.

So here is the recipe I made and it was delicious:

EVOO
1 red onion, minced
1 c. yellow split peas
water
Bay leaf
1 t Greek oregano
Red wine vinegar to taste
S & P to taste
chopped scallions

Saute onion in a smallish stockpot in EVOO. Add peas, toss around til coated, then add water to cover peas and bay by about an inch and simmer til done. The idea is to cook the peas til they completely fall apart and absorb all the water so be careful with the water. It will take about 1- 1 1/2 hrs for the peas to totally break down. Stir often and keep a close watch and add more water if needed to prevent sticking. When almost done stir in oregano and S & P. When done add vinegar to taste. Then let sit til cool. Peas will become very thick. Scoop into a shallow bowl. Scatter scallions on top. Serve with warm pita or pita chips to scoop. Opa!