Since the eggplant is charred I also blackened some red peppers because I love them with crusty bread and Feta cheese and in this instance, they are going to join the smoky eggplant doing double-duty in this hearty salad that becomes creamy with the use of eggs or mayo. Eggplant is like a sponge and in this case they are absorbing garlic, chives, extra-virgin olive oil and good red wine vinegar.

This salad is rounded-out with some ground walnuts and topped with some fried Graviera cheese, the Gruyere of Greece. A firm Kasseri, Kefalograviera or Halloumi cheese would also work in a pinch! I’m using a slender Japanese eggplant because it is sweet and rarely any bitterness. Japanese eggplants are similar to the DOP Tsakonian eggplants from Leonidio, Arcadia.

Salad of Smoked Eggplant Dressing With Graviera Croutons & Roasted Peppers

serves 4-6

1 Tsakonian or slender Japanese eggplant

1 clove of garlic, minced

 approx. 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2-3 Tbsp. red wine vinegar

1/4 finely chopped chives (or scallions)

1 cup of cubed Graviera cheese

water

all-purpose flour

1 cup of bitter greens (arugula), rinsed & pat-dried

1 head of Romaine lettuce, hand-torn, rinsed & pat-dried

1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts

2 roasted red peppers

fine sea salt and fresh ground pepper

1. Pre-heat your gas or charcoal grill (or gas stove-top) and poke the eggplant a few times and char/blacken the entire surface of the eggplant. Simultaneously char/blacken the red peppers in the same fashion (you do not have to pierce the peppers). Place the peppers in a bowl and cover with plastic and place the charred eggplant on a plate to cool.
2. Once the eggplant has cooled, slice it open with a knife and remove the smoky meat with a spoon and roughly chop and place in a bowl. Add the minced garlic, chives, pinch of salt and the olive oil and vinegar in stages while stirring. Adjust with salt and pepper and set aside.
3. Remove the cooled peppers from the bowl and peel the charred skins and discard along with the stems and seeds. Slice and toss in some sea salt and olive oil and reserve.
4. Dip your cubes of Graviera cheese in a bowl of water then dredge in all-purpose flour and then place some oil in a pan and fry the cheese for a bout a minute a side or until golden. Fry in batches and reserve on paper-lined platter.
5. To assemble your salad, add about 1/4 cup of the dressing to the greens and toss until incorporated. Add more dressing to taste, some ground walnuts and toss and divide and serve or present in a large bowl or platter. Arrange the ribbons of red peppers on top along with the fried Graviera cheese and serve. Serve with a chiiled Boutari Moschofilero.

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Red Mullet are found throughout the Mediterranean and on occasion found here in North American markets. When I found this fish at one of the fish mongers I frequent, I had to pick up a kilo and fry them off just as I remembered from summers past in Greece. The usual way to cook red mullet is to salt them then dredge in all-purpose flour and fry them in olive oil and simply serve on a platter with wedges of lemon.

fried red mullet

Today’s dish goes one step further with the remaining oil being used to make a sauce that’s poured over the fish upon serving. The sauce is finished with wine vinegar and it was a means of preserving fish in the old days when there were no fridges. Savoro dishes were also popular with fishermen who would preserve a glut of fish with these means (pity to throw perfectly good fish away) and if this method sounds like “escabeche” you’re right – same method!

I first had Savoro in Crete two summers ago and the lady of the house used bogue but red mullet is the most commonly used fish. I’ve recipes that appeal to those seeking instant gratification (eaten immediately) and the more drawn-out Savoro dishes where the fish pickles in the sauce for a few days before being eaten. There’s Savroro from the Ionian Islands, Aegean and even Cypriot! Few will argue that the word Savoro came from Savoy and likely brought over from Venetian sailors through a dish called “Pesce in Saor” – marinated/preserved fish carried on the ships.

My approach to Savoro is clearly in the direction of the “instant gratification” crowd with the fish being eaten immediately after the sauce is poured on top. After the fish are gutted, scaled and rinsed I salt them and allow to sit for 20 minutes so the fish gets seasoned well. After I dredge them in flour then shallow fry in olive oil…only extra-virgin olive oil. After the fish is fried I set them aside and in the same skillet goes the whole sprigs of rosemary then garlic and as soon as you see the garlic starting to change colour, the vinegar is added and then reduced until the sauce becomes tangy, slighty sweet. Pour the Savoro sauce over the fish along with the garlic and crisp rosemary.

Get some good crusty bread, each the fish with your hands and slip some garlic and crisp rosemary needles in with a mouthful of fish. This is a delightful fish dish that’s becoming a fave for me.

Red Mullet Savoro Style

(served 4)

1 kg. of whole red mullet, scaled & gutted

sea salt and fresh ground pepper

approx 1 cup of all purpose flour

1 cup of extra-virgin olive oil

6-7 sprigs  fresh rosemary

7-8 cloves of garlic, coarsely chopped

2/3 cup red wine vinegar

1. Season the cavity of of fish and both sides with sea salt and some ground pepper and allow to sit for 20 minutes. Add your olive oil into the pan over medium-high heat and dredge the fish in flour. When your oil is hot (the handle of a wooden spoon should bubble), add the fish in batches and fry for about 4-5 minutes a side or until just golden and reserve on a serving platter.
2. In the same pan, add the sprigs of rosemary and fry until just crisp and they’ve turned to an olive green. Now add the garlic and swirl around and as soon as you can see the garlic turn colour and you can smell it – add the wine vinegar and stir and reduce until the sauce has become slightly sweet (shouldn’t be sour).
3. Pour the sauce over the fish (along with garlic and rosemary) and serve immediately. Serve with a potato salad, some boiled vlita (wild greens) and a crisp bottle of Domaine Gavalas Malvazia from Crete.

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© 2012, Peter Minakis. All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://kalofagas.ca then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at truenorth67 AT gmail DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author.

My approach to cooking to seek genuine recipes that come from folks who know about a particular cuisine and in this instance I’m the wisdom of Art Smith, one-time chef to Oprah Winfrey. At Table 52, Art Smith’s restaurant in Chicago, he serves his fried chicken only on Sunday’s for his Southern Brunch.

Art Smith’s Fried Chicken is first placed in a brine solution over night then place in a buttermilk/Tabasco  for a day then, it’s dredged in flour and buttermilk twice, giving you lots of that delicious crispy skin and juicy, succulent chicken meat underneath. This isn’t health food but it’s delicious and everyone should make and offer it on occasion for family or friends.

Brining is a method of making meat (often poultry or pork) moister by soaking it in a basic solution of water and salt (sugar and other flavourings may be added) then the meat is cooked. I was first introduced to brining when I heard about how this method will guarantee my roast turkey will turn out moist & juicy each and every time. Chicken is moister than turkey so you know how the results are going to be here!

The second step in Art Smith’s Fried Chicken is to allow the brined chicken to then soak in buttermilk that’s been spiked with some Tabasco sauce. I used my favoured hot sauce, Sriracha and I got the heat I wanted plus more flavour. The enzymes in buttermilk tenderize meat and don’t think that the buttermilk is going to get dumped – no, NO! You see, during the third step in making the best fried chicken ever is to remove the chicken pieces from the buttermilk then dredge it in an Old Bay seasoned flour then dunk the chicken once more in the reserved buttermilk and finally dredge one more time in the flour.

My previous attempts at homemade fried chicken failed because they were dredged in flour just once and what I ended up getting was either a fried chicken with a coating that looked unappetizing and burnt or just golden but the chicken meat inside was not fully cooked. I’m convinced the double coating of buttermilk and seasoned flour protects allow the coating and chicken meat to endure the 12 minutes cooking time in the fry pan.

The flour here is seasoned with Old Bay seasoning, a mixture that’s often used for seafood boils in the South and now very popular throughout Canada and the US. Old Bay is named after Chesapeake Bay where this seasoning mix was born. Many fish mongers now sell it, many grocery stores and high-end food shops will also sell it. There’s always mail-order and you could always mix your own batch of Old Bay seasoning. Everyone should add Old Bay into their pantry and everyone should make Art Smith’s Fried Chicken.

On the day I first sunk my teeth into this dish from the heavens, I collaborated with Paula of Dragon’s Kitchen to make a southern-style dinner. We settled on the fried chicken, some macaroni & cheese, cheddar & chive biscuits and collard greens with smoked turkey or ham hocks. Collards are a loose large leafed plant with long stalks that belong to the broccoli and cabbage family. The collard greens were a dish I thought of including after having this delicious side dish while having lunch in Harlem, New York at Sylvia’s, Queen of Soul Food.

Collard greens are not difficult to prepare but they do require some time: cut the stalks off (I discarded them) then soak and rinse them free of any dirt/grit then add them into a large pot with some diced onions, garlic, stock (or bouillon cubes with hot water) plus a leg or thigh or smoked turkey or a smoked ham hock. The collards are then simmered until tender, taking on the flavours of the melting onions, garlic and smoked meat. A fantastic side dish that/s perfect for fried chicken.

The other key to perfect fried chicken is to shallow-fry them. I used a heavy-bottom Dutch oven to fry them and when one says shallow-fry, you’re talking about frying in about 1-inch of oil. The chicken is fried in batches and for about 6 minutes /side. You’ll see the flour coating turn a lovely golden-brown and after making this fried chicken a few times, I can say with confidence that the chicken is also cooked through! Don’t you feel like fried chicken tonight?

Art Smith’s Fried Chicken

(serves 4)

1 whole chicken, cut into pieces (thighs, legs, wings, backs), trimmed of any excess skin

1/2 cup salt

enough water to cover chicken by 1 inch

enough buttermilk to just cover chicken (approx. 4 cups)

2 tablespoons Tobasco (I used Sriracha sauce)

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder

1 1/2 teaspoons Old Bay Seasoning

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Vegetable oil, for frying

1. In a pot, dissolve 1/2 cup of the salt in the water. Submerge the chicken in the brine; refrigerate overnight.
2. Drain and rinse the chicken. Rinse out the pot. Add the buttermilk and hot sauce (to taste), submerge the chicken in the buttermilk and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.
3. In a shallow bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, garlic powder, Old Bay, cayenne, black pepper and the remaining 1 teaspoon of salt. Run your fingers down each piece of chicken to remove excess buttermilk then dredge in the flour. Dip the chicken back into the buttermilk and coat again in the flour.
4. Meanwhile, in a large cast-iron skillet, heat 1 inch of vegetable oil to 350-365°. Fry the chicken in batches until golden and cooked through, about 6 minutes per side. Drain on paper towels and keep warm in a pre-heated 250F oven until ready to serve.

Collard Greens

(for 4)

1 bunch of collard greens

2 Tbsp. butter or olive oil

1 large onion, peeled & sliced

2-3 cloves of garlic, smashed

1 smoked turkey leg or ham hock

chicken stock (or 1/2 tsp. of chicken bouillon (cube) + hot water)

1. Lop-off the stalks from the collard greens and discard then place the leafy greens in a your sink and fill with water. Allow to soak for a few minutes then drain. Repeat until sand/grit is removed.
2. Now add the olive oil/butter into a large pot and add the onions, garlic, smoked meat sweat for 6-7 minutes. Slice/chop your collards and add into the pot and cover. The steam will render the water in the collards and after about 5 minutes, stir and cover and steam for another 5 minutes. Now add enough stock (or water plus seasoning) to just cover the collard greens and simmer on medium heat with the lid ajar for about 30-40 minutes or until fork tender. Remove the smoked meat and cut up and stir-in. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper and serve as a side with your fried chicken along with some macaroni & cheese and biscuits.

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This is a firm cheese, a little spongy and porous, made of sheep’s or goat’s milk and briny with a back-end tang on the palate. It has a colour that ranges from egg-white to yellow. The cheese is in essence a Kefalotyri (salty) that’s shaped like a large head after being strained in cheesecloth then it’s sliced into slabs and place in metal containers with coarse sea salt sprinkled in between each piece and topped with the whey ( or a brine).

Batzos is often enjoyed in the style of “saganaki”, that is to say it’s fried in the two-handled vessel and often flambeed with Tsipouro (local eau de vie) or brandy and finished with a good squeeze of lemon. Fried cheese is enjoyed by most Greeks and those who patronize Greek restaurants order this favourite all the time. You won’t find Batzos here in Toronto but it’s certainly avaialable in Thessaloniki and surrounding regions.

Batzos Saganaki (Μπάτζος Σαγανάκι)

1 piece of Batzo 1/2″ inch thick

1 generous Tbsp. of olive oil

all-purpose flour for dredging

optional for flambe: 1/2 shot glass of Metaxa (brandy) or Ouzo

wedge of lemon

1. Pre-heat a heavy-bottomed skillet (a cast-iron pan works very well) to a medium-high heat. Place your slab of cheese under running tap water then dredge in all-purpose flour. Shake off any excess flour.
2. Add your olive oil to the skillet. Add a sprinkle of flour into the pan to test if the oil is hot enough. As soon as it sizzles, add your cheese to the skillet and sear for a couple of minutes. Carefully flip the cheese with a spatula and allow to sear for a couple of minutes on the other side.
3. Turn off your heat source and carefully carry your cheese saganaki to your table and pour the brandy ( or Ouzo) over the cheese and ignite with a lighter. Move your head back, shout “OPA” and squeeze the wedge of lemon over the cheese.
4. Serve immediately with crusty bread, some Ouzo on ice.

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I love Batzo because it’s briny but  not that forward or as sharp as a Kefalotyri cheese, it’s holds up well to heat and it’s one Greece’s many cheeses ideal for frying. Saganki? OPA!!

Today I’ve pulled together three Greek dishes into one: frying cheese, a Greek meatball called a “keftede” and another northern Greek specialty – Makalo: a sauce made from drippings in a pan or fat of some sort, flour and liquid. It could be water, stock and spiked with spices or some tomato purée. The consistency of Makalo is much like a gravy and it’s great for dipping fries in it, bread or in this case…cheese and meatballs.

My dad often mixes some ground beef with onions, herbs, binder and hand-rolls some keftedes with which he then dredges in flour and then fry in a heavy-bottomed pan. The keftedes are reserved then pours off the oil and adds some more followed by some flour to make a roux then hot liquid like water or stock, some tomato paste (or juice) and while he’s stirring he’ll add some sweet paprika, a pinch of smoked paprika from his home town of Amynteo and salt to taste. Some Boukovo (chilli flakes) usually were sprinkled at the end.

The meatballs would go into the thick Makalo to heat through and the dunking of bread and nibbling keftedes would ensue. My friend Diane Kochilas shares a Vlach dish from nearby Nymfaio where they would fry-up some Batzo cheese then make a similar Makalo and add the cheese back in. Here, you get two-for-one….fried cheese and meatballs to make a fabulously rustic dish that’s as a far removed from the pretentious eateries of Kolonaki that i can think of.

It’s time for a return to “village dishes” me thinks.

Fried Batzo With Makalo & Kefte (Μπάτζος με Μακαλο και Κεφτες)

(makes 1 appetizer portion for two)

1 slab of Batzos cheese, about 1/2 inch thick (kefalotyri, kefalograviera or a firm kasseri could be used)

olive oil for frying cheese

1 Tbsp. unsalted butter or olive oil

1 heaping tsp. all-purpose flour

1 tsp. of sweet paprika

1 tsp. tomato paste

1 small clove of garlic, minced

approx. 1/3 cup hot water or stock

pinch of smoked paprika

salt and pepper to taste

1.  This dish came about with some leftover keftedes that I added at the end of frying the cheese and making the Makalo, so use whatever leftover meatballs you have or make a batch of my family’s keftedes. Place a heavy-bottomed skillet or cast-iron pan on your stove-top over medium-high heat. Slice a slab of Batzos cheese to about 1/2 inch thick and wet it under some running tap water then dredge it all-purpose flour (shake off excess).
2. Add a turn of olive in the hot pan and once hot, add the cheese and fry for a couple of minutes a side or until crisp and golden. Remove from the pan and reserve. Drain off the oil, wipe the pan clean (so your sauce doesn’t become too dark) and add the butter and as soon as it’s melted, add the flour and stir with a wooden spoon for a minute. Now add the tomato and stir in then add some water, the minced garlic, paprika and stir and gradually add more water until the sauce is thick, creamy.
3. Adjust seasoning with salt, some chilli flakes and a pinch of smoked paprika and gently place the reserved fried Batzo and keftede and allow to warm through for a couple of minutes in the sauce (Makalo).
4. Carefully carry the pan to the table and serve “as is” along with some good crusty bread and a chilled Chrisohoou Petritis Rose from Naoussa.

* You can substitute Batzo with Kefalotyri, Kefalograviera, Halloumi, or a firm Kasseri.

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