This time I got to meet Evangelos Gerovassliou and spend some time in the kitchen with his mother Marianthe who prepared a simple, local and delicious lunch of baked octopus and eggplant. Most of the octopus you and I see in the market is either frozen or was previously frozen. Frozen octopus is perfectly fine to use and few of us have the luxury of eating fresh-caught octopus. A visit to Greece this summer perhaps?

Fresh octopus is pounded on the rocks by the sea and then rubbed in a circular motion to tenderize and remove the sand that’s trapped in the suckers. The octopus you’ve purchased at your fish monger will have no sand but it still needs to be tenderized. The best way to do that is to braise the octopus in its own liquid – no need to add any other liquid as the octopus will release plenty of its own liquid. It’s a gift from the octopus – releasing it’s moisture to allow you to braise and tenderize the octopus and hence enjoying one of the most delicious creatures from the sea. You may add herbs, spices ( or both) but any extra-liquid is unnecessary.

After the octopus has braised in its own liquid until fork-tender, once can turn it into a salad, grill it, make a strew or baked it with pasta along with the delicious braising liquid or toss some vegetables and bake it in the oven. The combo of eggplant and octopus is an ages-old Greek favourite and the next time you see some octopus, try this recipe out and be transported to Greece through this simply preparedand delicious main.

With Marianthe Gerovassliou and her octopus dish

Marianthe’s Baked Octopus and Eggplant

1 whole octopus, beak removed

4 large tomatoes, passed through a box grater

1/2 cup olive oil

4 small eggplants, thickly sliced & fried (Japanese eggplants are fine)

2-3 bay leaves

4-5 allspice berries

salt and pepper

1 cup of chopped parsley

fresh thyme or oregano

Pre-heated 400F oven

1. To tenderize your octopus, rinse it and place in a pot large enough to contain it and cover. Place on your stove-top over medium heat and after 5-6 minutes uncover to see if the octopus has began to release moisture. Once you see about 1 inch of liquid place the cover back on, reduce the heat to medium low and braise the octopus in its own liquid for about 45-60 minutes or until the tentacles are just fork-tender. Take off the heat and reserve.
2. Slice your eggplants into thick slices, season with salt and pepper and add some olive oil to a pan and lightly fry on both sides then reserve on paper-towel lined plate.
3. In the same pan, add the remaining olive oil, the grated tomatoes, bay and allspice and simmer for 8-10 minutes or until the sauce has slightly thickened. Take off the heat and reserve. Pre-heat your oven.
4. Use a knife to separate the eight octopus tentacles and place in a roasting pan along with the fried eggplant and pour in the tomato sauce and stir. Season with some salt and pepper and place in your pre-heated oven for 30-35 minutes or until the sauce is thick and the octopus has turned to a deep burgundy colour.
5. Remove from the oven and garnish with chopped fresh parsley and fresh or dried Greek oregano and serve with good crusty bread and a Gerovassliou Evangelo.

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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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© 2011, 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.

I made my Cranberry sauce with sugar, whole cloves and simmered them until the cranberries popped and the sugars and started to thicken with the pectin in the berries. I then spiked the cranberry sauce with a sweet fortified Greek  wine called Mavrodaphne and finished it with some orange zest and a good squeeze of orange juice. Crostini gets smeared with roasted garlic, baked Brie gets topped with warm cranberry sauce then Brie and cranberry sauce top the garlic and bread. Slip in the mouth and hum with delight then wash down with your favourite sparkling wine.

Baked Brie With Roasted Garlic & Cranberry-Mavrodaphne Sauce

Cranberry-Mavrodaphne Sauce

1- 340gr. package of fresh or frozen cranberries

1 cup of sugar

1 cup of water

3-whole cloves

1/4 cup Mavrodaphne wine (or other fortified red wine)

zest and juice of 1/2 orange

1 round of Brie cheese

some extra-virgin olive oil

splash of sparkling wine

1 head garlic

1. In a small pot, add your water, sugar, cloves and Mavrodaphne and bring up to a boil over medium heat. Now gently drop in the cranberries and return to a boil then simmer for 15 minutes stirring occasionally. Take off the heat and add the orange zest and juice and allow to cool.
2. Pre-heat your oven to 300F and slice a baguette into thin slices and brush both sides with olive oil and place on a baking tray. Now take a hold head of garlic and slice off enough of the top to just expose the garlic cloves and place in some foil, drizzle with olive oil and tightly close the foil around the garlic. Place the Crostinis and garlic in the oven and bake the bread until just toasted and the garlic for about 30 minutes.
3. In the meantime, unwrap your Brie and if it came in a wooden container you may bake it in that or use a Brie baking vessel with a lid. Drizzle the brie with olive oil and some sparkling wine and place the cover on and slip into your oven for 20 minutes.
4. Arrange your Crostini on a platter and carefully squeeze the roasted garlic beside the bread. Place the baked Brie on the platter and pour some cranberry sauce on the baked Brie.
5. Smear roasted garlic on the Crostini then place some hot Brie and cranberry sauce on top and enjoy! Serve with a Domaine Tselepos Amalia Brut Sparkling White.

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© 2011, 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.

One can also make their own egg nog but most households just buy the stuff from the supermarket, as I have done. I found some extra egg nog in the fridge and I was craving ice cream. This recipe is really easy, your only prerequisite being to own an ice cream maker. Perhaps you received one for Christmas? If you’re thinking of splurging on an ice cream maker, I recommend this Cuisinart model.

Ice cream usually has dairy, eggs and flavouring – egg nog already has all those components in the carton so all I’m doing here is accentuating what I like in egg nog: creamyness, nutmeg, sweetness and the booze! I’ve add some cream, grated nutmeg, honey and some rum-soaked raisins (borrowing from rum & raisin ice cream). This recipe is easy, pragmatic as you can adjust the ingredients to your tastes but i insist you make the salted caramel rum sauce as I’ve laid-out for you below. I add the coarse sea salt to the warm caramel sauce at the end so that I get that crunch and burst of salt that goes so well with caramel.

Egg Nog Ice Cream With Salted Caramel Rum Sauce

3 1/2 cups of good egg nog

1 cup heavy cream

1/3 cup honey

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 cup raisins

rum

Salted Caramel Rum Sauce

1 1/2 cups plain white sugar

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

2 Tbsp. unsalted butter

2 Tbsp. light corn syrup

coarse sea salt

1. Place your raisins in a cup and fill with enough water to just cover them and allow to steep for 5 minutes. Strain the water and place back in a mug and pour a just enough rum to cover the raisins. Allow to steep in the rum for at least 1 hour, reserve.  In a bowl, add the egg nog, cream, honey and nutmeg and stir. Adjust flavours with  nutmeg and honey. Pour into your ice cream maker and churn for 25 minutes then add the rum-soaked raisins (plus rum) into the mixture and churn for an extra 5 minutes.
2. Empty your ice cream into a tub a freeze overnight. To make the caramel rum sauce, place the sugar in a medium pot with some water and melt the sugar over medium heat. Continue to simmer the sugar until a copper-toned colour has been achieved then take away from the heat and pour in the cream and stir, followed by the vanilla, cinnamon, butter and corn syrup. Allow to cool to warm before serving or reserve and gently reheat for future use.
3. The next day, serve with a drizzle of slightly warmed caramel sauce and sprinkle some coarse sea salt on top.

* I don’t use corn syrup that much and its presence in this recipe is to keep the sauce from hardening. You may omit but I’m keeping it in to keep the smooth texture of the sauce. It’s only 2 Tbsp. for a whole tub of ice cream!

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© 2011, 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.

What’s sets these apart from other “stuffed figs” is the outer layer, made from water, sugar, ground star anise, cocoa powder, semolina flour, tea biscuits and ground walnuts. This mixture is thick, a little sticky but it’s the “somethin-somethin” that makes these sublime. Aristotle wrote, “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts” and this was true when making these.

Walnuts are good for you, a healthy snack and sure…taste good. Figs are even tastier, fresh or dried and yes…perhaps even an aphrodisiac. The semolina, tea biscuit, ground star anise and walnut mixture tasted okay and while I was chilling it to firm-up, I was concerned this recipe would be mediocre. That all changed when I assembled the stuffed figs, froze them and carefully sliced them in half to reveal the pretty cross-section of the walnut, fig and biscuit/walnut mixture.

Although the figs are the star of this recipe, walnuts are found in three stages: once stuffed inside the fig, a second time ground in the paste with the semolina and tea biscuits and one more time as the balls of stuffed figs are rolled in (you guessed it) ground walnuts before being complete. Other than placing these in the freezer to set overnight, this is an easy recipe and once you’re going to make over and over. I know I will!

Sublime, Sexy Walnut-Stuffed Figs (Σύκα Γεμιστά με Καρύδια)

approx. 20 dried Greek figs

20 walnut halves

1 cup water

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp. ground star anise (using Ouzo or anise flavoured alcohol will soften the mixture, making it harder to handle)

1/3 cup fine semolina flour

2 Tbsp. cocoa powder

1/3 cup ground Petit Beurre tea biscuits

1 1/4 cup ground walnuts

approx. 3/4- 1 cup of ground walnuts for coating

1. Place a medium-sized pot on your stovetop with the water and sugar and bring to a boil then add the ground star anise and semolina and take off the heat and stir for for a minute then add the ground tea biscuits and walnuts and stir-in. Allow the mixture to cool and place in the fridge for two hours.
2. In the meantime, snip the stems off your figs (discard) and gently open the top of each fig with your finger and then squeeze a wlabut half in each fig.
3. When the ground walnut/bicsuit mixture has cooled (hardened), grease one hand with vegetable oil and place a heaping tablespoon of the mixture (yes it is a little sticky) in one hand and flatten it then place a fig in your palm and enclose it with the mixture in the form of a ball. Now roll each ball in the reserved ground walnuts and place on a large plate/platter.
4. Cover and place in the freezer overnight or until ready to serve. To serve, remove from the freezer and carefully slice each stuffed fig in half and place in decorative paper cups and serve.

* You may cover and refreeze any leftover stuffed figs but I doubt they will last long.

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© 2011, 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.