As you know, over the past week, I’ve been staycationing in Athens, Greece. So far I’ve tried to do my best imitation of a greek grandmother (γιαγιά) by cooking up a storm. I’ve made my own pita, melitzanoslada, pastieli and ouzo soda. I couldn’t leave Athens without cooking meat. So I tried my hand at Souvlaki.

In it’s most basic form, souvlaki is meat on a stick. It can be served in various ways, many times with pita and potatoes. It turns out, people have been delighted by meat on a stick since the times of Aristotle and Aristophanes, as it has been mentioned in their writings. So you can thank Greeks for the “on a stick” food we enjoy at festivals around the world.

Also here’s a fun fact about souvlaki according to Wikipedia:

Kalamaki (little reed) is a synonym for souvlaki proper in Athens, in order to differientate it from other forms of souvlaki.

For kalamaki, the meat is cubed into 1-inch chunks, marinated overnight in lemon juice and olive oil along with Greek herbs and spices such as oregano and on occasion thyme, etc., in a pinch. Then it is skewered on wooden skewers (the “little reeds”), broiled over charcoal, and generously salted and peppered.

The terminology used in Thessaloniki and most parts of northern Greece is different, the word kalamaki is derided since the item is called consistently a souvlaki; a joke suggests that any Athenian or other southerner visiting Thessaloniki asks for a kalamaki will be mockingly given a drinking straw (also called “kalamaki”).

Oh Greek humor!

While the dinner was a flavor success it wasn’t so successful in the traditional terms. Shhh . . . don’t tell anyone, but I used beef instead of lamb!

<shakes head in shame>

Traditionally, souvlaki is made with lamb, but being in a house where only 1 out of 3 people only like lamb, I had to go with beef. It was still delicous and super, super easy to make. I recommend letting the meat sit overnight for even more flavor. I served souvlaki with a cucumber yogurt salad and some pita.

I have a ways to go before I reach γιαγιά status, but thank you to all those who voted to send me to Athens for my first staycation. I have enjoyed learning more about Greek food and the culture behind it. I look forward to tying what I’ve learned about this cuisine to other foods in the future.

Αντίο από την Αθήνα!

(Thanks Google Translate!)

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The flavors of lemon and oregano immediately come to mind when I think of Greek food. Today I decided to look at a few of the sweet items on the Greek menu.

First up, Pasteli!

(I thought about making baklava but thought I’d deal with phyllo another day.)

Pasteli goes way back to the days of the Iliad. It is said the soldiers ate this honey and sesame seed mixture as a health food before going into battle. This was my first venture into any type of candy making and I think it is a bit more scientific than I would have guessed. Right now, my pasteli is cooling on the kitchen table and I am doubtful it will harden as it should. I think I took it off the stove too soon, but time will tell. I have tasted a little bit and let me tell you it is super sweet, but delicious. I even grated a little lemon zest and put it in just to mix things up a bit.

What I find most remarkable to about pasteli is that when I eat it in 2011 it’s is quite similar to what was being eaten over 6,000 years ago. That is just mind blowing to me. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to make it. Pasteli or something like it can also be found it Middle Eastern and South Asian cuisine.

Next, Ouzo (Soda)!

I don’t know about you, but I hardly pass up an opportunity to have Ouzo. The anise flavored, Greek liquor tastes like licorice and does cool things when it gets cold. It’s always a good time in my book. Earlier this summer I had experimented by making lavender soda, so I thought, maybe I could try to make an ouzo-esque soda as well. The process was pretty simple.

1/2 c sugar
1 c water
4 star anise

Bring to a boil, take off the heat, and let cool. Add to club soda to taste.

I have to say, I was pretty impressed with my little experiment! The anise flavor was faint, but there. If you wanted to kick it up a notch, just add more anise to the original mixture.

So there you have it. An ancient energy bar, and a liquor inspired soda from my staycation in Athens. Please let me know if you are enjoying this series. I know I am having fun with it! Until next time!

Souces:
Pasteli Recipe
Pasteli Story

This week, as you may know, I am curing my craving for travel by staycationing in Athens, Greece. What turned out as a “hey, let’s see what happens with this” kind of project has really turned into something fun. Yesterday, I talked about how I tried to replicate an Athenian day and today is Pita Day.

I’ve said, it once, I’ll say it again: every culture has a tortilla. The pita is the Greek tortilla.

When I was a kid, once in a while, my mom would by pita to make my sandwiches for lunch. I thought they were so magical. There was a circular bread without any edges and then when it was cut open, there were was a pocket. How DID that happen?!?! It amazed me.

Pita is actuality is pretty simple to make. The main ingredients are flour, water, olive oil, yeast and salt. This combination is the basis for many breads around the world – including the tortilla. I used the recipe found in Mark Bittman’s How to Make Everything Vegetarian book. I know, he’s not Greek, but the man knows his stuff, so I figured I couldn’t go wrong. This was the first first time I had ever attempted to make bread and making pita was a great intro to the process. The ingredients are mixed, the dough rises, it’s rolled out and baked. Pretty simple.

I decided to make this batch of pita on the stove as opposed to the oven because I was using the oven for roasting the eggplant in the dish I made to go with the pita. I think next time I will go ahead and use the oven and a pizza stone. The bread turned out deliciously on the stove, but I think the pockets would be bigger when baked in the oven.

Yes, the pockets! I about flipped out when I ripped off a piece of pita and found there was a pocket there. Thank you yeast!

Pita can be used to scoop up a collection of small dip type dishes called mezés. Mezés are served before a large commemorative meal, or as a meal of themselves. I love small plates because I can try a bunch of different things. I decided to make melitzanoslata which has also been called eggplant caviar. Let me tell you, it’s awesome. Unfortunately, melitzanosalada doesn’t look nearly as good as it tastes so I do not have photo posted. What I love about eggplant is that it can take on the flavor of whatever surrounds it, much like mushrooms. In my opinion, you can’t go wrong with eggplant surrounded by olive oil, garlic, lemon juice and parsley! And the ladies at my mom’s bunco night seemed to agree.

So far I am finding this little journey to Athens quite enjoyable. I know the flavors aren’t exactly the same as they would be if I was actually there, but this little home experiment seems to be conjuring up some good stuff. What about you? Have you been Greekin’ it up this week?

For the pita and the melitzanosalata recipe make sure you “like” the One World One Plate Facebook page. And don’t forget to follow us on twitter.

So far today I have:

• watched the YouTube video posted above to get a visual point of reference of the city and there are some great food photos at the end of it as well.
• taken a long walk – many sites mention that this is a great thing to do in Athens. There are even streets where cars are not allowed to allow more pedestrians.
• gone to the market – this is something I like to do whenever I’m traveling, even in The States. To me, I can learn a lot about the place I’m in by the market.
• spent time looking at the Parthenon Frieze – how could I not take in the sights?!
• learned some local phrases - ευχαριστίες Google Translate! I know it might not be 100% accurate, but I like that Google Translate allows me to hear the words so I can repeat them back.
• listened to Greek Radio – thank you internet!

I also took some time to learn about Greek Cuisine. It was no surprise to me to learn that olive oil is considered the characteristic ingredient. After all, Homer called it liquid gold. Thanks to Wikipedia I learned that olive oil is quite the helper to the human body. Not only does it make food taste delicious, it also benefits the heart, can moisturize the skin, and has some medicinal purposes such as lowering a fever. The Greeks were resourceful to make this a staple of their diets. It’s a multipurpose food. While at the market today, I made sure that I picked up some olive oil that was a product of Greece to make sure that the food that I make this week is authentic as possible, food my γιαγιά would be proud to eat.

As I type, I have pita dough rising in the kitchen. This is my first attempt at making Greek food since 2004 for the first biennial Olympic Opening Ceremonies Dinner with my friends where we cook the food of the host country. I’m looking forward to trying it to cook it again.

Stay tuned, I’ve got some classic Athenian meals and snacks lined up for this week. Until then, αντίο!

Photo credit: Van Zai

UPDATE: the history teacher inside of me couldn’t leave it up without stating the civilization began between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. It’s more that Western Civilization began in Athens.

Photo credit: Yen Baet

When I miss Cambodia, I cook up some Lok Lak. When I miss India, I cook up some Bhindi Masala. But what about the places I haven’t been? In the next 4 weeks I will be taking you along with me on this journey. I will find a dish that represents each place and cook it. At the same time I hope to research about the culture surrounding that food, because every culture has a tortilla.

Do you have any place you’d like to visit? Let me know in the comments!

Note about the video posted above: I found this from a post on reddit. It was what inspired me to start a staycation series. I thought it was a perfect visualization of One World, One Plate. Make sure you check out the other videos in the series, MOVE and LEARN. Both are worthy of a view!

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