The Glorious Foods of Greece: Traditional Recipes from the Islands, Cities, and Villages

515 Pages·2001·6.61 MB·English

by  Diane Kochilas

The
GLORIOUS FOODS
of
Diane Kochilas
G R E E C E
Traditional Recipes from the
Islands, Cities, and Villages
for three women who influenced everything:
my mother, Zoe, who taught me to hold on;
my sister Athena, who brought me to Greece;
and my daughter, Kyveli, who keeps me here, smiling.
For Vassili, too, who knows how to dream.
Contents
Map. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .v
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .vi
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x
Greece’s Culinary Lineage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
The Peloponnesos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
The Ionian Islands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Roumeli . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .108
Epirus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Thessaly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Macedonia and Thrace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
The Islands of the Northeastern Aegean . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
The Cyclades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
The Dodecanese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
Crete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .386
Athens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447
The Basics of Greek Cooking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450
Where to Find Greek Food Products in the United States . . . . . . . . . . 467
A Selective Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .469
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475
About the Author
Other Books by Diane Kochilas
Credits
Cover
Copyright
About the Publisher
Map
Black
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Acknowledgments
S
itting down to thank those who helped me with this book means that I can indulge
in memories of trips taken, meals cooked and shared, and friendships forged all in the
name of research.
My husband, Vassilis Stenos, lived through all the traveling, the writer’s turmoil,
the cook’s experiments, and the highs and lows, and was always both flawlessly gener-
ous in his support and mercilessly honest. I love him for that.
I owe a great deal to Eric Moscahlaidis, who extended a generous, unquestioning
hand when I really needed one and has remained a good friend since. Thanks to the
Greek Food and Wine Institute, which Eric founded as a resource for anyone seeking
information on the subject. I am also indebted to the newspaper I work for in Athens,
Ta Nea,without which half the doors in Greece would have been closed. Much of the
material in this book was first presented in one form or another, in Greek, in my
weekly column for the paper. The International Olive Oil Council supported my
work and the Culinary Institute of America gave me the opportunity to share a pas-
sion for Greece and Greek cuisine.
This book has gone through a series of adventures before arriving at publica-
tion, and its arrival would surely not have been possible without the faith that my
agent par excellence, Doe Coover, showed in me and in the project from the start.
I want to thank three editors, all of whose pens have been felt between the lines:
Pam Hoenig, who believed in the book and gave me a very lengthy tow on which
to lean while writing it; Harriet Bell, who inherited the book, liked and respected
it, and made sure the best would come of it; I don’t have enough kind words with
which to shower gratitude on Elizabeth Crossman, the good angel whose erudite
and meticulous mind and sensible approach to organization really rescued my
manuscript. And, I am still in awe that the onerous task of copyediting was han-
dled with such care and inquisitiveness by Chris Benton, one of the best in the
business. And thanks to the proofreader, Jayne Lathrop. I would like to thank
the production editor, Ann Cahn, the production manager, Karen Lumley, and the
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
cookbook design manager, Leah Carlson-Stanisic, hospitality and help. In Ithaca, Mihalis Maghoulas,
for pulling all the pieces of the book together in another local son whose home and work is now in
a creative and precise way. I would like to thank Athens, shared his archives of self-collected recipes,
the designer, Fritz Metsch, for the book’s graceful providing much of what I know regarding the foods
but serious look. I was fortunate to have found of Odysseus’s island. In Lefkada, the wine maker
another godsend, Brigitte Bernhard Fatsio, who Yiannis Halikias provided me with the names of
put her great cooking skills to work testing every home cooks and artisanal food producers who
recipe. offered great food and recipes.
The list of friends and acquaintances whom I The mainland, dense and impenetrable for many
want to thank has no beginning or end. I’ve met reasons, would not have been an easy place to move
and befriended too many home cooks who shared around in were it not for the generosity of many
knowledge, recipes, tales, to list them all here. In a helpful people. In the southern reaches of Roumeli,
general way, I’d like to say thank you to them all, I owe special thanks to Eric Moscahlaidis, an
because it was in their homes and kitchens that I olive merchant in Itea, who brought me to home
encountered the real spirit of Greece and the glow cooks and local food producers. Zafeiris Trikalinos,
of unfailing hospitality. botargo king, ushered me up and down the western
In various parts of the country, specific individu- coast of Greece, ever ready to share his knowledge
als ushered me through the labyrinth of local mores of local fishing customs and to find cooks who could
and customs. In the Peloponnesos, I owe thanks to teach me the region’s specialties. Lefteris
Maria and Epaminondas Spyropoulos, wine makers Theodorou, a local artist who lives in the mountains
in Arcadia, who provided the introductions and near Karpenissi, sent me off into the woods, liter-
more that led me to many local cooks. Angelos Rou- ally, on many fruitful recipe reconaissance expedi-
valis, another wine maker, in Aigio, also helped me tions. On the other side of Roumeli, in Larissa, I
find local cooks and others with whose help I found my way thanks largely to the help of Eleni
patched together the region’s culinary composite. Polykandriotou, president of the local folklore
Fritz Blauel, an olive oil producer in the Mani, did museum, who, together with a group of women
much the same in his neck of the woods deep in the gathered over a few long afternoons, initiated me
southern Peloponnesos. into the intricacies of all sorts of unusual local
My journeys through the Ionian Islands would foods.
not have been fruitful had it not been for several The north: in Epirus, Macedonia, and Thrace
individuals. I owe thanks to Nicos Manessis, who I sought and found the guidance of many kind
made his native Corfu accessible. He led me to people. Epirus would have been incomprehensi-
Ninetta Laskari, who made the island’s history and ble were it not for Vassilis and Eleni Paparounas,
its rich food culture come alive as we chatted during Athenian restaurateurs with roots in Greece’s
endless afternoons in her ancient ancestral house. majestic northwestern reaches, who took me in over
In Cephalonia, Spyros Cosmetatos, scion of an old a long summer and taught me the ways of Greece’s
Cephalonian dynasty, and his wife greeted me with isolated mountain cuisine. The Tossitsa Foundation
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
in Metsovo many moons ago provided me with shel- Cycladic was Yiorgos Hatziyiannakis and his wife,
ter and introductions to local Vlach cooks, shep- Evelyn, who know Santorini like the backs of their
herds, and cheese makers, all of whom made hands and shared every detail with me. Yiannis
Greece’s alpine enclave one of the most pleasant Koulelis also introduced me to many of the lost
places visited for this book. foods of Santorini through his extensive network of
In Macedonia, Greece’s most complex region, I acquaintances. Syros came to light thanks to Nikos
am grateful to countless people: Yiannis Boutaris, Halavatzis, Antonis Roussos, and Eva Marini. In
one of the region’s most famous sons and wine Tinos, I had the world’s best guide in the local cook
maker par excellence, for making the pivotal calls and cookbook writer Nicoletta Delatolla Foskolou.
that sent me off in all sorts of beneficial directions; In Naxos, Yiorgos Margaritis, in the mountain vil-
Evgenia Zalou and Sofia Mourafetli, Naoussa’s self- lage of Apirantho, led me to some great food and
proclaimed welcome committee, whose knowledge great cheese. In Kalymnos, Yiorgos Yiannikouris,
of local foods provided me with indispensible infor- who works at the local mayor’s office, took it as a
mation and many sweet memories; Nerantza personal responsibility to introduce me to every
Boutari and Popi Kontogianni in Nymphaio, who island cook he could think of. In Rhodes, my col-
lifted the lid on Vlach cookery by sharing many league Yiorgos Zahariades was the best guide any-
unusual dishes with me; Maria Kabesi in Kastoria, one could ask for.
in whose kitchen I spent several afternoons; Stelios Crete, the end of the journey, was a continuous
Samaras, for sending me off on the Macedonian feast of food and fun thanks to so many generous
pepper trail well armed; my colleague Yiannis people. My good friend Christoforos Veneris, an
Drenogiannis, for leading me to Vassilis Arabatzis excellent chef, has taken me under his wing more
and Yiorgos Haskos, two great food lovers in the than once and has taught me most of what I know
remotest regions of Prespes, Greece’s pristine about Crete. Zaharias Kypriotakis was my formida-
northern lakes; Evangelia Iota, a young cook from ble guide through Crete’s fields of greens. Nikos
Grevena; Theophilos Yiorgiades, a walking ency- Stavroulakis in Hania looked at the introductory
clopedia of all things Pontian; Victoria Benozilio material on Crete and was fair and honest. Victoria
and Andreas Sefika, for providing much useful Athanasiades, sister of the Archbishop of Hania
insight into the Jewish traditions of Thessaloniki. and a great cook, helped me in more ways than she
Thrace without Nena Ismirnoglou would have been ever imagined. The journalist Nikos Psillakis and
a tepid experience. his wife, Maria, introduced me to cooks all over the
In the Aegean, the list of people who opened island.
their homes and notebooks is a long one. My time in Paula Wolfert was always there to answer every
Limnos would have provided much less had it not e-mail query on the arcana of anything and every-
been for the oenologist Petros Honas, who knows thing Mediterranean. Colman Andrews and Nancy
everyone. In Chios, local artist Yiorgos Moutsatsas Harmon Jenkins extended friendly hands on more
shared his extensive knowledge of his native island. than one occasion. I spent endless hours at the Gen-
My source of information for most things nadius Library in Athens, and without the academic
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
acumen of the librarians Aliki Asvesta and Andreas Stratis, willing cohorts who tasted many of the
Sideris, I would not have uncovered half the books recipes with a good appetite and a keen critical
I did. I am indebted, too, to Stathis Finopoulos, a palate. My friend Kiki Birtaha accompanied me on
collector of rare books in Athens, who opened his more than one trip and is a walking accessible ency-
personal library to me and let me sift my way clopedia of things Greek.
through his formidable collection. Thanks to my Finally, I count my blessings for having a great
friends Christos Carras and Dimitris Portolos, who family: my mom, Zoe, whose will has always been
provided me with great olive oil and olives and an inspiration; my sisters, Athena and Kostia, their
answered endless questions. Ilias Mamalakis, a fel- husbands, Paul and Trifon, and all the kids—Kristi,
low food writer in Greece, was always generous Katharine, George, Tom. I owe much to my in-laws
with his knowledge of Greek cheeses. I am grateful Sappho and Yiorgos Stenos, who never said no to
to Costas Spiliades for giving me a toehold at Milos taking care of my daughter whenever my work
and more. became overwhelming. Although she’s still too
Many thanks to truly good friends: to my pal young to know it, my own little one, Kyveli, is my
Eleanna Rozaki, mostly just for being the best muse and the best traveling companion anyone
friend anyone could be blessed with, and to Andy, could ask for. She was on most of the expeditions
Daniel, Lizzy, Clare, Yiorgos, Stamatis, Mary, and with me, and I only hope she remembers a fraction
ix