G R E E K - The National Herald GR Angelike Contis TNH Staff Writer ... bite, but we saved the top...

G R E E K

The National Heralda b

NOVEMBER 19, 2011www.thenationalherald.com

GREEK FOOD & WINE2 THE NATIONAL HERALD, NOVEMBER 19, 2011

By Angelike ContisTNH Staff Writer

“Go to the farmers market!”That was first piece of advicefood writer Nicole Spiridakisgave TNH when asked abouthow to make Thanksgiving din-ner healthier. California-basedSpiridakis, whose writing onfood can be found at herwww.cucinanicolina.com andon NPR’s Kitchen Window, saysgood produce is the startingpoint.

“I live in the Bay Area, andwe are blessed (and spoiled) byan abundance of produce year-round,” she said, communicat-ing via email. Spiridakis, whois known for her vegetarian andvegan recipes as well as a fledg-ling cake business, said she ison the lookout this time of yearfor seasonal items like greens,turnips, fall and winter squashand late-season apples.

The blogger is on an applekick: “I've especially been usingapples (and pears) lately forsauce -- I grew up in an appletown, after all -- and baking(tarte tatins, a sort of upside-down open-faced pie, is a fa-vorite; galettes, gingery cakes).”The newlywed writer addedshe’s also working on her hus-band's “sad unappreciation forsquash,” with a tempting squashsoup, for one.

Broadening one’s veggiehorizons is a recurring theme in

her Thanksgiving advice. Eventhe humble supermarket pro-duce section can give chefsideas. Spiridakis said: “Checkout new-to-you vegetables, orconsider switching up some oldfavorites (try shredding andsauteeing brussel sprouts witholive oil, lemon zest, and pop-pyseeds rather than roasting orboiling) to keep things interest-ing.”

When it comes to theThanksgiving feast, she gave a

few more tips: “To keep thingson the lighter side, consider cut-ting down on the fat; a littlegoes a long way, and while but-ter is delicious, less is oftenmore. Try baking an apple piewith a vegetable-oil crust orpan-frying green beans withshallots rather than a heavy,creamy casserole. Rely on thegood flavors fresh vegetablesimpart and you won't need toadd a lot of fat.”

A nutritious Greek side dish,her mother’s spanakopita, is of-ten on her table. But since thisyear her parents will be cele-brating the feast with herbrother in Maine, Spiridakismay improvise. “I'm consideringturning my vegetarian maindish into a riff on spanikopita,or at least will use phyllo doughas a main component.” Sheplanned for a few more veggiedishes. “I'll also make sweetpotato biscuits to go along withroasted cauliflower soup, as wellas an enormous green, fennel-laced salad - I love salad on theThanksgiving table, and use rawvegetables as an antidote tocounter some of the more heavy,traditional dishes. I'll probablyalso include a delicious, easybutternut squash puree infusedwith maple syrup rather thanmashed sweet potatoes.”

Some more of the Cucinani-colina.com writer’s ideas include“acorn squash, roasted in theoven and then filled with wildrice and dried cranberries or po-

lenta swirled with sun driedtomato pesto.”

After years of baking for fam-ily and friends, Spiridakis hasalso recently launched a cakebusiness too. She’s particularlyproud of her wedding cakes.She wrote: “Wedding cakes in-volve no small amount of workas well as a healthy dose of faiththat all will turn out well (al-though I suppose every bakingendeavour involves this emotionto some extent).” A few weeksago she made her own five-tiered wedding cake. Lots ofTLC went into it, including “twohalf-days of baking, and a solidfour hours of filling and frost-ing.” However, she added: “Itdidn't feel like 'work' really be-cause I enjoyed doing it.” Sheadds: “Unfortunately the nightof the wedding, I only tasted abite, but we saved the top tierfor later consumption and it wasjust as good.” Providing herguests with extra slices was hermain intention – and she wasdelighted they loved it.

The food blogger shares tworecipes below that she publishedfor NPR/Kitchen Window lastyear. For more Thanksgivingtips, visit:

http://www.cucinanicolina.com/vegetarian-thanksgiving-main-dishes

http://www.cucinanicolina.com/vegetarian-thanksgiving-vegetables-etc

http://www.cucinanicolina.com/vegetarian-thanksgiving-

starting-off

Sweet Potato MashWith Sesame Oil AndToasted Walnuts

This is in no way a substitutefor the traditional Thanksgivingsweet potato casserole, but it'sone of my favorite ways to eatsweet potatoes any time of theyear. The sesame oil adds a rich,nutty undertone to the sweet-ness that's echoed by the toastednuts sprinkled on top. You mayuse more or less sesame oil toyour taste.

Makes 6 servings• 4 large sweet potatoes, peeledand cubed• 1/4 cup vegetable broth, soymilk or milk• 1/4 cup sesame oil• 1 tablespoon heavy cream• Sea salt to taste• 1/3 cup walnut pieces, pecans

or sliced almonds, toasted un-til lightly browned, about 5minutesPlace the sweet potatoes in a

large pot, filling the pot withwater to cover the potatoes byabout an inch. Bring to a boil,then reduce to a simmer untilthe potatoes are tender, 15 to20 minutes. When sweet pota-toes are tender, drain and placein a bowl. With a potato masher,mash the potatoes until they arefairly smooth but still chunky.Add broth, soy milk or milk andstir well. Add the sesame oil atablespoon at a time, tasting forflavor and consistency (youwant them silky, but notpureed). Add more or less oildepending on your taste, stir-ring well to combine all of theingredients. Stir in the heavycream. Salt to taste.

Before serving, sprinkle thetoasted nuts across the top ofthe sweet potatoes.

Maple-Apple Pie WithBrown Sugar Crust

I've long been a fan of theolive oil crust and use it when-ever I bake pies. Here, maplesyrup-sweetened apple slices arethe perfect finish to any holidaymeal. They taste completely offall, and bring the outside in.

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GREEK FOOD & WINETHE NATIONAL HERALD, NOVEMBER 19, 2011 3


TNH Staff Writers

After she found that whole-some recipes like feta saganakiand spinach pie triangles werepopular with kids in a summercooking class where she was aguest cook, Patricia Moore-Pastides has embarked on writ-ing a youthful sequel of sorts toher Greek Revival: Cooking forLife cookbook.

The First Lady of the Univer-sity of South Carolina and culi-nary/public health expert ex-plains that she is catering herbook to young adults and mid-dle school students, who are“very capable in a kitchen with-out much supervision.”

As a guest cook, Moore-Pastides was inspired to writeby the youngsters taking part insome classes in the Columbia’sCooking! series, which is part ofthe university’s Cancer Preven-tion and Control Program, withwhich she is very much in-volved.

The aim the nutrition expertsays is to plant the seeds forhealthy eating early. In her up-coming cookbook, she notes,veggies will be “the star of themeal,” as is largely the case inGreek Revival. The new bookwill, however, go off in new di-rections, including a whole sec-tion on gardening.

With Greek Revival in itsthird printing, with some 6,200copies sold since coming out in2010, Moore-Pastides is busytalking more than ever abouther area of expertise – thehealthy Mediterranean Diet. Sherecently pointed to a dozenspeaking engagements on thetopic awaiting her before Christ-

mas: “I’m loving it. I’m feelinglike it’s my new mission in life.”

In Greek Revival, Moore-Pastides shares her own storiesof being introduced, seducedand then hooked for life byGreek cuisine – starting with thelessons from her Astoria-based,Cypriot in-laws and otherrecipes and techniques shepicked up over the years, includ-ing while living in Greece for aperiod. Her recipes, anecdotesand health statistics in the cook-book steer people away fromprocessed foods and towardsnuts, whole grains and vegeta-bles, often making classics likeGemista (stuffed vegetables)healthier by substituting, say,barley for white rice.

In her lectures, she givesthree main pieces of advice: 1)Avoid tobacco 2) Exercise sevendays a week (even if it is a 30-minute walk) 3) Follow theMediterranean Diet.

Olive oil, of course, is a keypart of that diet – and Moore-Pastides can instantly detectwhen it is being used or not. “Itold my husband,” she said re-ferring to University of SouthCarolina President HarrisPastides (who took Greek Re-vival’s photographs), “If some-one doesn’t use 100 percentolive oil, I can taste it.”

THANKSGIVING TIPSWhile she tends to stick to

American classics on Thanksgiv-ing, a little olive oil goes a longway in making new favorites outof vegetable standards, thecookbook author notes. Halvedbrussel sprouts on a cookiesheet with olive oil is one ex-ample that Moore-Pastides pre-

pared from her family. She re-calls, “They went in a snap!”

Greek Revival includes lotsof recipes for the Thanksgivingfeast, from Roasted Carrots withRosemary and Sage to WildGreens and Cabbage Salad(Hortosalata). A local farmer’smarket (at which products ofthe President’s House gardenhave a presence) yields lots offresh produce to pick from.

Needless to say, there aren’tyams with marshmallows on theFirst Lady’s Thanksgiving table.Moore-Pastides points out thatthere is a good reason not tofeel guilty about having Greekdesserts like baklava or karydo-pita or even some American pieclassics: the nuts. “Nuts are sohealthy for us.”

In South Carolina, Moore-Pastides is delighted with thefree range, heirloom turkeysavailable. However, she recallsspending a Thanksgiving inGreece when her children wereyoung, when this was not thecase. She searched everywherefor a turkey of any kind for theholiday. She remembers: “All Icould find was a tiny turkey andthe kids started crying, becausethey said it was a baby turkey.”

Below Moore-Pastides pro-vides us with a seasonal recipe.

Acorn-Squash andGinger Soup withChickpeas

Serves 6-8

• 2 medium acorn squashes • 4 large sweet potatoes, peeled • 1/3 cup olive oil

• 3-inch piece fresh ginger,peeled and thinly julienned • 2 leeks, sliced into thin slices • 2 cups water • 1 15-ounce can chickpeas,strained, liquid discarded • Sea salt and pepper • 1/4 cup chopped fresh thymefor garnish

Boil the uncooked acornsquashes and peeled sweet pota-toes whole until they are forktender. Remove them from thewater and set aside to cool.

Heat the olive oil in a stock-pot over medium heat. Add thejulienned ginger and thinlysliced leeks and saute them untilsoft. Remove from heat and set

aside. When the squashes have

cooled enough to handle them,peel them and discard the peel.Cut each squash in half and dis-card the seeds and any fibrousparts.

Cut the squash and sweetpotato into pieces and pureethem in a food processor, puls-ing until smooth. From thestockpot, add the oil, ginger andleeks and pulse again until allthe contents of the food proces-sor are smooth and well com-bined.

Pour this puree into thestockpot and add about 2 cupsof water. Add the strained chick-peas. Stir to combine and heat

the soup to boiling. When the soup is heated

through, assess the consistency.If the soup seems too watery,cook it uncovered for a fewmore minutes until it thickens.If the soup is too thick, add abit more water.

Season the soup with sea saltand pepper to your taste. Trans-fer the Acorn-Squash and Gin-ger Soup with Chickpeas toserving bowls and garnish withchopped fresh thyme.

Recipe reprinted from GreekRevival: Cooking for Life, by Pa-tricia Moore-Pastides, The Uni-versity of South Carolina Press,with permission of the author.

Moore-Pastides: A Healthy Mediterranean Mission in S. Carolina

Makes 8 servingsCrust• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour• Pinch salt• 1/4 cup brown sugar• 5 tablespoons olive oil• Ice waterFilling• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinna-mon• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

• Pinch ground cloves• 5 to 6 large apples (GrannySmith works well), peeled,cored and sliced• 1/2 cup maple syrup

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.For the crust, combine flour,

salt and sugar in a large bowl.Add the olive oil 1 tablespoonat a time, mixing with a fork un-til the flour resembles coarsemeal. Add the ice water 1 table-spoon at a time, mixing with afork, until the mixture begins tohold together. Form lightly into

a ball with your hands and wrapin plastic wrap or wax paper.Let dough rest in the fridge atleast 20 minutes.

For the filling, in a largebowl, combine the flour, cinna-mon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves.Toss the apples with the drymixture. Drizzle in the maplesyrup and toss well to coat withthe syrup and flour.

Remove dough from fridgeand divide into 2 balls. Roll outhalf the dough and fit it into a9-inch pie pan, letting some

dough hang over the edge. Pilein the apples. Roll out the otherhalf of the dough and fit it overthe pan, pressing and crimpingalong the edge with a fork. Cuta few vents in the top of the pie.

Place pan on a cookie sheetto catch any drips and place inoven. Bake 10 minutes, thenlower heat to 350. Bake for 35to 40 minutes, until crust islightly browned and filling isbubbling. Remove from ovenand let rest about 15 minutesbefore serving.

Cucina Nicolina’s Hearty, Healthy ThanksgivingContinued from page 2

Nicole Spiridakis, the food expert/photographer behind thesite http://www.cucinanicolina.com.

Samer Farha


When Thanksgivingcomes around,many food profes-sionals do not

spend the day cooking over thehot stove, but instead –for once-enjoy some culinary pampering.But we found out that a few ofthe top Hellenic chefs in the U.S.strike a balance between prepar-ing some special treats for theircustomers and enjoying thefruits of their family’s kitchenlabors.

Read on for some ideas onhow the pros – who were alsofeatured in our recent 100 BestGreek Restaurants in the U.S.special issue - strike a deliciousbalance between Greek andAmerican cuisine on the day offeasting and giving thanks.

KONSTANTINOSPITSILLIDES, KANELLAOrganic Wild Turkey and a

Cyprus Barbeque are two of theways that Chef/Owner Konstan-tinos Pitsillides celebrates thefood-oriented American holidayat his acclaimed Philadelphiaeatery Kanella.

The Cyprus native explainsthat the barbeque consists ofgame birds like partridges,pheasants, wood pigeons andgrouse on a spit, not to mentionroast pork and patates oftes(potatoes wrapped in foil andburied/baked) and it’s a hit.

He also creates a soup withyogurt and cumin drawing fromthe different types of squashesand pumpkins on the marketthis time of year, such as but-ternut or Eskimo squash.Though admittedly not a “greatfriend of pumpkin pie,” Chef Pit-sillides has developed his own,with “more depth and texture.”This year Kanella will serve aprivate party on Thanksgiving.

When it comes to his contri-bution at celebrating the holidaywith family and friends, the chefarranges for wild turkeys fromhis supplier and “the finaltouches, such as seasonings,”but notes: “I try not to be tooinvolved, because I’m not ‘Amer-ican, American.’” The avid cook-book collector says his favoritereference on Thanksgiving foodis a rare Julia Child booklet inher series on American festivityfood.

MICHAEL PSILAKIS, MPTAVERNA & KEFI

“Instead of Greek touches totraditional Thanksgiving foods,what you’ll find on our Thanks-giving menus are Greek disheswith Thanksgiving touches,”said Michael Psilakis. The high-est-profile Greek-Americanchef’s restaurants MP Taverna,in Long Island, and Kefi, in Man-hattan, will both be open for theholiday with three-course prix-fixe menus.

The chef explains: “One ofthe Thanksgiving-themed disheswe offer at Kefi is a Turkey Av-golemono Soup, which is aGreek dish traditionally madewith chicken. Chestnuts are an-other ingredient that we associ-ate with Thanksgiving, and atKefi we are offering a Mediter-ranean riff on roasted chestnutswith our Chestnut Mantidumplings that are served withroot vegetables.”

Also on the menu will be sig-nature Psilakis dishes likeGrilled Branzino as well asThanksgiving-inspired RoastedTurkey with mashed potatoesand mixed vegetables.

“Our goal for the holiday,”says Chef Psilakis, “is to providea place for families to gather fora great, memorable meal.”

At his own home, the chef is-n’t planning any of his trade-mark experimentation. He says:“We have a fun family traditionevery Thanksgiving Day wheremy sons help me prepare a hugebreakfast with pancakes, bacon,eggs, sausages, and appleturnovers. I do not cook the ac-tual Thanksgiving dinner. I liketo take the day off of cookingand my mother always hosts abig blow-out traditional Greekdinner for the entire family,which always includes lamb.”

Of MP Taverna, whichopened in Roslyn in May, hesays: “My career has been dedi-cated to bringing Greek-Ameri-can cuisine to the forefront ofthe culinary scene, makingGreek-American cuisine acces-sible to everyone and it’s greatseeing Long Island respond sopositively to it.”

GREGORY ZAPANTIS,KELLARI

There will be both turkeyand fish at Kellari, which spe-cializes in seafood at both itsN.Y. and Washington, D.C.restaurant locations.

Chef/Partner Zapantis ex-plains that turkey is not alien toGreek festivities – but is tradi-tionally eaten in Greece onChristmas. “We have turkey twotimes a year,” he says.

His opinion on how to do theAmerican holiday well for hiscustomers is to keep it simple.

“We do traditional things withthe turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pieand turkey soups,” the Cephalo-nia island-born chef explains.

“Thanksgiving is a very tradi-tional holiday. What better canyou do but stick to the basicsand do them well?”

Chef Zapantis, who recentlybecame the first member of theNorth American Chapter of theGreek Chef’s Club, enjoys thechallenge of the different menuand enlists a little help fromhome for the stuffing. “It’s oneof the very few recipes I reachout for information to mymother,” he admits.

When it comes to dessert,Kellari offers classic pumpkinand butter pecan pies, but alsothe likes of ekmek, galakto-boureko and baklava.

The Chef notes that he cele-brates the holiday twice, earlyin the evening while “workingand cooking with my friends,”and late in the evening withfamily, including his brother andparents. (Kellari closes early onThanksgiving, by 9 or 10 p.m.)He doesn’t cook at home, butenjoys his mother’s cooking...in-cluding her stuffing and her“beautiful turkey soup, avgole-mono style.”

He hinted that a new addi-tion to the Kellari Group is onits way. When it comes to sup-porting the Greek economy, headded, Kellari does its part byimporting lots of wine and otherproducts, but also excellentyoung chefs recently too.

PETROS LOS OLIVOS Thanksgiving will be cele-

brated with special touches anda special menu at owner PetrosBenekos’ second Hellenic-Cali-fornian restaurant, which is lo-cated within the Fess ParkerWine Country Inn and Spa

The restaurant will offerturkey mixed with stuffed chest-nuts and figs, based on Benekos’mother's recipe, which is servedwith sweet potatoes.

Non-turkey items include,Petros’ staff notes, “Petros’ infa-mous Grilled pork chop drizzledwith olive oil, lemon, andoregano,” as well as grilledMediterranean snapper with Ro-

mano beans and/or roastedpotatoes.

Back by popular demand thisyear will be Petros’ specialpumpkin cheesecake “to breaktradition from the pumpkin pie.”Coming soon, according to aninterview with Benekos in theSanta Ynez Valley Journal, is athird Petros restaurant in SantaBarbara.

FINAL TOUCHESWhile Washington, D.C.’s

Mourayo is closed for the holi-day, at least one seasonal itemappears on its menu this timeof year, reports owner NatalinaKoropoulous. Butternut squashkeftedes adapted from a Thes-saloniki recipe and served withraisin paste and sesame seedsmake it onto their menu.

EOS in Stamford, CT may beclosed on Thanksgiving Day, but

they invite customers to reservea spot on their patio on Novem-ber 20, for the Thanksgiving Pa-rade. There are $5 drink spe-cials.


A Hellenic Thanksgiving

Chef/Owner Michael Psilakishas some Turkey AvgolemonoSoup for his devotees at MPTaverna and Kefi.

Kanella’s Chef/Owner Kon-stantinos Pitsillides doesturkey, squash and pumpkins– but also a Cyprus BBQ.

Chef/Partner Gregory Zapan-tis sticks to the basics for Kel-lari’s Thanksgiving feast.


TNH Staff Writers

Greek American ChefCat Cora is taking tothe skies...or at least toan airport terminal

near you. After opening CatCora’s Kitchen at SFO in SanFrancisco, she reportedly has 6more airport restaurants comingin the next year. That is, in ad-dition to her Kouzzina by CatCora at Walt Disney World andBBQ eatery Cat Cora’s ’Que(CCQ) in California.

Corresponding by email, thechef noted that tis the seasonfor squash and pumpkins on herrestaurants’ menus. She ex-plained: “The restaurantschange their vegetables season-ally so that we can offer gueststhe freshest ingredients.”

Speaking of Thanksgiving, ameal traditionally not spent inrestaurants, the Chef said she’lluse it this year to have time withher young family and reflect onwhat they are thankful for. Coraadded: “This year I’m going totake a few days off to spendtime with my four boys in themountains, and we typicallymake an effort during the Holi-day Season to all as a family vol-unteer in soup kitchens or shel-ters serving food to those lessfortunate.”

When it comes to theThanksgiving meal at home,Chef Cora wrote: “Two of myfavorite things to serve duringthe holiday are my CaramelizedBrussels Sprouts with Lemon,Capers and Parmesan Cheese,and of course, my CaribbeanSweet Potato Pie.”

The Chef was kind enoughto let us reprint the latter, whichappears in her cookbook CatCora’s Classics With a Twist; tryit at home, to see if it’ll be asmuch a hit at your home as atCat Cora’s.

(Chef Cora is also one of 13top chefs contributing to thenew Macy’s Culinary Council’sThanksgiving and HolidayCookbook.)

CARIBBEAN SWEET POTATOPIE WITH COCONUT

AND RUM At Thanksgiving, sweet

potato pie is a must at myhouse, but I also make it all yearlong. I’ve always thought thatcoconut and sweet potato weremeant for each other, so it wasjust a matter of time before Iadded coconut mile and gingerto my family’s old recipe, alongwith a gingersnap crust. Richer,spicier, and a little denser thanthe standard pumpkin, with anexotic flavor, this pie is like noother.

The gingersnap crust has justthe right amount of spice, andthe filling, with its hit of rum, isso yummy, you’ll crave it evenin mid-August.

Preheat the over to 350 F Scrub the sweet potatoes and

poke them all over with a fork.Place the potatoes and a bakingsheet (I put a piece of parch-ment paper down first) andbake until a fork slides in easily,1 to 1 ½ hours.

Remove from the oven, cut

each of the sweet potatoes into4 to 6 chunks so they cool faster,and let cool. Leave the oven on.

Meanwhile, for the crust:Break up the gingersnaps into afood processor. Add the butterand pulse just until the cookiecrumbs have the consistency ofa graham cracker crust: don’toverprocess.

Alternatively, place the gin-gersnaps in a 1-gallon reusablebag, squeeze out the air, seal thebag, and crush into fine crumbswith a rolling pin. Mix thecrumbs and butter in a mediumbowl.

Press the crumb mixtureevenly in the bottom and up thesides of a 9-inch pie plate, leav-ing a rim along the top edge.

Bake the piecrust until thecrumbs are just slightly darkerand you can smell the ginger-snaps, about 8 minutes. Leavethe oven on. Let the crust coolwhile you make the filling.

Gingersnap Crust• 24 2-inch crisp, thin ginger-snaps (such as Sweetzels)

• 5 tbs Unsalted butter, meltedFor the filling: As soon as

the sweet potatoes are coolenough to handle, scoop theflesh out of the skins to measure2 cups (save any extra for an-other use) and place in a largebowl. With a wooden spoon,mash the sweet potatoes withthe butter pieces until the butteris melted and the sweet potatoesare smooth. Add the eggs, oneat a time, beating well aftereach addition. Mix in the brownsugar, ginger, rum, vanilla,cream, and coconut milk andwhisk until smooth the light.Pour the filling into the ginger-snap crust and bake until a knifeinserted in the center comes outclean, 345 to 50 minutes. Leavethe oven on.

Sweet Potato Filling• 1 �lbs Sweet potatoes (about3 medium)• 2 tbs Unsalted butter, cut intosmall pieces• 2 Large eggs•� 3/4 cup Packed light brownsugar

1tsp Grated Fresh Ginger• 2tbs Amber or Dark Rum• 1 tsp Vanilla extract• 1 cup Heavy Cream• ½ cup Regular or Light Co-conut Milk

For the topping: Spread thecoconut on a baking sheet andtoast it in the oven until it be-gins to turn golden, 5 to 7 min-utes. (Coconut burns easily, sokeep an eye on it.) Let cool.Meanwhile, in a medium bowl,whip the cream until it beginsto form soft peaks, 1 to 2 min-utes. Add the confectioners’sugar and rum and continuewhipping until stiff peaks form.

Serve the pie warm or atroom temperature, cut into thinSlices. Top each serving with aspoonful of whipped cream anda generous sprinkle of toastedcoconut.

Topping • ½ cup sweetened shreddedcoconut• 1 cup heavy cream• 2 tbs confectioners’ sugar• 1 tbs amber or dark rum

Thanksgiving with Chef Cat Cora

Two efforts stand outthe most among themany Thanksgivingphilanthropic activ-

ities by churches, businessesand individuals each year inthe Greek American com-munity: those of the ManolisFamily Foundation, Inc. , inMassachusetts, an the GreekAmerican Homeowners As-sociation in New York.

This year both organiza-tions are expanding their ef-forts to help everyone enjoya Thanksgiving meal.

HELPING 1600 FAMILIESNikos Manolis, owner of

the Dracut House of Pizzaand Seafood Restaurant andfounder of the Manolis Fam-ily Foundation, says theywill offer a completeThanksgiving dinner to1600 families this year. TheThanksgiving philanthropictradition began when hisfamily helped 30 families 18years ago.

Last year, Manolis notes,there were 1500 familiesthat benefitted. He adds:“The need this year is extra-ordinary if you look at theeconomy.” One trend he’snoticed is that even peoplefrom affluent areas are ask-ing for help.

It doesn’t just stop atThanksgiving, either. TheManolis Family Foundation(http://manolisff.org/),which was established in2008, is now doing work atshelters on Christmas andEaster, and also providingcollege scholarships. Thesole fundraiser is a golf tour-nament, which took placefor the third time in August.

Manolis, who has been inthe food business for 33years, says that 300 volun-teers are taking part in thisyear’s Thanksgiving deliver-ies. The foundation will holda big buffet for the driversand other helpers. Volun-teers will have not just thesatisfaction of helping, butalso the sweet taste of Greekdesserts, such as galakto-boureko.

HOMEOWNERS HELPFor the 22nd time, the

Greek American Homeown-ers Association (GAHOA)will open its doors in Astoriaand welcome people fromall backgrounds to enjoy aThanksgiving meal together.

George Kitsios, the pres-ident of the associationnotes, “The event is a fullmeal that is open to the pub-lic. All are invited.”

This year some 2,000people are expected at thedinner, which will be heldon Thanksgiving day be-tween noon and 4 p.m. Anadditional 500 turkeys willbe delivered to families inneed by some 15 drivers.

The numbers of peoplethat will be helped are upthis year, Kitsios says, by20% over the previous year,due not only to the currenteconomic situation, but alsothe word getting out aboutthe event.

“It’s open to all ethnicgroups, all ages. We havechildren, middle-aged peo-ple, senior citizens,” Kitsiosstresses. The dinner andturkey deliveries are madepossible by many contribu-tions by members andfriends of the organization.

This year ArchbishopDemetrios of America, theconsuls general of Greeceand Cyprus and New YorkCity Mayor MikeBlooomberg have been in-vited.

Those interested in help-ing out can contact theGreek American Homeown-ers organization. The Asso-ciation, which will house theevent, is located at 23-4931st St., Tel. 718-545-4046.

CommunityThanksgivingPhilanthropy

Voula and Nick Manolis,at last year’s turkey distri-bution.

TNh/Theodore kalmoukoS

TNH Staff Writers

Greek food exports com-pany Gaea, named af-ter the Greek Earthgoddess, is making in-

roads into the U.S. market –from your kitchen shelf to theOscars. The company foundedin 1995 is headquartered inAthens with a factory nearAgrinion in Western Greece.

With a mission to bringGreek meze culture – and all thehealthy associations that comewith it – to the world, they pro-duce olive oil, olives, tapenades,cooking sauces, vinegar, Cretancookies and rusks and otherGreek specialties such as stuffedvine leaves and giant beans.Their offerings include many or-ganic products – and the com-pany holds the distinction of be-ing the first certified carbonneutral olive oil producer in theworld.

We caught up with the com-pany’s CEO Aris Kefalogiannisin between a busy travel sched-ule to learn more about thecompany’s successful path – andwhat they have in store duringthe current hard times for theGreek economy.

TNH: Can you say a fewwords about Gaea's presence inthe U.S. market, including CatCora's line?

AK: Gaea was established in1995 having one vision: to bethe absolute leader of the cate-gory of Mediterranean Greekcuisine – meze in the interna-tional fine foods arena, synony-mous with quality traditional,authentic and innovative Greekspecialty food products and topromote internationally Greekmeze as the authentic GreekMediterranean lifestyle and cul-tural culinary experience. As theUS market is one of the biggestmarkets in the world, with greatgrowth potentials, especially inthe healthy Mediterranean dietsector, our company decided toenter the market in 2006. Till2010, Gaea was growing fast –based on IRI data our brand isthe fastest growing brand in theolives category, but still, therewas a lack of knowledgeamongst the consumers on thesuperior quality of Greek prod-ucts and the healthy aspects ofGreek – Mediterranean diet. Forthat reason, in 2011 we re-launched our range under theCat Cora’s Kitchen by Gaeabrand. Through this partner-

ship, Cat Cora and Gaea aim toraise awareness amongst Amer-ican consumers about the bene-fits of eating a Greek Mediter-ranean diet, one of thehealthiest diets in the world. CatCora’s Kitchen by Gaea rangeincludes all the basic ingredi-ents, indispensable of the finestGreek Mediterranean cuisine –superior quality extra virginolive oils, olives, cooking saucesbased on traditional regionalrecipes, tapenades as well asoxymelo – barrel aged vinegarwith thyme honey, an ancientGreek recipe, the Greek answerto balsamic vinegar!

TNH: Which products are theU.S. consumers particularly in-terested in?

AK: I think the US consumersare becoming more conscious inconsuming natural products –without any preservatives or ad-ditives that are also related to ahealthy diet. Olive oil is becom-ing more widely used and con-sumed in the US, which is reallyencouraging as this indicatesthat the consumers are moreaware on the healthy aspects ofthe Mediterranean diet, com-pared to the past. In regards toour products, our extra virginolive oils and olives are our top

selling products in the market.We have also gained great re-views for our new olives insnack pack – totally natural,without any preservatives, ab-sence of liquids that makes theproduct difficult for immediateconsumption and with the low-est salinity levels in the market– a healthy snack from theGreek Mediterranean table!

TNH: How do you see thechallenge of exporting Greekfood products in this time of cri-sis? Is there any silver lining forcompanies like your own?

AK: Exports are the only so-lution for our country to over-come the crisis. Gaea has real-ized that long before the currentcrisis. Nowadays, a substantialnumber of good Greek compa-nies producing excellent prod-ucts realized that they cannotrely any more on the Greek mar-ket for survival. At the sametime they realized that you can-not develop sales internationallyin a fortnight.

Because of Gaea’s high ethi-cal standards and socially re-sponsible practices, some of the

best companies with the bestproducts, Greece has to offer,are now proposing to entrusttheir worldwide export activitiesto Gaea on an exclusive basis.Gaea has developed the concept“cooperation – synergasia” withdual branding thus securingequal presence on the label forthe proud producers of thesequality products and total trans-parency and sharing of theadded value created. Thus thecrisis is becoming an opportu-nity.

TNH: How does Gaea work

to distinguish its products fromothers that are on the market?

AK: Gaea’s consistency in of-fering the absolutely highestquality, totally natural and au-thentic products in a value formoney price is our brand’s com-petitive advantage and is one ofthe basic elements that led Catto select our brand to cooperatewith and to endorse our prod-ucts under the co – brand CatCora’s Kitchen by Gaea. More-over, apart from our productsnatural and healthy profile,through our product range,Gaea offers an experience oftastes, aromas and delights toconsumers, directly from thesunny landscape of Greece.

Moreover, Gaea’s olive oilsare the most awarded olive oilsinternationally while our entirerange has been also awarded inmany international competi-tions for it superior taste andquality. Especially in the US, our2 DOP extra virgin olive oils –certified also as carbon neutralfrom “myclimate” – were se-lected and included in the Os-cars ceremony in 2007 and wereincluded in the 300 VIP celebritygift bags while in 2009 theytook a starring role in the 81stOscar Academy Awards,through their dynamic presencein the 10th Annual Award Cele-bration of non-profit 'ChildrenUniting Nations' held at the Bev-erly Hills Hilton Hotel.

TNH: Finally, can you say afew words about any futureplans for your company? Do youhave any interesting new itemscoming out?

AK: We just launched ournew and very innovative CatCora’s Kitchen by Gaea Snackpack olives in the market thatare making a great hit for theirexcellent taste, high nutritionalvalues and low calories content.In addition all Cat’s restaurantsare exclusively using the CatCora’s Kitchen by Gaea oliveoils!

We are currently working ona range of three premium “fleurde sel – flower of salt” productsfrom Mesologgi, a range ofunique Greek red saffron herbalteas to be included in our CatCora’s Kitchen by Gaea range.In addition, advanced discus-sions are also taking place forthe future expansion of ourrange including Greek yogurtsand Greek cheeses.

www.gaea.gr


Gaea’s Worldwide Rev-oil-lution

TNH reader Stephanie Tsacoumis of Wash-ington DC shares this stuffing recipe from hergrandmother, Efthalia Zaharoolis. Tsacoumiswrites of her grandmother: “She immigratedfrom Smyrna in the ‘Great Catastrophe,’ settledin New England and was a fashion trend-setter,among the first to bob her hair in the flapperera. She lived to the ripe old age of 105 anduntil her last days was never seen without astring of pearls.”

Zaharoolis Stuffing a la Smyrna• 1-1/2 to 2 pounds cooked, shelled chestnuts• 4 cups cooked rice• 4 stalks celery, diced and browned in butter• 2-1/2 pounds hamburger meat, browned• 1 tablespoon cinnamon• 2 teaspoons salt• 1-1/2 teaspoon pepper• 2-1/2 cups raisins• 2 teaspoons sugar

Mix cooked rice with browned hamburgermeat in very large pot or dutch oven. Add cin-namon, salt, pepper, raisins, sugar and chest-nuts. Stir carefully, so that chestnuts remain inchunks. Add turkey drippings, broth made fromgiblets or chicken broth and cook on stove untilheated through.

Enjoy!

Stuffing with a Smyrna Twist

ABOVE: Gaea puts quality first– and cooperates with otherproducers who want to enterinternational markets. RIGHT:Aris Kefalogiannis and ChefCat Cora have teamed up fora line of new products fromGreece.


The Yiayia Stella’sCookies Story

TNH Staff Writers

Ifyou ever crave elegantly-twisted koulourakia or melt-in-your-mouth baklava - the way grandma used to makethem - but don’t have the time to sit down and do ityourself, Yiayia Stella’s may be your answer. This new

Westchester, New York company created by Sophia O’Connellbakes family recipes and sends them around the country.

“I love to cook and learned from my mother and grand-mother,” O’Connell explains, referring to her mother, Stella,who hails from Chios and her grandmother, also named Sophia,who was originally from Asia Minor. As her website Sweets-bystella.com notes, 75 years of cooking treats on the age-old

science of “a little of this” and “a glass full of that” have goneinto the recipes.

The company boasts three items, all of which pass the Yiayia(grandmother) test. First, there are the Greek Cookies(koulourakia), Easter-style twists made with eggs, butter, creamand sugar. Next there are the neat, aromatic squares of Baklava,whose filling blends almonds and walnuts (and O’Connell says,“secret spices”) with ample butter applied to the phyllo doughlayers. Baklava-lovers who don’t like too much syrup will ap-preciate that this recipe doesn’t overdo the sweet stuff. Finally,there are the crunchy Raisin Biscotti (paximadia), which havea hint of white wine and orange juice.

The cookies and baklava disappear particularly quickly be-cause of their bite-sized shape. But this also means that thereis less guilt associated with each item, as the sweet tooth canpace him or her self.

Mother-of-three O’Connell, who previously worked in bank-ing, is applying her finance and marketing savvy to her newbaking endeavor. She attributes her new company to her fam-ily’s passion for both entertaining and spending quality time inthe kitchen. It was inspired in part by the fact that wheneverher mother made sweets and O’Connell would bring them towork to share, they would disappear.

Yiayia Stella’s treats are produced by hand at a chocolatestore in Westchester. O’Connell says her sweets make a beautifulgift, with their white boxes, Greece-inspired labels and prettybows. She intentionally linked her product with images ofGreek cobblestone island streets, flowers and vases.

Her website too, highlights the Grecian motiph. “Take a mo-ment to escape to a place of sun-drenched, white sand beaches,warm turquoise water and unforgettable sunsets, a place wherepast and present are intertwined.”

For now, Yiayia Stella’s is making inroads in the Greek Amer-ican market, but banking-to-baking entrepreneur O’Connellsays she aims to develop slowly and expand the brand outsideof that market. “I hope in five or ten years it will be somethingeveryone has heard of.”

http://sweetsbystella.com

Yiayia Stella’s is a company launched by Sophia O’Connellthat puts 75-year-old family recipes to good use.

PhoToS: doug SchNeider PhoTograPhy

TNH Staff Writers

“2010 was a very good yearfor Greek wine,” says somme-liere Maria Katsouli. The ChefSommeliere at upscale newBotrini’s Restaurant in Athens’Halandri suburb, adds: “2011 isexpected to be good too, apartfrom some small problems dueto weather conditions in certainregions like Crete and the Pelo-ponnese.” The wine stewardnotes that the latest grape har-vest in Northern Greece is par-ticularly promising.

Katsouli, who in 1997 wasamong the founders of both theGreek Sommeliers’ Union aswell as the Greek Women ofWine Association, explains thatGreece is benefitting from a “re-naissance of Greek wine that be-gan in the 1990s.” The somme-liere (which is the femaleequivalent of sommelier), ex-plains: “Until then, the marketwas dominated by Tsantalis,Boutaris, Achaia Clauss and therevolution began with smallproducers of that time like Hatz-imichalis Estate, Katogi, Pa-paioannou Estate, Porto Karras,Gerovassiliou Estate, SkourasEstate and Semeli. Greek wineowes a lot to those small wine-makers of that time period.”Many of these wines are read-ily available in the U.S.and have launched asuccessful campaign

to enter fine restaurant winemenus here too she says.

Wine Spectator, Wine Maga-zine and Decanter are amongthe professional publicationsthat have taken notice the lastfew years, underlining for in-stance, Greece’s countless in-digenous varieties. “In Greece300 indigenous varieties havebeen recorded, while some 20of these are systematicallyused,” says Katsouli. She adds:“Greece has an exceptionally ad-vantageous climate for the de-velopment and maturation ofgrapes – and unique, based onregions, terroirs. Our winewealth is great and Greece canoffer excellent wine based on itsGreek varieties, such as Assyr-tiko, Moschofilaro, Malagouzia,Agiorgitiko and others.” Sheadds: “Santorini has reallygrabbed their attention due toits rare microclimate and its vol-canic earth.”

FROM CRETE TO BORDEAUXToday Katsouli judges and

suggests wines fora living, but also

shares her knowledge by writingin publications like Easy Cook,Oinoxoos and Ampelotopi andserving on international wine-tasting competitions such as theConcours Mondial de Bruxelles.She is a Greek wine pioneer inher own right.

Katsouli is the first to admitthat her profession began as ahobby. Born and raised in Crete,Katsouli traces her love for wineat home, from “the atmospherethat reigned around the tableand the aromas of the food.” Asan economics student at the Fi-nancial University of Piraeus inthe early 1980s, she startedbroadening her culinary hori-zons at Athens restaurants. Inexperimenting with wines, shediscovered “how each food’s fla-vor changes depending on whatwine is in the glass.” She readup on wine and before long wastaking seminars in France, in-cluding a series of them, startingin 1992, in France’s wine-mak-ing and wine-educating regionof Bordeaux.

Katsouli’sprofess ional

trajectory blos-somed along with

the renaissance ofGreek wine in the

1990s. In fact she intro-duced the profession to

Greece’s restaurant world.She explains: “I am proud

to have personally introducedthe sommelier profession to

Greece. And I am proud to saythat I’m the first sommelier inthe Greek restaurant market.”

Her first professional winepost was at the Greek Wine

Academy, from 1990 to 1995,before going on to work as aChef Sommeliere for sevenyears at King George Palace Ho-tel’s Tudor Hall restaurant aswell as serving as wine consul-tant to Greece’s Classical Hotelsand Grecotel Hotels.

It was not always easy to bea sommeliere in Greece. “Thefirst two years were pretty hard,because wine at that time wasconsidered male-dominated,”the Cretan wine expert recalls.Together with a group ofwomen in Greece’s flourishingnew industry, Katsouli formedthe Greek Women of Wine As-sociation in order to break downthe gender barriers and “bringwomen closer to the taste ofwine.” The Women of Wine As-sociation organizes wine tasting,trips to wine making regionsand other events.

The irony, Katsouli notes, isthat even if women were in-volved in the ‘90s in Greek wine,it was only in the past decadethat that the industry wasn’tperceived as male-dominated.Despite her banding togetherwith other sommeliers in Greecein 1997, the next year Katsoulifelt the need to go abroad toboost her career. “In 1998, see-ing that the ability to developwas limited in Greece at thattime, I left for France, travellingin all the wine-growing regions,acquired additional training atBurgundy, worked and returnedto Athens again after two years.”

CREATING WINEAMBASSADORS

Greek wine has come a longway, Katsouli is pleased to re-port. She says of her country’swine: “Today, I can honestly say

that there aren’t bad wines, orthat the great part of productionis of a high level.”

Nonetheless, the industrycan’t ignore the impact of thecurrent economic crisis. Katsouliexplains, “Consumption inrestaurants has gone down sig-nificantly and the clients seekmore economical wine, turningto house wines or to vessels ofdubious quality.” She notes,however, that there are plentyof small producers today offer-ing their wines at good pricesand even the more establishedlabels have dropped prices, so,in her opinion, “xyma,” or housewine, isn’t necessary even inrough times. It’s just that peopleare afraid at times of uncorkingsomething new.

Exports obviously gain in-creasing significance in such aclimate. Katsouli believes thatnot only wine, but other Greekproducts like olive oil, honey,wild herbs would benefit froma more education about them.She is branching out to olive oiltoo, organizing a November 28event on olive oil through theWomen of Wine Association andworking towards being certifiedas an olive oil taster by the Min-istry of Agriculture and the Eu-ropean Union.

Part of this education wouldbe if other hotels followed KingGeorge Palace Hotel’s emphasison good Greek wine, ”makingall visitors embassadors ofGreek wine in their own coun-tries,” she says.

As Chef Sommaliere there,Katsouli noticed that 60% of thecustomers were from the U.S.and were curious about and “al-ways astonished with the qual-ity of the Greek wine.” Many ofher customers often tried winethat they ordered afterwards di-rectly from the wine-growers,including two restaurant ownersin L.A. and Arizona.

Being in the profession since1990 has its perks. Katsoulipoints to have developed “ex-cellent relations of friendshipand respect” with Greek vine-yards over the years. She oftentries their new wines beforethey are even on the market.

Among her current projectsis writing a guidebook on Greekwine. Anyone wishing to tapinto her wine wisdom can al-ways, of course, stop by Botrini’s(www.botrinis.com) ask for heropinion in person.


Sommeliere Traces Greek Wine’s Renaissance

Maria Katsouli pioneered the profession of ‘sommelier’ or winesteward in Greece. She also helped pave the way too for womenin a male-dominated industry.

© W

R

Ais for.. Agiorgitiko TheWise Owl, a new wine thatinternational wine pro

Niko Manessis highly recom-

mends on his site Greek-wineworld.net. He gives thewine based on organic Agiorgi-tiko grapes in the Peloponnese’s

Koutsi amidst conifers a 16/20score. “No lover of Nemeashould give this wine a miss,”Manessis writes, pointing to it as

a successful coming together ofNemea organic grape productscompany I Sofia tis Fisis (Na-ture’s Wisdom) and the Katogi-

Strofilia winery.

Bis for... Blueberry, Vanillaand Lemon. These flavorswere added to Olympus

Dairy USA’s line of authenticGreek Yogurts this summer. TheGreek company is a relatively re-cent arrival in the lucrative Greekyogurt market. Forbes recentlynoted that newcomer Chobani,with $500 million in sales thisyear, overtooked pioneers likeGreece’s FAGE. In the yogurtwars, Kraft launched an ad cam-paign for its yogurt this year thatwas chock full of negative Greekstereotypes.

Cis for... Cheese fromGreece, which is verymuch in demand, with

countless regional varieties. Feta,

for one, has made it into the U.S.foodie lexicon. But will GreekFeta overtake competition fromDenmark to, most recently,Canada, where feta productionis booming? Keep posted.

Dis for... Deli. Piraeus-bornApostolos and NikkosMeletis, who own Miami’s

Airport Diner, will be openingthe Greek American Deli soon onthe city’s Westward Drive. Theywill offer Greek classics likespinach pie and house specialtyrice pudding, not to mention gy-ros and burgers too.

Eis for...Exports, which maybe the key to giving theGreek economy a major

boost, especially in sectors likewine, which are facing a 40%drop in sales at home. TheGreek Ministry of Foreign Affairsnoted last year that Greek wineexports to the U.S. went up 12%in 2009.

Fis for... Famine, the topic ofa new Athens’ Oxygen Press(in Greek) book entitled

«Συνταγές της… πείνας»(Recipes of…Hunger) by EleniNikolaidou. During the GermanOccupation, some 40,000 Greeksdied the winter of 1941-42.Those who survived, lived on

greens and considered raisins adessert. Athens’ cat and dogpopulation disappeared. The au-thor describes dishes in the book,like boiled tomatoes with 5-6olives per person, that put cui-sine into perspective. Koufetawere black in many weddings,she writes, as they were madeby burning sugar.

Gis for...Greek Salad, whichfeatures large in the latestepisode of America’s Next

Top Model reality show. The lastsix aspiring top models pose in agiant bowl of the Greek stuff(covered with oil of course) inthe sun. The episode includes ex-ploration of what Greece has tooffer and some Greek lessons.Guest judge photographer NikosPapadopoulos and Vicki Kaya(host of the Greek equivalent)appear. The models offer plentyof behind-the-scenes commen-tary on their Greek experienceand salad.

His for…Health. That theMediterranean Diet is stillhot, after thousands of

years, is clear from just a few ofthis week’s headlines: “Mediter-ranean Diet Tied to Better Fertil-ity” shouts Fox News.;“TheMediterranean Diet ImprovesLiver Health” exclaims the Sacra-mento Bee; “Mediterranean DietCures Sleep Apnea” announcesthe Times of India; “A Mediter-ranean Diet ‘Could Be Good forPregnant Women,” notes the In-ternational Federation of Gyne-cology and Obstetrics. The MayoClinic defines the term as fol-lows: “The Mediterranean dietincorporates the basics of healthyeating — plus a splash of flavor-ful olive oil and perhaps a glassof red wine — among other com-ponents characterizing the tra-ditional cooking style of coun-tries bordering theMediterranean Sea.” Like manyother medical institutions, theclinic points to “a reduced riskof overall and cardiovascularmortality, a reduced incidence ofcancer and cancer mortality, anda reduced incidence of Parkin-son's and Alzheimer's diseases.”

Iis for... Imam Baildi, which isnot just the name of a coolGreek band remixing old clas-

sics with an album called TheImam Baildi Cookbook, but alsoa wonderful eggplant-based dishwith plenty of olive oil andtomato and garlic. PatriciaMoore-Pastides, who we speakto in this issue, writes in hercookbook that the goal after bak-ing should be that no liquids butolive oil remain. “The eggplant,tomato, and onion should alltaste richly pungent, and the tex-ture should be very soft.” In itsrecipe, The Complete Book ofGreek Cooking notes that ImamBaildi means “the priest (imam)fainted,” and that the dish wasinspired by an eggplant dish sogood that an imam “fainted inecstasy.”

Jis for... (New) Jersey’s LittleGreek Chef George Kyrtatas,who is a currently working

on PBS show The CookingOdyssey as a guest chef, as wellas doing food styling, recipe test-ing and development for it. Kyr-tatas is also the owner/chef ofHathaway's in Cinnaminson,New Jersey.

Kis for... Kokkari, which hasfor the past decade been afavorite with our West

Coast readers. It has just comeout with its own cookbook enti-tled Kokkari: ContemporaryGreek Flavor. Its website notes:“More than a decade after open-ing its doors, Kokkari's foundersinvite you to try some of theirfavorite dishes at home, andwish you a Greek bon appetit:kali orexi!”

Lis for... Loi. Greek TV Chefand Writer Maria Loi openedher own Manhattan restau-

rant “Loi” on West 70th Street.The owner, who is also the Inter-national Ambassador of GreekGastronomy for the renownedChef's Club of Greece, servesdishes passed down through thegenerations against striking pho-tos of views taken outside herhome in Greece of the CorinthianGulf and Nafpaktos.

Mis for... Mill. A conven-tion was held on No-vember 4 in the tradi-

tional olive-oil producing city ofKalamata, Greece on the topic ofmodern olive oil mills, qualityand sustainability. Scientists andpros, the Olive Oil Times notesfocused there on the need forbigger mills and making the mostof biomass produced along theway.

Nis for...Neo-Taverna. AsFodor’s latest travel guideon Greece notes, the last

few years has seen a trend inGreece to update the tavern withmore stylish interiors, a bigger


Greek Food News: A-ZWhat’s happening in Greek culinary news, from Alpha to Omega

Continued on page 12



Frangiskos Karelas says thatidea of starting Eumelia, anagrotourism haven in the Pelo-ponnese, occurred to him whenhe visited the tract of land hisgreat-grandfather had acquiredin the 1880’s from the Greekgovernment.

“Something woke up insideme and I decided that I neededto create something in thisland,” Karelas says. And he did,taking a pretty big turn in a ca-reer path in international rela-tions that included work at theUN High Commission forRefugees, the Council of Europe,European Parliament and aGreek NGO. On that fertile plaindotted with olive trees located45 minutes southeast of Sparta,near the village of Gouves, hehas devoted the last few yearsto creating an organic farm andecologically-sound hotel accom-modations.

Organic olive oil and wineare produced at the 50-acre ho-tel/farm that opened in October2009 – and visitors from Greeceand around the world can takepart in it all, participating inworkshops that hone theirhealth, educate them on ecologyand explore their creativity orsimply… relax.

Upon arriving at Eumelia,the visitor is greeted by grazingsheep, geese, chickens, turkeys,rabbits, cats and dogs nudgingeach other out of the way fortreats. The aroma of herb andvegetable gardens is in the air.Half century-old olive treesgrow in the shadow of Taygetusand Parnonas mountains, andthe sea is only 13 kilometersaway.

The structures are paintedrusty hues on the outside – andEumelia’s guest accommoda-tions are in the form of homescreated with ecological materi-als and with names like Laven-der House that are heated andcooled using geothermal power.There is also a wine cellar/shopas well as common spaces in-cluding a library and seminarroom.

As for the name, “eumelia”means beautiful melody or nicesound in Ancient Greek, itsfounder notes.

Karelas, who is President andManaging Director of the sus-tainable development companyHomeodynamic DevelopmentS.A., says he created Eumelia to

be open to many uses. Tourists,volunteers, researchers – all arewelcome. His aim, Karelas says,is “to create a reference pointand a sustainable developmentarea that people can visit andreceive what is missing in theirlife.” Yoga and meditationclasses are as good a fit as per-maculture and food/wine tast-ing.

Visitors are encouraged tolearn by doing and by interact-ing with the terrain, pickingolives or herbs for instance.Karelas explains: “Some mighthave a need to relax in ourpeaceful nature, others mightwant to assist us in our farmingactivities while others want tolearn from our experience andincorporate some of our ele-ments into their life, such as ourenvironmental technologies, or-ganic farming methods, holisticapproach or our natural meth-ods and material used in thefarm and hotel facilities. “

Eumelia is putting into prac-tice the kind of nature-friendlyphiloxenia (hospitality) that isnot just kind to visitors – but tothe land that they leave behind

when they pack their bags andgo. Unlike 99% of hotels inGreece, recycling is a priority.Eumelia is developing naturalwaste management system,based on the root system, thatKarelas says may be the first ofits kind in southern Greece.

OIL & WINE EXPORTSSoon the Eumelia experience

will be available abroad,through an organic olive oil lineunder the name Eumelia that isset to reach markets outside ofGreece in 2012, starting in New

York shops and delicatessens,but also online atEumeliashop.com.

Eumelia is looking to send itswine abroad too. It now pro-duces its own house wine, usingbiodynamic agriculture (orfarming that is ecological andsustainable) and is working ondeveloping a red wine based onAgiorgitiko and Augoustiati va-rieties as well as white winebased on the Kydonitsa andAthiri varieties. Karelas says bio-dynamic agriculture is to theland what homeopathy is to the

body. “It gives the organismsuch as the plant [the ability]to overcome problems such asdrought, frost with its own ca-pabilities and internal powers.”

As the brand begins its jour-ney abroad, Karelas notes: “Wewish to create a relationship oftrust with the friends that willbe buying our products.” Thistrust, he notes, is based on thefact that anyone buying theproducts can easily come andvisit the hotel and organic farmand see the “respect and love”behind the products.

Eumelia currently producesalmonds, wild roses andhawthorne. A herb and essentialoils line is in the works, inspiredby abundant local oregano,mint, lavender and almond.

RESPECT FOR BODY, LAND & SOUL

Karelas was born in Greecebut moved to New York’sWestchester when he wastwelve and studied in the U.S.He explains that his own expe-riences with his health led himto homeopathic medicine. Italso guided his firm oppositionto chemical-filled conventionalfarming methods “that simplywanted to take from the landand not give anything back.”His introduction to homeopathybegan after he saw a great im-provement in his own healthwhen he switched from conven-tional medicine to homeopathicremedies to treat an autoim-mune disorder he was first di-agnosed as having at age 12.Karelas explains: “This holisticinfluence in my life through thedrastic improvement of myhealth brought me to the real-ization that I wanted to createa holistic farming area with re-spect for nature, respect for thevisitors and people workingthere.”

At Eumelia, Karelas used hisknowledge of the medical ap-proach of homeopathy “to cre-ate a farm that was a complexorganism just as the humanbody is and to view the needsof the farm from a holistic pointof view.” He adds: “We plantedalmond trees along with olivestrees in order to create a com-munication that was beneficialto both of them, and westrengthened this dialogue byintroducing pine and cypresstrees as well as grape vines.”Plants are treated with homeo-pathic remedies too.

As winter approaches Eu-

melia continues to develop, withwork in the olive groves, gar-dens and growing fruit tree or-chard plus some improvementsto the structures. Many week-ends see the arrival of visitorsfor seminars including yoga,raw vegan cooking, organicfarming methods and permacul-ture.

Karelas adds that Eumeliadraws on both the past and newknowledge. “We want to respectthe nature around us, and learnfrom the past experience, butour wish is to create new ideasand combine them in an agri-cultural area, which is one ofthe most conservative areas inevery country.”

In a time when Greece is ex-periencing many stresses andstrains, Eumelia is doing its partto include the local communityin its rejuvenating activities forthe ancient land. At the pet-friendly and accessible hotel,kids are not only welcome, butEumelia is also developing pro-grams around youngsters thatKarelas says will instill an “ap-preciation of what the earth hasbeen offering us with openarms.” After all, he notes chil-dren “are our future and mustbe given the tools to create anew world, full of hope andethos, which children have nat-urally.”

He believes that now is themoment for agrotourism, forbusinesses in Greece to tap intotheir true natural wealth andshare it with visitors. “What ismore real and natural thenplaces in the Greek landscapethat speaks to our visitorsthrough respect, ethos, ingenu-ity and philoxenia? If these qual-ities are incorporated in everyapproach to business, we cancommunicate our history, ourpositive qualities as well as ouroptimism for the future of thisworld and of Greece.”

For more on Eumelia, visitwww.eumelia.com.

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emphasis on organic productsand a return to traditional Greekregions and their cuisines. Someexamples are Mamacas in hipGazi in Athens and Manimani inthe city’s Makrigianni neighbor-hood.

Ois for...Olives, of course.Greece ranks third in theworld, currently, in olive

oil production, with a 20% holdof the market. The InternationalOlive Oil Council has observedthat olive oil exports are on therise in Greece – with the2010/11 Greek crop seeing a 9%increase. Much of the growth inthese exports was to the U.S.,China, Canada and Russia. Morerecently, the council has pointedto major growth in China’s tastefor imported olive oil. Spain andItaly have the lion’s share, notedthe council in March, withGreece only providing 6%. Sci-entists and industry pros recentlygathered in Crete for the Olive-bioteq 2011 International Con-ference for Olive Tree and OliveProducts (Oct. 31-Nov. 4). Thereare 12 olive trees per Greek citi-

zen. Don’t forget the olives, ei-ther. Greece produces 120,000tons/year of table olives, anothergrowth area.

Pis for... Pesticides-free.Greece’s organic food prod-ucts sector is growing too.

Earlier this month, one reportfound that even as supermarketsare cutting prices in Greece toaccommodate money-pinchedconsumers there, organic prod-ucts continue to gain a marketshare.

Qis for…Quince. Whenthese beautiful fruitsripen in the fall (along-

side apples in North America) it’stime to preserve them as eithera jam or a spoon sweet. The an-cient Greeks associated the fruit“kidoni” with fertility andAphrodite. Greek chef AglaiaKremezi also has a recipe forchicken and fennel stew withquince from Corfu island in hercookbook The Foods of the GreekIslands (2001).

Ris for... Retsina and re-spect. New York restaurantThe Greek Kitchen is

among those who believe thatthe world’s oldest wine shouldcommand more respect. Whilebusy with a new café/bakery

next to the restaurant, the estab-lishment is looking to organizesome retsina-centric events inthe near future.

Sis for...Sweet Tea, the nameof a new restaurant inBirmingham, Alabama

launched by Chris P. Tomaras,who founded Greek products gi-ant Kronos Foods. It constitutesa return to Tomaras’ roots, witha mix of Greek and Southern of-ferings, from Baked GreekChicken to Slice Bar B Q Pork.

Tis for...Tarpon SpringsGreek cooking classes.Greek chefs from the Tar-

pon Springs community keep of-fering lessons in the TarponSprings Cultural Treasures serieson how to make regional spe-cialities, be it Nick Koulianos andhis keftedes (meatballs) or Kate-rina Zaronias’ Kalymnian StuffedLamb (mououri) and Louk-oumades (fried dough balls).

Uis for…Unappetizing andugly. Those are the wordsfor food garbage and

waste. But starting in September,Athens and its ritzy suburb of Ki-

fissia started a pilot project, re-ports the Southeast EuropeanTimes, to recycle biowaste in aEuropean Comission co-funded$1.3 million euro project.Restaurants and other food busi-nesses are pitching into this ef-fort to turn trash to fertilizer.

Vis for… Vegetables. One ofthe enduring beauties ofGreek cuisine is to work –

with olive oil and a little onionand garlic - around whatever veg-etables are available each season.Or to wrap them in some pastrydough, as the case may be, withGreek phyllo-dough-wrappedKolokythopita being a healthyGreek equivalent to pumpkin pie.

Wis for...Websites. Hav-ing functioning, re-cently updated food

and wine websites is a sore pointfor Greece’s government bodies(including tourism) and profes-sional organizations. Everyone’son cyberspace it seems but thosepeople who should be getting theword out in a clear, attractive,updated (and we don’t meansince 2009) manner on Greekproducts. Crisis or no crisis, this

is a relatively inexpensive invest-ment that would be worth it.

Xis for... Xyma, or housewine. This hit-or-missGreek taverna favorite

(served usually in those clunkyclear-glass bottles or yellow orred tins) are making a comebackwith the current economic crisis.Yia mas!

Yis for...Yiayia, or grand-mother. Whether a world-famous chef or foodie,

chances are you know the foodwisdom of these beloved familymembers. Whether she advisedyou to pour sizzled butter overyour lasagna or to twist yourkoulourakia just so, what bettertime than Thanksgiving to raisea glass to her?

Zis for...Zurich, Switzerland,which hosted an event en-titled “Wines of Thrace” re-

cently, featuring the DomaineVourvoukeli (Thrace) andKikones (Komotini) vineyards.Thracian recipes featuring the or-ganic meats of the KokkinomatisBrothers were part of the eventat Zurich’s Hilton Hotel.

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Continued from page 10

TNH Staff Writers

With its yellow and blue, pat-terned cover, The Complete Bookof Greek Cooking created by theRecipe Club of Saint Paul’sGreek Orthodox Cathedral re-mains a useful classic over 20years after its most recent edi-tion came out. From the firstrecipe of Meat Phyllo Rolls(Bourekakia me Kreas) to the fi-nal Quince Preserves (KythoniGlyko) dessert recipe, the cook-book shares priceless food andcultural wisdom.

Katherine R. Boulukos,Chairperson of the Recipe Clubof Saint Paul’s Greek OrthodoxCathedral, the New York-basedgroup behind the book, esti-mates that over 50,000 copieshave been sold to date of theuser-friendly cookbook.

EVOLUTION OF A CLASSICThe current edition, first

published by HarperCollins inhardcover in 1990, and in 1991in paperback is only the latestincarnation of the group’s ear-lier cookbooks. First came TheGrecian Gourmet, which wasself-published and led to The Artof Greek Cookery (Doubleday).The next was, Boulukos ex-plains, The Regional Cuisines ofGreece (Doubleday), which“took the Greek recipes up toanother level, beyond the typi-cal moussaka,” with recipessuch as chicken breasts rolled inphyllo.

The Complete Book of Cook-ing selected the best recipesfrom the earlier books. It sim-plified them, retested andrewrote them for the moderncook, who had access to newtools. The latest edition alsoaimed to “reduce calories with-out compromising the flavorand taste” and emphasizedwhich foods can be made aheadand frozen, with an expanded“how to” section. Ingredientswere listed in order used, withan emphasis on making cook-ing/baking fun. “Many areafraid to try a new cuisine, anew technique,” says Boulukos.The cookbook wanted readersto overcome this phobia.

“The New York Times ran afull page story,” Boulukos re-calls, when the cookbook firstcame out, with much more me-dia/public outreach to follow.“Greek food became popular,and I have been contacted todiscuss our cuisine, especiallywith the popularity of theMediterranean Diet.”

The group is proud, she says,that other communities havefollowed their example andlaunched their own cookbooksover the years. But she pointsout that they were the first at atime when there was nothing onGreek cooking in English.

NOT REALLY A CLUB Winning a junior Pillsbury

Baking Contest as a teenager forher mother’s Greek “Ena, Dio,Tria” poundcake was Boulukos’entree into the food world. “Itwas a very exciting experiencefor me,” she recalls. Pillsburyeven offered her a job after col-lege, but the Psychology majorgraduated, married and enteredthe retail business instead, be-fore opening her own marine in-surance agency.

Despite her zeal for cooking,becoming a member of theRecipe Club was not so easy,Boulukos recalls: “When I joinedthe community of St. Paul, theyalready had The Recipe Club.However, I could not join, sinceit was a ‘closed’ group, not aclub at all, but a group of l7women who were dedicated inwriting and promoting Greekfood. They had published theirGrecian Gourmet, and The Artof Greek Cookery.”

It was only when Doubledayasked them to write anotherbook that select, new individu-als were asked to join, includingBoulukos. “Within a short time,I was asked to serve as Chair-person, and I accepted, andhave been head of the groupsince then till now.”

REGIONAL ACCENTSThe book benefits from the

fact that it was molded byGreek-Americans whose originsincluded places like Karpathos,Athens, and the Peloponnese.“Some are the children of theoriginal members/founders ofthe group,” Boulukos adds.

Still more women are behindeach recipe - Boulukos’ mother,for one, who was an excellentcook and a patient teacher. “Shecame from Smyrna, and lovedto cook for her family,” saysBoulukos, adding: “There aremany of my mother’s recipes inthe last two books, including herfabulous ‘tsourekakia’, wine but-ter cookies, which we make bythe thousands for our annualChurch festival.”

While the cookbook does notidentify regions, they are there,from Sofrito (sauteed beef) ofCorfu, to skaltsounia cookiesfrom Karpathos isle.

SAINT PAUL’S BENEFITSIf the recipes have made

their way over the years toGreek restaurants in the West-ern U.S., Goya members andBloomingdales shoppers alike,the proceeds from sales have al-ways benefited the Saint Paul’sCathedral in Hempstead, NY.

The first funds went to a“burn the mortgage” fund.Then the money was investedin a long list of church improve-ments, including: “two massivechandeliers; three huge mo-saics; a fantastic sounding newchurch organ; the sign, flagpoleand landscaping in the front ofthe church; the resurfacing ofthe outer entrance, patio andstairs of our church; a new (atthe time) state-of-the-artkitchen on the main floor of thechurch,” plus a restorationdrive.

It’s added up to hundreds of

thousands of dollars. Their lat-est goal? A long-awaited eleva-tor.

THANKSGIVING IDEASBoulukos recommends two

items for the American holidaythat can be prepared in ad-vance, Molded Spanakopeta, ina bundt shape, and Sourota, arolled version of baklava withfewer calories.

THE FUTUREThere aren’t plans for a new

edition of the classic cookbook.Boulukos is not impressed withculinary innovation just its ownsake, like koliva salad served “at

a certain very hip restaurant inNew York City.” She notes: “To-day, it is very ‘in’ to write a pub-lish a cookbook. However, it’shard to do a good job.” She saysof cyber-chefs: “Some Internetsources are excellent, but thereare many that make you wonderabout their sources.”

In this context, Boulukos isglad to have helped to create aclassic. “Recently, I read from apublication released from Ama-zon that our book is one of thebest selling ethnic cookbooks,rated in the top 25. Of course,this number changes weekly, butit has maintained the positionfor ages.”

Beyond preserving and pro-moting Greek food, Boulukoshas put enormous energy forover a decade in trying to get aGreek immigrant museum inNew York City idea off theground. The idea was inspiredwhen she and AnastasiaNicholas were in Chicago l3years ago and saw the ground-work being laid for the NationalHellenic Museum there.

She explains, “We have beenworking create a center to pre-serve and record the story of theGreek immigrants in New York,which is different from the storyof the Chicago Greeks.” A char-tered, non profit 501(c)(3) or-ganization has been founded,with activities including offeringpresentations, researching, col-lecting artifacts, recording thestory of the elders on video, andfundraising. Boulukos adds:“Time is running out in collect-ing this information, becausemany of the stories of our eldersis getting lost, as the age andleave us!” For more info on theproject, contact: [email protected].

The Complete Book of GreekCooking by the Recipe Club ofSaint Paul’s Greek OrthodoxCathedral is available on Ama-zon.com and at Barnes andNoble bookstores.


Saint Paul Recipe Club Pioneered Greek Cooking in the U.S.A.

Kathy Boulukos and St. Paul’sRecipe Club shared Greekfood wisdom.

Kathy Boulukos (R) and Anastasia Nicholas.


Ever wonder how Bey-once makes her gua-camole, Nicole Kidmanprepares her rice pud-

ding or Betty White whips upher chicken wings? Look no fur-ther than Loukoumi’s CelebrityCookbook for the answers. Au-thor Nick Katsoris’ fifth bookfeaturing the fluffy pinkish lambLoukoumi, Fistiki the cat, Deanthe dog and Marika the monkeyturns to food. Add a dash ofAunt Cat Cora (yes, as in thecelebrity chef) and herGrandma’s Italian Cream Cakeand your little ones have a bookthey can really sink their teethinto.

Author Katsoris explains thatthe idea for the book of some50 celebrities’ favorite child-hood recipes came about whenchef Cat Cora appeared at thepremiere of his previous bookLoukoumi’s Gift. Cora, who hadrecently been honored at theHellenic Times ScholarshipFund Gala, happened to be inNew York, and came to the pre-miere. She took an active part

in the event, reading the partJennifer Aniston normally doeson the book’s CD. He adds:

“Later on at the event, we wereall signing books together at abook signing table, and Cat wasnext to me, and told me thatshe would love to be a part ofthe next Loukoumi book.”

The culinary ideas startedflying and Katsoris created a fe -line Cat Cora character, the auntof Fistiki, and started contactingcelebrities for their recipes,starting with Loukoumi friendsfrom Olympia Dukakis and Glo-ria Gaynor, and Constantine

Maroulis to Ernie Anastos. Hisson and niece and nephew alsomade some suggestions.

Celebrities – including Oscarand Emmy winners, GreekAmerican icons like MelinaKanakarides, and even Oprahherself were drawn to not justthe fluffy, Greek lamb Louk-oumi, but to the good cause.

A minimum of $2 of each ofthe 87-page hardcover cook-books sold will go to Chefs forHumanity and St. Jude Chil-dren's Research Hospital. Chefsfor Humanity is a grouplaunched by Cat Cora. Katsorissays of the philanthropic chef:“Cat does so much internation-ally regarding healthy eatingprograms, she did a lot of workin Haiti following the ear th-quake there, and there is somuch that she does on a nutri-tional level and also on a hu-man interest level.”

When he is not concoctingLoukoumi books, the Eastch-ester, New York-based Katsorisis an attorney and GeneralCounsel of the Red Apple Grou.He made the connection withSt. Jude Children’s ResearchHospital in 2009 when he wentto the Memphis-based hospitalto donate and sign 500 booksfor the kids. “The event changed

my life! I saw these kids thatwere coming either to or fromtheir cancer treatments, butwhat got me more than the kidswere the parents, since theytruly understood the gravity ofthe situation. I will never forgetthis one father who put his handon my shoulder after the event,and he said ‘Nick, thank you fordistracting our children!’ Ithought: ‘That’s what my pur-pose was for that day. It was todistract the kids with thesebooks and to give them a littlecomfort and fun during theirdaily cancer treatments.” A per-manent Loukoumi Storytimeprogram is in the works for thehospital.

Among the children whomost struck a chord with Kat-soris was a beautiful 9-month-girl who was photographedwith a Big Loukoumi stuffed an-imal, which was given to her.Katsoris was moved to learn –via a Facebook post – how im-

portant his books were to her.Katsoris read a post about thechild, who recently had radioac-tive plaque surgery to save hereyesight, where her mother de-clared: “Not a night goes bywhere her daughter doesn’t askto have one of the Loukoumibooks read three times.”

Divided into sections de-voted to Weekend Breakfasts,Lunchtime Favorites, AfterSchool Snacks, Family Mealsand Delicious Desserts, the bookis stuffed with 58 kid-friendly,illustrated recipes. These arenot just full of quick and easytreats, but a rare glimpse at theperson behind each celebrityimage. Superstar Singer JustinTimberlake reveals his passionfor his Grandmother’s tres-un-healthy Granny’s Coconut Cake.Timberlake precedes the recipewith the note: “It’s even goodfor breakfast the next morning(Followed by a nice week longdiet!!!).” Florence Henderson,TV mom on the 1970s TV showThe Brady Bunch, shares her fa-ther’s easy-to-make VegetableSoup. She writes: “We were apoor family, but that soup tasteddelicious and always made me

feel good...” Nancy O’Dell, co-anchor of EntertainmentTonight, says that making herlate mother’s Betty’s Biscuits“makes me feel like she isthere.”

Katsoris wants everyone tocreate their own great experi-ences around the food. “My goalis to get kids in the kitchen withtheir parents, to cook theserecipes, and to create new child-hood memories.”

As far as the healthiness fac-tor, the recipes range from veryhealthy Favorite Quinoa Salad(courtesy of Ms. Aniston) to thelikes of Faith Hill’s Coca-ColaCake. The cookbook also in-cludes a page on allergy-friendly ingredient substitutesdesigned by Nick Katsoris’ wife,Voula Katsoris, with Lori San-dler, Founder of the allergy-freesweets company Divvies. “Ourson has a dairy allergy, and wewanted children to know thatyou can substitute ingredients

without losing taste,” says theauthor. His son Dean has hisown Ice Cream Sundae recipein the book, and is featured,along with sis Julia, on thecover, alongside the photos ofTV, sports and entertainmentstars. Youngsters aged 4 to 12wishing to have their ownrecipe published – and thechance to cook with “Aunt” CatCora - can take part in a specialcompetition running throughMarch 1, 2012. Info is on thewebsite Loukoumi.com.

Loukoumi books number sixand seven are in the pipeline.“As long as people and espe-cially the Greek-American com-munity keeps reading thesebooks, I’ll continue to writethem,” says Katsoris. He saysthe books are accessible to all –but the Greek American com-munity has been critical in theirsuccess. In turn Katsoris is giv-ing back in his publicity efforts.First, a New York City Premierewill be held on November 27 atthe Barnes & Noble on Lexing-ton Avenue and 86th street at2pm that will double as afundraiser for the St. DemetriosSchool of Astoria. Then, on De-cember 3, an event at theBarnes & Noble at the Grove inLos Angeles will benefit St.Sophia's Cathedral.

The book will be featured onthe Today Show and The Viewon November 21, followed byappearances on Good Day NY,Entertainment Tonight and syn-dicated cable television showBetter TV in the near future.

Meanwhile the Katsoris fam-ily is planning to prepare someof the stars’ recipes at Thanks-giving. There’s a lot cooking canteach children, Katsoris pointsout. After all, he says: “Louk-oumi learns in the story whenshe tries to bake the perfectcake that the secret ingredientis "Never Give Up!’”


Cooking with Loukoumi for a Good Cause

Loukoumi touches children at the St. Jude’s Children Research Hospital in 2009. Photo courtesy of Biomedical Communications,St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Stuffed Vine LeavesBy Celine Dion, Grammy Award Winning Entertainer

First of all, you'll need 50 Vine Leaves ...these are usually soldin jars.

Ingredients for Stuffing• ½ cup of long-grain rice• cup of olive oil• 1 medium sized onion finely chopped• ½ pound of ground lamb• cup of parsley finely chopped• 2 tablespoons of fresh mint finely chopped• 3 large spoons of fresh lemon juice• ½ teaspoon of turmeric• ½ teaspoon of dried oregano• 1 egg• Salt (to taste)• Special Arabian Pepper (finely milled white and black pepper,

cardamom, nutmeg, 4-spices, clover, and cinnamon... blendportions of each spice to your personal taste)

Ingredients for Cooking• 1 teaspoon of finely chopped garlic• 2 teaspoons of olive oil• 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice• cup of waterDirections1. Put vine leaves in a large bowl and submerge them in boiling

water. Let stand for 20 minutes…then rinse and drain well.Separate the leaves and place them on a clean white towel.Set aside any broken leaves…you’ll use these for lining thebottom of the cooking pot (see later)

2. Boil rice for 5 minutes, and drain away any excess water.3. Using a non-stick frying pan, sauté the onion in oil for about

10 minutes. Add lamb and cook well. Turn off heat then addthe rice and all of the other stuffing ingredients….mix every-thing together very well. This is your final stuffing.

4. Spread out 30 vine leaves on a platter or clean surface, andcut off the ends of each leaf. Put one tablespoon of the stuff-ing on each leaf, and roll carefully tucking the sides so thatthe stuffing will be secured in each leaf. You now have 30little stuffed leaf “packages”.

5. Cover the bottom of a big pot with 10 vine leaves (you canuse any ones that may have broken, or complete leaves).Place the 30 “packages” in the pot, with the open seamfacing the bottom of the pot. Add the oil, garlic, lemon juiceand water. Cover the “packages” with the remaining 10 vineleaves and place a plate on top to secure everything. Quicklybring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer (covered) forabout 50 minutes. Uncover, and let stand for a while so thatyou’ll be serving the dish at room temperature. Tahini sauceis an excellent condiment, if so desired!!

Recipe reprinted by permission from Loukoumi’s CelebrityCookbook Featuring Favorite Childhood Recipes by Over 50Celebrities by Nick Katsoris. Copyright (c) 2011 by NK Publica-tions, Inc. Note: This recipe is an online bonus. In the cookbookitself, Dion offers her recipe for Fried Cauliflower and Sfihas(Meat Tarts).

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TNH Staff Writers

Why spend your precioustime in Greece at “dodgy, over-priced tourist traps, where thefare is uninspiring” when thereare so many great Greek foodexperiences out there? Those“wow” food moments are partof what The Greek Fork, a newculinary tourism company inAthens, offers visitors.

The Greek Fork was createdby three women with interna-tional backgrounds and out-looks, Chef Karitas Mitrogogos,Eleni Iatrou and Maria Para-vantes. They were born, respec-tively, in Iceland, Australia andthe U.S., yet united with both apassion for Greek food and wine– and the ability to transmittheir knowledge of it to non-Greek-speakers.

TNH asked them about theirnew endeavor and they sharedtheir thoughts via email.

One of the things The GreekFork specializes in is culinarytourism. They offer tours withnames like “A Street TourNamed Desire,” a walking tourthrough Athens’ food delightsand “Grecian Grapes Up Front,”a tour of Attica vineyards. Culi-nary stopping points include

fish-markets, spice shops andmeze spots, to name a few.

Catering experiences to par-ticular groups is The GreekFork’s specialty. They write: “Werecently conducted what we callan ‘impromptu tour’ for a Cana-dian couple and they simplyloved it. They had no idea whatthey were in for… at the end ofthe day they sampled everythingfrom fine cheeses and home-made pittas to seafood mezeand ouzo by the port. What sur-prised them most? The appetiz-ing window displays of pork,lamb and all-time favorite ‘koko-retsi’ roasting on the spit mid-day.”

The Greek Fork was inspiredlargely by the reactions of non-Greek visitors to Greek foodduring the Athens 2004Olympics. Iatrou and Paravantesat that time were doing publicrelations work for then-MayorDora Bakoyannis-led AthensMunicipality. The team recalls:“Hundreds of foreign journal-ists, visitors and VIPs flocked toCity Hall and once ‘work’ wascomplete they would ask usabout where to eat, where thefinest wine was served, how todrink ouzo and not get drunk....Well, dedicated foodies our-

selves, we would key them inon everything from where tosample the best Greek tyropita(cheese pie), the finest locally-produced wine and the tastiesthoney-soaked loukoumades(honey puffs) to how to preparea typically Greek ouzo-katastasior buy edible gifts for home…and all this in their language.They were ecstatic.”

ALL SIDES OF GREEK CUISINE

In addition to tours, TheGreek Fork also offers food andservices communications/pro-motional work, food and cater-ing consulting and cookingclasses. One of their aims is tobridge the gap that many excel-lent Greek food businesses oftenface when it comes to promot-ing themselves abroad.

In all its work, The GreekFork explores Greece’s culinarytradition deeply. Its foundersstate: “We are interested in pre-senting every aspect of Greekcuisine be it traditional, whichwas passed on to us from ourparents and grandparents, orcontemporary, full of innovation- what we in Greece call ‘peirag-mena’ - or dishes with a moderntwist. There is so much goingon right now in Greece with re-gards to culinary experimenta-tion that it’s wonderful…TheGreek Fork focuses on promot-ing Greek food in all its mani-festations from the ‘hardcore’village cooking of our grand-mothers to the innovative culi-nary magic by top-notch chefs.”

To The Greek Fork trio,Greek food and the healthyMediterranean Diet are one andthe same. In-house nutritionistElena Paravantes provides thehealth benefits know-how. TheGreek Fork’s tour “Health isWealth – Mediterranean Diet In-side-out,” includes a visit to thelocal market to select products,a cooking class with Chef Kari-tas and a nutritional presenta-tion.

To date, cruise-goers, con-vention delegates and diasporaGreeks are among its customers,while The Greek Fork’s servicesare especially popular withwomen. The company stressesthat its tours are for all, how-ever, “whether you’re visitingGreece on business and have anevening or morning free, a culi-nary traveler, a newly-wed cou-ple seeking a new experience ora family ready to have foodiefun in Athens.”

SO MUCH HAPPENINGThe Greek Fork trio point to

a growing number of chefs,wine and oil makers and spe-cialty shops that focus on Greek-produced specialties as well as

countless food-related festivals,like those devoted to eggplantsin Leonidion, chestnuts in Kas-tanitsa or Feta in Elassona.

In this environment, TheGreek Fork has plenty of like-minded folk to work with. “For-tunately, there are quite a fewtalented, enthusiastic young en-trepreneurs in the sphere ofGreek gastronomy who are do-ing very well because they pro-vide a professional, high-qualityproduct or service that isunique, they respect their clientsand their prices are fair. Moreimportantly, they realize that allof this must encompass theGreek tradition of philoxenia(hospitality).” The trio points,for instance, to Vassilis Alagian-

nis and his sister Maria, who areapplying new know-how to thefamily winemaking business.

While the current crisis hasencouraged souvlaki and gyrojoints to open on every corner,increased the anticipating offood parcels from rural relativesand boosted home cooking as aform of “home entertainment,”they note that Greek tourismhas also been on the rise. TheGreek Fork is one example of aninnovative twist on tourism ofthe past. Its creators say: “Travelis no longer just sea and sun.It’s about getting to learn moreabout a culture.”

http://thegreekfork.com


TNH Staff Writers

We did an informal poll of some colleaguesin Athens to ask about what they’ve noticed haschanged in Greek eating out habits during thecurrent economic crisis. Here’s what a few ofthem have noticed is changing in culinaryhabits.

Diane Shugart, editor of Odyssey magazine,has noticed two major trends. She explains:“Greeks are cutting back on fast food, includinghome delivery, because it's more expensive thanhome-cooking. Also, there's a trend away frommore exotic foods, ingredients, and cuisinesback towards simpler, more humble Greekdishes like ladera, revithia, fasolada, or magirefathat pad out meat with vegetables or grains.”But she notes that the economy is only in partresponsible for this as “a recent consumer surveyconfirms this, noting that Greeks are returningto their culinary roots and a traditional Mediter-ranean diet of vegetables, grains, pulses, andfruit, while cutting back on meat as well as junkfoods, carbonated beverages, and so on.”

Tatiana Capodistria, an arts editor atKathimerini’s K magazine writes: “One thingI've definitely noticed, a nascent trend, so tospeak, that could hitherto be in no way associ-ated with the modern Greek dining-out culture,

is the fact that gradually it is becoming moreand more common to have your meal's left-overs packed and plastic-bagged by the waiter,in order for you to take along -for another po-tential meal, probably. That's truly a novelty:the proverbial image of a table following aGreek taverna meal by numerous members hasbeen a symphony of copious amounts of half-eaten food oozing out of hastily stashed plates.”

Diana Farr Louis, travel writer and authorof cookbook Feasting and Fasting in Crete re-ports from olive curing season in Andros: “Ihaven't noticed any change at all in people'staverna habits. We all seem to order the sameold standbys that everyone loves rich or poor -fava, horta, fried zucchinis, tzatziki, keftedes,fries, gigantes, xyma wine. I have seen a bit ofplate sharing, when we knew the portions weregoing to be huge, and haven't seen anyone or-dering a huge fish lately...”

Still others noted that special offers andcheaper deals on certain days are increasinglydiscernible - while a few indicated that theyhave opted for more home cooking rather thaneating out. So if our poll is right, some changesare underway, but they are not so dramatic asof yet. And these might even be nudging Greeksback into their older, healthier, less wastefuleating habits.

TNH Staff Writers

Though we all are hearing ofshops closing in Greece, at leastone tasty food venture bornamidst the current crisis is flour-ishing. Souvlaki Bar opened inAthens’ popular Monastirakineighborhood in November2010.

Owners Michalis Economouand Dimitris Zimonopoulos,who previously owned sevenMcDonald’s franchises in total,turned their attention awayfrom Big Macs to the humblesouvlaki. The idea, says Zi-monopoulos was to update theGreek “souvlatzidiko,” or sou-vlaki joint, giving traditionalGreek home-cooking a youthfultwist.

Economou and Zimonopou-los did not come up with theiridea due to the current crisis,but know lean economic timesare when people turn to suchunassuming foods that are easyon the pocketbook. “Today, withthe upheavals that the economiccrisis has produced in Greek so-ciety, souvlaki has become thetop choice for Greeks’ diet,” Zi-monopoulos asserts.

Lest dieticians shudder, headds: “Quality, clean, tasty,hand-made souvlaki accompa-nied by a low price in a youthful(but not overdone) setting, isamong the top nutritional op-tions.”

With over 15 years of restau-rant experience, Zimonopoulos

says he and Economou were fill-ing a quality souvlaki gap. Zi-monopoulos came to the restau-rant business from a backgroundas an auditor and business con-sultant for Price Waterhouse.Economou had a background inItalian fashion imports. The twomet when each owned their ownMcDonald’s franchises.

A SOUVLATZIDIKO WITH STYLE

In just a year, the restauranthas made a name for itself withhand-made kalamakia, porkgyro and marinated chicken,fresh pork chops – not to men-

tion a few items you won’t findat your local souvlatzidiko suchas baked mushrooms with bal-

samic and honey sauce andbaked potatoes with cheesesauce. The owners say quality,

fresh meat and veggies, accom-panied by good extra virginolive oil makes the difference.

Hungry yet? There is more.The trademark of Souvlaki Baris its “shots.” Not of ouzo(though Plomari is available),but of souvlaki, i.e. mini sou-vlakia in pita bread. When itcomes to real drinks, draft beeris popular (from Guinness toGreek Craft beer) and they offerboth house wine and Greek bot-tled wine, including those of At-tica’s Efharis and Lafazanis, aswell as Tirnavou tsipouro, Chiosmastic liquer and Naxosrakomelo.

The modernization of thesouvlaki also includes attentionpaid to atmosphere. Souvlakibar’s interior includes woodentables and a combination ofmodern cement and steel detail-ing. Diners can either take atable or stand at a booth, as ina bar. The music is “youthful,”Zimonopoulos adds. Needless tosay, a lot of the competitorsdon’t pay a lot of attention tointerior design, while SouvlakiBar benefitted from creative de-sign team Fotini B. Daliani andKonstantinou Plaggeti for thelook of their restaurant at thecorner of Ermou and Adrianoustreets. The interior nods to theformer lumber use of the space,as well as nearby ironworks,while stencils of cows, pigs andbutcher tools adorn the walls.

Some things don’t change,though. As in your neighbor-

hood joint, at Souvlaki Bar, youcan see the food being prepared.Of course, this time, you don’thave your nose pressed againsta Plexiglas panel, but insteadcan enjoy a spot at the Bar on acomfortable stool.

There’s a pretty even split be-tween sit-down and take-outcustomers says Souvlaki Bar’sZimonopoulos. He adds, “Thereare more than a few who comeintending to order some take-out and grab a snack whilestanding.” Souvlaki Bar has anupper level too, where Atheni-ans and visitors can enjoy a bitof fresh air and some greenery.

HAVE SOUVLAKI, WILL TRAVEL

Located in Athens’ historiccenter, just under the Acropolis,Souvlaki Bar counts many ar-chaeological tourists amongtheir visitors.

Thoughts of branching outare in the restaurant owners’minds. “Souvlaki Bar can’t juststay in Thission,” Zimonopoulosnotes, which may make thestomachs grumble of the GreekAmericans who the owners sayhave asked Souvlaki Bar aboutbringing a nouveau sou-vlatzidiko to the U.S. Zi-monopoulos says: “We are plan-ning to develop our concept inother areas of Greece. Nowwhether we will someday see aSouvlaki Bar in New York, whoknows? Maybe someday it willbe more than a dream!”

Is the Crisis Changing Greek Eating Habits?

Acquiring a Taste for The Greek Fork

The Greek Fork creators Chef Karitas Mitrogogos (C), Eleni Ia-trou (L) and Maria Paravantes specialize in food experiences.

Giving Chic Souvlaki A Shot

Michalis Economou (L) andDimitris Zimonopoulos, attheir new Souvlaki Bar.

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