I had great plans for the Greek Theme.  I have a copy of George Calombaris’ The Press Club ~ Modern Greek Cookery that he signed for me when I met him at the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival a couple of years ago.  It’s an amazing book and there was a dish in it I had long wanted an excuse to try.

The dish is Roasted Pork Cutlet, Dodoni Feta Crumble, Greek Coffee Jus. So in preparation I had a look at the main recipe.  Within in, there were two other recipes, one for the Feta Crumble and one for the Coffee Jus.  Sounds reasonable I thought.  So I looked those recipes up.  The Feta Crumble had another recipe in it, for Baked Beans.  So I went to the Baked Beans recipe, and it had another recipe in it!  Then I checked the Coffee Jus.  Sure enough, it had another recipe in it too.  Went to that one and (yes, you guessed it) it had another one.  A quick tally and some hasty mental arithmetic told me I was at 8 recipes (and counting!) and over 12 hours cooking time.  Just cooking mind you, not preparation or resting or anything else.

My plans were unravelling.  8 recipes I had not attempted before and time I just did not have.  Normally time would not prevent me from tackling such a challenge, but the Greek Theme coincided with the week that I moved house late last year.  I was already in the middle of packing up the kitchen – not a small challenge itself!  There was, sadly, no way this dish was going to make it to the table this time.

In an uncharacteristic show of sensibility I decided to go for something more simple and chose Beetroot Tzatziki from The Press Club cookbook,  which was of course a recipe within a recipe for a different dish itself!

RECIPE: Beetroot Tzatziki
COOKBOOK: The Press Club Modern Greek Cookery

4 large beetroots
200g thick greek yoghurt
1/2 garlic clove, minced
Zest of 1 orange
Juice of 1 lemon

Wrap beetroot individually in foil and bake on a baking tray in a low oven, 120°C (275°F) Gas Mark 1, for 2 hours.
Allow to cool, remove from foil and, using a small knife, peel the skin off the beetroot.
Dice beetroot into small cubes.
In a mixing bowl combine yoghurt, beetroot, garlic, orange zest and lemon juice.  Season with salt and serve.

Once I had the beetroot happily roasting in the oven I decided it was all a little too easy at this point and, rather than letting it be easy (which was the aim after all) started searching for ways to make this ‘too easy’ answer to the challenge unnecessarily difficult.

Which brings me to the second recipe I decided to do.  It came not from a cookbook but from my nearing 20 year collection of food magazines (yes, it is a hell of a lot of mags!  Post about my clean up of them to come in the near future).  The recipe came to mind because I had been discussing the flambeing of saganaki only a week or so earlier with the Beloved. At the time he expressed a desire to see me do it, so who am I to deny such a wish?

RECIPE:  Saganaki with celery, lemon and olive saltata
SOURCE: Vogue Entertaining and Travel October/November 2007

Ingredients (serves 4)
400g kasseri or kefalotyri cheese (I actually used kefalograviera)
75g (1/2 cup) cornflour
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
150ml olive oil
8 small lemon or kaffir lime leaves
Lemon wedges, to serve

Celery, lemon and olive salata
Finely grated zest and chopped segments of 1 lemon
300g (2 cups) kalamata olives, halved, pitted
1 small fennel bulb, finely chopped
1 celery heart, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon chopped dill
1/4 cup coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

For salata, combine all ingredients in a bowl and season to taste with freshly ground black pepper.

Cut cheese into 8mm-thick slices, then into 2.5cm x 6cm rectangles. My cheese was in a  triangle so I just halved it to make cooking and serving easier. Combine cornflour and cumin, and season with freshly ground black pepper. Dust cheese with flour and shake off excess.

Heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Holding a lid to the frying pan, drop the leaves into the oil, then cover with the lid until spitting has finished. Remove lid, then leaves, and drain leaves on paper towels. Fry dusted cheese, in batches, for 30 seconds each side or until golden, then drain on paper towels.  This recipe doesn’t actually call for flambeing, but I did it anyway.

Serve cheese scattered with lemon leaves, with lemon wedges and celery, lemon and olive salata.

As this wasn’t a planned dish, I didn’t have any lemon leaves on hand and I didn’t think the frozen kaffir lime leaves I had would respond well to deep frying so I omitted that step.

The two dishes are both what the Greeks call Mezedes, or appetisers.  The introduction to the chapter on Mezedes in George’s book calls them, “small dishes that tease the palate whilst the diner waits for the next course…”

Hmm.

The next course.

I couldn’t make 2 mezedes and not do a main dish, could I?

Apparently not!
So, to complete my amazing effort of making the simple challenge a difficult one, I worked out what ingredients I had on hand I found a recipe for my Kyria (Main dish)

RECIPE: Swordfish Souvlakia with Fennel and Parsley Salad
COOKBOOK:  My Greek Family Table

1 1/4 tablespoons fennel seeds
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
2 teaspoons fih sauce
60ml (1/4 cup) extra virgin olive oil
1kg swordfish or other firm white fish, skinned, cut into 3cm cubes
8 metal or soaked bamboo skewers
Lemon wedges to serve

Fennel and Parsley Salad
1 baby fennel bulb, thinly shaved
1/4 cup flat leaf parsley
juice and zest of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

Place fennel seeds in a small frying pan and stir over low heat for 1 minute or until fragrant.  Cool then grind coarsely using a mortar and pestle.

Combine ground fennel seeds in a bowl with lemon zest, fish sauce, olive oil, a littel freshly ground black pepper and fish, then refrigerate for 2-3 hours.

Thread 5 swordfish cubes onto each skewer.  Preheat an oiled chargrill pan over medium high heat and cook the souvlakia, in batches, for 2 minutes each side or until just cooked through.

Meanwhile for the salad, combine the fennel and parsley in a bowl.

Add lemon juice, zest and olive oil, season with sea salt and toss to combine.  Place salad on a platter and top with the souvlakia.  Serve with lemon wedges.

The results?

All three dishes were devoured by the Beloved and me.  The Beetroot Tzatziki had great texture but I think I’d use less orange juice next time.  The saganaki was decadently delicious – forget the diet if you try this.  The souvlakia was the winner. I will make it again without doubt.

Now onto the next challenge.