Yotam Ottolenghi visits Crete

my name is yot toeni for the last 10 years I've been creating food that celebrates the wonderful flavors Aromas and colors of the Mediterranean I love Mediterranean food it's really in my blood now I'm exploring unique food traditions on four of the mediterranean's most fascinating Islands Corsica formid that's what I wanted to hear formid mayorca I can't get over the fact that I'm cooking in the best location for a restaurant in the whole world Sardinia hey Lobster AR Primos Primos and cre I feel like a caveman this is my trophy let me show you how the food and people of these beautiful islands will inspire you to create your own Mediterranean island [Music] feast I'm starting my journey on the Greek island of creit in the ancient capital heracleon of all the islands I've visited I'm most excited about how the different cultures here have influenced the food I'm getting further east along the Mediterranean close to the Middle East where I grew up and it all feels a little bit Messier and not so European not so clean not so fixed it's quite refreshing to be honest it's it feels great and I want to unravel and find what is actually happening here so I'm here to explore the food and see how things un fold creit the largest of the Greek Islands and lies at the heart of the Eastern Mediterranean between Mainland Greece turkey and the Middle East I'm hoping flavors of these different cultures will show up in the food so I'm starting with a traditional creton breakfast that I'm told will remind me of Jerusalem my childhood home hi nice to meet you nice to meet you too here at k core they're famous for bugat filo pastry Parcels filled with cheese or custard who is the people that eat this everybody eat this everybody in GRE everybody okay when you cut it you put cinnamon on the top sugar and or honey goes inside and gives you more taste pastries like this are all over the Middle East so I'm curious to find out if the version tastes as good it's absolutely lovely you taste cheese you taste honey you taste cinnamon and the crunchy pastry there is a lot of elements here that are really reminiscent of of my culture in places like this that you see quite a lot in the Eastern mediterran specialize in one thing there is a kind of a reverential attitude towards that pastry and that's what makes it so special everywhere I look I can see clues that suggest the flavors here have a more Eastern influence there's lots of kind of mixes of uh herbs and spices packaged together like there's a siki mix and there's a feta cheese mix I don't know if it's for tourists or for locals but it still shows that there is a pride in celebrating creeton herbs H the wild herbs the oregano all those things that are very much part of the food culture in the hope of finding more traditional dishes I've come to the Market's oldest Cafe hello hello are you goros yes nice to meet you you're in the middle of work nice to meet you nice to meet you lovely Place huh yeah thank you very much like most restaurants and cafes in creit the customers love to drink raki a strong Spirit a bit like uzo it's served with food and almost always with a creton specialty called d this is daos this is daos more it's dried bread yes oil oil and this is very popular in Creeks yes yes it's everybody likes it yes little tomato the small pieces tomato little oregano dried oregano is very popular on the island very nice and a little bit of lemon juice yes lemon juice so no vinegar yes no vinegar just oil lemon juice lemon juice yes is this like a mes meses there's more plates so I can see quite a few things that are typical to create you have a lot of olive oil oregano and the daos I can try yeah it's very delicious like a fresh pizza yeah unique to create this bread is the island staple and made with barley flour rather than wheat it has a delicious nutty flavor most of the places I've visited in the Mediterranean have a particular bread that's Central to the food culture and here in creit dakos is one of the most distinctive so the next day I'm heading out of the city into the hills towards crustos a village that's famous for dakos and the ladies who make it I'm looking for irini which is uh uh the woman who's supposed to show me the secrets of the hello hello ah there's a bunch of you yes there are collectives like this all over Creed these ladies gather once every 6 weeks or so to bake daos which they sell in the village and nearby towns AR is hard work huh they make a staggering 80 kilos of dough which once baked makes a bread that last for months I'm full of admiration a complete disbelief is how strong this woman is she's needing with so much Gusto after hours of determined work the ladies shape the dough into Loaves and then make cuts which will form the individual deos yeah no oh IR what is wrong ah okay okay okay because you know what no no no I'm obviously not cut out for this and there's still a lot to do now the loaves have to rise for an hour before going into the oven is this something religious just say like God help me for a good bread yes I love the way food rituals bring people together on Creed baking bread is a perfect example we now have to break the loaves into hundreds of individual pieces before they go back into the oven who this is hard blisters my God while the daos has its final bake I'm going to use some of this sweet and nutty bread in a simple but delicious supper dish made with chickpeas and spices from the Eastern Mediterranean daos is just what I had to cook with today because it's so special it's so Creed and back home you can get spish crisp rolls they're dry bread that you rehydrate with a bit of water or a bit of vinegar and oil and I'm starting by getting these chickpeas basically these chickpeas have been soaked overnight and then they've been boiling for about an hour until they're soft being here in creit closer to the east it feels right to really go big on spices I'm starting with cinnamon then turmeric sweet paprika cumin and a few crushed coriander seeds I've got some salt very important chickpeas always take a lot of salt olive oil and now stir stir stir so basically the oil and the spices coat the chickpeas it's ready to go on the heat all these wonderful chickpeas with all the spices typical flavors for the Eastern Mediterranean all that loveliness is going to go over my daos to add contrast and give a classic Mediterranean feel I'm using a combination of chopped and grated Tomatoes I'm left with almost all the skin in my hand and all the juices are in here magic huh to the tomatoes I'm adding finely ch chopped onion a few crushed garlic cloves pepper and local olive oil now all I need is to assemble these daos are pretty thick so I'm just going to take bits and break them on the bottom to partially soften the bread I'm dribbling on a mixture of olive oil red wine vinegar and water just give all these wonderful pieces of bread a nice bath you just want to get the right balance between soft and crunchy quite happy with the way it looks kind of all mixes together into one fabulous tray being in cre you really feel like you've got one foot already in the Middle East so it's completely appropriate to use chickpeas and use all these spices the last layer is some wonderfully creamy local feta basil and of course more olive oil then into this Monumental oven at home about 20 minutes on a medium heat should do it and that's my take on the most creton of dishes daos with spiced chickpeas and feta now we eat beautiful yeah Oreo good Oro likes it wonderful like very much thank you thank you for everything still on the hand for more foods that Define this island I go fishing for octopus and get some tips on how to cook it if this breaks it's ready and use the freshest ingredients to make stuffed baby [Music] squid I'm exploring CIT discovering fascinating Local Foods and flavors on my Island travels one of the great Joys has been the amazing seafood and creit is no exception the real star here is octopus and I'm Keen to find out more it's okay perfect in the hope of catching some I'm hitching a ride with local fisherman goros Alexis he catches octopus with his dummy crab as bait using a handline but has only been a fisherman for the last 10 years what did you do before H Cen on bigs for 35 years 35 years like you left your life on the boats and you found something really relaxing to do yes it's h I think this is the best life octopus is very popular in cre yes because it's good for Uso Uso or raki we have here raki octopus likes Rocky octopus like U and wine also and wine octopus likes any alcohol yes all the food in grey in gritty island is served with alcohol so what do you think George you think we're going to catch one tonight or no I don't know because you know I'm quite hungry I C this morning are you cut it this morning this morning [Music] yes out of luck but hungry for the octopus Goro Scot earlier we head back to the harbor to start cooking the key to good octopus is to tenderize it first usually by beating it but the best way is put two three days in Freez in the freezer it breaks all the fiber bra if you like to see the octopus is ready you do that if this breaks breaks it's ready ah okay goros is going to show me how they like to cook octopus in crit using red wine he puts onion olive oil and then the tentacles into a pan then we head downstairs into his tiny cabin to cook wow this is tight yeah George you didn't put salt never oh you don't put any salt no no because all the water inside is salty yeah the octopus simmers in its own juices for half an hour before goros adds about two glasses of red wine after another 30 minutes the wine is mostly absorbed and the octopus is ready okay so it's ready yeah ready yes try waiting to see how is it good very good delicious yes it's very good because you get all the fruit and the acid from The Grapes just cooking the octopus even more and making it more tender thank you yamas yamas after last night's delicious octopus I want to make my own Seafood dish so I've arranged to meet Yos at his friend janis's fishmongers g go how are you fine do very good very good beautiful these baby squid are perfect for stuffing really lovely lovely squid huh yes and unlike octopus can be prepared straight from the sea without tenderizing to cook them we're heading to janis's house just outside town you go on your bike and I will follow you in my car and uh we'll have a feast in the afternoon like proper cre cre and Men okay we go together like the M like the matro boys of cre okay come on he's taking me to what I gather is a kind of a country Hideway I don't know exactly what I'm going to see but I'm looking forward to the uh the whole experience of cooking [Music] together it's kind of cute I can see the vegetable [Music] patch thank you for bringing me here this is your little piece of uh Heaven here right exactly this is everything for me what have you got growing come come come come you can show me [Music] yes plenty of sunshine and good soil May create ideal for growing fruit and vegetables and dianis and his father are clearly doing well this is a cucumber of course my friend make salad with that salad yeah salad for everybody for everybody yes I'm looking for local herbs and vegetables that will go with my squid come to see the no this is okra what is it call what that's okra is it's okra I love okra I can use them too everything you can use everything you go from here come I show you some other things come growing vegetables is very much a a tradition of crit right of course yes always always been and people love vegetables that's why they they old people they go very old because they eat all these wonderful vegetables they don't eat a lot meat before I start cooking janis's father is gathering some of his favorite produce for me to choose [Music] from thank you very much we have cery porette ah and in Okra B your father is my hero okay I'm ready to start I'm going to use all these freshly picked ingredients to make stuffed baby squid with tomato and okra this is the stuffing so I start with some balgar wheat that's been washed with some warm water I've got some um Dill here beautiful parsley from janis's garden now I'm adding some mint mint let's see what other Treasures I've got here we've got some celery leaves they're very strong I won't use a lot but just a little bit of celery flavor is nice but at home you could use a bunch of local herbs or a bunch of herbs you get from the supermarket and I'll take about half a cette and Grate it to the stuffing I'm also adding chopped walnuts for a bit of crunch currants for sweetness the zest in juice of a lemon plenty of janis's olive oil oregano from the garden and seasoning what I'm trying to get here is a perfect balance and sweet and savory and Herby okay now for my squid there's uh here in the cooler waiting for me there's this bit with the tentacles and the eyes and the beak and you just pull that out with whatever comes out there's a little beak here that's quite tough you want to get rid of that the wings are these things you want to get rid of them as well and as you do that also the skin comes off normally and that's about it now I can just wash it so those can go in the bowl with all the squid cleaned I can now start to stuff them it takes a little bit of patience and I'm going to try something I've never done before I want to uh keep this squid look so I'm going to stick the tentacles back and then I take a toothpick and pass it through just like that and I'm going to lay them here gently I've got some okra from the garden so I'm making quite an effort not to break into the Pod and as long as you don't let if the seeds come out you're okay won't go as uh as mushy and gloopy as it can now I'm going to sear the squid for about a minute on each side just to give them some color as uh as they cook they shrink so they will uh kind of wrapped around the stuffing nicely and now I'm going to turn this one over and you can see it started getting a nice sort of golden brown kind of color with the squid lightly brown I'm steing the okra in the same pan for a couple of minutes to seal okay that's done now I'm ready to make my sauce I'm using chopped onion garlic and some spices cinnamon and sweet paprika which is good for color and of course as I'm in Creed I have to use raki although you could use white wine perfumes of the rocki are marvelous I think I'm going to add Splash more just cuz I [Music] can to the sauce I'm adding chopped tomatoes lemon juice and about a teaspoon of sugar just to balance any acidity in goes a layer of the okra which makes a bed for the squid to lie on while they cook on lastly a little water on with a lid and I'm going to leave it to cook on a low heat for about 30 minutes yamas George y yor best the best it's been cooking for about half an hour and you can really smell the rocki and the sweet spices and even a little bit of the herbs that are inside really really wonderful sprinkle that on top just garnish that's it that's my uh stuffed squid take take a bit of okra and try this squid also and now I want you to tell me what do you think what do you think the truth exactly exactly is no good very bad now okay so you see I got a compliment warmed by wonderful creton hospitality I go looking for authentic home-cooked dishes this is the food of the God help make delicious feta and put it to unusual use in a cheesecake screams lusciousness and [Music] beauty I've been in Creed for a few days now and have come Inland in search of dishes that Define this beautiful Greek island I've come to Catal lagari a typical Village up in the hills about 10 Mi out of aracleon I've been invited to this family ran Verna ranti's yard where the owner has promised to show me some creton home cooking but I wasn't expecting to be GRE Ed by the whole family I will not remember this is your kitchen yes oh my God so it's like a combination between a home and a restaurant yes let's do it okay I also take an apron you think this is my size think good suits me no I look like one of your girls granti is showing me how she makes an island classic stuffed vegetables known as gista look look you open the top like that like box yeah also on the bottom little bit Ah for the juice to go to go out Sant you teach me some new things stuffing of vegetables is very popular in creit yes it's important for the creta vegetables yes they say that the creep diet is the healthiest diet in the world and people live until yes because it's the oil and also the vegetables vegetables and oil yes chanti salts the vegetables to draw out the moisture in the flesh she keeps the insides and mixes in chopped onion to make the stuffing she then adds fresh mint parsley and rice so she uses short grain rice not not like basmati rice no no no no because this is much better for stuffing a lot of oil a lot of O A lot of oil the stuffing seasoned with pepper salt and then cumin which I'm seeing all over the island vegetable stuffing is very much a family affair here and takes place every day on the restaurant Terrace which looks out over the valley below this is uh the most beautiful view huh yeah of course as well as vegetables the family roll the stuffing inside Vine leaves to make another classic dolmades look how beautiful she makes them she is the queen of the dolma oh wow she open she open chanti uses young leaves from the vine on the Terrace behind us which she soaks in salty water for a few days at home you can buy them in a jar ready to use olive oil yes and we are ready for cookie this is going in the oven yes and this one on top on the stove on the gas yes on the gas the vegetables bake at a medium heat for about half an hour she do this one for success for sucess like the cross on the food so it's success yes success next chanti has a surprise for me and it's a dish that I didn't realize makes an appearance of pretty much every cre menu snails you eat snails yes of course we love snails yes yes of course after cleaning them she fries the snails with olive oil and onions and then adds Tom Tomatoes cracked wheat and boiling water this looks the best thing ever I have to [Music] say oh my God this is the food of the god food of the god yes nice to meet you nice to meet Franti has produced an amazing amazing feast and once again there's a sense of ritual and togetherness that making food in creit seems to inspire I need to try the snails delicious I'm not usually a big fan of snails but I have to admit that I do love the way of cooking them with cracked wheat and I can't wait to try the stuffed vegetables it's just perfect because the rice is out Dente MH and lots of flavor really there's another iconic ingredient from the Eastern Mediterranean that some claim originates in creit and that's feta cheese first recorded in the region thousands of years ago the feta here is some of the best I've tasted so I'm heading to meet someone who produces the cheese using milk for from his own sheep and goats yorgos vakis runs his own restaurant and also comes here every day to do the milking each animal seems to produce an amazing amount of milk apparently up to 5 l a day oh my God I can't do it good like that she working this ah okay you work this ah okay we're taking the milk back to Gus's Restaurant to start the process of making the feta he created his restaurant in the house where he grew up and still lives here today what a beautiful place huh F alone big malur tree malur tree and the bed there you see every every night I sleeping there this bed you sleep there I sleeping there in the summer and the okay let's go on and you can show me how to I want to learn how to make feta I want to learn see what you make and now we must to clear the the milk you understand look at that because the FAS want to be very clear it's okay and this is a mix of goat and sheep the Goen sheep yes together the best F the milk goes onto the heat to warm to about 80° then Gus's mother adds renit the enzyme that causes it to split into solids or curds and the liquid weigh the milk takes about an hour to separate and then the curds are lifted out to form the cheese it's ready take the pieces and put inside wow we put in salt yeah salt you put all the time now I know once the fet has firmed in the basket it's put into brine to mature it's this process that gives the cheese its unique salty Tangy flavor how old is the feta three months three months oh wow real delicious Gus's feta is particularly creamy but still salty so I'm going to use it a little little differently to make something sweet a kind of deconstructed cheesecake with cherries and crumble what's a better way to use feta than in a cheesecake I mean okay some people may say it's a bit weird because it's a salty cheese but in actual fact a bit of salty in a suite is always great and just try to break it really as much as possible before I start adding my my cream cheese just normal cream cheese any good cream cheese would do and I'm adding it in bits so it starts to get incorporated into the feta and mix with it into the cheese I'm adding castor sugar and lemon Z that lemony flavor where add freshness lighten it up just wonderful now I'm mixing in some whipped cream you want to uh not whisk it too much just a gentle fold so it doesn't split what a lovely place to sit and have lunch [Music] huh the mixture goes into a dish to set for a couple of hours in the fridge while I make a start on the crumble so a few almonds and I'm just going to chop them quite roughly so that's more or less the way I want it now I'm ready to put everything together some butter you want it sort of pretty cold cold enough so you can actually work with it a little bit if it melts it's very hard to make a good crumble to the butter I'm adding brown sugar whole milal flour to add a nice nutty flavor plain flour salt and black sesame seeds visually it won't be the same but using white sesame seeds is absolutely fine and now I'm just working it with my hands which is the best way and now it's ready to bake while the crumble Browns for 15 to 20 minutes at a medium heat I can get on with the cherries it has to be cherries because they're just so nice and abundant at the moment and I'm going to add a bit of sugar again not much couple of stares one of my favorite spices really impart a wonderful flavor and a couple of strips of uh Orange Peel orange and Cherry is a really nice combination there you go as the cherries cook I'm adding some lemon juice for a little acidity and a splash of orange lure and um it's ready as it cools down the flavors will intensify even more the crumble has baked and the cheese and cream mixture has set so I'm ready to assemble my cheesecake H you can do it whichever way you like but the idea is just to get a nice height on the plate a little bit of of crumble and now some of this wonderful cherries it's nice to pour some of the juices around on the plate just so that it kind of Screams lusciousness and Beauty now more of the crumble to finish the dish I'm adding some wild blackberries and a drizzle of creton olive oil don't be afraid I think some people would say okay what do I why do I use OV overa actually it's really really nice for this recipe and every dish I cook during my time in creit go to my scrapbook at channel4.com slam as my journey nears an end I'm lucky enough to join a Mountaintop Feast where I discover a new way to prepare lamb so you drink a bit of ah really and under the watchful eye of my host I make a Greek classic [Music] suaki I'm nearing the end of my journey on cre but before I leave the island I want to experience the food and cooking ritual that's at the heart of so many creton celebrations I'm going to meet a family that do some fantastic things with lamb there is a certain way of cooking the Lamb on spits and I'm going to see how it's done and find a little bit about the way of life in the mountains of GRE I'm privileged to have been invited to join a big family celebration in the mountains right in the heart of the island yesu hi nice to meet you you are I'm yanis nice to meet you so uh this is where the family gets together and eats and all that kind of business yes we're going to cook everything uh today and we start just uh when you are ready I'm ready I'm I'm starting this place is very special to janis's family at least 10 Generations have lived and worked here as Shepherds and out of respect to the memory the family still cook in the traditional way you've been coming and cooking lamb like this all your life yes almost every week we put the meat here like this okay so we can cook here about 24 pieces of meat H we are ready to prepare ready even the lamb comes from family members who still keep sheep on the mountain wow it is kind of butterflying the meat so it's all open up into equal thickness so basically the idea is getting it all flat so it Cooks in similar time yeah and there's a there's a name for this method of cooking it's called anticristo antio and what does the anti Christo mean and the meat is opposite that means anticristo anti Christo means opposite opposite the fire and what is this wine put a little bit wine and then the salt now the salt okay so you drink a bit of ah really ah so the wine makes the salt stick I love it I think I'm going to adopt this method in my restaurant it's yours turn now okay yeah I don't think I can I don't think I can spray as well as you can but I can try [Laughter] way okay one more time this technique gives spit roasting a whole new meaning and is one creeton tradition you might not want to try yourself but certainly using a marinade to help the salt stick to the lamb is a good idea how long does it take H from now and then about 2 and a half hours this is men's cooking yeah I suppose and the men cook to have fun and the women they cook because they have to feed everybody that's right that's it's it's not a hobby it's a work for a woman it's very hard to cook this meat yeah it's not but you only do it once a week my friend they do it six days a week so don't [Music] complain wind breaks are placed around the Andy kisto and while the lamb Cooks I want to contribute a dish of my own though it seems I'm not going to be cooking alone I have an audience I'm going to Brave a couple of Greek Classics using some credant flavors and another of the Island's favorite ingredients [Music] pork I've got here some um pork thigh so I'm just going to take these pieces and cut them into rough squares and you want nice big chunks it shrinks a little bit as it Cooks I'm making a marinade for my pork using lemon juice olive oil dried oregano dried mint and some sweet spices I'm using ground clove I don't know if it's very but it's very Middle Eastern and uh some ground staranise cumin some chili flakes and salt very important for when you marinade meat don't be stingy I'm also adding some crushed garlic ground cardamom and white wine vinegar now it's just the case of putting the meat on the skewers it looks good yes looks very good very good but does it look like proper Sufi yeah yeah now the marinade goes over the pork ideally you should leave it for a few hours or even overnight to go on the side I'm making a salad of cucumbers Peppers mild grein chilies and red onions for the dressing I'm making a paste of garlic more red onion and some salt to which I'm gradually adding olive oil you IMM monify your ingredients together and make them creamy as you add your oils bit by bit a dash of white wine vinegar and the dressing goes on the salad I'm adding some Nigella seeds which add a peppery oniony flavor and are now pretty easy to find in supermarkets now I'm going to make a a kind of ziki I mean it's probably one of the most iconic Greek dishes in the world um I'm going to do my version I'm using corette as it has more body than cucumber and I'm adding salt to draw out the moisture and as a result the kette will be much crunchier Miki consists of Greek yogurt olive oil crushed garlic salt and lemon juice how beautiful is that it's just spectacular I'm going to put my corett in there that's been strained and drained now just stir it I'm going to leave it half stirred so you can see those streaks of corette and oil I just think it looks good my skewes are a little small for the anti Crystal fire so yanis has lit the barbecue for me I'd say four minutes on each side it really depends on the size of the pieces do you think it looks delicious yes I think so this is a I want it to go a little bit Brown to enrich that zaziki I'm also making a classic Burnette a brown melted butter you can see those little brown flexs and you can smell the the kind of the Nutty flavor of the butter coming okay we're ready yes let's take it off a bigger PL okay while the pork rests I'm adding the brown butter to the zaziki and finishing off my salad salad with some chopped mint and Dill and then we're ready to plate and to eat the meat skewers just pile up nicely I'm going to put a little bit of salad on the side and once that's all filled up nicely I'm going to put a little bit of dried mint just a little Final Touch over thei that's it suaki with salad and M [Music] ziki I don't think my suaki will stretch around the whole family but thankfully after 3 hours cooking there's a mountain of lamb to retrieve from the fire this is a pretty medieval okay we put there in this wood table and cut it there wow there's definitely a sense of a proper ritual happening here I mean the veneration which the meat is handle with very delicious it's still like really moist in the middle I feel like a caveman this is uh my piece this is my trophy yeah okay some anyone want some where's your oh this is good it's very clear that in cre more than other islands that I visited the food is really an excuse for everybody to get together so the food is the center for community and it's a creator of a community and it's the kind of Heart of greet and society and it's a very refreshing and a very beautiful thing to see to experience and to be part [Music] of I've been overwhelmed by the extraordinary Hospitality of the Creon people yeah the best and I'll never forget food that's a fascinating mix of local ingredients delicious and Eastern flavors there is a kind of a reverential attitude and that's what makes it so special next time the dramatic landscape and ancient food traditions of Sardinia I feel like a witch on The Cauldron hey Lobster wow beautiful beautiful tomorrow beautiful food oh yeah that's next Thursday at 9: and tomorrow George Clooney tells the story of chaos and confusion surrounding the Kennedy assassination and one man's mission to break the news to the world JFK news of a shooting at 9: tonight a more for fits has been caught with his pants Cyrus Dodges the questions and the mole is revealed but trouble at the White House doesn't end there Scandal is next

Channel: NowHeraklion

Views: 728,457

Keywords: Heraklion (City/Town/Village), Crete (City/Town/Village), Crete Cuisine

Id: UA8zfxj4fRU

Length: 47min 23sec (2843 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 12 2013