Want to go to a Greek island with me?
We'll cook with village cooks, we'll visit the village baker, we'll eat at a few of my favourite Zakynthos restaurants.
Our co-host (along with yours truly) is the legendary Sotiris Kitrilakis, the man who transformed the way that America feels about Greece and Greek ingredients with the company he founded: Pelleponnese Olive Oils and Products, as well as Mt. Vikos cheese, which has brought the best of Greek cheeses to America, including the luscious Manouri.
We'll stay at Leeda's Village, a holiday house enclosure of stone-built houses in the traditional style (this is a stone-built rather than whitewashed place) with a view of the sea; the owner, Dionysis, is a lover of the sea, a fisherman par excellence, who was once harbour master of his beloved island. He could perhaps be convinced to prepare for us his famous fish soup/stew, and to show us his secret for tenderizing octopus.
We'll aim for a balance between traditional ways, wild things and goat milking, traditional foods, and my own take on Mediterranean. Each meal time that we are cooking will focus on both, with Sotiris or a village cook preparing the traditional, and my cooking up something using local ingredients as inspiration but the whole Mediterranean and modern twists, as my own flavour palette.
Right now, I am thinking that olive pressing time would be excellent, as we could harvest and press the oil, and sample the autumnal foods and way of life.
Charter flights will be over then, unfortunately, so we'd need to fly in and out of Athens. That may well be fine however, as I can hire a van and a driver, and — in fact — coming to the island by boat is always the best way. And en route we can stop at Olympia where the first Olympics were held, and drive along the Corinth Canal... and have a little foodie tour of Athens too. This will all add to the cost of the trip, however...
Please email me, all who are interested.