EastLondonAthenian

An archive of original or tweaked recipes based on southern european traditions, focusing on fish seafood & seasonal vegetables.
All cooked & eaten.

Tomato, Lemongrass & Red Mullet Risotto

This is somewhat indebted to a dish i had in Ghent at restaurant which apparently was the playground of a young starred chef; the dish was a sea bass fillet in a tomato broth that could perfectly be a classic italian or greek shellfish stock but with the fragrant addition of lemongrass. You can see ginger or chilli often in a seafood dish in european cooking, and the same mildly exotic tint of lemongrass doesnt confuse the identity of the dish, but rather enhances a set of flavours that are found by other means of ingredients usually (say, fennel and fennel seeds and  tarragon)..The mullet is a sweet pink-juiced fish that suits aniseedy / fennely fragants and this tints the lemongrass with an almost ouzo / tarragon like scent.

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Bonito Cooked In Three Ways & Grandmother Maria’s Roof Tiles

Bonito / palamida (παλαμίδα note dots on the belly) landed in Spetses Island last November. Line caught.

This is an Athens landed ‘riki’ the leaner Bonito, ρικι in greek - practically skipjack as they call it when jarred, or Bonito Del Norte, white tuna. Their tail is also identical to tuna incredibly powerful shape, super efficient uber fast swimmers, like water torpedos.

Tonaki, is the small skipjack. I think (!). You get those in the markets and fishmongers in spring in athens and a bit in the autumn.

I m incredibly interested in riki / bonito’s partly due to their pedigree / being almost tuna almost mackerel, and the flavour this carries, but also they re just so unique in every respect. I think the stocks around here are recovering a bit, as they re not as popular as tuna in greece, and the best greek tuna gets sent to japan daily, so they re slightly overlooked which is good for them..

In Spetses last november they were selling a good few bonitos and riki, but then i was swimming next to herds of grey mullets all the way to the shallows and a little girl was sort of ‘attacked’ by a probably well meaning / loving octopus at water no deeper than 60 cms.. it was a good fish year there apparently. Or simply i tend to visit these places closer to tourist season, when tourists are eating more than the fishermen catch, so most fish around restaurants is imported in .

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(Source: luculusden.blogspot.com)

Octopus Two Ways - Χταποδι Σε Δυο Τροπους

Octopus Two Ways

Χταποδι Σε Δυο Τροπους

A hefty mediterranean double-sucker octopus, cooked in its own juices and then done in two ways; Stifado- stewed with caramelised shallots in tomato & red wine, and Marinato; cold with capers and vinegar.

The Stifado is straight from my grandmother from Asia Minor, who hand wrote this recipe and about a hundred more, nearly 80 years ago.

From a 5 course feast cooked with Danae Bravi, who also did the photos- from last January (recipes and 3 more dishes to follow soon)