My lifelong friends Teddy and Jana Efstratis gifted me a cookbook for my birthday in December, 2020. The publisher, Phaidon, curates some of the most beautiful books. This one is exceptional. And it's Greek. Say no more.
Normally on that day we would have shared a meal together, filled our cups to overflowing, and held a four-person dance party late enough into the morning to get the neighbors talking.
Like many things, that was necessarily waylaid to another, safer time. All for the better, I say.
This is one of the first recipes from The Book, as I will refer to it evermore. I hope you can feel the belated-birthday love.
I'm not sure about copyright stuff yet. But the walnut bookstand was a handmade gift from my Dad.
I am still learning to efficiently break down whole chickens. This one is a 4-pound Mary's Fryer I bought at Taylor's Market.
Any respectable butcher, cook, or Grandma will tell you there is no better bargain than a whole bird. So I don't have to.
Stacy makes a delicious Gouda Cheese Dip for special family occasions. That recipe is secret.
But I can tell you the secret ingredient is Cavender's All Purpose Greek Seasoning. I added a good helping of Cavender's to the flour.
Also, in the back is a whole grated onion. I see grated onion in a lot of these recipes. And it's great for braising. Be forewarned, if slicing an onion gets you reaching for the box of tissues, try grating one. I'm tough, though. Didn't bother me. Sniff. Sniff.
Bariani California Extra Virgin Olive Oil. I am an infant in my understanding of EVOO. But this stuff is luxury.
Grated onion and a large clove of minced garlic.
I didn't make these pickled (preserved) lemons, I ordered them online. They are strong. Soaking the rinds in cold water leeches out some of the saltiness. They are still strong.
We already had a large jar of Manzanilla olives stuffed with pimentos in the fridge. Using the narrow end of a chopstick worked well to turn these back into just Manzanilla olives.
The oil, onion, garlic, olives, preserved lemon, and chicken fat make the silkiest and fruitiest pan sauce. My Dad makes an excellent roasted chicken recipe with olives in his wood-fired oven.
Cook with more olives is all I can say.
To Teddy and Jana's credit, there is video confirmation that while we remained a mile-and-a-half apart on December 12th, the celebration and dancing still went down!
And the neighbors never said a word.
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