My Big Fat Greek Dinner Party

[Adam Balic]

12 guests around for dinner this week end. I decided to cook Greek food as I was feeling a little homesick (Melbourne has a large Greek population).

I started with various Meze, including mixed

salata and bread:

Clockwise form the top we have beetroot, chickpea, cucumber, carrot and fish roe salata.

Deep fried small fish (in this case Sprats):

Tiny figs from Shiraz, flavoured with fresh bayleaves and pepper:

Baby eels. OK, this isn't really Greek, but I had them and I flavoured them with ouzo and lemon :

At this point I was very busy, so no photographs of grilled haloumi, spanakopita or dolmades. Sorry.

For the main we had pork and bean casserole, seafood pilaw and red mullet with a rich sauce, stuffed tomatos, roast potatoes with lemon and peas. Again too rushed for photgraphs, but here are the raw ingredients:

Excellent seafood from 'Eddies Seafood' in Edinburgh. Excellent quality seafood in a city the routinely does mediocre seafood at resturants:

Stuffed tomatos before baking:

As I said, no photgraphs that night, but here are some images of next days leftovers. Doesn't really do the meal justice, but there you go:

Seafood pilaw:

Pork and beans:

Red Mullet (this looks very sorry compared to the original ):

Dessert was sticky Yogurt cake, either with quince surup or with cintron and bergamont syrup:

A slice of the quince verion, the cream is amadine, sheets of dried apricot juice that are soaked in hot water and whipped into a cream, as you can see:

Edited February 7, 2005 by Adam Balic (log)

[Ling]

Oh my. What a lovely meal! Do baby eels taste just like their mommas and poppas? I love eel!

[Adam Balic]

Not really, they are very mild with a hint of the adult eel flavour. Fun though.

[Jinmyo]

Very nice, indeed, Adam.

[Jon Tseng]

Kewl

Where didya get the eels?

Were they elvers?

J

[Adam Balic]

I'm starting to regret the inclusion of the eels....One of my guests is a fish biologist and I thought he would be interested in them. They actually from a tin. As to what they are, we are unsure. The ones I have eaten in Spain have eye spots, these don't but they are much small. So they could be fake. However, the fish biologist and he thought that they may be too immature to have pigmentation (although its unclear how their eyes would work). On the otherhand, he also pointed out the the European eel population has crashed 90% in the last two decades and that we really shouldn't be eating them at all.

So, I am in the position of potentially serving fakes on one hand or eating and endangered species on the other. An ethical Schrodinger's cat situation. Not knowing the true will set you free.

Concentrate on the sprats, not the damn eels

[Syrah]

Is the recipe for the fish roe salata available?? My darling has taken a fancy to it, as have I, and the stuff I bought from the deli for a fix doesn't cut it.

[binkyboots]

Excellent seafood from 'Eddies Seafood' in Edinburgh. Excellent quality seafood in a city the routinely does mediocre seafood at resturants:

←

Ahha! I must seek this one out, the fishcounter at sainsburys is not great, but ignorance about where to find a good fishmonger has kept me there

Any recomendations for butchers? I'm looking for someone who does game too....

back on topic, the meal looks delicious, the sprats in particular

[Adam Balic]

Is the recipe for the fish roe salata available?? My darling has taken a fancy to it, as have I, and the stuff I bought from the deli for a fix doesn't cut it.

←

The recipe I used was from Rosemary Barron's excellent "Flavours of Greece.

However, interesting as it is to make, it is expensive and takes some time. Not sure where you are, but looking for another deli source may be a better option. PM me if you would like the recipe though,

[Swisskaese]

The sprats and the red mullet look delicious. How did you prepare the red mullet. I am always looking for new recipes.

[Adam Balic]

The recipe was from the above mentioned Rosemary Barron book. Briefly, the red mullet are sauted, then removed. Garlic is then gently sauted then red wine vinegar and honey are added and reduced. Tomatos are then added along with cinnamon and raisins. This is then reduced somewhat and the flavours allowed to mellow. The key is the honey, I used a dark Greek honey which produces a very complex flavour profile without too much sweetness. This fish are then warmed in the sauce. This recipe was very good and definately the most requested recipe for the evening.

My only complaint was that the sauce colour obscured the beautiful colour if the red mullet. But, given how many people seem to be looking at cooking as a visual art in the last few years, it is refreshing to find a new recipe that is so delicious and flavour orientated.

[AlexP]

Great photos of sea food.

Regarding the eels, here is a link with a post by vserna that explains a little about Baby Eels in Spain.

Conversation of Baby Eels

Edit: Sorry I did not completly read Adam's post asking to disregard the eels.

Edited February 7, 2005 by AlexP (log)

[Adam Balic]

AlexP - thank you very much for the link. Ah, so they were fake, then is interesting (fish biologist friend will be happy to find this out) and now I don't have to feel guilty about eating them (although I still have to deal with the guilt of eating baby fish in Malaga). I had no idea that the elvers were now this expensive, reflects the population crash I guess. I had though I read that many elvers consumed in Spain were caught in S. England, I wonder if that price mentioned by vsera was for imported or local elvers?

[Jinmyo]

AlexP - thank you very much for the link. Ah, so they were fake, then is interesting (fish biologist friend will be happy to find this out) and now I don't have to feel guilty about eating them (although I still have to deal with the guilt of eating baby fish in Malaga). I had no idea that the elvers were now this expensive, reflects the population crash I guess. I had though I read that many elvers consumed in Spain were caught in S. England, I wonder if that price mentioned by vsera was for imported or local elvers?

←

The kilo of angulas has hit 700 euros this Christmastime in Madrid. That's almost $400 a pound.

Egad.

[Adam Balic]

I have since found out that 2004 was a very poor year for the elver havest in the UK, so I wonder how the prices may have changed over the last decade or so?

[AlexP]

My knowledge of the subject is quite limited. Growing up in Northern Spain, I saw baby eels at home once in a while. Patients of my father will give them to us as a gift.

I barely see them in Spanish menus when I am at home. Vserna would be best to explain where his are coming from, but my guess is that they could be from the Northern Coast of Spain. Some on my friends years ago will go fishing for them at night. If you were lucky it could be quite lucrative for a teenager.

Sad to say, but I will feel lucky if I have the chance to eat them again, even once, specially at those prices.

Alex

[Adam Balic]

All things considered, it may be best not to eat them at all.

Eel population crash