I need to write quickly, before the tastes dissolve from my tongue and my memory fades: I just ate a spectacular meal. This evening, the program divided us into groups of about 20 and took us to various taverna in the neighborhood, where we were presented with, well, a feast (worked out well for the owners of the restaurants, because we cleared out by the time local Greeks wanted to eat--by 10 pm, that is).
I'll get right to it:
Cool, smoky eggplant with green onions and diced peppers--the richness and flavor of baba ghanoush with a heartier texture. Fava bean puree. A couscous tabouli-like dish with pita bread chips. Diced tomato with a creamy Greek yogurt-feta mix, and croutons soaked in a vinaigrette, somehow flavorful and still crunchy. Tender veal, eggplant, and tomato stewed together on top of a nutmeg-laced bechamel. Pork tenderloin with thinly sliced zucchini and a light cheese and white wine sauce. Sausage with a tomato sauce and a sprinkling of feta cheese. Ricotta and feta wrapped in crispy layers of philo dough and drizzled with honey. And then a plate piled high with lamb, sausage, and what looked like falafel but filled with crumbled sausage, along with fried potatoes, grilled pita slices, and tzatziki. And as a palette cleanser, delicate and silky yogurt with grapes soaked in sweet, delicious syrup. One of the guys put it well when he said "If love were a meal, this would be it".
I vowed I wouldn't post anything without at least one picture to accompany it, but I wasn't going to haul out my huge camera to snap pictures of the food, and just I had to share the description of the meal so that I can drool over it again later.
I'll get right to it:
Cool, smoky eggplant with green onions and diced peppers--the richness and flavor of baba ghanoush with a heartier texture. Fava bean puree. A couscous tabouli-like dish with pita bread chips. Diced tomato with a creamy Greek yogurt-feta mix, and croutons soaked in a vinaigrette, somehow flavorful and still crunchy. Tender veal, eggplant, and tomato stewed together on top of a nutmeg-laced bechamel. Pork tenderloin with thinly sliced zucchini and a light cheese and white wine sauce. Sausage with a tomato sauce and a sprinkling of feta cheese. Ricotta and feta wrapped in crispy layers of philo dough and drizzled with honey. And then a plate piled high with lamb, sausage, and what looked like falafel but filled with crumbled sausage, along with fried potatoes, grilled pita slices, and tzatziki. And as a palette cleanser, delicate and silky yogurt with grapes soaked in sweet, delicious syrup. One of the guys put it well when he said "If love were a meal, this would be it".
I vowed I wouldn't post anything without at least one picture to accompany it, but I wasn't going to haul out my huge camera to snap pictures of the food, and just I had to share the description of the meal so that I can drool over it again later.
No comments:
Post a Comment