Sara's Weeknight Meals

(bright music) - [Sara] "Sara's Weeknight Meals" is made possible by... (adventurous music) - [Narrator] Aboard Oceania Cruises, we share a journey of culinary discovery, from shore excursions dedicated to local food traditions to our hands-on cooking school at sea.

Our master chefs take inspiration from vibrant markets and flavors as they create the international dishes served to guests each evening.

That's the Oceania Cruises epicurean experience.

(adventurous music ends) (upbeat music) - [Sara] And by USA Rice.

(upbeat music ends) (bright music) Say you're on a beautiful Greek island in a sleepy little village in a cozy cafe sipping ouzo.

- [Marina] Don't worry.

The moment I put the water in, this will turn white.

- Oh!

Magic trick, magic trick.

- Yeah, that's what happens.

- [Sara] Today we're on the island of Lesvos to eat mezze and drink ouzo.

Maybe too much ouzo.

Yamas.

- [Marina] Yamas.

(bright music continues) - Woo!

Will you trust me with a knife after this?

Somehow, I still have all my fingers after cooking with my host.

Marina... - Leonidhopoulos.

- Yeah, that's what I said, right?

That's like we're making a bed.

- [Marina] We're making Kolokithopita, which is a zucchini pie.

- [Sara] Tasty, right?

So was her easy bean salad.

That is not all.

Back in my kitchen, lamb pita pizzas.

It's all about layering flavor.

So the bottom layer is crispy pita, then comes creamy hummus, followed by spicy lamb topped with lemony herb salad.

Best part, everyone gets their own.

I was thinking it might need a little more olive oil.

- Now you're becoming too Greek.

- [Sara] Hey, it's all Greek to me, today on "Sara's Weeknight Meals."

(bright music) If you're looking for sweet villages full of colorful locals, you couldn't do better than Mitilini on the magical Greek island of Lesvos, famous for its ouzo.

(bright music continues) That's why I am at Cafe Musica with my friend Marina.

(Marina and server speaking Greek) - Eggplant in tomato sauce.

- Ooh, yum, yum.

So I'm sort of baffled.

Do we really need all this food just to go with our ouzo?

- Yes, we do.

That's how we do it.

We drink ouzo, but we drink it with a lot of small mezze.

- Yeah, you need all that to absorb the high octane.

- [Marina] Exactly.

So would you like me to?

- [Sara] Yeah.

And... - Shall I do the honors?

- Yes, please do.

So tell me about ouzo and why here and why now.

- This island is famous for its ouzo.

Don't worry.

The moment I put the water in, this will turn white.

- [Sara] Oh!

Magic trick, magic trick.

- Yeah, that's what happens.

- Woo!

I'm getting a heavy hit of licorice.

- That is the ouzo smell.

The special thing of ouzo is the anise flavor.

- Well, I think we must taste.

- You ready to do this?

- Yeah.

Yamas.

- [Marina] Yamas.

- Woo!

- What do you think?

- I actually really like it.

- [Marina] Strong.

- Yeah.

- Would you like to, um?

- [Sara] Yeah.

Olive oil on the tomatoes.

These are beautiful tomatoes.

- [Marina] It was picked this morning, first thing.

Everything that's on the table is absolutely local.

- [Sara] Including the salt.

- This is from the salt mine in Kalloni.

- Mm, mm!

- [Marina] Straight off the plant.

- It's still dewy.

- These little olives are very traditional of the island.

As you can see, they're not in brine.

They're very dry and salty.

- I love those.

Sort of raisin-like.

- We call them ropades.

- [Sara] Mhm.

Mm, those are yummy.

And then we have... - Octopus, beetroot pickle.

So pickled beetroot, the shrimp, and the aubergine, of course.

- All right.

Now you typically have this kind of spread at the end of the day before dinner?

- It's sort of anytime from, let's say, midday onwards.

We drink ouzo.

We're not heavy drinkers.

And it's mainly about the food and the drink, of course.

But the main dish is not the drink, if you know what I mean.

- Got it, got it, got it.

- It's the other way around.

- And this is a typical kind of cafe where you would have this.

- [Marina] It is a traditional cafe.

- [Sara] Very charming, yeah.

- [Marina] But a kafeneio, which is the Greek word for cafe, is where traditionally you will have the ouzo.

- [Sara] Okay.

- Do you want to try the eggplant?

- Oh yes, absolutely.

I'm a big eggplant fan.

- Then bring it a little closer.

- Okay.

- [Marina] This is a very, very traditional... - [Sara] Oh, look at how well it's cooked down.

That looks beautiful.

- Should be sweet and spicy at the same time.

- The tomato and... Mm!

Mm!

- [Marina] Garlic.

Good?

- Can I have some bread?

You gotta spread that on bread.

- [Marina] Yes, of course.

- [Sara] I mean, there's just no way around it.

Do you live near here?

- My house is very close near here.

And I think after we've had some ouzo, it would be perfect to go cooking.

- I mean, will you trust me with a knife after this?

- Hmm!

That is a good question, but yes, I will.

I will trust you with a knife.

- Okay.

(bright Greek folk music) After a short walk through town, we made it to Marina's place, which has been in her family for generations.

What?

Are you kidding me?

This is your house?

This looks like a mansion.

- Yes, it is my great grandparents' home.

- Wow.

You should open it up for visitors.

- [Marina] Yeah, we're thinking of doing that.

We would like people to see how people lived in the early 19th century.

- [Sara] Inside, remnants of a grand life.

(bright Greek folk music continues) And also the atelier by traditional weaver, Levodos.

But it's the antique kitchen that beckons us.

(bright Greek folk music continues) Okay.

- You're doing a good job there.

- Yeah.

This is a lifetime supply of scallions.

Well, here I am with Marina... - Leonidhopoulos.

- Yeah, that's what I said.

Right.

And after all that ouzo, just ready to cook Greek style.

So what are we making?

- We're making Kolokithopita, which is a zucchini pie.

We can make it with pumpkin and then it's sweet, it's like a dessert.

Or we can make it with zucchini, which we're doing today, and then it's a savory pie.

- [Sara] So that looks like it's about two cups of chopped spring onions.

And we're gonna saute them until they get translucent.

- [Marina] Sounds just right.

- [Sara] Okay, so this looks like feta.

- That is feta.

- Okay.

- That is local Lesvos feta.

- And just in a nice crumble?

And this looks... - [Marina] In a nice crumble.

It doesn't... Don't worry too much.

It's a rustic dish.

- My favorite word.

- The thing is, if you have very large chunks, they won't melt down properly.

- And the second cheese, what is it?

- [Marina] That, we call anthotyro.

It is a low fat sheep's or goat and sheep milk cheese.

So the reason I'm using half and half is to make the pie a little less salty.

- Got it.

And this looks to be about a half to three quarters of a pound of cheese.

- [Marina] I think we're ready with this.

So I'm going to whisk three eggs.

(pensive music) - Oh, look at that yolk.

That is beautiful.

- These are local eggs again.

- [Sara] Local eggs.

- [Marina] Yes.

- [Sara] Love it.

(pensive music continues) - If you can get a bunch of dill and a bunch of mint... - [Sara] And just chop it.

- [Marina] And just chop it finely.

So my eggs are all whisked, I'll put the cheese into the eggs.

(pensive music continues) - [Sara] And here we, of course, we grated some zucchini.

You said it was five medium guys?

- [Marina] That's right.

It was five medium guys.

- [Sara] And I'm curious, usually I salted and weighted and squeeze it and worry about it, and you just grated it.

- I grated it.

But it's been sitting here for a good hour and a half.

So if you don't have that time, you can do what you're saying.

I try to avoid the salt because they tend to absorb a lot of salt, and then the feta is also salty.

- [Sara] Salty.

So yeah.

Does this look good?

- [Marina] It looks fabulous.

And I'm ready to... - [Sara] Take it.

Okay.

I just have a little more to do.

- Oh, I need to put my scallions now.

You've got time.

Don't worry about it.

- Don't get nervous.

So we just got those translucent.

- [Marina] Yes.

- I love how many herbs are in there.

That is a gorgeous thing.

- And it smells lovely.

Just you chopping it there has filled the air with them.

- [Sara] I know, we perfumed the whole room.

Fantastic.

- So you put both?

It's all mixed up?

- [Sara] Yes.

- Great.

- [Sara] Now this does remind me very much of spanakopita.

- Yeah, pita is something we do with anything we have, really.

I mean, phyllo in the villages, they used to open the phyllo handmade.

- Yes.

- And then they would do cheese, spinach, meat.

Smells good.

- [Sara] It smells so good.

Well then I'm just gonna clear a little bit 'cause we're gonna do the phyllo.

- We'll let this rest for a bit.

- [Sara] Right.

(bright music) So now if this is phyllo dough, which we can get in the United States usually in the frozen section.

Now I want to point out that we did not open this til this very moment because otherwise it dries out.

- That's right.

This is phyllo.

We can get here already at the supermarket.

It's called Horiatiko phyllo, which is a slightly thicker than maybe the phyllo that you can get at home, but that's absolutely fine.

And you can also use puff pastry.

This is a nine by 11 oven-safe glass pan.

I'm just oiling it with a brush.

I've got olive oil.

We always use olive oil.

- Is this local olive oil?

Do you make olive oil on Lesvos?

- Lesvos is a huge olive island.

We've got lots of olive trees everywhere.

And then olives and olive oil.

So you pick it up, either dip it in here or you let me do it, whichever way you prefer.

There you go.

You can lay down there.

Perfect.

Don't worry about it.

Nothing's gonna happen to it.

- Yeah, it's like we're making a bed.

- [Marina] And then what I do is I push it comfortably into the pan.

I'm not cutting the edges yet.

I might have to at the end.

And then I am oiling it.

- Okay.

- [Marina] We're not stingy with the olive oil, otherwise it is too dry.

- [Sara] Yes.

- There we go.

I'm ready for you.

Just let it drop.

- [Sara] Okay.

Yeah, just let it drop.

So explain to people what phyllo dough is.

- [Marina] Phyllo dough is just basically flour and water and then a bit of salt.

People who have more time actually do homemade phyllo dough.

You said spanakopita before.

"Pita" is the pie.

And the first part of the word is the filling.

The type of filling.

So they used to make pitas in all the villages.

It was a poor man's meal because you had... It's a bit like a sandwich in a way, if you think about it.

You get the starch and then your, whatever it is.

You can do a pita with meat or with chicken.

Right now, we've got three at the bottom and we're gonna put three at the top.

So I'm just gonna oil this one and then put the filling inside.

- [Sara] Okay, great.

- [Marina] You can do this with a brush or you can do it with a piece of paper or you can do it with your fingers.

I like the brush because I think that it's done more evenly.

- [Sara] I agree.

- [Marina] Let's do this.

- Do you want me to hold it and you can guide it in?

How do you want to do this?

- Yes.

Because I think we might, for this pita, need less than what we have here.

So we can make it second one if we want.

- [Sara] I think you've made this before.

I could be wrong.

- I have made this before.

And you can actually refrigerate the filling and use it the next day in another pie if you want to.

- [Sara] Oh.

- And there's another recipe which we don't have time for right now, which is scrambling eggs into this and making like something like a Spanish omelet.

- Ooh!

- You can see it, can't you?

You can imagine it.

I'm just giving it a little extra sheet here.

(laughs) There we go.

So now we're gonna put another two sheets of phyllo on top, oiling them again each time, and then we're done.

And to finish it, I like to fold in the edges until we have a nice, neat package.

And then I'm just gonna cut whatever's left off because it burns easily and I don't want it to burn.

So I'm just gonna make sure it's in the pans.

And then I'm gonna take a knife.

I score it.

Doesn't actually help it cook, but it makes it much easier... - Easier to serve - To see where the pieces are when you're done.

It needs to go into the oven now.

350 degrees for 45, 50 minutes.

(pensive music) So while the pie's baking, I thought we would whip up a nice bean salad.

- [Sara] Okay.

- It is fasolia piaz.

"Piaz" is onion in Persian.

"Fasolia" is beans, so... - There you go.

- Basically.

- Okay.

So do you soak your beans overnight?

- Yes.

We soak the beans overnight.

I will zest the lemon while you're slicing those.

- [Sara] This is a lot of onion.

No wonder it's in the title of the recipe.

- And there's parsley in it to counteract the effects of the onion.

- A mouth freshener.

- Exactly.

- [Sara] Tell me a little bit, how long has this house been in your family?

- The house was built in 1911 and it was built by my great-grandfather.

And it's been in my family's hands ever since the first day.

- [Sara] Wow.

Here we go.

This is one of my favorite tools.

I like certain gadgets.

Useful gadgets.

- That is a great gadget.

- [Sara] This is like a bench scraper, but it's actually for lifting cakes.

- [Marina] Brilliant.

- [Sara] Isn't it?

- [Marina] Yeah, the whole cake, I mean, wow.

- Yeah.

A cake lifter, next time I'm here.

- Okay, so you're coming back?

- I am.

I must.

It's too pretty.

- And when you're done with my lemon, I will ask you to chop a nice bunch of parsley.

- [Sara] Okay.

(mellow music) - So lemon goes in.

There we go.

(mellow music continues) - [Sara] And... - That's great.

- What do we say?

That's about a cup?

- [Marina] I think that's about a cup.

- [Sara] Okay.

- And it goes great.

And then with the oil, again, don't laugh, but you know I'm going to be... - You do you.

- I'm going to be very liberal.

(laughs) (mellow music continues) And I do the same with the pepper.

And we're actually done.

If I'll give it a good toss so that the salt goes everywhere.

- Wow, I'm smelling the pie.

Do we think it's done?

- It's definitely done.

And I think we can go and enjoy our meal.

- [Sara] Let's eat!

Okay.

(mellow music continues) Whoa, does that look beautiful.

- I think it looks good.

- Yes.

- [Marina] So let me.

- Now I see why you score it.

That just makes life... - It's so much easier.

It makes life easier.

I let it sit for a little while.

This can actually be eaten even cold, you know.

Room temperature cold.

There we go.

- [Sara] Oh wow.

Beautiful.

- [Marina] It's out.

- Oh my goodness.

There's a parsley stem there.

- You can smell that too, huh?

- [Sara] That's staff work.

- [Marina] I'm wondering whether you can still smell the mint.

- Yes, I can.

And what kind of wine are we drinking?

- This is local wine.

Mitilini, as you know, is an ouzo island.

- It sure is.

- But we also make some wine and it's not bottled.

It's from the barrel you will buy it.

- [Sara] That's fun.

All right, here goes.

Mm.

Oh, this is lovely.

- [Marina] I'll try the salad first.

I think - [Sara] It's not salty.

I'm getting the herbs almost first.

- [Marina] I was thinking the salad might need just a little more salt.

- Interesting 'cause I was thinking it might need a little more olive oil.

- Sara, you're becoming too Greek.

(laughs) - Well, I wanna thank you so much for having me in your lovely home and showing me that great cafe this morning and making me drink ouzo at 10 o'clock in morning.

It's been a very unique experience.

So yasou.

- Yamas.

You're most welcome.

- Okay.

(bright Greek folk music) Today I'm gonna show you a really fun family meal.

It's spicy lamb pita pizzas, and it's all about layering flavor.

So the bottom layer is crispy pita, then comes creamy hummus, followed by spicy lamb topped with lemony herb salad.

And I've gotta get the lamb in the pan to start with.

But this is a fun thing because everybody gets their own personal pita pizza.

Let me get about a tablespoon of olive oil.

Use the good stuff.

And we're gonna get our lamb in.

We've got about eight ounces.

Now the thing is, if you don't like lamb, you could use beef, you could use ground turkey, you could use ground chicken or ground pork.

You know, it's all fine.

We're gonna get this in here.

And I'm gonna use my trusty, this is one of my favorite tools, my potato masher, to break up ground meat.

I'm gonna give it a pinch of salt and just let it keep cooking.

Let me finish my tomatoes.

These are plum tomatoes.

We need about a cup of chopped plum tomatoes.

We're just trying to lose all the color.

Smells yummy.

Okay, now onto some garlic.

We're using three cloves.

Looking for about a tablespoon of minced garlic.

(bright music) I'm gonna go check on the lamb.

Oh yeah, this looks good.

So I'm gonna take it out with a slotted spoon because we wanna leave, there's some nice lamb fat in there.

Fat is flavor and we wanna keep it there.

What you do is you tip your pan to make sure that all the fat goes down and it's accumulating down here and the lamb comes to the top.

All right, that's good enough.

Now just another tablespoon of olive oil to go with the lamb fat in there.

And some onion.

(bright music continues) We're just gonna cook this onion, oh, I don't know, for a few minutes til it's translucent.

We don't need to get color on it.

All right, and then we also need some oregano.

You could use marjoram, which is in the same family as oregano.

And we need about a tablespoon minced or chopped.

(bright music continues) Okay.

But I think it's time to add my tomatoes to the onions.

Give it another little stir.

We're gonna let this cook down a little bit 'cause we wanna get rid of the excess tomato liquid.

We don't want it to be watery.

And then everything else is gonna go in.

Oh, that's probably more than a tablespoon.

But I like garlic, so I'm gonna just leave it.

These little guys are like thyme, smaller herbs.

Get 'em into a solid mass and then they're much easier to chop.

So now we're gonna add the garlic, the oregano, tablespoon of each, and hot pepper flakes.

And also a teaspoon of cumin, which is very common in Middle Eastern cooking.

Oops.

There we go.

And we're adding the herbs to make sure they bloom.

They come alive in the oil and the sauce.

All right.

I'm just gonna give this a little bit to get the garlic cooked, get the raw edge off the garlic.

Let me just tidy up for a second.

(bright music) So the lamb is gonna go back in.

We gotta marry the flavors and we're gonna add a little bit of water.

You could add chicken stock if you wanted.

That would be nice in here too.

And it sort of just makes the whole thing come together.

We just simmer it for a little bit.

Get all those flavors together and some more salt.

(bright music continues) So we had red pepper in there anyway.

I may not have needed to put any black, but what the heck?

I like spice.

Let that simmer for just a few minutes and I'm going to get my pitas in the oven.

It doesn't matter what pita you use, we just want a little guy 'cause these are individual.

Each person gets one of these.

We're gonna brush with a little olive oil, I preheated oven to 350.

Let's do it like this quick.

(bright music continues) While that's in the oven, I am going to make my herb salad.

This is my favorite part.

So we've got cilantro.

If you hate cilantro, don't worry.

You could use any herb that makes you happy.

And we also have parsley.

Let me make the dressing first though.

So we're gonna start with a lemon.

We want about a tablespoon.

Now I'm gonna break a rule, which is normally when you make a vinegarette or a dressing, you want about three to one oil to acid.

But today, because this whole concoction that I'm making, we want something bright and sunny on top.

So that's why instead of going with three tablespoons oil to one tablespoon acid, I'm going with equal parts.

And this is the world's tiniest lemon.

I need a tablespoon.

I love these little measuring cups.

Yeah, one tablespoon of fresh lemon juice.

We're gonna dissolve our salt in the lemon juice.

Salt dissolves much better in acid, in something watery.

I like to start and try to get the salt more dissolved.

Yeah, that looks good.

And now we're gonna add some oil and it's not gonna emulsify.

There's nothing to hold it together.

Don't worry about it.

Just whisk it quickly.

And then we're gonna add the herbs.

All right.

Our cilantro and our parsley.

There we go.

And this way, we have all the elements that you need.

We have our meat, we have our starch, we have our vegetables all in one little pita pizza.

Okay, that looks good.

I'm gonna grab my pitas.

(bright Greek folk music) Those are perfect.

They're nice and golden and they're little.

You can feel that they're nice and crispy, but that is not all.

I told you, there's many layers of flavors and textures.

So while the pitas are still hot, rub the top of them with the garlic.

So we're gonna have two different flavors.

I happen to like garlic in case you didn't notice.

Okay, so that is ready.

First, some hummus and it's about a quarter cup per pita.

You can just use the back of your spoon to spread.

(bright Greek folk music continues) Next the lamb is gonna go on top.

(bright Greek folk music continues) And finally we have our beautiful herb salad.

(bright Greek folk music continues) Okay, and now it's time for my own personal spicy lamb pita pizza.

(bright music) (wine pouring) Okay.

Now, you can eat this with your hands or with a knife and fork.

For the cranky husband who doesn't like messy things like this, here's what I do.

I put the hummus on the plate, I put the lamb on top, I break the pita all over that mixture, and then I put on the salad, and he's a happy boy.

But now I'm gonna eat it with my hands.

It's messy.

I hope you try my spicy lamb pita pizza.

(bright music continues) For recipes, videos, and more, go to our website, saramoulton.com.

(bright music) "Sara's Weeknight Meals" is made possible by... - [Narrator] A journey aboard Oceania Cruises is designed to cultivate curiosity.

Guests can explore local treasures and epicurean traditions.

Staff and crew are dedicated to guest interests, relaxation, and entertainment.

Evenings offer craft spirits, international wines, and dishes prepared by our master chefs.

That's the Oceania Cruises small ship experience.

(upbeat music) - [Sara] And by USA Rice.

- [Announcer] And by USA Rice.

(bright chiming music) (regal piano music) (triumphant music) (intriguing techno music)