With 17 books on Greek cuisine in her portfolio, you might ask if there could be that much more to write about? For Diane Kochilas, the answer is yes — there is delightfully more. Ikaria, the cookbook, deals with the cuisine of one Greek island, Ikaria. Located in the Aegean Sea, right next to Turkey, Ikaria is the home of Diane’s father. He left in 1937 for the United States and never returned. NYC-raised Diane has been visiting since 1972, when she a mere 12.
Today, Ikaria is modestly famous for having a population with some of the oldest people on the planet. A whole segment of older, but not elderly, and quite healthy people. And the food, Diane is sure, a major reason for their health and joy. Here is a link to a NYT article on this remarkable land:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/28/magazine/the-island-where-people-forget-to-die.html
If you are an island in the Aegean, you enjoy a Mediterranean climate and landscape. It’s hot but far too dry to be tropical, and there is skiing on the warm blue water and not any snowy slopes. Actually, the island is mountainous with slopes rising to over 3,000 feet in a central core that divides the island into north/south coasts. Some of the terrain is rocky and barren, some verdant and the source of the local cuisine.
There are 10 chapters in Ikaria, beginning of course with Mezedes — aka tapas in other Mediterranean culture. The book’s chapters progress through salads, soup, savory pies and breads, veggies as a main course, beans and legumes, pasta and rice, sea food, meat and thankfully sweets. There’s the full range there for you, but the non-protein chapters surely weigh in heavily here: 170 pages for those and but 70 for the proteins. Still, there is something for everyone here and plenty of it, too.
Here’s a sampling of the recipes, a baker’s dozen [+1] of recipes that are “different” and of course Kochilas-delicious:
Whole Roasted Onions with Vinegar and Olive Oil
Pickled Wild Hyacinth Bulbs
Ikarian Potato Salad with Tomatoes and Cucumbers
Tomato Acorn Soup
Finger-Size Cheese Pies with Whipped Cheese and Phyllo
Collard Green Dolmades Filled with Dried Corn and Herbs
Onion and Tomato Stew with Herring
Mushroom Stew with Wine, Tomatoes, and Allspice
Clam Pilaf
Smoked Herring Rice
Pan-Fried Fish in Vinegar and Rosemary Sauce
Snails Simmered with Tomatoes, Onions and Spices
Oven-Roasted Eastern Goat with Rice, Fennel, and Garlic
Cornmeal Pie with Greek Yogurt, Dried Fruit, and Honey
These are truly different dishes for your pleasure. They look differently, have combinations of textures you will find new, and expertly offer flavor combinations that most of us have rarely, if ever, encountered. That “dessert” dish of Cornmeal Pie with Yogurt, Dried Fruit and Honey is going to be “sweet” for sure but offers a new definition for that word.
Although Ikaria is not a rich island monetarily, you will discover richness here in recipes that have been developed and refined for centuries. And recipes that explore how to combine and exploit all the flavors grown on an idyllic island. You’ll find the food to be idyllic, too. Who knows, you might meet Diane someday picnicking on the beach, phyllo and grapes and olives at hand.