♪ ♪ - You know, back in the 1970s, when I was learning to cook, if someone asked me about Greek cooking, I might say moussaka or spanakopita.

But I had no idea of the hundreds of thousands of recipes that sort of comprise everyday Greek cooking.

So we went to Greece to spend some time.

We came up with a few great recipes: a fasolada, which is a white bean soup-- it's delicious; shrimp with tomatoes and feta, which really quick-cooks, and the shrimp are perfectly cooked; and then a couple of simple recipes-- a spicy feta dip, and also tzatziki, two recipes you should definitely have in your repertoire.

So stay here at Milk Street as we explore Greece, everyday.

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Hirsch, was in Greece not too long ago, and he came across fasolada, which is a very simple bean stew with carrots and celery and onion.

It's a hearty dish, but it's also very simple to make.

It also had nice, clean flavors.

We really liked it a lot.

- Yeah, it doesn't require a lot of ingredients.

In fact, all the flavors come across as very clean and very summery and bright.

And on top of that, we incorporated a couple of other techniques to give this otherwise brothy soup a little bit more body and a little bit more character.

So the base of this soup is a pound of cannellini beans that were dry.

But we soaked them in two quarts of water along with a tablespoon of salt for about 12 to 24 hours.

So now that we have all of that soaked, we can take a look at the other base of this soup, onion, celery, and carrots.

So we're just going to break these down into pieces that are somewhere between quarter of an inch and half an inch large.

So to cut this down, we'll go ahead and take off the stem end.

Cut this right in half.

You're noticing that I'm only making two cuts on this onion-- I'm making the initial vertical cut, giving that onion a quarter turn, and then making a perpendicular cut to those initial cuts.

That's because that action of cutting inwards horizontally, simply not safe.

Here, we find that this is a lot safer of a method.

- So the other reason is that an onion has layers, and so that third cut is really unnecessary, because the layers already will break apart when you use the other two cuts.

It's already done for you initially.

- Exactly.

So we're going to do the same thing with our celery, as well as our carrots.

We'll cut them down into those smaller pieces, and then we'll reserve half of the carrots later down the road.

We'll actually be reintroducing them into the soup.

But we want to use them first as the basis of our flavor.

And finally, our carrots.

♪ ♪ I do want to reserve half of these carrots to reintroduce them to the soup later on.

Fantastic.

So if you wouldn't mind getting that pot up to medium-high heat for me.

We're going to add in three tablespoons of olive oil.

And we're going to heat that until it begins to shimmer.

And that's when we can start the cooking process.

Our oil is hot, so we are ready to go.

And this is kind of like a classic French mirepoix.

It sets the base of flavor for the rest of this soup.

(sizzling) Along with all of those vegetables, we'll go a half a teaspoon of salt.

We're really cooking these vegetables down just until they start to brown.

(sizzling) So these veggies have been cooking for about five minutes, and you're starting to notice, the onions are taking on a little bit of that brown hue right around the edges.

That's a good visual indicator that we're ready to move on to the next step.

So now we're going to throw in four cloves of garlic that are finely minced, as well as half a teaspoon of red pepper flake, which I'm sure you'll love.

And we're just going to sauté the garlic and the red pepper flake until it's aromatic, and that should really take just up to a minute.

Excellent.

So now that we're good to go from there, we'll add in tomato paste.

Now, this tomato paste is about three tablespoons' worth.

And we're just going to cook this through until it caramelizes on the bottom of this pan.

(sizzling) - Now, we should point out that sautéing tomato paste with the sofrito onions, et cetera, really deepens the flavor and gives you a good foundation.

And that's a good technique you can use anytime, is sautéing the paste, making it very dry, and getting some roasted notes in it.

- Absolutely.

The fond's full of flavor, so we're going to utilize that.

But only after we add in the cannellini beans.

So in go the pound of cannellini beans.

And if you wouldn't mind helping me pour in that broth.

This is two-and-a-half quarts' worth of chicken stock.

It's a very, very low-sodium chicken stock, because keep in mind, this will be cooking for an extended amount of time.

We don't want that salt to really concentrate and make this a terribly salty soup.

But it is a very welcome, savory flavor.

Once we see this mixture come to a simmer, then we can go ahead and partially cover it using the lid.

We can go ahead and reduce the heat down to medium-low, and let this simmer for about an hour.

All of those beans are going to break down and get that silky texture I was talking about.

Chris, our soup has been simmering for about an hour now.

And all of those beans are starting to break down to the point where we want them.

However, we can do one last trick to really give this brothy soup a little bit more body.

And that involves scooping out about a cup's worth of these beans.

And what we're going to do is, we're going to break them down even further by using a potato masher, because it's going to release a lot of the starches that are inside the beans.

And that's what's going to thicken our soup.

So we'll go ahead and toss that into a bowl and break those beans down.

You don't have to go wild, breaking it down into a fine paste.

So now that we have all of those beans broken down, we'll go ahead, add them right back into the soup.

Awesome.

And we'll give this a good whisk.

So we're adding in those carrots that we reserved from earlier.

Now that we have those in, we'll give this just a little bit of a stir.

Now, those carrots are going to cook for about ten minutes, just so that way, they can soften up a little bit.

But we do want to maintain their flavor and their texture.

So the carrots have been simmering for about ten minutes now, and they have a really nice texture to them.

At this point, we can go ahead and turn the heat off.

From here, something that we really like to do is introduce a little bit of acid at the end of cooking to really brighten up the dish.

And that comes in the form of four teaspoons of red wine vinegar.

So why don't you go ahead and toss that in?

And we'll give that a stir.

And that's going to help all this flavor that's been stewing for an hour sort of really come back up to life.

And we do have one final trick up our sleeve to make this soup really something special.

We have three tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.

Throw that olive oil into the pot here, and we can give this a really vigorous whisk.

That's going to emulsify all of that oil into the soup itself, and give this soup a little bit more body.

You can see that it's thickened up just a little bit further.

- So you could do this at the end of almost any soup.

You could just add some oil and whisk it in.

- Yeah, yeah.

- Okay.

- It's a really quick and easy way to bring a little bit more body and character to a soup.

Before we serve it, we do want to finish it off with just a little bit of cracked black pepper.

And this you can do to taste.

And from here, I'll give you a little bit of a serving.

Here, I'll give you two ladles, because I'm feeling nice today.

- Yeah, that's good.

- Top it off with things like the salty feta, those briny Kalamata olives, and especially that parsley right at the end.

Parsley's a really great way to brighten up a dish.

- You know, I don't...

I've made a lot of bean soups.

This one's really creamy.

I mean, in part because you mashed a couple of the beans at the end, and also whisked in the olive oil.

It has a really, as you said, emulsified texture to it.

It's really good.

- It's silky, it's velvety, it has a lot of body to it, but it's not very heavy.

- So this bean soup, fasolada, from Greece, has a lot of things we really like here at Milk Street.

It's silky, has a nice emulsified flavor with the olive oil.

But what I really like is, at the end of the day, you have the feta cheese, you have the olives, you have the parsley, you have the beans and the vegetables.

And so you have a nice contrast at the end, which is a good lesson, actually, is when you finish off a soup or a stew, you're about to serve it, add things on the top.

Add things, you know, like vinegar to it, or maybe garlic or ginger, whatever you want, just to give a little bit of contrast and bright flavor at the end.

It's a really great way to take something from good to great.

So fasolada, Greek bean soup, very simple to make, but has great flavors.

So if you spend any time in Greece and you go to restaurants, you find there are three different kinds of dips, often, on the table: a spicy feta dip, which we're going to make right now; a split-pea dip called fava, although it's split peas, not fava beans; and, of course, tzatziki, which is cucumbers and yogurt and mint and lots of other things.

So we're going to take two of those dips and make them here, because we think they should be one of those things that's in your repertoire, and probably on the table many, many times a year.

- The dips that we're going to make are ones that can be served for breakfast, or as an appetizer in the evening, as well.

This is tirokafteri, or the spicy feta dip.

We're going to start with eight ounces of goat cheese.

I'm going to add a half-cup of roasted red pepper that's been seeded, chopped, and drained.

One Anaheim chili that's been seeded and chopped.

Three tablespoons of olive oil.

Three-quarters of a teaspoon of hot smoked paprika.

This is going to add some lovely smoky flavor and some heat.

And just for a dash of sweetness, I have a half-teaspoon of honey.

And to season it, a half-teaspoon of salt and a quarter-teaspoon of ground black pepper.

Very easy.

So we're just going to put the lid on our food processor and give that a go for about a minute.

(whirring) And then the last two ingredients we're going to add, just folded in, this is six ounces of crumbled feta cheese and I have a half-cup of chopped fresh dill.

I hope you like dill.

- Yes, I love dill.

- (laughs) - I actually do love dill.

- I'm just going to fold this in so it has some smoothness, and then some kind of crumbly texture, as well.

You saw, this was quick, easy, and it will be delicious.

Now, I know you're dying to eat this right away, but you have to wait, because we're going to make one more dip.

We're going to move on to making our tzatziki dip.

We have two English cucumbers here that have been halved, and we're going to grate them over a colander into a bowl.

We're going to avoid the seedy part of the cucumber, so we're just going to grate it up to the seeds, and then give it a quarter turn.

So you see, we're getting down to the seeds.

We're going to stop right about there.

So here's the interesting step with this recipe.

I'm going to add two teaspoons of kosher salt, and we're going to salt our grated cucumber, give that a really nice mix.

And this is going to draw out a lot of the moisture from the cucumber, concentrating the flavors, and then making sure our end dip isn't runny and watery.

So that's going to sit for ten minutes, and while that sits, let's make the rest of this dip.

We're going to add one-and-three-quarters of a cup of Greek yogurt.

Then this is getting mixed with a half-cup of olive oil, extra virgin.

Then I have three garlic cloves, grated.

And I have four teaspoons of red wine vinegar.

We have three tablespoons of dill and three tablespoons of mint.

So the fresh-chopped herbs are going to add some really lovely notes to this dip.

So we're going to give that a good whisk.

And the cucumbers just need a few more minutes.

We'll finish them up and add them to here, and then eat.

So, it's been about ten minutes, Chris, and our grated cucumber has released a bunch of moisture.

Squeeze handfuls of the grated cucumber to just get that last bit of moisture out and transfer it here to my cutting board.

So this is the liquid that drained out from the cucumbers-- I'm going to hold on to this.

I'm going to use some of it at the end of the dip.

Now, we're just going to run a knife through this and chop this cucumber up.

And in it goes.

So I'm going to give this a quick stir, and then we're going to finish it with two teaspoons of this reserved cucumber liquid... And a half-teaspoon of kosher salt.

Now, you can see, this is really rich and thick and cucumber-y.

I'm excited to try this.

So, our dips are ready, Chris.

I'm going to give this just a quick garnish.

Going to add some fresh dill to tirokafteri, our spicy feta dip.

And our tzatziki.

A little dill for that one.

And maybe a hint of mint, as well.

Let's give them both a little drizzle... - A dollop of dill, a hint of mint.

- (laughs) - Very poetic here.

- All right, it is time.

- I would have just, you know, taken the bread and gone right into the bowl.

Your family was obviously more civilized than mine in early years.

- (chuckling) - Mmm.

- What's the verdict?

- That feta dip is excellent.

- Yeah.

- It's smoky and tangy and herbal all at the same time-- it's really nice.

- Well, the tzatziki, it's the mint that really, I think, does it, makes it really fresh.

So, if you want to enjoy food as if you were in Greece, you might want to try these two dips: the spicy feta dip, that just all went into a food processor, very simple to make.

And that tzatziki, which, we salted the cucumbers so it doesn't get liquidy, obviously with some Greek yogurt, and the mint really makes it special.

So, a spicy feta dip and tzatziki, two dips you can make any time of year and any time of day.

You know, every time we travel for Milk Street, we come across two different kinds of recipes: those we know and those we don't know.

Now, in Greece, there are all sorts of great recipes for potatoes and beans and other things that we actually don't make here very much, but saganaki, which is a shrimp dish, which uses tomatoes, onions, and at least their ouzo, quickly cook them, top with feta, and run them under a broiler, is pretty well-known, so we thought we'd bring that back and see what you can do with it.

- It really is one of those dishes, it's a warhorse.

It's one of those classic Greek dishes you can get at a lot of places.

But our version's going to be lighter, brighter, and bolder.

We took the classic parts of the dish and sort of lightened it up.

And we're going to cook the shrimp in a really foolproof method so that they come out juicy.

So let's start with the shrimp.

We're going to use jumbo shrimp, which are about 21 to 25 shrimp per pound, and you want to devein them and take the tails off and then dry them really well.

If you don't dry them well, they can sort of stew in the pan and they're not brown, and that's a big part of the flavor here.

To peel and devein shrimp, I always hold it by the tail end, and then peel from there.

Seems always easier.

And then you can just peel the rest off.

And then I put it down on a paper towel to anchor it, and use a tip of a paring knife to slice down the backbone, and use that tip to check for the vein.

- I got to ask you.

- Yeah.

- Are you only doing this because you're on TV now?

I mean, do you, when no one's looking at you at home, do you actually go through all these shrimp and devein them?

- Well, I do.

- Be honest.

- Because I find the flavor can be muddy if you include that.

- Okay.

- So, Chris, we've peeled them, we've patted them dry, so they're going to brown really well, so let's go ahead and cook them now.

So we're going to heat our 12-inch non-stick skillet over medium-high.

And we're going to add one tablespoon of oil here.

And we want to heat it until it's shimmering.

So, Chris, you can see that oil is just starting to shimmer, so let's go ahead and add half the shrimp in one single layer.

(sizzling) So we want to do it in two batches, so we don't overcrowd the pan.

We want to lay down a really deep browning on the outside of these shrimp.

And you don't stir them-- don't move them.

- I, I-- I'm not in charge, you are.

So, are you cooking these on both sides or just one side?

- We're just going to cook them on one side, then we're going to give them another 20 seconds or so after stirring them, then transfer them out of the pan.

They're going to finish cooking in the residual heat of the sauce.

And then they stay really moist and juicy.

They won't overcook.

(sizzling) So, let's go ahead and check one of these.

Yeah, as you can see, there's this really nice golden-browning on there.

So let's go ahead and give them a stir.

(sizzling) - It's kind of like doing scallops, same concept.

Deep browning.

- Yeah.

You really only need that one side.

So we're just going to give them a flip, they'll see a couple of seconds on the heat.

Maybe 20 seconds total.

And then let's go ahead, transfer them out.

And we're going to repeat the process with the remaining shrimp.

And now it's time to build that sauce.

So we've got one more tablespoon of oil... And we're going to add four chopped garlic cloves.

You want it to be finely chopped.

One quarter-teaspoon red pepper flakes, just for a bit of kick, not spicy per se.

And then four teaspoons of ground fennel seed.

The ground fennel seed replicates that anise flavor that ouzo has.

- It's a sad day at Milk Street where we're substituting anise seed for ouzo.

I mean, what happened here, man?

- We drank the ouzo.

- (laughs) - So we just want to cook that garlic until it's lightly golden-brown.

And it's super-aromatic.

It's just about 20 seconds, maybe 30 seconds total.

And at this point, we're going to deglaze the pan.

We're going to add a third-cup of dry white wine.

(sizzling) And you want to cook it down until it's dry, what French cooks call "sec."

Which, of course, just means... - Just means dry.

- (laughs) - Get all excited about your French, that's great.

- So it should take 30 seconds, maybe a minute.

So one of the really defining parts of this dish is the tomatoes, and you know, we tried a bunch of different tomatoes in this dish.

Cherry tomatoes, canned tomatoes, and we settled on campari tomatoes, which are small tomatoes, they're available on the vine, usually in a plastic clamshell box.

They've got this great flavor.

It's very bright, they have thin skins, so it's not tough, they don't mar the texture of the dish.

- And if you can't find those, use... Cherry or grape?

- Grape, yeah.

We're going to use a pound and a half.

We're going to reserve some, finely chopped, to use as a garnish, to sort of brighten and lighten it at the end.

And the rest of the tomatoes will go right into the pan.

And with those tomatoes, we're going to add chopped Kalamata olives.

Gotta go with Greek olives here.

And one-and-a-half teaspoons kosher salt.

And this is going to be the basis for our sauce.

So we're just going to stir that up.

So, six to seven minutes, it'll cook down.

That liquid will evaporate.

And we'll be ready to go.

So, Chris, you can see it's really broken down.

It's been about six minutes.

That sauce is looking great now.

We're going to add two tablespoons of fresh oregano.

We're going to turn the heat off.

Stir that in.

And here's a really important step with this dish: you need to taste it.

There's so much variance in the salt level of the olives that can really impact the flavor of the sauce.

I think it tastes great right now.

Going to add a little pepper, though.

Oh, tastes great.

So we're going to add the shrimp.

We're going to stir those in.

- So this idea of browning or sautéing the shrimp on one side and then reserving them, and then finishing them off-heat in a sauce, is something you could do with other recipes, right?

- Oh, absolutely.

- It's a concept, as it were.

- Yes, we do it a lot with our recipes-- it really is a foolproof way to cook shrimp.

They will never overcook cooked in this fashion.

So we're going to cover it and we're going to wait for just a minute.

Just enough time to heat the shrimp through.

It won't cook them any further.

We're just going to bring them up to the sauce temperature.

It's been a minute, I've gotten hungry.

I mean, really hungry, because this smells fantastic.

- You know, if you keep talking, we're not... (laughing): Can we eat?

- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

It looks terrific.

Let's go ahead, I'm going to platter that up.

- It does look great, I have to say.

- But we're not entirely done yet.

So let's go ahead, we're going to add some garnishes here.

Let's add that feta cheese, because this dish wouldn't be right without the feta.

- Okay.

- Really recommend buying whole blocks of feta, crumbling it as you need it.

The pre-crumbled stuff can be really dried out, and taste-- well, taste really flat.

Sprinkle that over top.

And this is four ounces.

We're going to finish it with a little more fresh oregano, to really round out that flavor, add some more color.

Two teaspoons of fine-chopped oregano.

Going to finish it with those fine-chopped tomatoes.

Again, you're adding this little burst of acidity and freshness.

And then we're going to add one of my favorite ingredients.

They're sweet, tart pickled peppers.

You can find these at most olive bars, you can find them jarred.

But they have this remarkable sweetness and tartness and just a tiny bit of heat.

Let's go ahead and eat.

Please.

- Oh, I get to serve?

- You do.

- Okay.

- The colors are amazing, it just pops.

- It does, it does look great.

- It does.

- Man.

You know, the first thing that hit me is the oregano.

- Mm-hmm.

I love the brine of the olives, it really brings out the sweetness of the shrimp.

- It's really interesting, it really brings it all together.

It gives it a totally different taste.

So, we went to Greece and came back with what you called a "warhorse recipe," saganaki shrimp with feta cheese.

We lightened it up a bit.

Didn't use the ouzo, I noticed, but we can drink that later.

But it's a great dish with tomatoes and olives and shrimp and feta and that delicious fresh oregano.

You can get this recipe, shrimp with feta cheese, and all the recipes from this season, at MilkStreetTV.com.

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The Milk Street cookbook offers bolder, fresher, simpler recipes.

Order your copy of the Milk Street cookbook for $23.95, 40% less than the cover price, and receive a Milk Street tote with your order at no additional charge.

Call 855-MILK-177, or order online.

Funding for this series was provided by the following.

Ferguson's proud to support Milk Street and culinary crusaders everywhere.

For more information on our extensive collection of kitchen products, we're on the web at fergusonshowrooms.com.

- For 25 years, Consumer Cellular has been offering no-contract wireless plans designed to help people do more of what they like.

Our U.S.-based customer service team can help find a plan that fits you.

To learn more, visit ConsumerCellular.tv.

- Since 1899, my family has shared our passion for everything that goes into our Mutti 100% Italian tomatoes.

Only tomatoes.

Only Mutti.

- Designed by cooks for cooks for over 100 years.

Cookware collection by Regal Ware.

Handcrafted in Wisconsin.

- The AccuSharp knife and tool sharpener, designed to safely sharpen knives in seconds.

AccuSharp: Keep your edge.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪