All language subtitles for Jamie.Cooks.the.Mediterranean.S01E01.1080p.HDTV.H264-DARKFLiX

Whenever I can,

I like to go travelling
to get inspiration for new recipes.

Look at that.

And one of the areas I love
exploring the most

is the Mediterranean.

I think this is my favourite
kitchen ever.

This is like paradise for me.

So I'm heading off to corners

that I've never explored before,

to research the fascinating dishes
people are making...

Mediterranean food
but not as you know it.

...the surprising ways they build
and celebrate flavour...

That one thing
is a Michelin star dish.

My whole mouth is fizzing.

...and the brilliant techniques
that I can learn from them.

Oh, my! This is going to be hard.

Oh, he makes it look so easy.

I want to meet the people
who are the very best at making

traditional dishes...

That's properly like this.

...and those inventing new ones...

Wow. Delicious.

...to come up with new recipes
and flavours...

Full of colour, full of joy.

This is heavenly.

...that can bring us all a bit
of holiday, back home.

That's the joy of travel
and the joy of cooking.

Cheers to that.

This time, I'm heading to Greece,

and with over three million of us
choosing to come here this year,

it's one of the most popular
tourist destinations for us Brits.

The mix of sun, sea, island-hopping
and delicious food is hard to beat.

I'll be travelling to Skopelos
in the beautiful Sporades islands

in the east, but I'm starting on
the northern mainland,

in Thessaloniki,
Greece's second city.

It's crying out for me to visit.

It's young, vibrant and has recently
been named

the UNESCO City of Gastronomy.

I'm not entirely sure
what that involves,

but it sounds like it's going to
be delicious.

This is so exciting.

So, I've never been here.

I'm trying to learn to pronounce
the name of the city.

Thessanaliki. Thessonaliki?

Thessaloniki.

Thessaloniki.

But it's busy, it's bustling.

It feels like a proper,
busy, working, university city.

There's loads of people everywhere

and all the little side streets are
full of people eating outside.

There's supposed to be so many great
restaurants here,

and I'm super excited to see what
they're cooking,

how they're cooking it.

Like, what's the heart
and soul of the food here.

Thank you, my friend.

I love this.

You know when you go to places
and people say,

"Oh, yeah, they like to
people watch?"

For me, I like to plate watch.

I just love being nosy.

It's great, cos I
want to know what I want to eat.

And I've been told if I want to
eat fish,

then this is the place
I have to come.

Any chance of a menu?
See what you...

No menu, oh, I love that.

Oh, beautiful.

So, the first thing I do,
we go to the fishmonger, right?

Let's do that.

What a brilliant addition to the
restaurant experience.

First, customers choose their fish,

then how they want it cooked.

Look at this. Oh, I love it.

I feel like a kid in a sweet shop.

I'd love to do tartare, carpaccio,
very delicate.

Mackerel.

Beautiful.

I'm beginning to really like
this guy.

Not only is he the restaurateur,
he's the fishmonger and the chef.

How long has this restaurant
been open?

Obviously, the Greeks have been
cooking beautiful fish

for a long, long time,

but did the Greeks historically
eat raw fish or not really?

No. No, no.

So this is really you modernising.

Yeah.

We're on the move again,

and I've got special access
to the kitchen.

Petros is getting stuck into
prepping the fish.

And it's just occurred to me that
his grandad wouldn't recognise

a thing that he was doing here.

Obviously, Greek culture is one
of the oldest on the planet

but yet, it can't stay still.

It has to keep evolving and you're
the next generation, aren't you?

And now, he's showing me his version
of a mackerel carpaccio.

Little slices.

This is interesting.

It's, I think...

Ah. Oh.

Yeah.

That's a tip.

He's dressing it with
extra virgin olive oil,

sea salt and lime.

And rattling out the simplest
sashimi and tartare.

Yes. Come on.

Now, what would your grandad have
said about this?

I have a feeling now
is the time to sit down and

drink a little something Greek
and enjoy.

Will you join me?

I'm your waiter for today.

We're off with our three plates
of fish.

We're back to the beginning.

I'm excited to get tasting.

I'm going to go for carpaccio
first.

Oh, my Lord.

Exceptional.

For me, that is a
gastronomic delight.

Do you know what I mean?

Like, the Greek gods would be very
happy with that.

The Mediterranean is so rich.

I feel very inspired.

Thank you so much.

That's about as simple as fish gets.

I love it.

And if everywhere in Greece
extends this hospitality,

I'm going to find it really
difficult to go home.

Whenever I'm on research trips,

I love discovering artisan
food shops.

It's a fast track to finding out
about local specialities.

I've had recommendations
to meet Thomas,

the owner of this deli,

to get the lowdown on the
big-hitting flavours of the area.

Wow, look at all these different
cured meats.

So, these are all Greek?

I'm on a research trip.

It's always really useful to
kind of build my head up,

you know, with the classic
ingredients of Greece.

Yeah.

Luckily, Thomas brings out some of
his favourite meze to share and care

with me.

Oh, my Lord.

So, this looks like a kind of...

...this feels like it's got more of a
Turkish kind of influence to it.

So this dish here
you'll see all over this area?

That's an incredible combination.

Oh, my Lord.

The smoked aubergine and the feta
is delicious,

and then, that beef cheek's cooked
so tender, isn't it?

It's always that friction
between respecting tradition

and then, also being creative.

You've got me excited.

I mean, last question, where should
I eat and what should I eat?

Thank you so much. Thank you, Jamie.

Until next time. Bye.
Take care, my friend. You too.

My mind's gently humming with ideas.

I loved what Thomas said about the
simplicity of Greek cooking.

And I want to get that smoky
aubergine into a recipe somehow.

Excuse me, Taverna Stou Mitsou?

This one over here.

OK, thank you. You're welcome.

No wonder it's hard to find.

There's not even a sign
above the door.

Ooh, what a lovely start.

Can you tell me about the menu?

The restaurant is based on meze,

so you can have small portions.

We kind of mess around
with tradition.

Amazing. You know what,
I'll let you choose for me.

You mean about the dishes?
I'm in your hands.

Yeah, sure. Thank you.

I honestly think, like,
the idea or the concept of meze,

that's my really happy place.

Like, honestly, back home in the UK,

you're looking at a menu and
you have to commit to one dish

like a marriage, whereas actually,
meze,

you can afford to take
a little bit of risk.

You can try different things.

I love it. I'm very happy.

This is the sweet potato.

You will find taramasalata which is
from the fish roe, the paste.

And then, finely sliced octopus,

with beetroot sauce
that we make here.

Wow. That's a very pretty picture.

Yeah, you have traditional
ingredients here,

but they're portrayed in a more
modern way.

Let's go.

Oh, wow. That is delicious.

Gordon Bennett! You've got the
flavours of the sea

with the earthiness of the beetroot.
It's very clever.

That is like the most unconventional
Greek dish I've ever seen

but yet, it's got tradition
all over it.

My brain's whirling.

I've got a lot to ask this chef.

He's a clever guy
and I'd love to meet him.

And this is the chef here?

This is the chef, yeah.
This is Dimitris, yeah.

Come. Thank you.

Beautiful food.

Wow. So good.

Oh, my God, look at this kitchen.

It's beautiful. Got the wood oven...

Only, only wood. Only wood.

Oh, really?

Yes, so, got the wood oven
and the wood stove.

I love the fact that he's got his
mum working with him still.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Messing with tradition again,

they're now stuffing some less
conventional veggies.

So, what does Dimitris think sums up
great Greek cooking?

So really then,
it's about combinations?

Yeah.

Matching the tastes and what the...
Soul? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

How do you say that in Greek? Soul?

Psychi. Yeah.

Psychi.

Yeah, you see?

Where did this fine chef
learn to cook?

OK, he struggled a lot
with addiction.

I understand
and I've seen it many times

and I've seen how food can give
people purpose and stability.

The rice-stuffed veggies
are smelling so good

and I cannot wait to taste them.

Perfect.

So, then, maybe you can have a try
and see what we made.

Got a little bit of olive oil.
Yeah.

Oh, my God.

This is so clean, so fresh
and so clean.

It's delicious.

Thank you so much. Thank you.

Thank you, thank you.

And I'm learning a lot,
I'm feeling a lot.

It's been a wonderful experience.

I'm soaking up inspiration in Greece

to create some different dishes
at home,

and with my head choc-a-bloc with
ideas and fond memories,

I'm on the move.

Everyone says when you come
to Greece,

you've got to island hop, and that's
exactly what I'm doing.

So, it's early in the morning.

Got my ticket
and we're off to the islands,

which is really, really exciting

because that's where some really
interesting food is.

Leaving the mainland
and off to the islands.

Skopelos is part of the northern
Sporades Islands,

around 180km from Thessaloniki,

and it feels so good
to be on the Mediterranean Sea.

I've always felt that islands are
like little trapped moments in time,

like going back in history, for all
the right reasons, by the way.

Back on the mainland in the city,

a bunch of the chefs said that
I have to go and see

this nomadic chef,
like a travelling chef,

to learn something new
about Greek cooking.

Often, you get some of the most
authentic cooking on the islands

and I'm really excited to see that.

And maybe a little glimpse back
into old Greek cooking.

The question is,
how do you find a nomadic chef?

After four hours at sea,

we've reached the beautiful island
of Skopelos.

Now we're on dry land,

I want to find this chef
who's always on the move.

He travels all over the islands,

cooking with whatever's local
to the area

using historical methods.

And he's in Skopelos for one night,
doing a dinner event,

and I'm going to gate-crash.

When I track him down,

it looks like he's been roasting
something amazing over the fire.

Jordan.

It's a scene that could honestly be
from 100 years ago.

This looks incredible.

What a lovely way to meet you,
sharing meat over fire. Wow.

I mean, everything just looks
so colourful. What's that?

It could be between the two.

I don't want to cause an argument.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. This isn't...

I've only just got here.

So, what have we got on the
menu tonight?

I have to say, I've never seen a
whole monkfish cooked like this.

Mm-hm.

This is exactly the kind of cooking
I was hoping to see on the islands.

Jordan has an incredible cooking kit

which he moves around
from place to place

and island to island,

keeping the traditional
cooking alive.

Beautiful.

So what? Just lay them on the bars?

So, what kind of temperature
is this?

OK.

The smoke from the wood chips
at the base of the oven will gently

cook and dry the sardines,

and traditionally,
would have preserved them.

And what wood are you using?

Really? Yeah, yeah.

Olive wood is the wood.

So, how long you going to cook
those for?

So, when they call you
"the nomadic chef",

when you go into a new area,
like, what do you do?

Probably the fish and the olive oil
and the marjoram,

that was thousands of years ago,

that would have been still there.

So, a nice little flatbread.
Beautiful.

Do you want me to help?
Do something?

Jordan has already made the dough
for these flatbreads,

which has proved and is now ready
to be shaped.

Why are you interested
in this nomadic cooking?

So, following the sheep,
following the weather.

Following the best food, I guess.
Exactly.

Whoa. Look at that.

That's a picture, isn't it?

Olive oil.

Olive oil.

Anything else?

The marjoram, oregano, yeah.

You can kind of see it
all coming together now,

and I guess preserving food
was integral to those nomadic people

Now, it's time to think about
the main event -

Skopelos goat and roasted monkfish,

with what looks like
some really interesting sides.

That means everything.

Charring of the grapes,

the juice that's caramelising
and the sweetness, the sourness.

That's going to be mind-blowing
with the fish.

It's such a nice technique.

Wow.

CHURCH BELL RINGS

Hot, delicious, sour...

...smoky, charred, caramelised.

That's a lot of flavours
in one grape.

Yeah, I'm starting to pick up some
lovely ideas.

It's interesting, isn't it?

As kind of technology pushes
us forward,

sometimes, you've got to look back
to sort of find the inspiration,

do you know what I mean?

Like, you can cook anything
in a piece of modern technology,

but nothing's ever going to taste
like this.

Like, the way the fat comes off
and then it makes smoke and it

kisses the meat, I mean,
it's a different flavour, right?

Like a secret seasoning.

What I love about this is,

this is edible history.

Let's serve up. Let's have some fun.

The other guests are starting
to arrive and I'm buzzing.

This has given me so much
to think about.

New flavours, charring techniques,

all going onto a giant post-it note
in my head.

We've passed the love around
the table.

Come on, big boy, yay.

OK. Wow.

I've never seen fish
served like that before.

That looks like an oil painting.

Yamas, everyone.

ALL: Yamas.

And, chefs, thank you very much.

This is extraordinary.

The grapes and the monkfish
are actually very good.

Mm.

Amazing.

It's a really lovely combination.

That was a little snapshot
of this island.

You know, to see those ingredients
cooked over fire,

using traditional methods,

it was really, really inspirational.

And it all goes up there.

I love that idea of what is going
forward, what is progress,

and I'm obsessed
with this looking back

and respecting the past,

and the methods, the herbs,

and, for the love of God, cooking.

That was food that had flavours
that were surround sound,

and those techniques,

I could apply to anything.

So, bring it on.

I could already see how all this
inspiration is going to change

the way I cook back home.

I'm here to write recipes,

and I'm thinking about
those flatbreads.

Not just from last night,

but the aubergine flatbread
in that deli, back on the mainland.

And I was so inspired by cooking all
those ingredients over the fire

yesterday, that I want to use those
charring techniques

to bring some of
that smokiness to the party.

I wanted to do kind of quite
a basic, foundational part

of Greek eating, meze.

And I think that concept
as an English boy,

you know, looking in from the
outside, I love that.

So, I'm making a super easy,
delicious flatbread

with pearly white,
smoky aubergine,

tangy feta and marinated olives.

Serve as a cheeky starter or lunch,

or meze style with a mix of plates,

bringing together your
favourite flavours.

You could do this in any home,
really quickly.

So, aubergine.

Give it a little poke with a knife

and I'm going to ask you to burn
it.

When we burn the aubergine,

you kind of smoke it
from the outside,

so you achieve flavour
like you could never dream of.

So, for about ten minutes,

we're just going to turn it
and burn it.

While that's happening, I
want to show you

a really, really, really
simple bread.

This is self-raising flour,
probably 150g, 200g.

Season it with a good pinch of salt.

Go in with some water, just a swig.

Use a fork, mix it up,

and you want to make a nice
elastic dough.

Just add the water bit by bit.

Look, I could give you the weights
and measurements

but what I'd rather give you
is the kind of touch and feel.

So, kind of play-dough.

What's great about this little
flatbread is

it doesn't need yeast

because it's self-raising flour.

So this comes together
in no time at all.

And once you feel
that it's nice and pliable and

it's not sticking to me any more...

Look, my hands are nice and clean.
..onto the board.

Just knead for a couple of minutes

while your aubergine is blistering.

Look, have a look what's going on
over there.

Gorgeous. Just burn it, baby.

This dough, if you let that just
sit for like five minutes,

it'll relax enough for you to make
the most beautiful basic bread.

So, let's have a little look
at this aubergine.

It looks destroyed.

Let's turn something utterly ugly
into something utterly beautiful.

So use the tip of your knife
and just cut down the aubergine.

You haven't compromised
any of the inside.

And then with a spoon,
take, like, curds out.

Look at that.

Let's flavour
this gorgeous aubergine.

Hit it up with some lovely sea salt,

olive oil couple of tablespoons.

The Greeks love using vinegar
as well.

So, a little swig
of red or white wine vinegar.

Over here, you'll see them using
loads of dried oregano.

Rub it up in your hands,

and look at that.

It's just going to get the
flavours going.

And then I'm going to use the spoon
just to chop it up.

As part of my meze,
it wants our little flatbread,

and I can feel it relaxing now.

So, the pan's nice and hot.

What I wouldn't do
is put oil on this, right.

We go in dry.

Get it roughly to the size
of the pan

and if some bits are thinner
than others,

and you get some knotty little fat
bits, happy days.

Flap.

Our last little kind
of embellishment

to bring this all together

is olives.

Now, a little tip,

always buy the ones
with the stone in.

They're going to be much more
tasty.

Squash 'em and then simply take that
little stone out.

A rough guide, I think, to meze

is looking at what's around you,
locally.

Thinking of best friends,
flavour-wise.

Hot, cold, sweet, sour,
crunchy, soft.

So, lovely hot bread, crispy,
fluffy on the inside.

Like, gooey, beautiful
smoky aubergine. Gorgeous.

Let's have a look back
at this lovely flatbread.

So, I've done it on each side
for about two minutes.

It's pretty much done.

With a little olive oil,
once it's done,

use the fresh oregano

to rub the oil into the bread.

It does make a difference, honestly.

And then the last thing I want to
do,

put your olives in the pan,

off the heat,

and that act of reheating the olives
is really amazing.

It kind of wakes it all up
and makes it kind of go from hard

to quite juicy.

We've turned your everyday aubergine
into something beautiful.

I want to take nice bits of feta...

...like that.

Our little re-heated,
marinated olives.

And there you go.

There is a really easy little meze

that you can just get in there
and attack.

Come on, let's have a little go.

I love it.

You've got crispiness on
the outside,

sponginess in the middle.

Smoky, silky.

Warming up the olives is,
like, a thing.

Honestly, it's like...
It's so good.

And I'm sure that if you get your
loved ones around,

turn up, little drink
and rattle out the meze.

That, for me, is what the Greek
spirit is all about.

Delicious.

I've been thoroughly immersing
myself in the food and recipes

of Greece,

and I want to know more about the
key flavours and ingredients specific

to the island of Skopelos.

Yesterday was a great party,

and I loved the way that Jordan
used fruit in his cooking.

I met restaurant owner,
Nikos, there,

who's invited me to his uncle's farm

where they produce Skopelian plums.

I can't wait to see how they're
using those in their cooking.

What? Yes.

103 years old.

I mean, I can see
beautiful lemon trees there.

A pretty special place, isn't it?

You've got the lemons, you've got
the olive oil. What else?

Wow.

So, we're going to go literally
from the bottom now...

...to the very top.

We're headed up into the hills
to Glossa,

also referred to as the
"high village."

And will you just look at that view.

How on earth
do they get any work done?

He is 100 years old.

103 years old.

Yeah, don't forget the three years.

No. It's incredible. Yes, I think
the plums makes the difference.

Very nice to meet you.

Maria. Maria.

And Yovannis, his son-in-law.

Nice to meet you. Wow.

Well, this is beautiful.

What an incredible place.
Can I have a look? Please.

It couldn't be a prettier place
to live.

So, these beautiful plum trees,

they're quite small, aren't they?

I guess it keeps the amount
of fruit down

so more energy goes to fewer fruit.

Exactly. You know, more tasty.

They are delicious.

And I see vines over there. Wine?

Yes, vines.

He would like to treat you
afterwards,

some home-made wine.

Oh, really? Yeah?

HE LAUGHS

I love it. Well, I'm game.

So, there are different type
of plums.

They let it dry a couple of days
in the sun

and then they bake it seven times
in the oven.

Yeah, I'd love to take a picture.

The sour ones, we use them mostly
for the fish and this go...

I've never, ever used plums
or prunes with fish.

...it's a natural tenderiser
for the food.

Really? It's amazing.

The black ones goes mostly
to the meat.

Right.

It's delicious.

Yeah, I mean there's a lot going
on there, isn't there? Sweet, sour.

But it's kind of got like
a chocolaty note, as well.

And then, I don't know, I sound like
of those wine people, like,

it's got a kind of leathery note.

It is absolutely amazing.

As a chef, you're always searching
for combinations

that make time slow down.
Do you know what I mean?

Like, combinations that work.

And that is,
it's got everything in one,

the raw ingredient is...

Amazing, it's amazing.
..It's just so tasty!

It's like 3D.

THEY LAUGH

I'm so excited and inspired
right now.

I've got about 100 recipes
going through my head.

You should try some
of the dried dry ones,

because they are still
a little bit fresh.

This is where they bake

and they dry the plums.

This special old-style oven.

But it's actually a house, right?

Yes. Basically, he's just turned his
house into a giant dehydrator.

Exactly.

Oh, my God.

My wife would have killed me.

So what's the process, then?

Just a minute.
When did we get into massaging?

Don't tell me you massage
every plum?

Every plum.
This is what makes it special.

No wonder they taste so good.

I mean, this is a truly, truly
artisan product.

So, over a seven-day period,

these trays will go into this drier,

and they will come out and
once a day they're massaged? Yes.

How do you massage a plum
into a prune?

Oh, man, people would never...

They wouldn't know the love and care
that goes into this.

OK, so, that's my medicine
for after 1,000.

Yes. Yeah, yeah.

We have to drink it.

So, I'm starting to understand now,
the ritual of this.

Even as I'm massaging it, there's a
natural syrup that's coming out.

So, it can obviously...
That gets rubbed around the skin.

So, it's all preservation, isn't it?
Preservation, exactly.

Cos it gets sticky. Yes.

I love the way he laughs.

He's a very smiley character,
isn't he?

Shall I put this one back in
so we can get it back in? Yes.

Push it in?

Oh, yeah, I can feel
the gentle heat of the oven.

Very cool.

This is...

Ooh.
..crystallised plums, prune sweets.

Seriously? Yes.

I'm hoping Maria will let me in
on the secret to making these,

because they look delicious.

Like a preservative. Yes.

Oh, my God.

I've been to some of the best
restaurants in the world...

...and that is...

That one thing
is a Michelin-star dish.

Maria, do you peel these plums?

Bit by bit? Bit by bit, yes.

That's true love.

You did all right, mate, you did.

And interestingly, it's preserved
in sugar but it's not too sweet. No.

Perfect harmony, perfect balance.

Oh, yeah. Can I have another one?

Of course. Allo ena.

Thank you very much.

You should marry her.

Oh, my giddy aunt! Ooh!

And the surprises
just keep on coming.

I'm not going to lie, I'm very
excited.

It smells amazing.

And this time,

it's a pork and plum dish
that is famous here on the island.

How many ingredients in this dish?

Garlic. Little carrots.

I love it.

The plum genuinely
is the hero of the dish.

It's the most delicious, humble,
simply delicious dish.

So, can I ask Dad,
can I ask him a question?

Like, how does he feel
about being a Mediterranean?

He's proud. Yeah.

What is his secret for long life?

Go on, Dad. Yamas.

Yamas.

This is a memory,

a beautiful memory.

Thank you very much.

I mean, there's nothing like getting
to the source, getting to the mud.

You know, picking the plums,
seeing the people.

I think that's what these trips
are for.

Like, I haven't seen
a base ingredient like that

with that much flavour
for a long time.

That's like the first time I found
tamarind

or kind of like vanilla.

It's just, like, mind-blowing.

Literally, three, four years later,

I will be cooking differently
because of that experience.

So, yeah, I find all this
very inspiring.

I'm buzzing.

And it was just plums.

HE LAUGHS

I just want to get cooking now,

have a little look about, buy
a few things.

Yeah, that's what it's all about.

Inspiration.

I've been thoroughly immersing
myself in the food of Greece,

soaking up all of that lovely
inspiration that I know is gonna

change the way that I cook
at home from now on.

What's really interesting
about this island is it's so green.

It's fantastic for plum trees
and lemons, pomegranates.

And all that lovely produce
comes across in the island recipes

I've been seeing.

The people on Skopelos
love cooking with fruit,

from the ubiquitous use of lemon,

char-grilled grapes

and those stunning plums.

Because I'm here to write recipes,

I've had an idea
using the humble lemon,

to make it super easy for us
to cook at home.

To see the cooks
living off the land,

the herbs, the fruits,
you know, the wild food,

that's really, really inspirational.

But right now
I'm thinking about back home.

How do I get a little bit
of the flavour of the Greek islands

back home?

I'm going to cook
lemon-tzatziki chicken

with sweet, jammy onions

and crispy lemon rice.

All with a clever
Greek-inspired twist.

I want you to do a simple
preparation on the chicken.

Just run your knife
down the back of the chicken...

...and push it open like a book.

The leg meat takes a bit more time
to cook than the breast,

so, you can kind of help
even that up

by taking the leg and just simply

scoring down to the bone.

Three scores is really gonna
let the marinade in.

I will use tzatziki traditionally,
I will.

But half of it, I won't.

And I'm going to take half
of that tzatziki,

put it in this bowl, add just a
little more olive oil,

and a little hit more
of lemon juice.

Let's think about what is
in tzatziki.

Dried mint, cucumber,
garlic, yoghurt.

Yoghurt is one of the very best
tenderisers of meat

and it allows the meat
to absorb flavour,

so this will make
the most fantastic marinade.

Rub that all over the chicken.

Get your hands in there.

All the little cracks and crannies.

I'm not cooking a Greek dish,

I'm cooking a Greek-inspired dish.

In a perfect world,

I would marinate that overnight.

If you just do it for a couple
of hours, happy days,

and even if you want to just do it
for, like, half an hour,

that's good as well.

So I've got a large pan
on a medium heat.

I'll add some olive oil to the pan

and the chicken is ready to go.

Give that a nice seasoning of salt.

Turn the heat up

and put it skin side down
in the pan.

Of course, chicken skin goes crispy.

With yoghurt on it,
what's going to happen is

you're gonna get little burnt bits,
little charred bits.

So, about five minutes,
maybe a little bit less,

of frying.

What I want to do now is have like
a trivet for that chicken, right.

Something for it to cook into.

So, I'm going to use onions,
just four onions.

One half of a red onion...

...I'm going to put to one side.

Now, let's think about how we've
seen onions used

over the last few days.

We've seen onions stuffed with rice.

We've seen onions slow-cooked,

and as little sprinkles on meze.

So, once we've quartered the onions,

I just want to kind of unclick them
into beautiful little petals.

So, look, I think this idea
of a few ingredients working hard,

simplicity,
that's very, very Mediterranean.

You don't have to throw everything
at dishes

if you've got lovely ingredients.

So, this chicken has had two
or three minutes

and I want it to be just
lightly golden.

Look at that.

So, onions go in,

and then that becomes the base
for cooking the chicken.

And that's not the end of the story

cos I'm going to use the lemon.

When these are roasted,

the flavour of lemon that you get

is completely different than fresh.

We've got it in the marinade,
we've got it roasted,

and then I want to do a little
pickle with the onions later.

So, lemon, lemon, lemon,
fresh, fresh, fresh.

This is going to cook in the oven
for one hour at 200 degrees Celsius,

which is 400 Fahrenheit.

And now I've got an hour
to soak up all of this.

Woo!

Look what we've got.

You can see the flavour sticking
to the chicken.

Like you can see how tender
the wing meat is.

I'm going to use that beautiful,
classic tzatziki

to save the resting juices
from that chicken.

So, just use this to make like
a little reservoir.

If I squeeze this lemon,
you get juice,

juice, pulp, pulp, jam, jam, jam.

I mean, it's like an eruption
of lemony-ness.

That is the islands, right?

I'll nick, you know,
just a little lemon.

Give or take half the onions.

And then the other half,

I'm going to use to really
whoop rice up, flavour-wise.

So, the chicken is resting
in a beautiful way.

Back in the pan, we're going to
turn the heat up. Right.

This is going to be extraordinary.

This local rice is plumper,
bit more round, starchy.

It's really, really nice,

but it works really well
with basmati rice.

And I'm going to fill up a mug
twice.

Going to start toasting in that
lovely chicken fat and juices.

And you're going to do two to one,

rice to water,

and it's perfect every time.

You'll hear it. So, bubbling now,

and then it'll start sss-sizzling,

and that's potential crispy bottom.

And who doesn't love
a crispy bottom?

OK, this leftover lemon skin,

run your knife through it.

Just make it a little bit finer.

You can see that change now,

and you can scrape off any of the
crispy bits from the bottom.

I'm not going to touch it again.

Turn it down and just let that
tick away for five minutes.

There's one last flourish
that I'm going to do.

That little random bit
of half onion that I had,

I'm just going to finely chop it.

So, to do a quick pickle,

it couldn't be easier.

A nice little pinch of salt,

and I'm just going to squeeze this
lemon through my hands

to catch any pips.

And it goes from being,
like, pongy onion

to crunchy and just kind of sweeter.

And then I just sprinkle it
from a height like this,

so it's a nice little tip.

So, have a little listen to this.

If we're lucky,

we've got golden, crispy bottom

along with kind of like

creamy, soft rice.

Ah, yes.

I'm well chuffed with that.

Let's plate this up

and have a little moment.

Gorgeous, lemony rice.

That beautiful, classic tzatziki.

Hot, gnarly chicken.

Crispiness.

Look at that.

Right. Time to enjoy.

The yoghurt has still allowed
the skin to be crispy,

but it's made those key flavours -

the garlic, the lemon, the mint -

kind of cling on
and get into the chicken.

Mm.

This is heavenly.

On this little research trip for me,

I have been surprised
quite a few times.

And it's never been because
something's flashy or really clever.

It's because it's really simple.

Ultimately, I think Greek cooking is
about not actually showing off.

It's about simplicity.

Good core ingredients.

All of these ingredients,

we can get from
our local supermarket

and we can take part in that.

That's the joy of travel
and the joy of cooking.

Cheers to that.

Yamas.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media