IT’S ALL GREEK TO ME IN BONDI
By Peter G • Feb 18th, 2007 • Category: Bite Club, Greek Food
Aaah!! the beautiful vista of Bondi Beach. What a great view and what a fantastic environment to hold another Biteclub. This time it was Ryan and Arthur’s turn to host. Arthur gave up his computer skills for the day and Ryan stopped rooting canals to lay out a feast in true typical Greek fashion. Having been inspired by my previous articles on Greek food they decided to up the ante. Did they ever!!! Now, yours truly wasn’t privvy to this gastronomical feast. I was busy in the city of Angels having a post Grammy food affair of my own. (More on that in another post). I was, as the official Biteclub blogger given an account of the evening. So forgive me in this jetlagged haze if it all sounds too brief.
Biteclub is beginning to get competitive!!! The stakes are high to produce delicious and flavoursome food. Hmmm…I’m already sweating at what I’m going to make. I digress…So the boys started off with spanakopita. For all of you who don’t watch SBS or didn’t grow up in Melbourne, spanakopita is basically Spinach and Fetta Cheese Pie. Filo pastry encases a mixture of cooked spinach, dill and parsley and fetta cheese scattered evenly through out. It can be served as a slice from a big pie or made individually. Arthur and Ryan kept it traditional and apparently it was mooreish. They accompanied this starter with two very interesting and one would say inspiring salads. I say inspiring because that’s what Biteclub is about. Experimenting with flavours and going with your gut instinct. Trying different things and learning as you go along.
The first salad consisted of grilled asparagus, fresh peas, red onion and capsicum tossed through an olive oil and lime juice dressing. Man am I jealous I missed that!!!! Limes are so “summery” and they complement the raw fresh flavours of the peas and asparagus. The second salad was made with baby spinach leaves, grilled halloumi cheese, grilled pumpkin and pine nuts. Talk about ingenious. Please excuse my excitement!!! The guys are seriously experimenting and it doesn’t matter where they got the idea from. It’s all very inspiring. (ok food rant over!!!).
Apparently it doesn’t stop there either. The main courses that followed were outstanding. Chicken souvlaki or kebabs, which ever takes your fancy were served up with a Middle Eastern rice dish. The souvlaki were marinated in lime, chilli and coriander (thats another holy trinity) and grilled to perfection. The rice dish was made using cooked rice, slithers of red onion, parsley and mint and topped with Greek yogurt and toasted almonds!!!! Thats a serious combination! It’s also very clever because the yogurt is very cooling which is perfect during these humid summer months.
And before you could say Donna Hay, out came the dessert. A peach and raspberry tart served with double cream. I love using these particular fruits when they’re in season. It was quite obvious that some people couldn’t wait for the dessert to be served up!!! A perfect finish for another perfect Biteclub. Congratulations Arthur and Ryan.
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Peter G is a passionate foodie of Greek descent living in Australia. You'll usually find him cooking up a storm in the kitchen and photographing all his exploits.
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