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by Manos Angelakis
The Ottoman Empire once covered the entire Eastern Mediterranean and North Africa, and, because of its nomadic Turkoman roots (both Ottoman and Seljuc), developed street-food which was cooked and sold by itinerant peddlers on the streets of towns and villages. It was also made available outside khans (Middle Eastern inns), establishments in major trading cities that only offered to travelers a place to sleep. Street food has been sold to the masses, in all its many different forms, in all the countries bordering the Mediterranean.
I grew up with Greek street food, from the “koulouri” depicted on the cover of Anissa Helou’s book Mediterranean Street Food - the Greek version of a thin sesame bagel that, with a slice of “kefalotyri” (a sharp, hard, ewe’s milk cheese) and a cup of Turkish coffee was the ubiquitous breakfast of working Athenians - to “souvlaki me pita”, a lunch time favorite; skewered, marinated pieces of lamb and pork grilled over charcoal and wrapped in a piece of pocketless pita-bread (very similar to a tandoori-baked naan bread) with tzatziki sauce and salad made of thin-sliced sweet onion and parsley, with two or three slices of ripe tomato. Roasted chestnuts in winter, or ice cream cones in the summer were also part of the Athenian street food scene - though from the late 50s on, the ice cream had lost the cone and became “pagoto me xylaki”, usually vanilla ice cream with a hard chocolate covering on a wooden stick, hawked from EVGA ice cream carts.
So, when I was invited by my very good friend Arlyn Blake to accompany her to a street-food dinner honoring Anissa Helou, at Dévi, an excellent Indian restaurant on Manhattan’s east 18th street, I could not resist.
The Mediterranean Street Food book covers culinary specialties of Anissa’s homeland (Lebanon) and Greek, Turkish, Syrian, Egyptian, Tunisian, Moroccan and Spanish dishes. Many of the dishes are similar, for example souvlaki is almost the same as shish-kebab, the difference being that in the Moslem countries it is made only with lamb or mutton and no pork, and the marinade differs from country to country. Cacik or tzatziki, a dip found in Greece, Turkey, Lebanon and Syria is shredded cucumber and finely chopped garlic mixed with yogurt. In Greece, they add some olive oil and sprinkle dry oregano on top; in Turkey they sprinkle paprika or sumac, and in Syria and Lebanon they mix mint in it.
 Dinner started with Scallop Fritters, large scallops deep fried in a batter, very reminiscent of “Bakaliarakia” a venerated Athenian dish of battered deep-fried cod. The Walnut Tarator side was a good substitute for the skordalia, the garlic mayonnaise, with which bakaliarakia are traditionally served. The wine paired with it was a nice dry San Angelo Pinot Grigio from Banfi. I liked it, though I would have preferred a traditional glass of retsina in concert with the bakaliarakia similarity.
A really nice glass of Centine Rosé, a light dry Italian rosé made from a blend of Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, accompanied the Fattüsh, a salad of lettuce, parsley, mint, cucumber, tomato, radish, scallions, toasted pita and sumac, a definitely Turkish style salad.
Moving along the Eastern Mediterranean, Tandoor-Grilled Halibut with labne, harrisa, okra chips and Aleppo pepper. This dish is of Syrian or Indian origin, as far as I can figure out based on the shredded okra and Aleppo pepper side. Nicely paired with the Banfi Centine, a soft blend of Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.
The next dish was a lovely Cornish Hen Tagine. It was a classic Moroccan tagine of cornish game hens cooked on a bed of sliced onion with mixed olives, preserved lemon and saffron. A tagine is named after the conical clay pot in which this one-pot meal is slowly baked in a charcoal fire and embers. Saffron and Cornish Hens are only used by upper-class cooks, the street vendors of Fez - where I first had a tagine - use turmeric to flavor and color the dish, older stewing chickens that no longer lay eggs, and only green cracked olives. I guess being in New York City and eating at Dévi, allows for the use of the much more expensive ingredients. And the dish was outstanding. Paired with it was Castello Banfi’s Rosso di Montalcino, a young version of a Brunello. Aged for only 1 year in wood, it was soft enough not to compete with the earthy and lemony tagine taste.
Banfi’s Cum Laude, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Sangiovese and Syrah, accompanied the next dish, Kibbé Bites. These were small fried meat balls made of minced lamb and bulgur with red onion, pine nuts and spices. They were served with tzatziki. It was the only dish I did not care for; they were hard and very dry and even the tzatziki did not help. Greek or Turkish meatballs are soft, and even when cold are still nicely juicy. The wine was on the young side and a bit tannic.
We were finally served the desserts, Mühallabiye and Pomegranate Custard and with them a sparkling, frothy, demi-sec wine, Rosa Regale. It is one of my favorite Italian wines, a Brachetto d’Acqui, a Piemontese specialty. It accented nicely the rose water in the Mühallabiye and contrasted, also very nicely with the custard.
Dévi’s kitchen did an excellent job preparing these mostly unfamiliar to them dishes from Anissa Helou’s repertory. Congratulations to Executive Chefs Suvir Saran and Hamant Mathur.
© March 2007 LuxuryWeb Magazine. All rights reserved.
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