S08E02 CHASING SMOKE: Greece

We're back with the second episode in our series about our new book CHASING SMOKE. For the next few weeks we'll be sharing travel stories with you around the Levant, cooking recipes from our trip and catching up with some of the friends we made in each of the countries that we visited. This week we're chatting about our many trips to Greece and specifically our travels to Thessaloniki in 2019. Greece is a very special country to us and Thessaloniki is such an amazing town, not so much a tourist destination, but it should be! In this episode we cook octopus on the grill with a beautiful paprika aioli; we talk to our friend and photographer Patricia Niven who accompanied us on all our trips; and we catch up with our own Gena Deliyannis who used to work with us at Honey & Smoke and was instrumental in planning our trip – she is now living back in her homeland so we catch up on what's hot in Greece right now. We talk about our hunt for the perfect gyros, our misinterpretation of the meaning of antikristo lamb, our visit to a women's cooperative in the hills, and all the ways you can cook an octopus. Enjoy. --------- Order a copy of Chasing Smoke Follow us on instagram @honeyandco Sign up to our mailing list to be the first to hear about new events Follow Patsy @PatriciaNiven and see more of her beautiful work at www.patricianiven.com --- For the Octopus Recipe 1 large octopus (defrosted) For the braising liquor 1 plum tomato, quartered 1 red onion, quartered 1 tsp whole cumin seeds 1 tsp whole black peppercorns 4 garlic cloves, halved 1 chilli, halved lengthways 2 bay leaves a few sprigs of sage 4 tbsp red wine (or use white, if there’s some open, or 2 tbsp brandy) For the marinade 1 clove of garlic, thinly sliced 8 sage leaves, roughly chopped 1 tsp smoked paprika a sprinkle of chilli flakes 3 tbsp olive oil For the paprika aioli 1 egg yolk 1 small clove of garlic, minced ½ tsp smoked paprika ½ tsp sweet paprika a pinch of salt, plus more to taste 2 tsp rice vinegar (or light white wine vinegar) 100–120 ml / 3½ –4¼ fl oz vegetable oil juice of ½ lemon --- With thanks to Our guests this week: Patsy @PatriciaNiven and Gena Deliyannis Producer: Miranda Hinkley Additional Production: Claire Crofton Audio Engineer: Paul Brogden Theme tune: Daniel Winshall Head of Communications: Louisa Cornford A special thank you to Polly Russell for donating her garden