The Cook and the Chef

The Greek Experience (4x14)

Air date: May 13, 2009

Tonight Maggie and Simon entice us outdoors into the late autumn sun to enjoy Greek inspired barbequed goat, souvlaki and baby octopus. Greek desserts are also on the menu so be prepared for some syrupy, sweet lusciousness. To many Australian the name Chantal Contouri would conjure up memories of Number 96, the very risqué night time soapie from the mid seventies that featured Chantal as "the panty hose strangler". These days you are more likely to find Chantal preparing the Greek barbeque in her parents family restaurant than behind a camera, and her commitment to getting her coals just right has Maggie and Simon inspired. With Maggie’s dam as a beautiful backdrop Simon and Maggie prepare their respective barbies . Maggie uses a Kettle BBQ to slow cook Kid which has been flavoured with lemon, garlic, oregano and salt while Simon opts for his home made coal and wok combination to grill souvlaki and baby octopus. Maggie’s meat is almost an hour and a half cook and is served with waxy potatoes . The meat is melt in the mouth and the delicate lemon flavouring given to the potatoes makes for a lovely combination of flavours and textures. The heroes of Simon’s souvlaki are definitely the generous big chunks of haloumi which are balanced perfectly by the tang of red onion and generous portions of eggplant and zucchini. The baby octopuses are marinated in garlic, lemon and dill and the flavours of the coals imparted to Simon’s fare takes it to another level of flavour complexity altogether. For their desserts Simon and Maggie draw their inspiration from another two Greek women, Zeffie Kathreptis and Kryssoula Heisler . Both Zeffie and Kryssie are self taught cooks and neither cooked until they were married. Their commitment to their Greek style cooking, however, was such that Zeffie opened a very popular Greek restaurant in her home town of Adelaide while Kryssie opened Adelaide’s first Greek take-away. These days most of their cooking is done for family a