Dina Nikolaou is a bit like the Greek Hélène Darroze. When this twirling blonde with 120,000 Instagram followers walks the streets of her home country, she’s constantly stopped for selfies and recipe advice. She has invested her talent in just about every job related to the kitchen. Teacher, author, TV host, ambassador of Hellenic gastronomy, she is chef in Parisian establishments: Evi Evane, a fabulous little chain of restaurants and caterers, recommended by Gault & Millau.
Every year, the businesswoman who is divided between Athens and Paris spends part of the summer in the region of Mount Athos, in the north-east of Greece, to animate the specialized Kouzina festival. “When you were born there, you often don’t realize the exceptional quality of the region’s products.she laments. However, there are treasures to be found there, such as the honey produced by beekeepers on the slopes of Mount Athos, a honey with the scents of the pines and shrubs of the mountain. A fabulous product still little known outside our borders…”
“For me, cooking isn’t about technique, it’s about emotion. »
Created in 2011, the Kouzina festival is an invitation to taste products close to their roots, at the foot of Mount Athos, this huge granite nipple, on the turquoise waters of Ammouliani island or in the Strymonian Gulf… “We are lucky to be able to organize meals in restaurants, but also in the middle of nature, in a field or on a boat, which guarantees exceptional freshness of the food”, rejoices Dina Nikolaou.
The chef sometimes invites cooks from other Greek regions or from abroad for four hands full of enthusiasm. But his score remains gourmet, traditional, enamelled with octopus with honey, lamb with grape molasses, taramasalata salad and candied lemon… “For me, cooking is not technique, it’s emotion, she justifies. When I go to the kitchen, I first want to convey what I felt when tasting my mother’s dishes. » Here she offers a traditional dish: barley pasta with prawns.
Barley pasta with prawns
Preparation time: 50 minutes
for 4 people
Ingredients :
- 850ml vegetable stock
- 10 to 12 large prawns (cleaned)
- 6 to 8 saffron strings
- 4-5 tbsp. olive oil
- 400g medium sized barley
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 1 C. tomato sauce
- 1 clove garlic, melted
- 1 cup (200ml) dry white wine
- 1 medium mature tomato, grated (cut in half and grate with a cheese grater)
- paprika powder
- 2 large tbsp. butter
- ½ cup chopped parsley
- salt, and freshly ground pepper
Put the broth in a saucepan and heat until boiling. Add the prawns and boil for 2-3 minutes. Then remove the prawns with a ladle and leave them aside on a platter. Leave the broth to simmer over very low heat, and add the saffron to give it its aroma and color.
In another large, shallow saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat and sauté the barley for one minute, until lightly browned. Add the onion, tomato sauce and garlic, and sauté for 2 minutes, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, so that the mixture does not stick. Finally, add the wine. Mix for another 1 minute so that the alcohol evaporates well, and put the grated tomato, then salt and pepper while stirring.
With a tablespoon, pour a dose of broth and mix with a wooden spoon. Simmer until the barley absorbs all the broth. Add the next dose of broth and let it simmer again until it is well absorbed by the barley. In other words, cook the barley as if making a risotto, adding a dose of broth each time the previous one is absorbed. The whole process takes about 20-25 minutes, until the barley is cooked through and thickens.
Remove from heat and add a large dose of paprika and butter. Mix well. Finally, add the parsley, the prawns and mix. Serve immediately.
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