>> LOI: Yassou!

Greeks called the island of Tinos the secret soul of Greece-- the island of faith because of the religious pilgrimage to Panagia Evangelistria church.

Tinos is only a short boat ride from Mykonos, covered by rugged mountains and ancient villages.

It has also an artistic community, stunning Cycladic architecture, and, of course, delectable cuisine.

Join me.

It's all happening now on the Life of Loi.

♪ ♪ I am Maria Loi, executive chef of Loi Estiatorio in Manhattan.

When I was growing up in Thermo, a small village in Greece, food was a way of life-- good for your body, good for your soul.

The Mediterranean diet is considered one of the healthiest in the world, and I have seen how it can truly change people's lives like it changed mine.

And since then, my life has been all about the Mediterranean diet.

Today, we are going to share some of the delicious secrets that you can make part of your own lives at home.

So come with me right now on The Life of Loi.

♪ ♪ >> Funding for this program is provided by the Behrakis Family, the Greek National Tourism Organization, Enterprise Greece.

Additional funding is provided by: My good friend Maya told me about a remote restaurant on the island of Tinos, right on the water.

They grow everything in their private garden.

The owner is a female chef, so I had to go there.

Let me take you-- páme!

(singing in Greek): This is a beautiful song-- but where I am now, it's a beautiful restaurant-- Thalassaki!

Everything is Thalassaki because of the sea, and we're going to show you something that everyone will love.

You like chickpeas, right?

I love chickpeas.

But you don't have this recipe that Antonia, she's going to make for us today.

Antonia, yassou.

>> (speaking Greek): >> LOI (speaking Greek): >> (speaking Greek): >> LOI (speaking Greek): >> (speaking Greek): >> LOI (speaking Greek): >> (speaking Greek): >> LOI (speaking Greek): >> (speaking Greek): >> LOI (speaking Greek): >> (speaking Greek): >> LOI (speaking Greek): >> (speaking Greek): >> LOI: That's why she has chosen this recipe, because she wants to show you how good the food in Tinos is, and they have all the ingredients.

(speaking Greek): >> (speaking Greek) >> LOI: She says, "a lot."

I love her.

>> (speaking Greek): >> LOI: They have amazing honey here.

>> LOI (speaking Greek): >> (speaking Greek): (laughs) >> (speaking Greek): >> LOI: The bay leaves here, they're very light in flavor, so that's why she added a lot of them.

>> (speaking Greek): >> LOI: Rosemary.

>> (speaking Greek) >> LOI: Yeah.

>> LOI (speaking Greek): >> (speaking Greek): >> LOI: Mm-hmm.

I can eat it like this.

I can make a very good salad like this.

>> LOI (speaking Greek): >> (speaking Greek): >> LOI: Bravo.

>> (speaking Greek): >> LOI: Two hours in the oven.

In the States, the chickpeas we have one-and-a-half hours.

♪ ♪ >> LOI (speaking Greek): Wow.

>> (speaking Greek): >> LOI (speaking Greek): >> (speaking Greek): >> LOI (speaking Greek): >> (speaking Greek): >> LOI: Yamas >> Yamas.

(laughing) >> (speaking Greek): >> LOI: Not only the chickpeas are so tasty, but the aromatics gave so much flavor.

You can't imagine.

You have to come to Tinos to taste them.

(speaking Greek): >> (speaking Greek): >> LOI: How goes that song?

(speaking Greek) >> (singing in Greek) (singing continues) (singing) >> LOI: Bravo!

Bravo!

♪ ♪ Chickpeas, garbanzo beans-- revithia in Greek.

Hot, cold, tender, crunchy, crispy.

I love them all the ways.

Let me show you how to make revithada, the chickpea stew I used to cook for my father and he loved it.

I am here with my friend, Cesare Casella, one of the best Italian chefs.

For me, he is the best Italian chef-- love you, Cesare.

>> Grazie!

I love you!

>> LOI: You're so nice.

>> I have the rosemary, you don't have nothing there.

So something you make there?

>> LOI: Easy.

>> Parsley.

>> LOI: Yes, of course.

>> Parsley.

>> LOI: Look at this.

So what I have here, what is this?

>> Cecci!

>> LOI: Cecci!

Oh, I forgot how to say.

>> I'm Italian, you remember?

>> LOI: So you see, these are soaked already, overnight.

>> Yes.

>> LOI: Here they are.

Felipe boiled them once, he threw the water out and then he boiled them again, and now are ready to go into the oven.

But not just by themselves.

What do we need?

Onion.

Usually, I use red onions, but in this one I don't want that intense flavor of onion.

So I use white and red.

(humming) Do you know how to cut this onion like this right now?

>> You taught me last year, because it look like a cool way to slice the onion.

>> LOI: My grandma never had anything on the counter, and you know why?

Because you didn't have the time.

She had to work, fast, in and out the house.

The kitchen was outdoors.

We had a wood fire oven, and something on the top to cover from the rain.

See?

Onions.

Greek olive oil.

♪ ♪ I will put some of this now.

You know what this is?

>> Aneto.

>> LOI: Aneto?

>> Yes.

>> LOI: It's dill.

>> It's dill-- it's aneto in Italian.

>> LOI: Aneto?

>> You talk in Greece, I talk in Italian.

The smell is so good, the dill.

>> LOI: We add some dill now.

Also salt and pepper.

Not too much.

It's so simple recipe, yes.

>> Sicilian pepper.

>> LOI: Yeah, you can add it.

>> (indistinct) Anyway, looking nice.

How much pepper?

More?

>> LOI: Whatever you want-- it's Italian creation now.

>> Oh.

Okay.

>> LOI: Okay.

Salt.

Lemon.

>> It's good.

>> LOI: Usually, we add lemon, but we're not adding the lemon now, because they're going to be tough.

So I will get some lemon zest.

So this way they will get all... (sniffs) ...the flavor and the aroma and then we add the lemon at the end.

This is going to the oven.

Felipe.

>> Yes, chef?

>> LOI: Do you have the other one ready?

>> Yes.

>> LOI: Okay.

And you'll see the ready one.

375 for two-and-a-half hours.

Slow cook-- they melt.

♪ ♪ Here.

Thank you-- could I have the other one?

>> Yes.

>> LOI: (singing in Greek) (singing) >> Sorry, chef... >> LOI: Oh, sorry.

Thank you, Felipe.

Can you open this since you have the towel?

Thank you.

With the... Bravo, and take this.

>> Looking beautiful!

>> LOI: Thank you.

You see how they are?

>> Yeah.

Oh, let's taste.

Which color you prefer, the light or the dark?

Okay, I'm in the light.

>> LOI: First of all, I'm a lady and I am going... >> Thank you.

♪ ♪ >> LOI: They are so soft.

Let me add some.

>> Thank you.

Yeah, but listen, are you going to give it olive oil or no?

>> LOI: I am going to.

>> If not, next time I'm going to bring it from my home.

♪ ♪ It's good, huh?

I love these chickpeas.

♪ ♪ (speaking Greek) Bravo!

♪ ♪ I couldn't come to Tinos and not visit this beautiful museum, dedicated to one of Greece's most famous artists, Costas Tsoclis.

My tour guide is my good friend Maya Tsoclis, the daughter of the artist.

>> We discovered Tinos late '80s.

>> LOI: Oh.

>> It was pretty different from what it is now.

My father came first.

He came and he fell under the spell, you know?

He called me and he said, "This is the most beautiful place you can imagine."

Wherever you look at, you understand that this island is handmade, handcrafted.

You know?

>> LOI: It is.

>> You look at the scenery, you see these dry, stone walls, you see the terraces, you see the peristeriones.

So the dovecoats are everywhere; there were more than a thousand.

It's a form of art, of course.

The richer you are, the most, you know, complicated your dovecoat is.

So the dovecoats are a very Tinian characteristic architectural structure.

>> LOI: It's here.

>> It's here, yeah.

>> LOI: What about the mouseío marmarotechnías?

>> So two-thirds of the island are agriculture.

One-third, it's marble.

All the villages in the northern part, let's say, work in marble, in quarries or sculpture.

Marble is a material that holds a particular place in the architecture and the art of Greece, from antiquity, as we know, through the present.

The exhibition describes the intricate meshing of tools and techniques used in working marble in a very detailed and live manner.

And it puts an emphasis on the pre- and proto-industrial Tinos, which was the most important center of marble crafts in modern Greece.

>> LOI: They have above the doors... >> Mm-hmm-- lintels, we call that, (speaking Greek) It's a work of art, but it also has a practical use.

In the past, Tinians produced silk, so... >> LOI: I didn't know that.

>> Yeah.

So these lintels, which were open, as you saw, let the butterflies fly in and out.

>> LOI: Huh-- everything has a reason.

>> Absolutely.

>> LOI: I can't imagine how proud you are about your father's museum.

>> You know, my father was so under the spell of Tinos.

And because he felt that Tinos had given him inspiration and beauty and joy, he wanted to give back, and he gave the museum a number of his important works.

It's his legacy to the island.

>> LOI: Very generous.

>> Quite-- no, it's, you know, it's important, you give and take in life, as you know.

>> LOI: I got a lot from Tinos.

>> Mm-hm.

>> LOI: I'm coming back.

>> Great.

>> LOI: I'm going to write my book here.

San To Alati-- like salt.

I came last night to this restaurant.

The food was amazing, so tasty.

And all of my team, they said, "This pie is the best."

Artichoke pie.

I had to ask, "Who is the chef?"

And this young man over here, Vasilis, they said that he's the chef.

I saw Vasilis and I said, "I know you from somewhere.

Where do you come from?"

And he says, "From Karpenisi," right next to my village.

So I knew him then, and I know him now.

(speaking Greek): >> Welcome.

>> LOI: Tell me now what we need for the pie.

>> What we'll need is half a kilo of zucchini.

>> LOI: Half a kilo?

>> Yes.

>> LOI: It's not more?

>> No, precise.

>> LOI: No?

Okay.

>> We will need, how would they say that?

>> LOI: Scallions, yes.

>> Scallions.

>> LOI: You can say green onions here, right?

>> Green onions-- fresh onions.

>> LOI: (laughs) >> Dill.

>> LOI: Yeah, a lot of dill.

>> A lot of dill.

>> LOI (sniffs): Mm-hm.

>> Two carrots.

>> LOI: Okay.

>> Two onions.

The big ones, yes?

>> LOI: Exactly, we'll say.

And these are artichokes.

>> We need six of them.

>> LOI: Right now, you don't have fresh artichokes, right?

But it's the island of artichokes here.

So they freeze them in order to use them off-season.

And this is like that, right?

>> Yeah.

>> LOI: I love artichokes.

My grandfather used to say they clean your blood.

>> They can do that.

>> LOI: Maybe your grandfather said that.

(chuckles) And then you sauté, and that you have it here ready for us, right?

>> Yes.

>> LOI: You have everything.

You sauté only with olive oil, right?

>> Yes.

>> LOI: Just a bit.

This one, you add it here?

>> Yes.

>> LOI: Okay.

What else do you add here?

>> We will put some feta.

>> LOI: Okay-- a lot of feta.

As we say, everything is better with feta.

Okay.

And then you add the yogurt?

>> We put some yogurt.

>> LOI: Yeah, see?

>> Two big spoons.

>> LOI: He makes the yoghurt here, so, see how it is?

Good yogurt doesn't go off the spoon unless you eat it or you go like this.

(speaking Greek): I don't want a lot because it's feta inside, right?

>> Uh-huh.

Pepper.

Okay.

It could be a bit spicy.

Olive oil?

>> Um... >> LOI: You have enough?

>> We have enough, I think.

>> LOI: For me, it's never enough.

>> Just a bit.

>> LOI: (humming) And then eggs.

>> Eggs.

>> LOI: The eggs comes from here, right?

>> Yes.

>> LOI: It's you now.

>> (laughs) >> LOI: It's the perfect mix.

And for the phyllo, he has made already the dough.

(speaking Greek) What did you put?

>> There's only flour, water.

>> LOI: Yes.

Magia?

No?

>> No, it's without magia.

That's why the phyllo is so... ...we can do it thick and we can do anything with it.

>> LOI: Yeah.

Okay.

>> LOI (speaking Greek): >> (speaking Greek): >> LOI (speaking Greek): >> (speaking Greek) I think it's okay.

>> LOI (speaking Greek): (speaking Greek) >> Grandma was doing this.

>> LOI: Yeah, that's what I was going to do, but anyway, okay.

You're in Tinos Island.

>> (laughs) >> LOI: They're sophisticated.

It's kind like a tart, right?

So you can say that I help you.

>> Can I see your hands?

Okay.

>> LOI: Here.

>> (chuckles) There, okay.

And now we put the mix inside.

>> LOI: You want me to help you?

>> Yeah, of course.

>> LOI: I hope you have one already, because I cannot wait.

>> Ah.

You'll have to.

>> LOI: You cook it in the oven, pre-heated oven, okay.

>> For 45 minutes.

>> LOI (speaking Greek): Bravo.

>> So we are done.

>> LOI (speaking Greek): You take it, go to the oven, okay?

I'm going to clean up.

>> Okay.

>> LOI: And you stay here with me.

(horse nickers) (speaking Greek): >> (speaking Greek): >> LOI (speaking Greek): (laughs) (speaking Greek) I'm not going to tell you that it's good because it's the best.

And you know what I love?

This-- I always eat the phyllo.

It reminds me of my grandmother in my village.

(speaking Greek) Yassou!

♪ ♪ It's no wonder they call Tinos the island of artichokes.

People say that I make the best pies, but that pie blew my mind.

I am going to show you how to make an easier version of that fabulous pie.

This beautiful pan here, okay?

>> Yes.

>> LOI: You have phyllo, but this phyllo that they call Horiatiko, it's for pies, especially for pies.

See how nice it is, huh?

Olive oil, hm.

What can we do without olive oil?

My friend there, he made his own phyllo.

We don't need that.

♪ ♪ >> Okay, nice.

>> LOI: You just need to phyllo.

>> Now what are we doing?

>> LOI: We need vegetables.

>> Vegetables.

>> LOI: Carrots, zucchini, and scallions.

Felipe cut it for me very nicely.

I'm going to add some olive oil here.

>> Okay-- I stir?

>> LOI: Yes, please.

♪ ♪ Oh, Felipe?

>> Yes, chef?

>> LOI: I don't want white onion.

Could I have a red onion please?

>> Yes.

>> LOI: Contrary to chef Vasili, I use red onion, not white.

>> So you want red onions... >> LOI: Yes.

>> ...instead of the white onions.

>> LOI: Yes.

>> Here we have the scallions, red onions, the carrots, the zucchini.

>> LOI: The zucchini.

>> Zucchini.

>> LOI: Zucchini.

>> Okay.

>> LOI: Now you add the cheese.

>> What cheese is this?

>> LOI: Anthotyros, of course.

>> It's, it's ricotta-- what you're talking-- a ricotta!

>> LOI: Ricotta?

I don't know.

>> Oh, yes.

How much do you want?

>> LOI: Yeah, put it.

Okay, that's enough.

>> Okay.

>> LOI: And tell me what is that now?

>> I don't know-- in Greece, how they call it yogurt.

>> LOI: Yogurt!

So.

>> LOI: Okay.

Now we have the artichokes.

These artichokes here are frozen, but you can use canned artichokes.

But make sure that they're not with sodium, and please buy organic.

So I sauté these frozen artichokes and I will put it here.

>> Yes.

>> LOI: May I?

Okay.

>> I mix.

>> Okay.

>> LOI: See, don't push me.

>> I don't push you.

>> LOI: Yes, you did!

So I take these artichokes out.

>> You already do it yourself.

>> LOI: Come on.

>> In Greece, they use salt and pepper or is without the salt and pepper?

The salt is here.

>> LOI: Put it there.

>> The pepper is here.

>> LOI: Good.

Salt.

You know, you can put feta cheese in this pie, and it will be amazing as well.

But less salt, huh?

Remember, less salt.

♪ ♪ And here you don't put the-- oh, here, you don't put the, some type of the herbs?

>> LOI: So you cannot push me.

(laughs) >> Some type of the herbs?

>> They make nice.

You don't use the herbs in your country?

>> LOI: Of course.

A lot.

>> Okay.

>> LOI: Dill.

>> Dill.

Let's do dill.

>> LOI: What's the name of dill, you say?

>> Aneto.

>> LOI: Anithos!

(laughs) It's Greek!

>> Enough, enough.

Don't put it too much!

(overlapping indistinct chatter) >> ...aneto!

>> LOI: Good-- that's enough!

>> Okay.

>> LOI: And... >> You put inside?

>> LOI: Yes-- can you help me or no?

>> Yeah, but no.

>> LOI: Yeah.

>> I don't want... >> LOI: Okay.

>> ...do something that you don't like.

>> LOI: Okay.

>> Okay.

>> LOI: Give me that.

>> You want this spoon, I take these.

>> LOI: Give me that.

I'll take that.

>> And then?

>> LOI: And then you just turn it.

That's all.

♪ ♪ See?

>> Look so beautiful.

>> LOI: It does.

>> So nice with the olive oil, the artichoke.

It's something that I love all the time, in the summertime, in the wintertime.

>> LOI: Felipe is going to bake our pie in the preheated oven for one hour at 375.

Thank you, thank you.

♪ ♪ >> Beautiful.

>> LOI: And smells amazing.

>> (whispering): The artichoke coming out.

>> LOI: This is art.

Let's cut it.

See?

(inhales, exhales) My... You see this?

>> The flavor.

>> LOI: It's for you.

>> Okay.

>> LOI: (laughs) ♪ ♪ >> The artichoke, when you cook in this way, they become so strong, the flavor, and they're so sweet.

With the crust, is crunchy.

>> LOI: Crispy.

>> No, it's good because of the consistency, the different vegetables.

>> LOI: Can you grab those two shot glasses please?

Excellent.

You need your olive oil.

♪ ♪ Yassou.

>> Yassou.

>> LOI: And yassou.

Remember, metron ariston.

Everything in moderation except love, olive oil, and good deeds.

♪ ♪ >> Closed captioning provided by Genetic Networks.

Funding for this program is provided by the Behrakis Family, the Greek National Tourism Organization, Enterprise Greece.

Additional funding is provided by: ♪ ♪ >> LOI: Over there, over there.

Okay!

♪ ♪