♪ ♪ >> MARIA 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're 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.

Additional funding is provided by the Greek National Tourism Organisation.

>> LOI: I am Maria Loi.

I am happy you are joining me today.

I will take you on a trip to Greece, and then come back to my kitchen in New York to show you two recipes I love: tragano solomo, crispy-skin salmon, and garides me kritharaki, shrimp with orzo.

Today it's all about seafood.

For thousands of years, seafood was the main source of animal protein consumed in Greece.

Look at any map and it's easy to see why.

Greece is surrounded by water and a buffet of seafood-- sardines, branzino, octopus, calamari, sea urchin.

Seafood was and still is such an important part of the Greek economy.

It's the country's second-largest agricultural export, ranking above even olive oil.

Lucky for us, it's also incredibly healthy.

Seafood is the single best source of omega-3 fatty acids.

I am taking you to a place close to my heart for this seafood feast, a hotel that I have been going to since I was in my 30s.

Usually, I would go not just to swim, but to work out, as well.

After exercising, I would sneak into the kitchen to check what they were cooking.

It's in my blood.

I couldn't resist.

Astir Palace is a very special place, not just for me, but for many famous people like President Barack Obama, Paul Newman, Frank Sinatra, to name a few.

Come with me.

Páme.

♪ ♪ We are here with Bertrand Valegeas.

We're going to do fish today, right?

>> Yes, fish.

>> LOI: Yup.

What kind of fish?

>> So it's a dorade today.

A dorado.

>> LOI: Tsipoura in Greek.

>> Tsipoura, exactly, tsipoura, yes.

>> LOI: That's what we have to do.

And it comes from the Greek sea.

So it's a Greek fish.

>> Just behind us.

(Loi laughing) >> LOI: He knows where they're swimming, like... >> Exactly.

We track them every night before we catch them.

>> LOI: How we're going to cook this fish today?

>> So today we will cook the fish in the paper... >> LOI: Parchment paper.

>> In the parchment paper, yes.

So we will cook with all the different product that we have from our garden.

Fennel, different cherry tomatoes, lemon, fresh oregano, fresh thyme, fresh onion, olives-- Greek, of course-- and zucchini.

So we will mélange all of these ingredients with the fish, with olive oil, with a little bit of white wine, of a tsipouro.

>> LOI: Wow!

>> I'm doing this only for you, the tsipouro.

>> LOI: Thank you.

>> Shall we start?

>> LOI: Mm-hmm.

You want some olive oil?

>> Yes, if you just... >> LOI: Greek olive oil.

>> Yeah, of course.

So we will put the fish.

>> LOI: So beautiful fish.

>> So we'll just start with some olives.

We need to give flavor to this fish.

So a little bit of... >> LOI: That's scallion.

>> Scallion, spring onions.

>> LOI: Yeah.

And you can have spring onion in Greece, you know, like, all the time.

>> All the time.

>> LOI: Yes.

>> All the time.

We will take the fennel.

>> LOI: It's shaved, right?

>> Shaved, yeah, very thin, because the fennel, it needs some time to cook, so we shave it very thin so it will cook fast with the fish.

>> LOI: Oh, that's another secret.

You can eat it as a salad, as well, the fennel, you know?

You add whatever you want.

Greek olive oil-- extra virgin, of course... >> Extra virgin.

>> LOI: Lemon juice, and that's it.

So... >> We will add cherry tomato.

So now we continue with the zucchini.

>> LOI: Mm-hmm.

>> So now we will add some few slice of lemon.

A bit inside, as well.

It's nice, we will put the herbs, as well, inside the belly of the fish to give a little bit more... >> LOI: Flavor.

>> More flavor, exactly.

And now we will add some fresh thyme.

A little bit of fresh oregano.

It's amazing, the fresh oregano.

It give you a flavor, the color... >> LOI: Okay.

>> So we will add a little bit of white wine now.

>> LOI: Wine, okay.

>> A dry white wine.

>> LOI: Yeah.

Of course it's Greek, huh?

>> (stammers) (Loi laughing) >> LOI: Come on!

I know you're French.

>> It's not French, no, it's Greek, it's Greek, yeah.

>> LOI: Good, yes.

>> 100%.

>> And now we will finish with the tsipouro.

>> LOI: They say it's a Greek grappa.

But no, it's better.

>> Definitely.

>> LOI: Good.

>> And now I will finish... >> LOI: With the sea salt.

>> With the sea salt, yes.

>> LOI: In France, you call it fleur de sel.

>> Fleur de sel, exactly.

>> LOI: Good.

Pepper.

>> Exactly.

Now we will close it.

♪ ♪ >> LOI: I want to see that.

How to do the French papillote .

>> A very important part of the papillote, it need to be closed very, very well.

You will keep all the aroma inside.

>> LOI: Yeah, here he is going to go out.

>> Oh, he's going out.

You see?

You see?

>> LOI: Bertrand, you know how we call the papillote, you know, in Greece?

Sti ladókolla.

>> Ladókolla.

>> LOI: Ladókolla.

>> Psari sti ladókolla.

(Loi laughing) >> LOI: He has a good accent for a French chef.

>> For a French, you see.

And now we will put in our plate.

We will cook in the oven for 25 minutes approximately, 220 degrees.

>> LOI: And then we eat it.

♪ ♪ It is so good!

>> Look at this.

>> LOI: Yes!

>> So now we will clean it a bit, the fish.

>> LOI: Yeah.

Oh, look at the lemon here, see?

>> Exactly.

The smell is amazing.

Just add a little bit of salt.

>> LOI: Okay.

>> And a little bit of pepper.

>> LOI: My father used to tell me you don't need to add a lot of lemon in the fish.

You just eat a bit of fresh pepper and then you will realize how the fish is fresh or not.

>> Exactly.

>> LOI: May I do something, too?

♪ ♪ Okay.

And now, kalí órexi.

>> Kalí órexi.

>> LOI: We will enjoy your creation.

>> Thank you.

>> LOI: And really, thank you.

♪ ♪ >> Very good.

>> LOI: I think people are jealous now.

>> I think so, yes.

>> LOI: Right?

>> Yes.

♪ ♪ >> LOI: There's nothing like cooking outside by the seaside in Greece, especially when you cook with Chef Bertrand.

And the good thing about this recipe is that it's very adaptable.

You can use almost any kind of fish, any herbs, any vegetables you like.

I love branzino, but I love salmon, as well.

Let me show you how to make this dish with the crispiest salmon skin.

First of all, check the skin, okay?

To see if it's shiny and it looks metallic-- not gray or dull-- to make sure the fish is fresh.

I will turn this on.

And I will add my olive oil.

And also, you have to pat dry your salmon and I have another paper towel.

So I take it like this, and I put it here.

If you have water, you know, on your salmon, it's not going to become crispy.

See?

The olive oil is hot now.

And I can put my salmon.

I have my salmon glove.

I put it skin down.

(pan sizzling) And you count.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.

Now the skin is not going to split, and it's going to be beautiful crispy.

People, they go like this, okay?

And check all the time.

The fish is telling you when it's ready to turn.

See?

It moves like it's in the ocean.

Now you can just turn it.

When it comes to choosing salmon, the first question is always wild or farm?

When it's wild, there's no guarantee where your fish was swimming, what it has eaten or been exposed to.

I love wild fish.

But wild is not always better.

If you're buying farm salmon, you have to be careful, as well, to make sure that the fish is sustainably and ethically raised and farmed.

While my salmon slowly cook, okay, I'm going to show you how to make the extras, as we call it in Greece, okay?

You can add some tomatoes, olives.

Thyme.

When I was a kid, my mom, she was adding thyme to the bath water when we were taking a bath.

She was telling us it's very good for your skin.

Let me add some lemon.

Fish and lemon goes together.

Márathos.

Fennel in Greek is márathos.

And you can find márathos all over Greece, but especially in Marathon city, where, actually, the marathon race started, and that's, from márathos, got their name-- marathónas.

So márathos, we'll use the fronds.

But also... As I say, not the bulb, I say the body.

It's very licorice.

Some salt.

Oregano.

Olive oil.

Fresh pepper.

And then... We'll make it like a papillote.

My chef Felipe is standing the papillote like this and he's putting this on the plate so easy.

I will add some water.

So you don't burn the paper.

And also steams at the same time.

Some more olive oil.

I add the olive oil because it lacks all the flavors in there.

It's an extra skin.

So this one needs 400 degrees.

Preheated oven.

It needs only three, four minutes, no more.

Okay.

See?

Ready.

And now it's time to serve it.

I'm gonna plate all my favorite vegetables here.

Olives, lemon, thyme.

And then I'm going to add to the top my salmon.

See?

Mine, it's different color.

It's very pinkish, because I want it almost well done.

Other people, they want it raw.

It's a matter of taste.

Olive oil.

Tomato, fennel-- máratho.

And olive.

And yassou!

It's all crunchy.

With a bit more of salmon.

Mm.

Chef Bertrand had another delicious seafood recipe to show me, with langoustine.

Langoustine is related to the lobster.

It's also known as the Norway lobster, or Dublin Bay prawn, or karavides, as we say in Greece.

The first time I had langoustine, I was ten years old.

They were so sweet and succulent.

I became obsessed ever since.

But when I was 20 years old, I developed a shellfish allergy.

And when I was about 30 years old, I grew out of it.

Thank goodness.

Let's head back to Athens.

Páme!

♪ ♪ Yassou!

Today, we're gonna cook a very Greek specialty: karavides me kritharaki.

How do you call it, chef?

>> Langoustine with orzo.

So we will need some onion, some fresh tomato, the orzo pasta, of course, fresh oregano for the langoustine later, some... >> LOI: Lime?

>> Lime.

Chives, a wonderful cheese from Naxos.

And for, for the orzo, we will, we will use some bisque with the head of the, of the langoustine.

We are doing the... >> LOI: The bisque, yeah.

>> ...the juice, the bisque, with onion, carrots, tomato, olive oil, of course.

We cook this all together and we have this beautiful, uh, juice.

Everything what we are serving here is coming from almost 50 to 100 kilometer around us.

Vegetable, the food, the fish, et cetera, everything is coming around us.

We're trying to be really focused on... >> LOI: Sustainable.

>> On sustainability, yes.

So first, we will start with the orzo pasta, because this is what it will, take it a bit more, more time.

A little bit of olive oil, of course.

And we will start with the onion.

>> LOI: The onion.

>> So a little bit of tomato.

(pan sizzling) So the orzo pasta, it will... We will cook it similar than a risotto.

>> LOI: Yeah, al dente, like they say.

>> Al dente, and we will give the juice slowly, slowly, slowly.

So next, I will add... >> LOI: The orzo.

>> ...the orzo pasta.

♪ ♪ Hup.

I will start with two spoon.

>> LOI: I like the orzo not to be very cooked.

>> Yes, a little, little bit al dente.

>> LOI: Yeah.

>> A click more than al dente.

And as soon as the orzo, the pasta, drink all the juice up... >> LOI: You add more.

>> ...we add more.

>> LOI: Okay.

So now you leave it over there.

>> Exactly, we put, I will put a little bit of salt now, but we will see the seasoning at the end with the cheese, et cetera.

>> LOI: It smells so good.

>> You see, the smell, it's amazing.

So now the time that it's cooking, we will clean the langoustine.

We remove the head.

>> LOI: They're so fresh.

(cracking) >> We crack it.

♪ ♪ >> LOI: C'est magnifique.

How's my French?

>> Exairetika.

>> LOI: Oh!

♪ ♪ >> Little bit of olive oil.

>> LOI: Just a touch.

>> And I will put a little bit of fresh oregano just to give it a bit of flavor.

I will put some salt on our langoustine.

A little bit of fresh pepper.

Now we will cook our langoustine.

Look at, look at this.

>> LOI: You are superb!

>> Look at this.

Look at this beauty.

(sizzling) And the langoustine, it's very important, don't overcook it.

It's almost better when it's a little bit undercooked.

>> LOI: Don't overcook the fish, or the langoustine, because they will become rubbery, and we don't want that.

We want all the freshness in our mouth.

♪ ♪ >> And I will do a little bit of lime.

>> LOI: The lime zest, right?

>> Exactly.

>> LOI: Yeah.

>> And now you can add maybe just a pinch of olive oil.

>> LOI: That's enough.

>> Excellent, excellent, yes.

>> LOI (in French accent): Excellent.

>> (in French pronunciation): Excellent.

And I think we are close.

>> LOI: Yes, we are.

>> So now I will here a little bit of fresh tomato, so will give you a little bit of freshness now.

Hup.

A little bit of fresh tomato.

>> LOI: And then maybe the lemon juice?

>> Lemon juice, so you can.

>> LOI: Tell me-- that's enough?

>> A little bit... >> LOI: More?

>> Yes, it's okay.

>> LOI: I like.

>> Yes, me, too, I like it.

>> LOI: You have it sweet from the bisque, and also the lemon gives this a bit of sour, and that's the difference.

>> I will add little bit of chives.

>> LOI: Okay.

>> And now we will finish with a little bit of this... >> LOI: Naxos cheese.

>> Exactly.

(Loi laughing) Look at this.

>> LOI: Thank you.

>> Look at this.

So now... >> LOI: Come on, chef, I want to eat.

>> Let's go.

>> LOI: Okay.

And this vessel is beautiful.

>> Yes, yes.

♪ ♪ And look, we will finish now with the langoustine.

>> LOI: I can't wait.

>> The last touch: lime, and we will finish.

>> LOI: Can you put a bit of cheese?

>> A little bit of cheese.

>> LOI: Yeah, and the olive oil.

>> And a touch of olive oil of course.

>> LOI: Olive oil is always.

♪ ♪ >> Enjoy.

>> LOI: Of course I'm going to.

♪ ♪ You know, the lime and the lemon... >> Give you the freshness at the end.

>> LOI: Yeah.

I didn't expect so... Let me get only the orzo.

>> Al dente.

>> LOI: It is.

>> I clicked it a bit more than al dente.

>> LOI: Mm-hmm.

Are you sure you're French and you're not Greek?

(laughing) So thank you.

>> It's my pleasure, it was really my pleasure.

>> LOI: No, really, thank you.

It was my best time here ever.

It's not only the view, it's the people, the service that you have here.

The food.

>> Thank you.

♪ ♪ >> LOI: I love langoustine.

But it's not always easy to find at your local market.

But don't worry-- you can still bring a piece of Greece to your kitchen table.

I am going to show you how to make a dish with something that is much easier to find: shrimp.

What do we have?

Onion.

Of course, we're Greeks.

Remember: don't cut it like this.

You cut it on a cutting board.

I've learned this from my grandma and I practice a lot.

You don't need a lot of onion in here.

And if you don't like onion, you like garlic, or both, you can add it.

Then you add some lemon juice.

Olive oil.

Salt.

Baby tomatoes.

You can get cherry, grape-- whatever you like.

Then I will add the shrimp.

I made a bed so your shrimp can lay on that.

There are so many different options when it comes to choosing shrimp.

Should you buy fresh or frozen?

Both are good.

What is important is how they smell.

They should smell like the ocean, not fishy, or like ammonia, and make sure that there are no preservatives, okay?

Buy shrimp in the shell.

It will protect the meat, and you can use the shells, as well, to make stock or sauces.

Shrimp and other seafood do not need a lot of time to cook.

Did you see here?

I have the shrimp on ice, I cleaned them, but I put a plastic film between the shrimp and the ice, because the ice, it burns the flesh of the shrimp.

Always keep it separate from the ice, okay?

So I will add some more tomato.

I like it, it's beautiful.

Oregano.

Or any other herb you like.

Fresh pepper.

No salt on the shrimp.

They come with their own salt from the ocean.

You will know when the shrimp is done.

They will turn opaque and pinkish.

In a pan, it will take only one or two minutes.

But in the oven, it needs four or five minutes.

Preheated oven, 350 to 400.

There.

See?

Ready.

I love my orzo.

I will serve this shrimp over.

Like langoustine, shrimp is full of protein.

In Greece, we use a lot of feta cheese.

I love it.

The creamy, the tart of the feta, it goes perfect with the shrimp and the tomato.

In Greece, we don't use a fork and a knife.

We just eat the shrimp like this.

(chuckling) Thank you for joining me again today.

I hope our dishes have inspired you to start cooking Mediterranean in your own kitchen.

You can change your life.

I changed mine.

I want to share these culinary secrets with everyone because it's more than just about good food.

It's also a way of living.

This is what we believe at "The Life of Loi."

Yassou!

(blows kiss) >> Funding for this program is provided by the Behrakis Family.

Additional funding is provided by the Greek National Tourism Organisation.

♪ ♪