- [Sara] "Sara's Weeknight Meals" is made possible by... - [Narrator] Aboard Oceania Cruises, we share a journey of culinary discovery from shore excursions dedicated to local food traditions, to our hands-on cooking school at sea.

Our master chefs take inspiration from vibrant markets and flavors, as they create the international dishes served to guests each evening.

That's the Oceania Cruises epicurean experience.

(soft rock music) - [Sara] And by USA Rice.

Some people travel to see the monuments or the beautiful scenery.

Not me.

I travel to find the kind of easy weeknight meals cooked by locals the world over.

Mmm.

Wow, that looks delicious.

On the sleepy Greek island of Lesvos, we make a comforting local favorite, kolokithopita, zucchini pie nestled in layers of filo dough.

It's like we're making a bed.

Gracias.

- Perfecto, gracias.

- [Sara] On a food tour of Barcelona, a viral favorite, deep fried mashed potatoes mixed with spiced meat, topped with a secret sauce.

What's not to love?

I will never kiss again.

That is so much garlic in there.

Oh, but this is so good.

At a sultan's palace in Istanbul... And now I get to dine like a sultan.

- [Alexis] Exactly.

- [Sara] The fish we caught from the Bosphorus looks impressive on the plate, but couldn't be simpler.

- Cover the fish with a sea salt crust like this.

Take our fish to the oven.

(tool bangs) We have this beautiful fish.

- [Sara] And moist.

That's the point of the salt.

It's dinnertime somewhere in the world, and we've got the best of what you'll wanna eat on "Sara's Weeknight Meals."

(airy upbeat music) Barcelona is all about tapas, small tasty bites made for sharing.

But it's more than just food.

It's how locals connect and unwind.

I'm in the seaside neighborhood of La Barceloneta with Paula Mourenza, a Barcelona native and tour guide with Culinary Backstreets.

When you do a tour, what are you trying to show people?

- Well, mostly the most important thing for us is to show these type of small family run places like the one that we are going to visit now.

- Oh, fantastic.

- [Paula] Okay, here we are.

La Cova Fumada.

- Where's the big sign?

- Well, they never had a sign.

- [Sara] Our first stop, La Cova Fumada, is an underground gem made famous as the birthplace of La Bomba, which translates to potato bomb.

- [Paula] And it is inside mashed potato with a little bit of meat that is coat battered and fried.

And on top we have some aioli and spicy sauce.

- Oh, garlic sauce.

- This is the combination that it became super famous in the city.

They created it here in the '50s.

And from that moment, it became one of the most iconic tapas in Barcelona.

- Oh my goodness.

I will never kiss again.

That is so much garlic in there.

Oh, but this is so good.

What makes it spicy?

The paprika?

- [Paula] Yes, it has some spicy sauce on top.

That is a secret of the house.

- It's a secret.

Okay.

- Secret recipe.

- Mmm mmm.

What else do we have here?

- [Paula] And here is a squid that we have with white beans.

This is grilled with some garlic and parsley, and olive oil on top, just to give it a touch of flavor.

And it is delicious.

In my opinion, it's one of the best grilled squids in the city.

- Mmm.

- What do you think?

- [Sara] The flavor's wonderful.

And just a quick grilling.

- [Paula] Yeah.

- [Sara] Wow.

Well, this has been a terrific start.

- Thank you.

But save room, we have much more to eat.

- [Sara] We do.

Barcelona is so old and beautiful.

I have a feeling all these stores have been here forever.

- Yeah, and the next shop we're going to see is from 1851.

- No.

While our next stop isn't a tapas bar, Casa Gispert is a must-see.

It's one of the oldest food stores in Barcelona.

This is amazing.

- [Paula] It's a beautiful shop.

They have tea, they have coffees.

This is how they started.

- Buenos dias.

- Buenos dias.

- [Paula] Buenos dias.

They sell also a lot of spices, but their specialty is actually the nuts.

(soft romantic music) - [Sara] Now what's the aroma I'm smelling?

- It's like smokey, right?

- Mmm hmm.

- This is because they have a firewood oven.

That is actually one of the oldest firewood ovens in the world.

And today I think we have some hazelnuts.

It's Roman way of roasting.

The box and the fire, they are not touching each other.

And this smoke became the secret ingredient.

- Ah, yes.

Hazelnuts.

Ah, that's great.

- [Paula] How about one?

- [Sara] I don't know, a nice sized bag.

That looks perfect.

- This?

- Yes.

Oh boy.

Gracias.

- Perfecto, gracias.

(airy upbeat music) - [Sara] Our last stop on our tapas tour is Bodega La Palma, a local favorite for almost a century.

- [Paula] Bodegas is the type of place where you can get tapas.

In fact, these bodegas, originally, they were places where they were selling wine in bulk.

- [Sara] Oh, like in casks.

- [Paula] Yes, exactly.

In fact, this place, Bodega La Palma, it is from 1935, and it was also a place where the artists used to hang out.

- Oh, very cool.

(patrons chattering) (dishes clinking) - [Paula] What we have here is a mojama, a cured tuna that we cure in salt.

It's like the ham of the sea.

Okay, do you remember the hazelnuts that we saw before?

Here we have that.

- [Sara] Where?

I don't see them.

How do you put 'em on there?

- [Paula] So what we can do is always grating them.

- [Sara] A microplane.

That's brilliant.

- Very elegant.

And it is a great way to give a touch.

- [Sara] And here I thought that was sea salt.

That's hazelnuts.

- Now I want introduce a couple of pintxos.

One Gilda and one Berta.

Pintxos are not tapas.

It's a different theme.

They came originally from the Basques.

What gives the name is this kind of toothpick that we are going to use to assemble, to put together all the different ingredients.

The idea is to create a bite that maybe we can eat in one, two bites.

They must have a lot of flavor inside, and that's it.

And then we finish it with a drink.

- Okay, let's see what I can do here.

Okay, olive first.

- [Paula] Now you need the piparra.

You need two.

Exactly, put the anchovy around.

It's a kind of green chili, also from the Basque country, from Bizkaia.

That is a little bit spicy.

As you can see, you can change a little bit, no?

If you prefer to change one ingredient with another one, if you like the colors in a different way, you can do it too.

- [Sara] So why is it called the Gilda?

- [Paula] It is because the movie of Rita Hayworth.

I know you've heard about it, this movie from the '40s.

When this movie arrived to Spain, it was a whole sensation in the country.

And the pintxo, it was salted and spicy.

- Just like Rita Hayworth in "Gilda."

- Exactly.

I drive to Barcelona because it's a perfect pairing with the vermouth.

- Thank you so much for my lovely day eating tapas in Barcelona.

Ooh, my.

- My pleasure, Sara.

(soft mellow music) - [Sara] If you're looking for sweet villages full of colorful locals, you couldn't do better than Mytilene on the magical Greek island of Lesvos, famous for its ouzo.

That's why I'm at Cafe Musica with my friend Marina.

(people speaking in Greek) - It's eggplant in tomato sauce.

- Ooh, yum, yum.

So I'm sort of baffled.

Do we really need all this food just to go with our ouzo?

- [Marina] Yes, we do.

That's how we do it.

We drink ouzo, but we drink it with a lot of small meze.

- Yeah, you need all that to absorb- - [Marina] Exactly.

- [Sara] The high octane.

- [Marina] Would you like me to- - [Sara] Yeah.

- Shall I do the honors?

- Yes, please do.

- [Marina] This island is famous for its ouzo.

Don't worry, the moment I put the water in, this will turn white.

- [Sara] Oh, magic trick, magic trick.

- That's what happens.

- Ooh, I'm getting a heavy hit of licorice.

- That is the ouzo smell.

The special thing of ouzo is the anise flavor.

- Well, I think we must taste.

- Are you ready to do this?

- Yeah.

Yamas.

- [Marina] Yamas.

- Woo.

- What do you think?

- [Sara] I actually really like it.

- [Marina] Strong?

- Yeah.

- Would you like to- - [Sara] Yeah, olive oil on the tomatoes.

These are beautiful tomatoes.

- [Marina] It was picked this morning first thing.

Everything that's on the table is absolutely local.

- [Sara] Including the salt.

- [Marina] This is from the salt mine in Kalloni.

- Mmm, mmm.

- [Marina] Straight off the plant.

- It's still dewy.

- [Marina] These little olives are very traditional of the island.

As you can see, they're not in brine.

They're very dry and salty.

- I love those, sort of raisin like.

- We call them roupades.

- [Sara] Mmm, those are yummy.

And then we have octopus.

- [Marina] Octopus, beetroot pickle, so pickled beetroot, the shrimp and the aubergine, of course.

- Now you typically have this kind of spread at the end of the day before dinner?

- It's sort of anytime from let's say midday onwards.

We drink ouzo.

We're not heavy drinkers.

And it's mainly about the food and the drink of course.

But it's not, the main dish is not the drink, if you know what I mean.

- Got it, got it, got it.

- It's the other way around.

- And this is a typical kind of cafe where you would have this.

- [Marina] It is a traditional cafe.

- [Sara] It's very charming, yeah.

- [Marina] But a kafeneio, which is the Greek word for cafe, is where traditionally you will have your ouzo.

- [Sara] Okay.

- [Marina] Do you want to try the eggplant?

- Oh yes, absolutely.

I'm a big eggplant fan.

- I'll bring it a little closer.

- Okay.

- [Marina] This is a very, very traditional Lesvos dish.

- [Sara] Oh, look at how well it's cooked down.

That looks beautiful.

- [Marina] Should be sweet and spicy at the same time.

- The tomato and... - [Marina] Garlic and... Good?

- Can I have some bread?

You gotta spread that on bread.

I mean, there's just no way around it.

Do you live near here?

- My house is very close near here.

And I think after we've had some ouzo, it will be perfect to go cooking.

- I mean, will you trust me with a knife after this?

- Hmm, that is a good question.

But yes, I will.

I will trust you with a knife.

- Okay.

(warm acoustic music) Okay.

- You're doing a good job there.

- Yeah, this is a lifetime supply of scallions.

Well, here I am with Marina... - Leonidhopoulos.

- [Sara] Yeah, that's what I said, right.

And after all that ouzo, just ready to cook Greek style.

So what are we making?

- We're making kolokithopita, which is a zucchini pie.

We can make it with pumpkin, and then it's a sweet, it's like a dessert.

Or we can make it with zucchini, which we're doing today, and then it's a savory pie.

- [Sara] So that looks like it's about two cups of chopped spring onions.

And we're gonna saute them until they get translucent.

- [Marina] Sounds just right.

- [Sara] So this looks like feta.

- That is feta.

That is local Lesvos feta.

- And just in a nice crumble.

- [Marina] In a nice crumble.

Don't worry too much, it's a rustic dish.

- My favorite word.

- The thing is, if you have very large chunks, they won't melt down properly.

- And the second cheese, what is it?

- [Marina] That we call anthotiros.

It is a low fat sheep's or goat and sheep milk cheese.

So the reason I'm using half and half is to make the pie a little less salty.

- Got it.

And this looks to be about a half to three quarters of a pound of cheese.

- [Marina] I think we're ready with this.

So I'm going to whisk three eggs.

- [Marina] Oh, look at that yolk.

That is beautiful.

- These are local eggs again.

- [Sara] Local eggs.

- [Marina] Yes.

- [Sara] Love it.

- [Marina] If you can get a bunch of dill and a bunch of mint.

- [Sara] And just chop it.

- [Marina] And just chop it finely.

So my eggs are all whisked.

I'll put the cheese into the eggs.

- [Sara] And here, of course, we grated some zucchini.

You said it was five medium guys.

- [Marina] That's right, it was five medium guys.

- [Sara] And I'm curious.

Usually I salt it and weigh it and squeeze it and worry about it.

And you just grated it.

- I grated it.

But it's been sitting here for a good hour and a half.

So if you don't have that time, you can do what you're saying.

I try to avoid the salt because they tend to absorb a lot of salt.

And then the feta is also salty.

- [Sara] Does this look good?

- [Marina] It looks fabulous, and I'm ready to- - [Sara] Take it, okay.

I just have a little more to do.

- Oh, I need to put my scallions now.

You've got time, don't worry about it.

- Don't get nervous.

So we just got those translucent.

- [Marina] Yes.

- [Sara] I love how many herbs are in there.

That is a gorgeous thing.

- And it smells lovely.

Just you chopping it there has filled the air with them.

- [Sara] I know, we perfumed the whole room.

- So you put both, it's all mixed up?

- [Sara] Yes.

- Great.

- [Sara] Now this does remind me very much of spanakopita.

- Yeah, pita is something we do with anything we have really.

In the villages, they used to open the filo handmade.

And then they would do cheese, spinach, meat.

Smells good.

- [Sara] It smells so good.

Well then, I'm just gonna clear a little bit 'cause we're gonna do the filo now.

- We'll let this rest for a bit.

- [Sara] So now this is filo dough, which we can get in the United States, usually in the frozen section.

Now I wanna point out that we did not open this till this very moment because otherwise it dries out.

- That's right.

This is filo we can get here ready at the supermarket.

It's called Horiatiko phyllo, which is slightly thicker than maybe the filo that you can get at home.

But that's absolutely fine.

And you can also use puff pastry.

This is a 9 by 11 oven-safe glass pan.

I'm just oiling it with a brush.

I've got olive oil, we always use olive oil.

- Is this local olive oil?

Do you make olive oil on Lesvos?

- Lesvos is a huge olive island.

We've got lots of olive trees everywhere, and then olives and olive oil.

So you pick it up, either tip it in here, or you let me do it, whichever way you prefer.

There you go, you can lay it down there.

Perfect, don't worry about it.

Nothing's gonna happen to it.

- It's like we're making a bed.

- [Marina] And then what I do is I push it comfortably into the pan.

I'm not cutting the edges yet.

I might have to at the end.

And then I am oiling it.

- Okay.

- [Marina] We're not stingy with the olive oil, otherwise it is too dry.

- [Sara] Yes.

- There we go, I'm ready for you.

Just let it drop.

- [Sara] Yeah, just let it drop.

So explain to people what filo dough is.

- [Marina] Filo dough is just basically flour and water and then a bit of salt.

People who have more time actually do homemade filo dough.

You said spanakopita before.

Pita is the pie, and the first part of the word is the filling, the type of filling.

So they used to make pitas in all the villages.

It was a poor man's meal because you had... It's a bit like a sandwich in a way, if you think about it.

You get the starch and then your, whatever it is.

You can do a pita with meat or with chicken.

Right now we've got three at the bottom and we're gonna put three at the top.

So I'm just gonna oil this one and then put the filling inside.

- [Sara] Okay, great.

- [Marina] You can do this with a brush or you can do it with a piece of paper or you can do it with your fingers.

I like the brush with it because I think it's done more evenly somehow.

- [Sara] I agree.

- [Marina] Let's do this.

- Do you want me to hold it and you can guide it in?

How do you wanna do this?

- Yes, because I think we might, for this pita, need less than what we have here.

So we can make a second one if we want.

- [Sara] I think you've made this before, I could be wrong.

- I have made this before.

And you can actually refrigerate the filling and use it the next day in another pie if you want to.

And there's another recipe, which we don't have time for right now, which is scrambling eggs into this and making something like a Spanish omelet.

You can see it, can't you?

You can imagine it.

I'm just giving it a little extra sheet here.

(laughs) There we go.

So now we're gonna put another two sheets of filo on top, oiling them again each time, and then we're done.

And to finish it, I like to fold in the edges until we have a nice, neat package.

And then I'm just gonna cut whatever's left off 'cause it burns easily and I don't want it to burn.

So I'm just gonna make sure it's in the pan.

And then I'm gonna take a knife, I score it.

It doesn't actually help it cook, but it makes it much easier- - Easier to serve.

- To see where the pieces are when you're done.

- [Sara] I see that, yeah.

- [Marina] It needs to go into the oven now.

350 degrees for 45, 50 minutes.

(light easygoing music) (warm acoustic music) - [Sara] Whoa, does that look beautiful.

- I think it looks good.

- Yes.

- [Marina] So let me.

- [Sara] Now I see why you score it.

That just makes life- - See, it's so much easier.

It makes life easier.

I let it sit for a while.

This can actually be eaten even cold, room temperature cold.

There we go, it's out.

- [Sara] Oh wow, beautiful.

Oh my goodness.

There's a parsley stem there.

- You can smell that too, huh?

- [Sara] Bad staff work.

- [Marina] I'm wondering whether you can still smell the mint.

- [Sara] That's fun.

All right, here goes.

It's not salty.

I'm getting the herbs almost first.

I wanna thank you so much for having me in your lovely home and showing me that great cafe this morning and making me drink ouzo at 10 o'clock in the morning.

It's been a very unique experience.

So yassou.

- Yamas.

You're most welcome.

- Okay.

(rustic upbeat music) East meets West in Istanbul, a crossroads of civilizations and continents, where Europe and Asia collide at the Bosphorus Strait.

It is a water highway that also gives this city of 14 million an abundant diet of fish.

Culinary historian Gamze Ineceli grew up here.

- [Gamze] In Istanbul, the sea is splitting the city into two.

- [Sara] Wow, okay.

And people eat the fish from this body of water.

- Yes, absolutely.

Because even though we are in the middle of the city, there are very strong winds and there is a constant current which flows.

So the fish are quite edible and safe to eat.

Around September, fish begin their descent from the cooling waters of the Black Sea to the warmer waters of the Mediterranean via the Bosphorus Strait.

During this time, there are many, many varieties, mullet, sea bass, bonito, the horse mackerel, and our treasured and beloved blue fish.

- [Sara] So I've seen people fishing off the edge and fishermen.

Are they all commercial?

- [Gamze] No, not at all.

They're local residents awaiting their catch of the day so they can have an equally lovely dinner with fresh fish.

Istanbul is a water city that has immensely profited from fishing throughout centuries.

And it always will.

(earthy grandiose music) - [Sara] Our tour of the Bosphorus concluded at the Ciragan Palace Hotel, where we docked just in time to meet with Executive Chef Alexis Atlamazoglu, who came with a delightful surprise.

- [Alexis] Wow.

- [Sara] Oh wow.

Oh, hello chef.

That is beautiful.

What have you got there?

- [Alexis] I have a sea bream and a sea bass.

- [Gamze] They look so beautiful.

This is a true delicacy, and the sea bream actually is quite rare to find in these waters.

So you're very, very lucky.

- Oh well, I'm ready.

- Wow, it's going to be absolutely delicious.

- It was great to see you.

- It was so wonderful.

Come back to see us again soon.

- I will.

- And I'm leaving you in the very hands capable hands of our chef.

- Thank you.

- Have fun.

- [Sara] As we made our way to the kitchen, Executive Chef Alexis shared the rich history of this 17th century palace, once a royal residence reserved exclusively for sultans.

- [Alexis] We call our palace the Grand Dame of Bosphorus.

And now we can accommodate everyone actually.

- So if I stay here, I can be a sultan.

- Of course.

- And now I get to dine like a sultan.

- [Alexis] Exactly.

- [Sara] Well, here I am with Chef Alexis.

We're standing in front of this gorgeous hotel, former palace.

So I assume we're making something very grand.

- Yes, we do two beautiful fishes, but now we will do the sea bream with a sea salt crust.

- [Sara] And tell me what you just did, you cut off- - I cut off the gills.

I just want to make it a little bit handsome.

- A little bit handsome?

It's handsome all by itself.

But you need to cut off all those fins?

- Fins, yes, yes.

- And you already cleaned it.

- [Alexis] Yes, actually I haven't scaled it.

- Oh really?

- Because it's not necessary.

After we cook it with the sea salt crust, when you take the sea salt crust out, you just take the skin off.

So it's not necessary.

- No need to scale.

- Exactly.

- So this becomes even easier for you guys at home.

You don't have to do that other stuff.

- The next step is we stuff it with some herbs.

When we cover it with the sea salt, we want all these aromas, all the fragrances to go through the fish.

- [Sara] Permeate.

Oh, I can't wait.

Okay, so that looks like about one cup each of dill, parsley, and scallions.

So just enough till it's nicely filled.

- [Alexis] Exactly.

- Okay, now tell me about the salt crust.

- We have three kinds of salt.

- Okay, this one is... - [Alexis] Yes, this is the medium size.

- [Sara] The kilogram of kosher salt.

What's this?

- [Alexis] This is coarse salt.

- [Sara] That's 500 grams of rock salt.

And then we have a kilogram of table salt.

- [Alexis] You can do it with any kind of salt that you have.

But from my experiences, it's good to stir all those three salts together.

Makes a nicer crust and keeps the steam more inside the fish and make it more delicious.

- [Sara] Oh, this is sort of fun.

This is like coarse sand.

- Exactly.

- [Sara] So what we have here is the whites of eight eggs.

- [Alexis] Can do it like this.

- Wow, so really almost beyond meringue.

Very stiffly beaten.

- Exactly.

We want the consistency of a snowball.

So you will see.

- That's fun.

- We stir a little bit of water as well.

- Should I just use my hands?

- Absolutely.

- [Sara] Oh, this really, I have to say, this feels so good.

I feel like I'm at a spa.

- What we will do is to put some sea salt crust underneath and then we place the fish on the top.

So we have a thin layer of salt underneath, yes.

And now we will place the fish on the top.

- [Sara] You made it a little bed.

- Yes.

- Now we're gonna tuck it in.

- Yes, where the joy starts actually.

- The joy, okay.

- We start to cover the fish with the sea salt crust like this.

And because we have the scales on it, it doesn't absorb the salt.

The scale doesn't let the salt get in.

- What temperature and how long do you cook it?

- We cook it in 230 Fahrenheit.

So we need one hour and 30 minutes.

- [Sara] Okay, well- - [Alexis] We take our fish to the oven.

- [Sara] Okay.

(warm acoustic music) Wow.

- [Alexis] So here we go.

The sea salt crust is cooked.

Now we are breaking the salt to get the fish.

(tool bangs) - If you didn't have your special salt breaking tool, you could just use a rolling pin, right?

- Yeah, exactly.

You need something hard actually.

We have this beautiful fish cooked.

- Perfectly.

- Cooked through, yes.

- And moist.

- And moist, exactly.

- I mean, I think that's the point of the salt.

- Exactly, that was what we wanted to do.

We can take skin out very easily.

- [Sara] Oh wow, you're not kidding.

- You see how easily.

- [Sara] It's very flaky.

Oh my gosh, that looks so beautiful.

- [Alexis] Put a little bit olive oil on top.

- [Sara] Of course, as you do always.

I can't believe I was just served by the executive chef of this amazing palace/hotel.

- My pleasure, Sara.

- So what do we eat first?

- Let's go with the sea salt crust.

Let's go with the sea bream.

- Mmm mmm.

- [Alexis] Having a fresh fish with a nice salad to me is the best lunch or dinner or anything that we can share.

- How about on the Bosphorus with a palace behind us?

- I thank you for being here.

- [Sara] No, no, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Yay.

- Cheers.

- [Sara] For recipes, videos and more, go to our website, saramoulton.com.

"Sara's Weeknight Meals" is made possible by... - [Narrator] A journey aboard Oceania Cruises is designed to cultivate curiosity.

Guests can explore local treasures and epicurean traditions.

Staff and crew are dedicated to guests' interests, relaxation and entertainment.

Evenings offer craft spirits, international wines, and dishes prepared by our master chefs.

That's the Oceania Cruises small ship experience.

- [Sara] And by USA Rice.

(soft swelling music)