♪ ♪ >> 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 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.

Additional funding is provided by the Greek National Tourism Organisation.

>> LOI: The wise man builds his house up on the rock, and in Greece, there is a whole town carved into the slopes of a rock, Monemvasia.

Join me and see why this beautiful town holds such a special place in my heart.

My time with Yiayia in Monemvasia baking ladenia touched my heart.

Together, we carried on her tradition of baking bread.

And now, I carry it on here, as well, with my friend Christian.

Give this bread a try.

(crunching) >> So good.

>> LOI: I hope it becomes a new tradition of yours.

Couscoussaki me tiri, Greek mac and cheese, a comfort food for all ages.

That's what I share with my young friend Amrita, inspired by the trachana I made in Greece.

>> Mmm.

>> LOI: What could be better than mac and cheese?

Greek mac and cheese, of course.

It's a favorite meal all around the world, and will be yours now, too.

Monemvasia, the rock, here we come.

Páme.

(thunder rumbling) (women singing in Greek) >> LOI: Three generations, I can't believe it.

Chrysanthi, she's the youngest.

The mother of Chrysanthi, Stamatiki.

(speaking Greek): >> YIAYIA (speaking Greek): >> LOI: 98 years old, Eleni, here, in Monemvasia.

Even that, uh, today, we have just a little rain, it's so beautiful.

♪ ♪ We're going to make something that we gave to Italians.

We call it ladenia.

They call it pizza, they call it focaccia, they call it whatever they want.

And Yiayia here, she's going to show us.

What is better than that?

(speaking Greek): We have the flour here.

Okay, we get the yeast.

>> YIAYIA: >> LOI (speaking Greek): >> YIAYIA: >> LOI (speaking Greek): (laughs) 98 years old.

She does everything by herself.

♪ ♪ (speaking Greek): Whatever you want, Yiayia.

More authentic than this cannot be.

(speaking Greek): >> (speaking Greek): (chuckles) >> LOI (speaking Greek): >> YIAYIA: >> LOI: Okay.

>> LOI and YIAYIA: >> LOI: >> CHRYSANTHI: >> YIAYIA: >> STAMATIKI and YIAYIA: >> LOI: Smart-- she was doing something... >> YIAYIA: >> LOI: Okay.

They were big families.

>> YIAYIA: >> LOI (speaking Greek): >> YIAYIA: >> LOI: >> YIAYIA: (Loi speaking Greek) >> LOI: Six children-- it's not easy.

(speaking Greek): >> YIAYIA: >> LOI (speaking Greek): >> STAMATIKI: >> LOI: (Yiayia exhales) >> LOI: (Loi and Yiayia laugh) >> YIAYIA: >> LOI: (singing in Greek) (clapping) ♪ ♪ >> LOI (speaking Greek): >> CHRYSANTHI: (Loi repeats in Greek) >> CHRYSANTHI: >> LOI: >> STAMATIKI: >> LOI: >> YIAYIA and LOI: >> LOI: ♪ ♪ >> (speaking Greek, Loi repeats): >> LOI: Oh, my little girl!

(laughs) ♪ ♪ (speaking Greek): ♪ ♪ >> CHRYSANTHI: >> YIAYIA: ♪ ♪ >> LOI: You can cut the onion any way you like, but make sure that you have a lot of onions.

♪ ♪ (speaking Greek): >> YIAYIA: >> LOI: That's the Greek diet, that's all.

(speaking Greek): (Loi speaking Greek) ♪ ♪ (Yiayia humming) ♪ ♪ >> LOI: She cuts the tomatoes very small so we can have the juice of the tomatoes in the dough.

(speaking Greek): The salt is from the sea, huh?

♪ ♪ (speaking Greek): >> YIAYIA: >> LOI: Very good.

I love olive oil.

>> YIAYIA: >> LOI: 45 minutes, medium-high.

♪ ♪ (speaking Greek): And it's vegan, as well.

(speaking Greek): >> YIAYIA: >> LOI: >> YIAYIA: >> LOI: >> STAMATIKI: >> LOI and CHRYSANTHI: >> LOI: It's tasty because of the onion, the olive oil, the tomato, and the thyme, gives exactly what we need.

Monemvasia, I love you.

♪ ♪ Christian came with me to Monemvasia, to the rock.

>> To the rock, yes.

>> LOI: We had amazing time.

Christian, for almost 29 years now, we are...

Yes, we are friends for almost 29 years.

What a great friend.

>> Oh, you're the best.

>> LOI: Today, we are going to make a recipe similar to that one that Grandma made in Monemvasia.

It's exactly what my grandma was making in my village.

We have flour.

>> Making a well?

>> LOI: Making a well.

We add water.

You can put like this, your finger in there and you can see if it's lukewarm water.

That should be the perfect temperature because we need the yeast to rise.

Okay, we keep some water, we add the yeast, and we add some honey.

You can add sugar, but please add honey.

It's healthier.

It's, like, a teaspoon of honey.

You mix it, because when you give something sweet to the yeast, then the yeast gives you all this puffiness up high, like I said.

Everything-- gives you back, you know?

♪ ♪ See how easy it is?

And it's so beautiful.

>> It must feel wonderful between your fingers.

>> LOI: I feel like I'm a kid now, just playing with the dough.

>> (giggles) Olive oil.

Makes life taste better and healthier.

So, now push the flour here.

>> Mm-hmm.

>> LOI: And we start again to see if we need more water, which I think we are going to.

>> Add water?

Okay.

>> LOI: Yes.

♪ ♪ Bravo, Christian.

You know to add it just a bit.

I think that it needs all of it, and maybe we'll need more.

♪ ♪ That's great.

And I'm going to put some more olive oil.

>> Beautiful.

♪ ♪ >> LOI: We're almost there, Christian.

>> Looks great.

>> LOI: Yeah.

All the flour came together, right?

So we have the ball there, okay.

>> Mm-hmm.

>> LOI: We'll put it in here.

And let's pick up everything.

See, because I have oil, you know, on my hands, this comes out easier.

>> Beautiful.

>> LOI: So what I'm going to do, I'm going to clean a bit here.

♪ ♪ >> Looks great.

>> LOI: Yeah.

Thank you.

>> You're welcome.

>> LOI: So give me all the water now.

>> Here you go.

(dough squishing) >> LOI: Do you hear that?

Tak, tak, tak, tak, tak, tak.

Excellent.

I like that.

(dough squishing) See?

>> It's so wet.

>> LOI: Okay, we're here.

We're done.

>> Beautiful.

>> LOI: Give me the baking pan.

>> Okay.

>> LOI: And add some olive oil from there.

>> Okay.

♪ ♪ >> LOI: Good.

And then go in here, and you remove the dough just with olive oil.

>> Wow, it's coming right up from the pan.

>> LOI: Yeah, right?

>> Ah, clever.

>> LOI: We'll put this directly into the pan, and after three hours, it will be ready to go into the oven.

If you have the time to leave it 12 hours, will be even better.

>> Oh, wow.

It looks a mess, but I bet it tastes amazing.

>> LOI (giggles): It does.

And this olive oil on the top is going to give you super color.

>> And flavor, huh?

>> LOI (gasps): Oh!

♪ ♪ >> LOI: So Christian, you give it to Felipe.

>> Okay.

>> LOI: And Felipe will give us the one that he has risen already and the ready one.

Felipe, could you please give Christian the risen bread, please?

>> Yes, Chef.

>> LOI: Thank you.

>> Here we go.

>> LOI: Yep.

♪ ♪ You just have to cover it with a napkin.

You see how it has risen?

>> It's amazing.

>> LOI: Okay, Felipe, could you please give me the bread that you baked, as well?

>> Yes, Chef.

>> LOI: Yeah, fluffy, huh?

>> Wow.

>> LOI: And if you want, you can add... anything on the top.

I like some honey.

>> So it stays just like this.

You don't pound it down again.

>> LOI: No, no, just like that.

>> So it's just like that.

>> Beautiful.

>> LOI: And then, 375.

It's about 35 minutes.

So give it to Felipe... >> Will do.

>> LOI: And he's going to bake that, too.

>> Here you go.

>> LOI: And Felipe made ready the bread for me, see?

>> That's beautiful.

>> LOI: Isn't it?

>> Oh, my God.

>> LOI: And it tastes amazing.

Here, take it, you go like this.

>> Oh, my God.

>> LOI: That's how you know... (thudding hollowly) ...that it's ready.

You hear tak, tak, tak, tak, tak, tak, tak, tak.

>> Yeah.

>> LOI: Someone is at the door.

(both laughing) But, you know, you can cut it like this.

(inhales deeply): It smells so good.

Isn't it nice?

>> Oh, beautiful.

>> LOI: I'm cutting this, and then I get it in pieces.

>> Mmm.

>> LOI: And then I put it in small containers and I freeze it.

You want to taste it?

Taste it.

>> Yeah, I think this would be my favorite part, with the crust.

>> LOI: With the crust?

>> Yeah.

>> LOI: Okay, but you're not going to have the whole thing-- you're going to halve it?

You can have the whole thing-- you want some honey on it?

>> A little bit, please, yeah.

>> LOI: Okay.

We can eat this and they can go to Monemvasia.

>> Okay.

Oh, great.

>> LOI: Up in the rock.

You can start that.

Okay.

>> All right, here you go.

>> LOI: Okay.

>> Shall we?

>> LOI: Yeah.

(both laughing, bread crunching) >> Mmm, mmm...

So good.

(crunching loudly) And I'm tasting the honey... >> LOI: And the olive oil.

>> And the olive oil.

>> What a wonderful crunch.

>> LOI: Okay, have half of this.

>> Thank you.

>> LOI: Yassou.

♪ ♪ And yassou.

Go to Monemvasia.

We're still eating.

(both laughing) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> LOI: We are here in the middle of this old town, Monemvasia, one of the most beautiful towns in Greece.

This is Chrysanthi, my new friend.

Chrysanthi means-- chrysó and anthí.

It's "gold" and "flowers."

(speaking Greek): >> (speaking Greek): >> LOI: I love traditional recipes.

>> CHRYSANTHI: ♪ ♪ >> LOI: They're so fresh, this eggplant.

>> CHRYSANTHI: (sizzling) ♪ ♪ (sizzling loudly) >> LOI (speaking Greek) and CHRYSANTHI: >> LOI: I will show you something that my mother used to do with tomato paste.

>> CHRYSANTHI: >> LOI: You know, the tomato paste is the best tomato to cook.

♪ ♪ Now we have caramelized the eggplant with the tomato paste.

Now we are going to add the tomato juice.

♪ ♪ That's enough, because I want to do something at the end.

>> CHRYSANTHI: >> LOI: Water.

We're going to add the trachana now.

♪ ♪ >> CHRYSANTHI: >> LOI: Yeah, you can add one more.

I love trachana.

(laughs) >> Oh, okay.

>> CHRYSANTHI (speaking Greek): >> LOI: All right.

>> CHRYSANTHI: ♪ ♪ >> LOI: Okay.

Look at this!

♪ ♪ And this is the last touch.

>> CHRYSANTHI: >> LOI: Yep.

>> CHRYSANTHI: Ah... >> LOI: Mm-hmm.

>> CHRYSANTHI and LOI: ♪ ♪ >> LOI: And this is the last finishing touch.

Olive oil.

♪ ♪ >> CHRYSANTHI: ♪ ♪ >> LOI: You made it, bravo.

(laughs) The trachanas, as we say in America, it rounds the plate.

Rounds the food.

>> LOI and CHRYSANTHI (speaking Greek): >> LOI: Maria is ready with her fork.

Come here!

(laughing) Come here, you want to try?

>> Of course, I want to try.

(laughs): I was waiting.

>> LOI: Take it.

Maria is the owner over here for this amazing place.

>> Mmm!

>> LOI: You like it?

>> (kisses): Perfect.

>> LOI: Have some more.

>> Mmm, I take all.

>> LOI: Take it!

Thank you, yassou.

(all laughing) And yassou.

♪ ♪ >> LOI: I am here with my little friend Amrita.

She's a customer here.

She always loves to eat pasta, and that's why I decided today to show her how to make an easy mac and cheese on the stove.

>> I'm really excited.

>> LOI: Nice.

It has to be very hot, the pan over here that we are going to cook, and I will start with the onion.

But look at this, how easy.

This is how I used to cut the onion you know, in my hometown in Greece.

You like it?

>> Yeah.

But you need a lot of practice.

>> LOI: Yeah.

>> Because it's not safe, because you might accidentally cut your hand or something.

>> LOI: Agree.

>> And don't touch the hot stove!

(Loi laughs) That's another thing.

>> LOI: Yep.

So, may I have the couscoussaki, please?

>> All righty.

>> LOI: Thank you.

>> Here we go.

>> LOI (sniffs): See?

This is not couscous, this is pasta.

>> So the pasta and the onion you need to mix together without water, because they need to blend the flavor.

>> LOI: We want to toss the couscoussaki and to get that nutty taste out of that.

>> I can't have nuts, though.

>> LOI (chuckles): No, it's not nuts.

Nutty taste, but without nuts.

>> Huh.

>> LOI: Are you allergic to nuts?

>> Yeah.

>> LOI: To all?

All of them?

>> I don't know.

I mean, I don't know if I'm allergic to all nuts or it's just some nuts, but I'd like to be careful.

>> LOI: Always we have to be careful.

>> Yeah.

>> LOI: Always we have to check what we're eating.

And especially, we have to check food for our kids.

>> Anyways, let's get back to food.

(Loi laughs) >> What type of olive oil is that?

>> LOI: Greek.

>> All right.

Let's put some in.

>> LOI: One, two, three spoons.

That's three tablespoons.

That's how my grandma was measuring the olive oil.

>> Wow.

>> LOI: It's another way to cook pasta.

>> Wow.

>> LOI: Actually, this is the old way.

>> So now we cook pasta a different way.

>> LOI: Yeah, just put water, you know, and you add the pasta, right?

But this one is amazing, you will love it.

>> Yeah.

>> LOI: Okay, so we have hot water here.

>> We need to be careful... (pan sizzling loudly) >> LOI: And we're doing like the risotto style.

>> Oh, it's starting to steam!

>> LOI: Yeah, you see?

>> It's dancing and steaming.

(Loi laughs) Whoa, the steam is cool.

>> LOI: Ah?

>> Oh, it smells good.

>> LOI: Okay, more now.

>> We're adding more water.

>> LOI: More water.

So, we need to wait a bit.

>> Do we need to prep anything else while we wait?

>> LOI: Isn't she amazing?

You can do the broccoli.

So, go like this, okay?

>> And pull it off?

>> LOI: Leave it here, yeah, just pull it off.

>> Okay, I think I can do that.

>> LOI: Okay?

Good, continue.

She's the best.

And now...

Remember the other day, how I was doing the eggs?

>> Yeah, I remember.

>> LOI: Okay.

Actually, you show me, if you remember.

>> It's this, right?

>> LOI: Go ahead.

>> All right.

(giggling) >> LOI: Straight, yeah.

>> All right, let's try it straight.

>> LOI: Bravo.

>> All right.

>> Oh, looks like these are turning out really runny.

>> LOI: Okay, let me help you.

>> Yeah.

>> LOI: Okay, here, see?

But you are strong, and you can go like this.

>> Yeah, we'll, let's... >> LOI: Can you do that?

Let's have the milk now.

Can you add the milk in here?

>> All right.

>> LOI: Good.

And that's it.

>> It looks so pale now, the eggs look so pale.

>> LOI: Yeah, so now, we'll add the cheese.

>> All righty.

>> LOI: Good.

- Whee!

>> LOI (laughs): Okay.

>> All right.

>> LOI: That's why we like this Kasseri cheese, because it's, like, kind of mozzarella cheese... >> But it's different.

>> LOI: Creamy.

Slowly, you go slowly.

Bravo, Felipe, thank you.

We're almost there.

But in order not to make our eggs omelet... (laughs) ...we temper the eggs there.

I will put just a bit of the mixture here.

And you stir it, stir it in there.

Yeah, stir it.

We take the heat of the pot into this bowl.

>> Ooh, it's starting to steam because of the heat.

>> LOI: Okay, we'll add more.

>> All right.

>> LOI: And now, I will take the bowl and I will add it in here.

>> We're adding everything into, we're adding everything into... >> LOI: We are adding everything that we have in the bowl into the pot.

>> All right.

>> LOI: See?

It thickens.

>> Wow, this really looks like Greek mac and cheese.

>> LOI: I will add some broccoli and I could cut it thinner.

♪ ♪ To bite sizes.

You like broccoli?

>> Yes.

>> LOI: Good.

Super-- super food, vitamins.

>> Yeah.

>> LOI: I think that will be enough.

>> Yeah.

>> LOI: If we want, we can always add more.

Now I will add just a touch of salt, okay?

>> Yeah, a touch of salt... >> LOI: Not too much.

>> ...gives it a little teeny bit of flavor that it needs.

(Loi laughs) >> LOI: I think we have to have a show together.

>> Yeah.

>> LOI: A cooking show.

How do you think?

>> Good idea.

>> LOI: So, we are ready to serve.

>> Should we get the bowls out?

>> LOI: What color?

Choose one for you, one for me.

>> Well, I think to match your shirt, how about you should do the light blue bowl?

(Loi laughs) And to match my cardigan, I think I'm going to do the dark blue bowl.

>> LOI: Okay.

♪ ♪ >> All right.

♪ ♪ >> LOI: And let's put this over there.

>> I think we need spoons.

>> LOI: Okay.

You want the big spoon or small spoon?

>> I'm going to pick random.

This one?

>> LOI: Okay.

All right.

>> Oh, I got a small spoon.

>> LOI: That's not a small spoon, that's a big spoon.

>> Oh!

(both laugh) >> LOI: Okay.

>> Let's try a bite.

>> LOI: I like fresh pepper.

Okay?

>> I'm not a big fan of pepper.

>> LOI: Oh, you're not?

Okay.

>> No.

>> LOI: Okay.

>> Let's try a little bit.

♪ ♪ >> Mmm.

♪ ♪ >> LOI: Bravo.

>> Mm-hmm.

>> LOI: So... Amrita, come next to me.

Take, take your spoonful and come next to me.

>> All right.

>> LOI: Okay, okay.

And let's go-- look over there.

Look over there.

You see?

>> Here?

>> LOI: Here, and let's go... >> BOTH: Yassou!

(Loi laughs) ♪ ♪ >> Funding for this program is provided by the Behrakis family.

Additional funding is provided by the Greek National Tourism Organisation.

♪ ♪