Kalofagas Greek Supper Club – An Evening in the Cyclades (Recap)

This past Tuesday I cooked for my second Greek Supper Club with a menu inspired by the cuisine of the Cyclades islands. The menu was ambitious, lots of thought and work went into the meal, with an eye to providing my guests with Greek hospitality like one experiences when visiting a Greek home. The location was The Fuel House where we packed-in 30 guests to mezedes, salad and seafood courses followed by a main and finally dessert.

The evening played out as such: guests gathered in the backyard of the restaurant and were offered either Ouzo or white wine with an array of mezedes. For this evening I partnered with Celebrity Wines (George Kakarelis) who provided Ouzo Tirnavou, Paros Moraitis Wines and Tsipouro Tirnavou as an after dinner digestif.

The first appetizer to hit the tables were the warm marinated olives and Ladenia, a specialty of Kimolos.

I sent mezedes out in waves and the next offerings were octopus meatballs and these canapes of shrimp pâté reminiscent of Shrimp Saganaki.

Homemade bread was also placed on all the tables with a parsley dip from Syros that surprised even the Greek guests who had never tried this before!

Also on the table were bowls of Acropolis Organics EVOO and their signature Mousto-Balsamic vinegar – ideal for bread-dunking.

The first course to arrive on the table was an artichoke salad inspired by the island of Tinos, who produce some of Greece’s finest. I gently poached the artichokes, topped it with a medley of cooked but still firm vegetables dressed with a vinaigrette and topped with fried calamari garnish.

The next dish took the guests to the island of Paros where I first had this dish: braised octopus tossed in makaronia and baked in an aromatic sauce with fresh dill.

The main course was a slow-roasted goat served with a rice stuffing with pine-nuts, sultanas and offal. The cavity of the goat is stuffed with the rice mixture then sewn-up, wrapped in parchment & foil and placed in the oven for 5-6 hours.

Dessert was this adventurous cheesecake with Feta cheese in it, served with sour cherry spoonsweet and homemade sesame snaps.

All this food plus Ouzo, wine with each course and apres-dinner Tsipouro were had for $75! A steal in this economy and besides…where else in Toronto will you get a dinner with the authentic flavours of Greece?

Many thanks go out to the Fuel House for opening up their premises for the evening and being gracious co-hosts, thanks to George Kakarelis of Celebrity Wines who would be delighted to take your orders of TirnavousOuzo & Tsipouro and Paors Moriatis Wines at 416-993-0993. A big thanks to Panagiotis Tsioriotakis of Acropolis Organics for providing the olive oil and Mousto-Balsamico for the kitchen and for the guests’ tables. Finally a BIG Thank you to my sous-chef for the day, Paula Costa.

Will you come to the next dinner? Would you bring friends? Would you like to see a dinner where you live (yes, even outside of the Toronto area)? I’m already jotting down ideas for the next dinner, likely in July but if feedback is positive I may be convinced to organize another dinner in June.