Turkey, Lamb On Greek Restaurant Chef's Table

November 24, 2009

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November 24, 2009

Thanksgiving is perhaps the most American holiday; for immigrants, the feast is often a fusion of old and new culture. Chef Michael Psilakis talks to Renee Montagne about what he will be putting on his Thanksgiving table. He's the chef of the New York restaurant Anthos and author of a new cookbook, How to Roast a Lamb.

RENEE MONTAGNE, host:

And we're spending this week with some kings of the kitchen, renowned chefs who are infusing American cuisine with the flavor of their home countries. Our guess chefs were born overseas or raised by parents who were. This morning, we hear from Michael Psilakis, whose New York restaurant Anthos offers modern Aegean cuisine. He grew up on long island, the son of Greek immigrants.

Mr. MICHAEL PSILAKIS (Chef, Anthos): Thanksgiving was one of the few holidays where we actually participated in respecting the new country that we found ourselves in and that I was actually born in, and we actually roasted a turkey. But the balance of the table really still was basically infused with the Greek culture. So we always roasted a lamb on a spit. My father actually built a barbecue of brick for roasting of whole animals when I was two or three years old. So I've been putting lambs and whole animals on a spit my entire life. But the balance of the table after the lamb was all basically Greek.

MONTAGNE: Did your mother make an attempt to make the turkey Greek?

Mr. PSILAKIS: Well, we kind of Greekified everything. Even the stuffing had Greek flavors in it. We would use a Loukaniko, which is a sausage that's somewhat dried, that has a lot of citrus and fennelly type of flavors. And there would be some sort of pastitsio, which I guess could best be described as a Greek baked ziti, and my mother would always make braised artichokes and lemon, and egg would be added to it with a lot of dill, and that would be poured over.

MONTAGNE: Did you ever come home when you were a kid and say to your mom, you know, where are the mashed potatoes, it's Thanksgiving?

Mr. PSILAKIS: It never really occurred to me. For me, we had two worlds. We had the Greek world and we had the American world. And when we were at home, we were in the Greek world. We really grew up in a vacuum of Greek culture, basically, and I think this is pretty much true with all immigrant families.

The people leaving the country that they love take a picture of that country and then they bring that picture with them and they raise their children in the vacuum of that picture.

What happens is that the country evolves but that picture never does, so there's an interesting dynamic that occurs where you - transplanted first generation child often time is more in tune with the older traditions of the country that your parents left than the people who are actually living there at that time.

MONTAGNE: What about this year for you? What are you putting on your table on this Thursday?

Mr. PSILAKIS: There'll definitely be a turkey. They'll definitely be lamb. I don't think we can have any experience without lamb. There'll probably be a spanakopita in a large tray, and then we'll have sweet potatoes. There'll probably be a little bit more American. And interestingly enough, you know, I was born in this country and my wife is Italian and I have a son who is now second generation, so we incorporate, I think, a little bit more American sort of identity, so there is cranberry - fresh cranberry preserve on the table.

MONTAGNE: And dessert?

Mr. PSILAKIS: You know, it really resembles a lot - well, dessert is typically - we'll go to a bakery and get some fresh cannoli and then we always have Greek pastry, so the Kourambiethes and Galaktoboureko.

MONTAGNE: Is there any version that you ever make of pumpkin pie?

Mr. PSILAKIS: You know, interestingly enough, my son asked me this year - he's four - he said I want to make pumpkin pie. I don't know why. Maybe he read something in a book. But this year I'm going to actually make it. It'll be a first. We're breaking tradition somewhat this year.

MONTAGNE: Well, all the best to you and yours on Thanksgiving.

Mr. PSILAKIS: Thank you, and I hope you enjoy yours.

MONTAGNE: Michael Psilakis is the chef at the New York restaurant Anthos. His new cookbook is "How to Roast a Lamb."

Tomorrow, we'll hear from Dominique Crenn, the chef at Luce in San Francisco.

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