Culture Magazine

C H E E S E+ 202 2 culturecheesemag.com 57 Harvard Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which demonstrate how twentieth- century Greek immigrants upheld their tradition of combining cheese and seafood on this side of the Atlantic. For example, in the 1975 edition of the International Hellenic Cuisine community cookbook published by a North American women's organization called the Daughters of Penelope, there are recipes for crab and sardine dips that use Philadelphia cream cheese in place of Greek tiri krema; a Lesvos Island seafood stew that is garnished with grated parmesan rather than graviera (a nutty, aged sheep's milk cheese); and several stuffed squid (kalamaria yemitsa) recipes that called for varying quantities of cheese in the filling. In Leivaditaki's more recent cookbook, the seafood and cheese combinations are a bit punchier than the ones found in community cookbooks like International Hellenic Cuisine, but she does not belittle any of the pairings found them. "When you are able to find a good cheese that is suitable for the dish and the flavors you want to create, then the result is actually mouthwatering." Her recipes guide readers through making a paste of grated Cretan Graviera, arugula, lemon juice and zest, and pouring it over charcoal grilled or pan-seared squid. She stuffs cuttlefish with sundried tomatoes, goat's milk curd, chard, mint, and sage; and fills squash blossoms with Cretan mizithra and anchovies. Leivaditaki's parting piece of advice regarding the modernized and very acceptable Greek practice of pairing seafood and cheese is to make sure that both of the hero ingredients have an equal say in how the dish tastes in the end. c GREEK CHEESES AND THE SEAFOODS THAT LOVE THEM Feta: Best with roasted shrimp. Use barrel-aged feta, if you can find it, but at least be sure it's tangy Greek-style with at least 70-percent ewe's milk. Mizithra: Greeks use fresh and aged versions of this whey cheese as a stuffing for squid or cuttlefish. If you can't find mizithra, substitute fresh ricotta and ricotta salata. Graviera: A nutty but mellow semi- hard cheese made from mixed ewe's and goat's milk on the island of Crete or from cow's and goat's milk on Naxos. A piece of graviera rind adds richness to seafood stews; a good substitute would be the rind of a well- aged Gruyère. Kefalograviera: A traditional Greek hard ewe's milk cheese made in Epirus, Etoloakarnania, Evritania, and western Macedonia, it can be grated over any kind of shellfish pasta dish. PHOTOS: Feta: Luka Gojda/Adobe Stock; Mizithra: Steven Walling /Wikimedia Commons; Graviera: ververidis/Adboe Stock; Kefalograviera: Adam DeTour

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