Basiliko (ΤΟ ΒΑΣΙΛΙΚΟ) cooking class on Naxos
- seanick9
- May 23
- 5 min read
On a whim, I contacted the Basiliko tavern to see if they had any space in their cooking class yesterday, and they said they did, so I booked it! Just for me though, as I didn’t think a 4 hour cooking class would keep Emily’s attention.
This was complicated to get to! Despite their advice to ignore Google and use a different waypoint, plus following the signs, I still managed to take 2 wrong turns on the way there on some windy switchback roads (Google maps data issue, I suspect, as I followed its directions exactly and had the same problem on the way back). Once I arrived, it was a steep, narrow and windy road down from the road to the tavern, but when I got to the bottom there were quite a few cars there, and 15 people were already at the table ready to learn!
We started out with some snacks and wine while folk were arriving, and then the host walked us around the garden to pick some fresh herbs and vegetables. The ones I saw him pick were oregano (flowering at the time), dill, rosemary, and sage. Further down were some beets, artichokes, lettuce, and spinach. We also learned about and saw many of the other bushes and trees in the area which were not in season, such as pomegranates, two different kinds of olives, citron, almonds, grapefruit, grapes, and more. He explained that the farm is designed to produce different crops every season, and that during early Covid lockdown, they hardly noticed any difference in life since they mostly live fresh off the farm, producing all their own meat, dairy, vegetables, enough for the family to live off and some friends besides.
We wandered back up to the tavern to begin the food preparation. For the class itself, we prepared three meals using many of the ingredients we’d collected from the garden.
It started by preparing the herbs - Apparently Greek cuisine uses mostly fresh herbs and not many spices other than salt and pepper. So we all got put to work separating the leaves from the stems of the oregano and sage, then finely mincing it with garlic cloves (side note: they really need to sharpen their knives..), putting all our combined efforts into one large bowl (which was a huge bowl full of fresh herbs and garlic!)
Citrus Braised Pork Shoulder
For the main, the host pulled out a clay pot with a few pounds of pork shoulder, which he generously covered with the herb mixture, then poured 1-2 cups of olive oil over it and a generous sprinkle of salt and pepper, massaging all the oil, herbs and seasonings into the pork, covering it with a lid. That went into the oven at 250 degrees Celsius for an hour and a half.
Stuffed Vegetables (bell peppers, tomatoes, eggplants and zucchini)
Round two of chopping was to cut and core some tomatoes, bell peppers, eggplant and zucchini for stuffed vegetables. Then prepared spring onions, bulbs separate from stems, diced finely, and tomatoes. That was added to the remaining herb mixture. Half was set aside for the third course. The chef added 1 tablespoon of arborio rice per vegetable, a cup of olive oil, salt, pepper and oregano, then mixed it all very well and we got to work stuffing all the peppers and vegetables to the top and covering with the lid. Those went into the oven also at 250 C for an hour.
Stuffed Banana Peppers
Third preparation was to slice some banana peppers lengthwise on one side and seed them. For stuffing, the chef took the remaining half of the stuffing mixture, which did not have rice in it, and add feta cheese to it, as well as olive oil, salt, pepper. This he vigorously mixed until the feta was almost completely broken down. He passed it around, so we could completely stuff the peppers full of the cheese stuffing mixture, and that followed the other vegetables into the oven for only 30 minutes.
Tzatziki sauce
This last preparation was done entirely by the chef. He took some finely grated cucumbers, and wrapped it all in a couple layers of cheesecloth which he then used to squeeze as much moisture out of the grated cucumber as possible. To this he added 4 cloves of garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil, full fat Greek yogurt, juice of one lemon, minced dill and some other herbs, and then stirred to an even consistency.
That was it for the cooking lesson! It was really more like a cooking show, as we watched most of the assembly and only played the part of the audience and occasionally a prep cook, but it was definitely interesting to see the proportion of olive oil used in Greek cooking. I didn’t know it even went into the tzatziki! A couple of the other guests commented on it as well.
While we waited for the food to cook, the host took us on a walk around the property and told us a bit of history about the farm, his family, and the island of Naxos - His family has lived on the same property for 5 generations, and there is a 6th generation child who was born just 2 months ago. They run the farm themselves, with additional seasonal workers during the harvest seasons (especially for olives and grapes which need to be harvested quickly).
We saw the old mill building, which was used to mill grain, powered by donkeys - but now abandoned and filled with a giant fig tree that had taken over inside the building!
Then we walked further up the water line, a narrow stone walkway with a river running alongside, until we reached the top of the property, where the host talked about how Greece has been invaded over and over again through many different invading empires over millennia, partly due to its location in the center of three continents.
There is a Venetian tower on the property near the source of the spring, which he talked briefly about the water rights on the island as well - Naxos being one of only a few islands in Greece that has fresh water. After the Venetians left, the towers have all been abandoned by the locals and left in various states of disrepair.
After the tour of the water line, the tower, and the mill, the host said it was time for us to walk back and eat!
The pork turned out super tender, and with a delicious citrus flavor accentuating an otherwise simple dish.
The stuffed vegetables also turned out fantastic, they have the timing and ratios down perfect for the rice to be just tender.
Once we’d filled our tummies with food and wine, Anna, the host of the other group, joined our two classes and showed us how to do some traditional Greek dancing! Overall, would definitely recommend signing up for this class, not so much for learning how to cook but just an overall fun activity where you learn a lot about the island, living in Greece, and having a good time eating and drinking on a beautiful family farm.
Efcharistó, Basiliko tavern and family!
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