What the boats brought in this week
A fortnight of gouna, one unexpected amberjack of four kilos, and three nights when the wind kept the boats in and the kitchen cooked vegetables and apologised.
The north wind sat on us from Tuesday to Thursday, which on this coast means the small boats stay tied up and the kitchen improvises. Eleni's answer was a fava she is quietly proud of and a plate of wild greens from the terraces above Plaka, and nobody at the table complained, though she apologised twice a night anyway.
When it dropped on Friday, Stelios came in at six with eleven kilos of mackerel and one amberjack of about four kilos, which is the first we have seen since 2024. It went on the grill whole on Saturday and fed the whole table with enough left for the staff meal, which is the correct order of priorities.
The mackerel went the way mackerel goes here: split, salted, two days flat in the sun on the upper terrace under a net, then grilled fast over vine cuttings. That is gouna, and it is the single dish most guests ask for the recipe to and least often make at home, because the drying is the whole thing and a balcony in Athens will not do it.
Next week is forecast calm, which means octopus, and the octopus on this island is better than the octopus you have had.
