 Chef Pete
Gialias is the owner of the Logan Inn located in the
village of
New Hope in Bucks
County, Pennsylvania, which opened as a tavern in 1722 and
as an
inn in 1727. He shares a delicious taste of the historic property with
his
classic Greek recipes for Lemon Olive Oil Sauce and Moussaka.
Having grown up in Europe, Chef Pete Gialias has
always appreciated and has been attracted to upscale restaurants and historic
properties; in addition to the Logan Inn which he purchased and opened
on April 2, 2007,
he also owns The Clinton House Restaurant & Bakery, circa 1743,
located in Clinton, New Jersey. Although maintaining these properties require a
lot of work, he feels that he is preserving a part of history.
Chef Pete Gialias
I met with Chef Pete Gialias at the Logan Inn in April 2010,
where we sat on an enclosed verandah where a roughhewn stonewall was a gentle
reminder of the age of the building, which is the oldest building in New Hope,
and has the distinguished recognition as being the oldest continuously run inn
in Bucks County and is one of the five oldest continuously run inns in the
United States.
Growing up in Greece, he shared how his mother would plan
the menu and then go to the store daily to shop for what she needed to prepare
for the meal. His approach to cooking at the restaurant is very similar to his
mother's approach, everything is fresh; nothing is frozen with the exception of
lobster tails and shrimp.
Logan Inn Dining Room
He explained that Greeks like to cook seafood simply to
allow the fresh taste to come through and then finish it with a lemon sauce.
Chef Pete Gialias' lemon sauce uses a mixture of olive oil and vegetable oil
because if only olive oil was used with the lemon juice and it was
refrigerated, it would curdle the olive oil. This version is a very tasty and
easy to make versatile sauce.
Greek Lemon Olive Oil
Sauce
Ingredients:
|
|
|
Salt, dissolved in 1-ounce of water
|
|
2
|
Cups
|
Lemon Juice, freshly squeezed
|
|
2
|
Cups
|
Olive Oil
|
|
4
|
Cups
|
Vegetable Oil
|
Method:
In a large bowl, dissolve a little salt in the water stirring constantly. Add
the lemon juice, and then keep pouring a mixture of the olive oil and the
vegetable oil until the mixture thickens. Serve with seafood.
Moussaka
When it comes to classic Greek recipes, Moussaka is
at the top of the list, which is a nice everyday dish. Chef Pete Gialias
explained that Greek food is always involved, and while relatively inexpensive,
except for the seafood, it is always labor intensive. In Greece they simply
flour the eggplant and fry it, however he uses an egg wash with milk before flouring
the eggplant to stabilize the eggplant and to take out the bitterness, and then
fries the eggplant.
Ingredients:
|
|
|
Eggplant
|
|
|
|
Meat Sauce, made with lamb, pork, and beef
|
|
|
|
Béchamel Sauce
|
Method:
Make a meat sauce with equal portions of lamb, pork, and beef. He uses a
mixture of the meat as it has more flavor and the aromas are better. To make
the sauce, use tomatoes, garlic, onions, a little sugar, oregano, bay leaves,
and salt and pepper. Pulverize, and fry everything together.
Method for the
Eggplant: Clean and slice eggplant, make an egg wash with milk, dip
eggplant in the wash and then dip into flour, and fry until golden.
Béchamel Sauce Ingredients:
|
½
|
Gallon
|
Milk
|
|
|
|
Salt, Pepper, Nutmeg
|
|
2
|
Cups
|
Flour, heaping
|
|
6
|
|
Eggs
|
Chef's Note: The secret to Moussaka is the sauce, and
consistency is the key. If the sauce is too thin or thick, the recipe will not
work out.
Method for the
Béchamel Sauce: Scald milk and add flour, salt, pepper and a dash of
nutmeg stirring constantly until smooth. Remove from heat and beat in eggs.
Mixture should be able to stand on own however it should not be thick like a
bread dough. If the mixture is too thick, thin it with a little milk.
Method for layering the Moussaka: In a baking dish,
layer the sauce with the eggplant, and finish with a layer of béchamel sauce.
Bake in the oven at 350° F - 375° F (177° C
- 191° C), depending on your
oven, for approximately 1 hour. Watch to ensure that the sauce turns golden,
but does not burn.
Logan Inn
The Logan Inn is open for Lunch Sunday through Monday
from 11:00 am until 4:00 pm, for Dinner Sunday through
Thursday from 5:00 pm
until 9:00 pm, and Friday
and Saturday from 5:00 pm
until 10:00 pm; and for
Brunch on Saturday and Sunday from 9:00
am until 1:00 pm.
There is live music in the evening, check their website for the schedule.
Read about the Logan
Inn in the Restaurants section.
Logan Inn
10 West Ferry Street
New Hope, Pennsylvania 18938
United States
Telephone: +1-215-862-2300
Fax: +1-215-
3931
Email:
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
www.LoganInn.com
Read about Bucks County in the Destinations, Restaurants,
and Chefs' Recipes sections.
For information on Bucks County,
please visit the website: www.VisitBucksCounty.com.
© April 2010. Luxury Experience. www.LuxuryExperience.com. All
rights reserved.
|
