First time making saganaki. Halloumi cheese pan-fried in ghee, finished with a squeeze of lemon while in the pan.
Looks awesome, great job!
As a sidenote, you’d never ever see whole “Opa!” thing in Greece, it was just an invention of Greek restaurant owners in US to attract tourists (much like fortune cookies). I know I should just be dismissing it as harmless, but for some reason it always annoys me when I see it :D
Once again though, great job! It looks absolutely delicious and I bet it was super tasty.
That does not surprise me lol. Made my wife’s day, though! She loves saganaki, and we can’t get it at any restaurant within at least 2 hours of us.
And yes, it was delicious. Tomorrow I’m going to have to make homemade pita to go with it. The pack I picked up at the store was very blah.
I go to Greece on hols every other year and I’ve no idea what you’re talking about 😂 What’s opa?
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Yeah, that’s exactly my point, not a thing in Greece 😄
In North American Greek restaurants they have this little show/ceremony thing where during serving a plate of saghanaki they light it on fire (flambé-style) and shout “Opa!”. It’s meant to look like a traditional Greek thing (no doubt influenced by movies like Zorba the Greek, that movie is responsible for so many cultural inaccuracies).
Cool, is it really that simple? I bought Halloumi on impulse but have no idea what to do with it
Pretty much, yeah. You can also grill halloumi, which is what I want to try next.
At a diner in my home town they light it on fire at the end with something assumedly high-proof, is that common?
I haven’t seen it done that way, only the squeeze of lemon at the end.