Sara's Weeknight Meals

If having gin and tonics in the shadow of the iconic Sagreda Familia caps your dream day in Barcelona, we’ve got you covered. Sara joins ex-pat food journalist Matt Goulding (‘Eat This, Not That’) to mix the city’s favorite drink, and they make easy Catalon dishes like Gambas al’ajillo, a yummy garlic shrimp to start, then a local classic Iberico Pork with Romanesco sauce.

On the Spanish island of Mallorca, an ancient olive grove tended by sheep is the magical setting for Sara and local chef Joan Abrams to cook over an open fire. After tasting olive oil from trees that are 1000 years old, we cook the local hunters stew of Arroz Brut, with a fire roasted tapa of eggplant and peppers. Back home, Sara makes Seafood Gazpacho.

Fish is on the menu when Sara joins Greek Chef Maria Loi in a harbor near Athens to cook lemony, crispy skinned Branzino along with Beet, Beans and Feta Salad and Lemon Potatoes. Then it’s off to Athen’s Varvakios Central Market to buy Retsina at a famous tavern for a rooftop mezze party in the shadow of the Acropolis.

A wild food tour of Barcelona kicks off Sara’s discovery of Catalon foods like fork breakfasts of snails and offal dishes ends with wine literally poured into the mouth, the pre-dinner tradition of the vermouth bar, ‘coco’ dessert breads from the local bakery and traditional nut milk shake.

The impossibly romantic Greek island of Santorini is our destination for a walk in the tiny village of Meglachore, where Sara samples the famous local wine on the edge of the Caldera. Then she joins local chef Christos Tyrantasyllopoulos to make three famous Greek dishes: Greek salad, Tzatziki and Shrimp Saganaki.

Sara’s Weeknight Meals hits three continents in one show, starting with Africa, where Sara starts a food tour of Tunisia’s Sidi Bou Said at a tea house with chef and food historian Malek Labidi. After tasting the local version of donuts, they retreat to a garden overlooking the Mediterranean to make a killer Shakshuka, eggs poached in spicy red sauce.