The word plaki comes from the word plak, which means “flat”. Plak was the name of the Ancient Greek griddle stone that worked like a flat oven for food to be cooked on. From this we derive the English words “plate” and “platter”, as well as other words which all still mean “flat”.
When we made this dish on the island of Psara, the island that I grew up on, we would use red mullet (barbounia) for this dish. My grandmother would always serve me the head.
Every time I cook this dish my thoughts wander back to my childhood and the day I took a coffin (those days it was planks of wood nailed together) out to sea to catch a fresh barbounia for my grandmother, thinking it was a boat. I still feel very connected to Psara; its hills, the sea, the food, the festivals and the people.