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From Tapas to Meze: Small Plates from the Mediterranean
The countries that circle the Mediterranean share more than the sea's azure waters. They share a love of first courses -- tapas from Spain, hors d'oeuvres and entrees from France, Italy's antipasti and primi piatti, mezethes from Greece, and the meze of the Levant and North Africa. These small dishes reflect the region's extraordinary bounty, its reliance on seasonal produce, and its emphasis on straightforward preparation.
More than 220 recipes demonstrate both the unity and the variety of Mediterranean cuisine. Olive oil, garlic, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, onions, and fresh herbs are the foundation of all Mediterranean cooking. But what a tremendous range of flavors and textures emanate from those ingredients!
Often one brilliant idea is manipulated differently by each cuisine. Take flat In Spain we find Coca de la Huerta, a summer vegetable flat bread from the Balearic Islands. France offers Provence's Pissaladiere, laced with anchovies, onions, and olives. You're probably familiar with Italy's great flat breads (like Focaccia con Gorgonzola e Pinoli), but have you ever tasted Lahmacun, a Turkish lamb and tomato pizza, spiced with cinnamon, allspice, and cloves?
The Mediterranean plays the same game with savory egg pies. You can't enter a tapas bar in Spain without being confronted by some sort of tortilla, the ubiquitous Spanish omelette that appears here with caramelized onions as Tortilla de Cebollas a la Andaluza. In the South of France an omelette might be stuffed with pistou (the French equivalent of Italian pesto), and in Italy you would find the Italian equivalent of the omelette the frittata -- made with roasted sweet peppers. In Greece, the egg has been transformed into a Sfoungato me Kolokithia Apagio, a baked omelette with rice, zucchini, leeks, feta, and mountain herbs. In Tunisia, echoes of the French occupation can be tasted in the ajja, a traditional omelette filled with Tunisia's own spicy merguez sausage.
For this authentic collection, Joanne Weir ate her way around the Mediterranean cajoling home cooks and restaurant chefs into surrendering their finest recipes. Throughout the book is a reverence for the Mediterranean practice of hanging out at the table with a glass of wine -- or sherry, or ouzo, or raki -- while nibbling on an assortment of delectable little dishes. Let From Tapas to Meze bring this gracious tradition into your home.
From the Hardcover edition.
More than 220 recipes demonstrate both the unity and the variety of Mediterranean cuisine. Olive oil, garlic, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, onions, and fresh herbs are the foundation of all Mediterranean cooking. But what a tremendous range of flavors and textures emanate from those ingredients!
Often one brilliant idea is manipulated differently by each cuisine. Take flat In Spain we find Coca de la Huerta, a summer vegetable flat bread from the Balearic Islands. France offers Provence's Pissaladiere, laced with anchovies, onions, and olives. You're probably familiar with Italy's great flat breads (like Focaccia con Gorgonzola e Pinoli), but have you ever tasted Lahmacun, a Turkish lamb and tomato pizza, spiced with cinnamon, allspice, and cloves?
The Mediterranean plays the same game with savory egg pies. You can't enter a tapas bar in Spain without being confronted by some sort of tortilla, the ubiquitous Spanish omelette that appears here with caramelized onions as Tortilla de Cebollas a la Andaluza. In the South of France an omelette might be stuffed with pistou (the French equivalent of Italian pesto), and in Italy you would find the Italian equivalent of the omelette the frittata -- made with roasted sweet peppers. In Greece, the egg has been transformed into a Sfoungato me Kolokithia Apagio, a baked omelette with rice, zucchini, leeks, feta, and mountain herbs. In Tunisia, echoes of the French occupation can be tasted in the ajja, a traditional omelette filled with Tunisia's own spicy merguez sausage.
For this authentic collection, Joanne Weir ate her way around the Mediterranean cajoling home cooks and restaurant chefs into surrendering their finest recipes. Throughout the book is a reverence for the Mediterranean practice of hanging out at the table with a glass of wine -- or sherry, or ouzo, or raki -- while nibbling on an assortment of delectable little dishes. Let From Tapas to Meze bring this gracious tradition into your home.
From the Hardcover edition.
272 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
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August 20, 2010david liebovitz says it's amazing
August 25, 2011
I love Mediterranean food, and this book contains a wealth of recipes, history and information on small plates from different countries and cultures across that part of the world. The background information on the different regions and their food influences really set the scene for the recipes.
I had only two minor issues with the book: 1) the index only lists the recipes by their 'English' names, even though the recipe pages themselves also include the 'real' name, so to find "tabouleh" you either have to browse the section on the Levant region, or know that it's also called "Syrian-Lebanese Bulgur, Mint and Parsley Salad"; and 2) some of the ingredients are listed with somewhat vague amount specifications - for example, "two large bunches of flat-leaf parsley". As a relatively inexperienced cook, I'm not sure how much parsley that refers to. That said, if these 'issues' mean you have to spend a little extra time browsing the pages and experimenting with ingredients, so much the better, and you'll probably get even more out of the book.
I had only two minor issues with the book: 1) the index only lists the recipes by their 'English' names, even though the recipe pages themselves also include the 'real' name, so to find "tabouleh" you either have to browse the section on the Levant region, or know that it's also called "Syrian-Lebanese Bulgur, Mint and Parsley Salad"; and 2) some of the ingredients are listed with somewhat vague amount specifications - for example, "two large bunches of flat-leaf parsley". As a relatively inexperienced cook, I'm not sure how much parsley that refers to. That said, if these 'issues' mean you have to spend a little extra time browsing the pages and experimenting with ingredients, so much the better, and you'll probably get even more out of the book.
July 29, 2011
delicious finger food from the mediteranean--my brother and Cheryl gave me this
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews