Meze: Small Plates to Savor and Share from the Mediterranean Table - Hardcover

Kochilas, Diane

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0688175112 ISBN 13: 9780688175115

Publisher: William Morrow Cookbooks, 2003

Synopsis

Now you can enjoy the food and fun of a meze feast. Meze, the small plates of just about everything from seafood, meat, and vegetables to handheld pies, colorful salads, nuts, olives, and cheeses, is the food of hospitality and conviviality, food meant to be shared with friends and family and savored with wines and spirits.

Here, in Meze, Diane Kochilas, the award-winning author of The Glorious Foods of Greece, chef, restaurateur, and cooking teacher, takes you on a spirited journey across Greece and the rest of the Mediterranean, exploring these simple and simply irresistible dishes. The recipes are robust, dear, and easy to follow. These uncomplicated dishes are charged with flavor and based on fresh, accessible ingredients. The results are spectacular.

Meze makes every meal a party, and no one knows how to throw a party better than the Greeks. Youll find tangy, skewered meats and juicy meatballs, delicious seafood dishes from simple steamed mussels to creamy ouzo-flavored shrimp. You'll find a healthful selection of aromatic bean dishes, and a recipe for the best fried potatoes in the world, Greek fries, which are hand cut and cooked in olive oil.

The convivial and festive nature of the meze table is reflected in Diane's warm, inviting style. The innate attractiveness of the food -- the colors, textures, and shapes -- are captured in brilliant photographs that evoke the sunny, warm Mediterranean dime. Whether you make just a few dishes for informal entertaining, or create an entire meal of meze, Diane Kochilas makes it possible to bring the spirit of fun and sharingthe essence of meze throughout Greece and the Mediterranean -- to your own table at home.

About this title

About the Author

The author of five cookbooks, including Meze and the IACP Award-winning The Glorious Foods of Greece, Diane Kochilas writes for Saveur, Gourmet, and the New York Times; runs the Glorious Greek Kitchen Cooking School on the Greek island of Ikaria; is the consulting chef at Pylos, an acclaimed Greek restaurant in New York City; and is the food columnist and restaurant critic for Ta Nea, the largest-circulation daily newspaper in Greece. She divides her time between New York City, Athens, and Ikaria.

From the Back Cover

Now you can enjoy the food and fun of a meze feast. Meze, the small plates of just about everything from seafood, meat, and vegetables to handheld pies, colorful salads, nuts, olives, and cheeses, is the food of hospitality and conviviality, food meant to be shared with friends and family and savored with wines and spirits.

Here, in Meze, Diane Kochilas, the award-winning author of The Glorious Foods of Greece, chef, restaurateur, and cooking teacher, takes you on a spirited journey across Greece and the rest of the Mediterranean, exploring these simple and simply irresistible dishes. The recipes are robust, dear, and easy to follow. These uncomplicated dishes are charged with flavor and based on fresh, accessible ingredients. The results are spectacular.

Meze makes every meal a party, and no one knows how to throw a party better than the Greeks. Youll find tangy, skewered meats and juicy meatballs, delicious seafood dishes from simple steamed mussels to creamy ouzo-flavored shrimp. You'll find a healthful selection of aromatic bean dishes, and a recipe for the best fried potatoes in the world, Greek fries, which are hand cut and cooked in olive oil.

The convivial and festive nature of the meze table is reflected in Diane's warm, inviting style. The innate attractiveness of the food -- the colors, textures, and shapes -- are captured in brilliant photographs that evoke the sunny, warm Mediterranean dime. Whether you make just a few dishes for informal entertaining, or create an entire meal of meze, Diane Kochilas makes it possible to bring the spirit of fun and sharingthe essence of meze throughout Greece and the Mediterranean -- to your own table at home.

Reviews

Mezethes (plural of meze, which means middle) are little Mediterranean dishes designed to complement a beverage, tease the tastebuds and encourage diners to linger around a table for good conversation, says Kochilas (The Glorious Foods of Greece), and "variety, playfulness, and surprise" are key to their preparation. Her nicely illustrated cookbook offers 80 meze recipes to pair with ouzo or Greek wines, and shows American home cooks how a varied gathering of Greek, Turkish and Lebanese flavors-olives, anchovies, cured beef, cheese, good bread-can make for a perfect brunch or buffet spread (though, Kochilas is careful to note, a "meze spread is not meant to be a meal, but a nosh"). Her chapters cover culinary themes such as Dips, Spreads and Relishes, Small Egg Dishes, Finger Foods and Fried Treats, and A Sea's Bounty of Mezethes; dishes range from Fluffy Fish-Roe Dip with Ground Almonds (a variant of the classic taramosalata), to Three-Cheese Phyllo Triangles with Onions and Yogurt, to Marinated Panfried Shrimp in the Shell, to Grilled Greek Meat Patties with Chopped Tomatoes, Spicy Yogurt, and Lemon. (Don't let the long names fool you-these dishes are never difficult to prepare.) These piquant, lively foods are "a savory flirtation," and an array of them on a table is a delightful thing.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: William Morrow Cookbooks
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0688175112
• ISBN 13: 9780688175115
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 208