Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
MEZE
MORE THAN JUST APPETIZERS
BLUE CHEESE AND TOMATO SPREAD
"The cook sets before you a large tray on which are five small plates. One of these plates holds garlic, another a pair of sea urchins, another a sweet wine sop, another ten cockles, the last a small piece of sturgeon. While I'm eating this one, another is eating that one; and while he is eating that one, I have made away with this. What I want, good sir, is both the one and the other, but my wish is impossible. For I have neither five mouths nor five hands ..."
Lynceus, Centaur, 4th to 3rd century B.C.
The sharing of food whenever a whole family or a bunch of friends gather around the table is typical of the traditional Greek way of life. The meal begins with alcoholic drinks and a communal course of meze (plural, mezedes), little plates containing various kinds of cold and hot foods: green and black olives; feta or other local cheeses drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with oregano; raw, cured or simply cooked seafood and fish; pickled vegetables and spreads; garlicky dips; intensely flavored rice-and-herb-filled grape leaves; and vegetable or meat stews. Offered in small portions together with pieces of fresh country bread, the mezedes arrive at the table together with the drinks. Each meze is something like what the French call an amuse-gueule (a taste-teaser), but together, several of them can become a substantial meal.
Each diner, fork in hand, dives into the small treats that keep coming at a steady pace. Whoever manages "the quickest fork," as the saying goes, succeeds in tasting all the dishes. The temptations posed by the procession of dishes can be formidable, leaving the diners wishing they had "five mouths and five hands" to enjoy them all, as the above passage from Lynceus's comedy Centaur attests.
Ouzo, the aniseed flavored strong alcoholic drink, and raki (equally strong, but unscented) are the drinks most often served with mezedes, but wine is another option. Traditionally, Greeks never drink alcohol on an empty stomach, and they always urge foreigners to take a bite together with drinks. There is even a special word for drinking that is not accompanied by some sort of food, kserofiri, and it is always pronounced with contempt: "You can't drink this kserofiri!" — which, on the other hand, doesn't mean that you can't, or shouldn't, drink so long as you keep eating as the little plates with the various mezedes keep coming.
The ancient dishes described by Lynceus are particularly characteristic of the mezedes served on the islands, where seafood plays a very important role. During the summer, at seaside tavernas all over the islands of the Aegean, you can inhale the tantalizing smells of charcoal-grilled octopus; freshly cut vine-ripened tomatoes and cucumber seasoned with oregano; and fried zucchini, eggplants and tiny crunchy fish mingled with garlic and fennel. Meat — never plentiful in Greece, a country that has no large plains for cattle — is traditionally reserved for special occasions. Instead of small fried meatballs, you are more likely to be served fragrant chickpea patties. Cured pork is too precious to be served as a meze by itself, but it is used to flavor the omelettes of the islands, which are filled with seasonal vegetables or greens.
Other mezedes typical of the islands include a tangy caper, onion and tomato stew; seafood, such as mahogany clams, boiled skate wing fin or raw sea urchins; flavorful seasonal vegetables, such as fresh chickpeas, fava beans and wild artichokes; and pickled delicacies, such as grape hyacinth bulbs and rock samphire.
When islanders invite you into their homes for mezedes, the food is more casual. The cook will serve you some items from the pantry — olives, cheese, sun-dried fish or freshly salted sardines, pickled vegetables and greens — and some dishes made at the last minute, like batter-fried fresh vegetables, vegetable patties, omelettes stuffed with almost anything available in the kitchen or harvested from the kitchen garden. Most cooks try to have on hand rice-and-herb-stuffed grape leaves — usually prepared once a week in large quantities and refrigerated, since their taste improves over time. They also may have some fava (mashed fava beans or yellow split peas) mixed with herbs and scallions and drizzled with lemon and olive oil.
An elaborate meze course can take longer to prepare than a regular meal, but many of the dishes can be cooked more than one day in advance and served at room temperature. A main course may or may not follow. If you plan to serve a meze course as a prelude to a lunch or dinner, choose two or three light vegetable and fish dishes, which can be set on a side table when your guests arrive so that they can help themselves. On the other hand, if you plan to make a meze meal, follow the traditional Greek custom by starting with cold vegetable dishes, continuing with the cold fish and seafood and finishing with the warm ones — the fried vegetables, then the hot fish or meat dishes.
Some Greek mezedes tend to have strong flavors, which may overpower delicate wines like the popular Chardonnay. Ouzo diluted with two parts water goes well with most mezedes, as do the new light and fruity resinated Greek wines.
"Only soup cannot be made into meze," my grandmother used to say. This chapter contains only some of the dishes that are suitable as meze.
The following dishes from other chapters, served in small portions, would be equally suitable as part of a meze table:
FINGER-SIZED FRIED GREENS PIES (Nistisimes Hortopites)
DOMATA ME KOPANISTI
Blue Cheese and Tomato Spread
THIS DELICIOUS spread from Olympi and other villages of southern Chios is made with the local tiny and intensely flavored tomatoes and the sharp kopanisti — a blue-type spreadable cheese, very similar to the ricotta forte of Italy's Puglia. Neither of these two key ingredients is available outside the island, but I was determined to find substitutes, because I love this spread. In the summer, use ripe red tomatoes and bake them to concentrate their flavor — in other seasons, good-quality canned tomatoes are fine. Because the more common blue cheeses lack the pungency of kopanisti, add a few tablespoons of rum or vodka. Good fruity olive oil binds all the flavors together.
Serve with plenty of fresh crusty bread orSavory Barley and Wheat Biscuits and/or some cut-up raw vegetables.
MAKES 6 TO 8 SERVINGS (ABOUT 2½ CUPS)
2 pounds ripe tomatoes, cored, halved and seeded
Preheat the oven to 375°F.
Arrange the tomatoes cut side up in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake for 1 hour, or until they shrink to half their original size. Let cool completely, then puree them using a food mill. (The tomatoes can be baked a day in advance and refrigerated.)
Just before serving, mash the cheeses in a bowl with a fork, then mix in the tomatoes. Don't try to make a homogenous paste; it should be somewhat coarse. Add the vodka or rum, if using. Drizzle with the oil and stir to mix, but don't try to completely incorporate it into the spread. Transfer the spread to a shallow serving bowl, drizzle with more oil, if desired, sprinkle with the mint and serve.
TO CHAVIARI TOU FTOCHOU
Poor Man's Caviar
A KIND OF Greek tapenade, this spread of olives, garlic and capers from the island of Syros was traditionally made by patiently pounding the ingredients in a mortar with a pestle, and there are purists who insist that the flavor is inferior if you use a food processor. I think the difference, if any, is that you end up with a somewhat moister spread.
MAKES 8 TO 10 SERVINGS (ABOUT 2½ CUPS)
½ pound juicy black olives, such as Pelion or Kalamata, pitted
Rinse the olives and capers thoroughly under cold running water and drain well on paper towels.
In a food processor, combine the olives, capers, 3 tablespoons lemon juice and the garlic and process into a smooth paste. Add the parsley and process until incorporated. Add 3 tablespoons oil, savory or oregano and ½ teaspoon white pepper and process until blended. Taste and adjust the seasonings, adding more lemon juice and white pepper, if needed. If the mixture is too dry, add more oil. If the mixture is too moist, stir in the bread crumbs.
Transfer to a serving bowl, cover and refrigerate for at least 2 to 3 hours, or overnight. Serve small portions on the bread.
MELINTZANOSALATA ME MAIDANO
Eggplant and Parsley Spread
THIS fresh-tasting spread comes from the island of Tinos. Each year, thousands of Greeks visit the island on August 15, the Virgin Mary's Assumption, to see a legendary miracle-performing icon in its cathedral. But, although the island has beautiful old villages and excellent beaches, these visitors seldom go beyond the main square of the port. The countryside is scattered with stone dovecotes that resemble modern sculptures emerging from the reddish brown hills. Unlike most islands of the Cyclades, Tinos produces very interesting fresh cow's milk cheeses, which are left to drain in wonderful presses carved from white marble.
The recipe is adapted from one by Nikoletta Foskolou, a remarkable lady from the village of Xinara, who collected recipes from her mother, her grandmother and other good island cooks and published them in a nice little book called Traditional Recipes from Tinos.
MAKES 6 TO 8 SERVINGS (ABOUT 3 CUPS)
2–3large eggplants (about 2 pounds total)
Preheat the broiler.
Rub the eggplants with a little of the oil, place on a baking sheet and broil, turning often, for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the skin chars and turns black all over. Let the eggplants cool, then peel them and chop the flesh; drain in a colander.
In a blender or a food processor, combine 1 cup of the parsley leaves, the scallions, 2 tablespoons vinegar, half of the remaining oil and the garlic and process into a smooth paste.
Finely chop the remaining parsley leaves. Place the eggplant flesh in a medium bowl and stir in the parsley-scallion mixture, then add the 1 cup finely chopped parsley, capers (if using) and the remaining oil. Taste and season with vinegar, salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, or overnight.
Just before serving, fold the tomatoes, if using, into the eggplant mixture. Transfer to a serving bowl, garnish with parsley leaves and serve with the bread.
SKORDALIA ME KAPARI
Caper Potato-Garlic Dip
ONE OF THE most popular meze in Greece is skordalia, a light-textured dip of garlic pounded with soaked bread, potatoes and almonds, flavored with extra-virgin olive oil and plenty of fresh lemon juice. Skordalia can be made more or less pungent by varying the amount of garlic used. Similar sauces are found in Spain, southern France, Italy and the Middle East.
This particular version, from the island of Tinos, is flavored with capers. Hanging from cliffs and rocks over the sea, caper bushes grow in abundance all over the Cycladic islands. Their fragrant buds, collected in early summer and cured or dried in the sun, give a unique taste and aroma to all kinds of island dishes.
Although skordalia traditionally accompanies salt cod fritters, it can also be served with crudités. With the addition of a few tablespoons of water or broth, it becomes a sauce for fried, poached or steamed fish or for grilled or steamed vegetables, such as broccoli or potatoes. It is also excellent as a dressing for cooked beans and is often served with fried eggplant, fried zucchini, or Chickpea Patties.
MAKES 6 TO 8 SERVINGS (ABOUT 2 CUPS)
2 cups cubed day-old whole wheat bread, soaked in water until softened
Squeeze the soaked bread to extract the excess water and place it in a food processor. Add the garlic and process into a smooth paste.
With the motor running, add the oil, a little at a time. Add 3 tablespoons of the capers and 3 tablespoons lemon juice. Add the almonds and pulse a few times, until they are coarsely ground.
Scrape the mixture into a medium bowl and fold in the potato. (Do not be tempted to use the food processor for this; the potato would become gluey.) Season with white pepper. Taste and add salt, if needed — the capers are usually salty enough — and more pepper and/or lemon juice. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
Sprinkle the remaining 1 tablespoon capers over the skordalia before serving.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "The Foods of the Greek Islands"
by .
Copyright © 2000 Aglaia Kremezi.
Excerpted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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