Meze is Greek for appetizer or hors d'oeuvre. A platter of tapas-like Greek mezedes (small dishes) may include stuffed grape leaves, tzatziki, tarama, grilled octopus, feta cheese, meatballs and olives.
A meze platter is often served with a glass of alcohol and indeed is meant to accompany the booze rather the other way around. Still, while it's customary in many Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisines to serve various meze before a meal, a nice selection can easily make a meal in itself.
A pine nut is the blond, tear-shaped seed of a pine tree. Pine nuts grow inside pine cones. However, before you run out to the backyard to start harvesting your own nuts, you should know that only a few species of pine trees produce pine nuts worth gathering.
In the United States, pine nuts are harvested from piñon pine forests in the mountains of the Southwest. Pine nuts are grown all over Europe, as well, but China produces the bulk of the world's supply. The cones are pulled from trees with a long hook and spread out in the sun to dry. As they dry, the cones open up and the nuts fall out.
Eaten raw or roasted, pine nuts have a sweet, oily flavor to classic dishes like basil pesto and spinach with golden raisins. Toasted pine nuts add depth and richness (and protein and healthy fats) to steamed greens or roasted vegetables. Sprinkle a handful over your next plate of pasta, or try Brys's spicy hummus with pine nuts and lime juice.
Recipe: Creamy Ricotta Tart With Pine Nuts (101 Cookbooks)
Recipe: Italian Rice And Beans (VeganYumYum)
Recipe: Parsley Pesto (Hogwash)
Greek yogurt is a thicker, creamier version of the regular variety. It's thicker and creamier because it has been strained of its whey.
In Greece, yogurt is usually made with sheep's or goat's milk. Although there are "lite" versions available, Greek yogurt generally refers to the full-fat variety, the fat contributing to its rich taste.
Greek yogurt's velvety texture has won it fans in the United States in recent years. But if you can't find Greek-style yogurt, you can always make your own. Line a fine-sieved colander with cheesecloth or paper towels, place it over a bowl and allow the whey to drain off in the refrigerator. For small amounts, a cone-shaped coffee filter works well.
Strained yogurt is a healthier cream-cheese substitute -- lightly sweetened, it can be used to frost a carrot cake. Combined with chopped frozen mangoes, litchis or bananas and a splash of light rum, it makes a delicious homemade yogurt.
In Middle Eastern cuisine, strained yogurt is also known as labneh, which is often bathed in olive oil and showered with a spice mix known as Za'atar. It is also used to thicken sauces, mixed in at the last minute (the high fat content prevents curdling). Strained yogurt is the main ingredient in Indian raita and Greek tzatziki, dips made with cucumbers and garlic or spices. Garnished with a dollop of honey, strained yogurt is a popular dessert in Greece, and fit for the gods.
Recipe: Grilled Yogurt-Mint Lamb Kebabs (Cookthink)
Reference: What is Za'atar? (Cookthink)
Reference: What is tzatziki? (Cookthink)
Reference: What is raita? (Cookthink)
Tzatziki a Greek yogurt dip that's flavored with cucumber and garlic.
Tzatziki is made by adding minced garlic and seeded cucumbers to strained yogurt. Salt, vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil and herbs such as dill, mint or parley may also be added.
Tzatziki generally has a tangy flavor and a garlicky bite, and the cucumbers provide a cooling effect. It is always served cold, often as an appetizer (or meze) with grilled pita bread or raw vegetables for dipping. It is also used as a sauce to accompany lamb or chicken kebabs, gyros or pita sandwiches made with chopped fresh vegetables.
A Cypriot version called talattouri often includes mint and less garlic, and Bulgarian tarator is a drier version made from yogurt hung for several hours to drain, with the addition of minced walnuts.
Recipe: Mint tzatziki (Cookthink)
Reference: What is Greek yogurt? (Cookthink)
Reference: How to seed a cucumber (Cookthink)
Tarama is a nickname for taramasalata (or taramosalata), a Greek dip that is often served as part of a meze platter with drinks before dinner.
The authentic Greek dish is a creamy, smooth paste made with fish roe (tarama) that is combined with milk- or water-soaked (and squeezed dry) bread, plus lemon juice and grated onion. The mixture is then emulsified with olive oil until it reaches a whipped consistency. Tarama is served with grilled pita bread or crudités.
Tarama is popular the world over and can be bought prepared, although store-bought tarama is often poor in quality and has added pink food coloring as well as cream, egg yolks, mashed potato, gelatin or other unnecessary thickeners. Fresh tarama is simple to make at home, and the bread and olive oil lend it natural body and richness.
Feta cheese is the most famous Greek invention since democracy. Traditionally made from sheep's (or goat's) milk, commercial producers now also use cow's milk to make the bright white, rindless cheese. Feta is cured and stored in a salty whey brine and has a distinct tangy taste and crumbly texture.
Feta is made by draining curdled milk in molds or cloth bags. It is then cut into slices, salted, and these days, packed in whey brine-filled barrels or plastic tubs, although the best feta is salted and aged rather than drowned in brine. The flavor and level of moisture in the cheese depends on the cheesemaker.
Feta-like cheese is now made in many parts of the world. In Europe the cheese is produced from Bulgaria to Denmark and France. But authentic Greek feta is now protected in Europe with an AOC designation of origin label, like Champagne or Bordeaux. Real feta must contain at least 70 percent sheep's milk and be made using traditional methods and in just seven regions of Greece. Feta cheese sold in the U.S. does not have to comply with these rules.
Phyllo dough is a delicate, thin, unleavened wheat dough that comes in sheets and is instrumental in Greek, Turkish, Middle Eastern and North African cooking.
It is made from finely ground wheat flour, water and a small amount of oil. The layers of dough are traditionally separated by a thin spread of butter or oil during baking.
Phyllo is classically used in dishes such as savory spanakopita, a Greek spinach and feta cheese pie, and super-sweet baklava.
When working with fragile phyllo dough, keep it covered with a damp kitchen towel and be sure to handle it gingerly, working quickly so that it doesn't dry out.
We like the full flavor and juiciness of olives that come with their pits still inside. If you're going to cook with olives, though, you'll need to remove the pits. Pitting olives adds a few minutes of prep time to a dish, but isn't hard to do.
You can buy tools made specifically to pit olives, but they often don't work for oddly sized olives and end up living permanently in the back of a kitchen drawer. Instead, we use a dough scraper or pastry cutter. You could use any tool that has a wide, flat surface (the flat side of a knife, a small skillet, etc.)
Just press straight down onto the olive with the flat surface until you feel the olive pop.
Continuing to press down gently, pull the tool back toward you. This will often make the seed pop right out.
If the seed hasn't popped out yet, just squeeze with your fingers to release it. Now you're free to keep the pitted olive whole to toss into a pasta or salad, chop it to stir into a sauce for grilled meat or fish, or toss it into the food processor to make tapenade.
Find more olive recipes on Cookthink.com.
The word sardine is an imprecise term referring to any number of small, silvery saltwater fish related to the herring and found throughout the world. Fish labeled as "sardines" include sprats, brisling and pilchards.
Frequently caught off the Mediterranean coast and eaten in abundance in Spain, Greece, Portugal, Italy and Morocco, you can also find sardines from the Atlantic, the Pacific, the East Coast of South Africa and beyond.
Sardines tend to travel in large schools close to the water's surface and are harvested fresh in the summer. The name sardine may be a reference to the Sardinian coast, where pilchards were one of the first fish to be packed in oil.
Reference: What's the difference between an anchovy and a sardine? (Cookthink)
Recipe: Bucatini With Sardines, Fennel And Tomatoes (Cookthink)
Often called the poor man's caviar, bottarga (or botargo) is the Italian word for a dense cured fish roe made from tuna, gray mullet or swordfish.
To make bottarga, the roe pouch of the fish is massaged until its air pockets disappear. It is then dried and cured in sea salt, hardening into a dense tablet after a few weeks. The bottarga is then cut into logs and coated in beeswax, resembling a petrified sausage, a technique which has been traced back to the Phoenicians.
Bottarga has a highly salty taste that can be compared to dried anchovies, but with a silkier texture. It keeps well stored in the refrigerator and a little goes a long way. Often grated sparingly in the manner of truffles over an omelette or pasta, bottarga can also be cut into very small wedges, sprinkled with lemon juice and served as an appetizer.
Popular in Sicily and Sardinia, bottarga can be found throughout the Mediterranean, under the name of poutargue or boutargue in France or botarga in Spain. In Greece, avgotaraho is slightly smoked and made in summer to be preserved for Lent.
What is extra-virgin olive oil?
What is extra-virgin olive oil?
Extra-virgin olive oil is the precious unrefined first result of cold-pressing olives to make a fruity liquid that contains less than one percent acid.
Extra-virgin olive oil is the most expensive olive oil variety, and it is best appreciated in salads or as a garnish to give preparations a final flourish. If you are using olive oil to cook, it's fine to use regular olive oil.
Greece is the #1 consumer of olive oil in the world and also the leading producer of extra virgin olive oils, which account for 82 percent of their olive oil production. The U.S. is not a member of the International Olive Oil Council (IOOC), which regulates olive oil standards worldwide, and the IOOC does not recognize the U.S. standards for extra-virgin oil.
There is much controversy in the olive oil world, with accusations of corruption and adulteration smearing consumer confidence and shedding doubt on the purity of so-called virgin olive oil.
Tzatziki sauce is a classic Greek accompaniment at meals. It tastes great on grilled meat, such as lamb, on bread or alone as a side dish. For a great recipe and directions on how to make it, watch this wonderful video by Handmade TV.
