Mediterranean Vegetables: A Cook's Compendium of all the Vegetables from The World's Healthiest Cuisine, with More than 200 Recipes

by Clifford Wright

Overview

Mediterranean food is the home cooking of many local cultures, a way of cooking derived from generous people, rustic foods, and simple pleasures. Its clear, robust flavors and uncomplicated preparations have made it a favorite of Americans and have earned it an honored place in our culinary tradition. What makes Mediterranean vegetable cookery so wonderful is the way its ingredients have been combined to create a host of delicious dishes virtually unknown until now in American kitchens. Vegetables are high on the list of foods we all want to eat more of, and we're always looking for new ways to prepare them. With Mediterranean Vegetables, a masterful A-to-Z culinary reference and cookbook, Mediterranean food expert Clifford A. Wright gives us a new world of great tastes. Never before has such a wealth of information on vegetables of the Mediterranean been collected in one place. Each entry describes a vegetable and its varieties, explains its origins and its culinary history from ancient times right up through the present, and details how to grow and harvest is and where to buy it. Included are many vegetables that you may use every day, such as spinach, carrots, peppers, and tomatoes, as well as those you regularly see in markets but are unsure how to prepare, such as celeriac, kohlrabi, and taro. There are also those that you can easily cultivate in your garden or find growing wild, such as borage and garden cress. The countries that border the Mediterranean Sea are exotic and diverse, as is their multitude of vegetable preparations. These 200 recipes, incorporated into appropriate entries, tell stories about the people who created them and the cultures from which they were born. Such a connection between food and history makes cooking, and eating, even more satisfying. Here you will find authentic recipes for such classics as ratatouille, gazpacho, and tabbouleh, as well as recipes for less familiar, but no less delicious, dishes including Artichoke Hearts in Citrus Sauce and Golden Breadcrumbs, Fried Eggplant with Yogurt, etouffee of White Beans, Carrot Frittata, and more. Comprehensive and eminently accessible, Mediterranean Vegetables is for anyone who wants to read about, grow, cook with, and eat vegetables. It is, quite simply, a must-have reference and cookbook.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781558327757
Publisher:	Harvard Common Press, The
Publication date:	05/08/2012
Pages:	416
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Clifford A. Wright won the James Beard/KitchenAid Cookbook of the Year award and the James Beard Award for the Best Writing on Food in 2000 for A Mediterranean Feast (William Morrow), which was also a finalist for the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) Cookbook of the Year award that same year. He is the author of fourteen books, twelve of which are cookbooks. Wright's articles on food and cuisine have appeared in Gourmet, Bon App\u00e9tit, Food & Wine, Saveur, and other magazines. He is a contributing editor to ZesterDaily.com. As an independent researcher, Wright wrote the food entries for Columbia University's Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and has published scholarly articles on food in peer-reviewed journals such as Al-Masaq: Islam and the Medieval Mediterranean, Food and Foodways, and Gastronomica. Wright has also lectured on food at the Center for European Studies at Harvard University, Boston University, Georgetown University, Davidson College in North Carolina, Loyola Marymount University, South Dakota State University, University of California at Santa Barbara, and the Culinary Institute of America, among other institutions. As a cooking teacher, he has taught cooking classes at the Central Market cooking schools in Texas, the Rhode Island School of Design, Institute for Culinary Education in New York, Sur la Table, and other cooking schools around the United States. His website www.CliffordAWright.com is one of the most-visited sites for people interested in Mediterranean foods. In 2009 he launched the Venice Cooking School (www.VeniceCookingSchool.com) with Martha Rose Shulman in Los Angeles, California. He lives in Santa Monica, California.

Read an Excerpt

Mediterranean Vegetables

A Cook's Compendium of all the Vegetables from The World's Healthiest Cuisine, with More than 200 Recipes

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By Clifford A. Wright

Harvard Common Press

Copyright © 2012 Clifford A. Wright
All right reserved.
ISBN: 9781558327757

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Introduction: This is Not Your Mothers Make-Ahead and Freeze Cookbook

Dinnertime. The thought can evoke memories of lively, engaged voices, cozy suppers, and candlelight, images of forks chasing the last morsels of this or that on the plate, flavors blending in a happy symphony, satisfied hearts and tummies. Contentment.

Or, the notion of dinnertime can bring to mind that frantic feeling when you come home tired. The dog is barking, the phone is ringing, and the entire household is clamoring, Whats for dinner?

You grope for an answer: fast food? TV dinners? canned soup? These are all quick fixes, but at what cost? All have excess sodium and preservatives, dubious ingredient sources, and questionable taste. What can you do instead to make mealtimes more enjoyable without resorting to less-than-best menu options? How can you make the first dinnertime illustration the norm and the latter the rare blip on the radar screen?

Turn to your freezer, what Alton Brown calls the most potent food preservation device ever devised. That precious icebox can save your bacon when it comes to putting healthy, wholesome meals on the table in record time. Ive been preparing make ahead and freeze meals for almost 15 years now, since I was a young high school teacher with no one to feed but my husband. Today I cook for a small army of eight: my husband and I as well as our six children, aged tot to teen. And while we have our fair share of Calgon, take me away moments, mealtimes are usually enjoyable at our house.

Good eating has always been part of our family culture, from our dating years in affluent Santa Barbara restaurants to laughing as our firstborn devoured peach salsa from a spoon at the age of 10 months to grilling pizzas on the backyard barbecue while famished children wait in line. Mealtimes are an event in our home.

And while I love to cook, as a work-at-home mom, I also like to enjoy time with my family without spending too much time in the kitchen. Making many meals ahead of time allows me to have the best of both worlds. I regularly spend focused time in the kitchen, cooking up a storm, as we call it, and stashing it away in the freezer for later use. The result? Perfect homemade convenience foods that serve me and my family well.

In as little as an hour a week, you, too, can stock your freezer with make-ahead meals and meal components that are tasty, filling, healthy, and budget-friendly. But dont worry, these are not your mothers or your grandmothers -- frozen casseroles. Drawing on modern technology and a global food market full of diverse ingredients, the recipes that follow feature a wide variety of flavor profiles and cooking methods. They appeal to modern, global taste buds, and they can all be prepared in bulk to help you save time in the kitchen. These meals will put the engaged voices and cozy suppers back into your dinnertime memories.

Continues...

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Excerpted from Mediterranean Vegetables by Clifford A. Wright Copyright © 2012 by Clifford A. Wright. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Introduction: This Is Not Your Mother’s Make-Ahead and Freeze Cookbook            

Quick-Start Guide: Instructions for Big-Batch Cooking            

The Basics of Freezer Cooking            

Cooking Plans to Fit Your Needs            

Creating Your Own Cooking Plan            

Bountiful Beef            

Crowd-Pleasing Poultry and Seafood            

Sure-Fire Pork and Sausage            

Meatless Marvels            

Soup’s On            

Perfect Pizzas            

Back for Breakfast            

Breads, Muffins, Scones, Rolls, and Then Some           

Desserts When You Crave Them           

Measurement Equivalents            

Index            

Clifford A. Wright is a cook, food writer, and research scholar specializing in the cuisines of the Mediterranean. He is the author of ten cookbooks, including A Mediterranean Feast, the winner of the James Beard/KitchenAid Cookbook of the Year and Best Writing on Food awards and nominee for the International Association of Culinary Professionals’ Cookbook of the Year in 2000. The New York Times has recognized Wright as one of the most innovative cooks in America in its “Cooks on the Map” series and praised him for his style of emphasizing regional Mediterranean home cooking with its historical background. He writes frequently for Saveur, Fine Cooking, Gourmet, Bon Appétit, and Food & Wine. He also wrote all food entries for Columbia University’s Encyclopedia of Modern Middle East.

In addition to his food writing, Wright has been featured on numerous television shows including the Food Network’s Cooking Live with Sara Moulton, PBS’s Cook’s Tour, the Discovery Channel’s Home Matters, and over 40 radio programs.

Wright’s scholarly approach to food writing is rooted in his successful career in the field of international affairs, beginning as a researcher at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC, then as a staff fellow at the Institute of Arab Studies in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and finally as the Executive Director of the American Middle East Peace Research Institute. Wright received his Master of Arts degree in Philosophy from the graduate faculty of the New School for Social Research in New York. He was a doctoral candidate at the New School for Social Research and at Georgetown University.

Wright has lived in New York, Washington D.C., Boston, France, Switzerland, Austria, and Italy, and now resides in Santa Monica, California.

You can visit his website at cliffordawright.com.

Editorial Reviews

Finally a definitive book on the way the world is eating today. Cliff Wright’s Mediterranean Vegetables is savory, vibrant, and healthy, and destined to be an instant classic.” – Bobby Flay, host of FoodNation with Bobby Flay and author of Bobby Flay Cooks American

“There are so many interesting flavors and combinations here. Having had the honor of eating some of these dishes cooked by Cliff’s own hand, I know how good they really are. I can’t wait to cook them myself.” – Deborah Madison, author of Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone and The Greens Cookbook

“Clifford Wright is the reigning English-speaking expert on the cuisines and culinary culture of the Mediterranean—the real Mediterranean, the whole Mediterranean—and his new book on the vegetables of the region is destined to become an invaluable volume.” – Colman Andrews, editor of Saveur and author of Catalan Cuisine

“Mediterranean Vegetables is a great reference book that will be invaluable to any chef’s library. I am especially glad to have it in mine.” – Jean-Georges Vongerichten, chef and co-author of Simple to Spectacular

“Mediterranean Vegetables is a ‘must-have’ book for anyone who cooks vegetables or thinks he should. To get a brief yet highly informative description of the vegetables and their traditional uses, along with delicious recipes for today’s cooking styles, makes eating them a joy. You immediately feel that you can cook these vegetables, and that you want to.” – Carlo Middione, author of Carlo Middione’s Traditional Pasta

“This well-researched book on vegetables is full of wonderful recipes from the cuisines of the world and is a great reference book.” – Jacques Pépin, host of Jacques Pépin’s Kitchen: Encore with Claudine and co-author of Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home

“Once again, Clifford Wright has given us a book whose scholarship is only matched by its enticing recipes. Mediterranean Vegetables, a perfect companion to his renowned A Mediterranean Feast, will not only delight scholars, cooks, and chefs, but also gardeners. Who knows what we’ll begin to discover in our farmer’s markets once growers get hold of this book.” – Martha Rose Shulman, author of Mediterranean Light and The Best Vegetarian Recipes

From the Publisher