Pistachio-stuffed lamb meatballs — Orange and date salad with date molasses vinaigrette — Tahini, garlic and lemon dip with pomegranate seeds and parsley — Greek yoghurt dip with gar
A meze meal
Published originally on my blog on 14 January 2016
I know I’m a bit late but…Happy New Year, friends! I wish you whatever your heart desires and more for 2016. Let’s have a year filled with colorful and inspiring food, tantalizing aromas, fresh and bold flavors, and heartwarming meals to share with our loved ones.
The good thing about skipping the first two weeks of the year here on the blog means that I can skip the whole boring, uninspired and totally banal talk about healthy stuff and green things, not that I have anything against them but I just hate talking about them when it is expected. So, I’m changing things up and going with a meze theme instead —I am Greek after all— and with mezedes that are full of calories, full of flavor and, just between you and me, healthy as well.
A collection of small savory plates, called mezedes in Greek, is my favorite thing to eat. It is so interesting and enticing to have varied flavors and different dishes that you can sample from in one meal, which means you never get bored. It takes some skill to put up a great spread of mezedes; nothing is haphazard when you create such a meal, even though it may seem so to the untrained eye. All the dishes you prepare or put together should complement each other and pair well with one another in order to have a balanced spread, and once you have figured out whether you want to go with fish, meat or vegetarian mezedes —not all mezedes were created equal— then it’s easy to come up with a menu.
This one here is a small spread, for a few people you may have over for dinner or lunch and it’s also perfect for two. Lamb meatballs stuffed with toasted and chopped pistachios, orange and date salad with sumac, dried chilli and a date molasses vinaigrette, tahini and lemon dip with fresh pomegranate seeds and parsley, and Greek yoghurt dip with garlic, harissa and grape molasses (petimezi). All delectable, all extremely delicious and all of them pairing harmoniously with each other to create a scrumptious meze meal.
The scene is centered around the tiny, juicy, lamb meatballs flavored with cinnamon and garlic. The faint, warm sweetness of the cinnamon complements the lamb nicely and the toasted, aromatic pistachios provide a nutty crunch, while the squeeze of lemon on top adds a pleasant acidity. The refreshing and sweet orange and date salad with acidic flavors of the lemony sumac, a spicy kick from the dried red chilli flakes and the complexity of the vinaigrette, is the perfect accompaniment to the meatballs, as is the rich tahini, garlic and lemon dip with its earthy, sharp flavors. Finally, the luscious, garlicky (yes, garlic again) Greek yoghurt dip topped with the ultra-piquant harissa, is the ideal accompaniment to the umami-filled, bite-sized, fried meatballs, bringing freshness, tanginess and welcomed heat.
These particular mezedes are more Middle-Eastern than Greek but they feel so familiar. It is only natural, seeing that Greek cuisine, in many ways, has much in common with the cuisines of the Middle-East. The flavors, methods of cooking and indeed the way we eat is built around the same ethos of celebration, hospitality and enjoyment of the food and the company we share it with. Besides, the use of the same word (mezes/meze, which is actually of Persian origin) among all these cultures to describe the small dishes and the idea behind them, reflects these similarities.
P.S.1 A little Greek lesson: μεζές/mezes (singular), μεζέδες/mezedes (plural).
P.S.2 Monday started as a totally shitty day when I heard about the death of one of my favorite artists of all time, David Bowie. I have numerous albums of his that have been the soundtrack to some of the happiest moments of my life, and I cherish the time when I saw him play live many years ago. I was so sad Monday morning, but as it always happens in life, something else came up later on that day to make me smile and feel proud and honored; my feature in The Guardian. Yes! I was featured in The Guardian —yay!!— in Dale Berning Sawa’s Kitchen Encounters. I didn’t get the chance to see the printed copy because I couldn’t get it in the Netherlands, but thank god for online publications. So, if you want to have a look and a read, please click here.
P.S.3 David Bowie’s cover of “Wild is the wind” from his 1976 album Station to Station is perhaps my favorite of all his performances. It even rivals Nina Simone’s cover of the song. RIP, DB.
A meze meal: Pistachio-stuffed tiny lamb meatballs | Orange and date salad with date molasses vinaigrette | Tahini, garlic and lemon dip with pomegranate seeds and parsley | Greek yoghurt dip with garlic, harissa and petimezi (Greek grape molasses)
Along with these mezedes you could also serve: Kalamata olives, grilled pita bread and grilled spicy sausages (Greek pork sausages and Moroccan beef/lamb merguez sausages would fit perfectly). And if you get thirsty, have some Greek ouzo or a cold beer.
In the same spread, I also served dolmadakia (Greek stuffed vine leaves) which I made some days before. I’m not sharing the recipe today because it is a post all in itself and I need to take detailed photos of the process to show you. Soon, I promise.
