Though there are plenty of Mediterranean cookbooks on the market, Nancy Harmon Jenkins’ “The Essential Mediterranean” (Har-perCollins, $29.95) takes a different tack.
Jenkins, a food writer and author of several other cookbooks about the region, has organized her latest book around the “essential” ingredients found in the countries that border the Mediterranean Sea.
So, rather than line up recipes in the usual meat-vegetable-dessert progression, she has followed a trail of salt, olive oil, wheat, pasta, wine, legumes, peppers and tomatoes, pigs, seafood, cheese and yogurt.
It’s an intriguing way to get to the essence of the cuisines of the region.
“More than just a collection of delicious and unusual recipes from here-there-and-everywhere,” she writes, “this book, I hope, shows how the food of the Mediterranean, the cooking of the Mediterranean, begins–not in formulaic recipes, but in what Italians call la materia prima, the primary ingredients without which the cuisine simply does not and cannot exist.”
Jenkins’ role here is as teacher and storyteller. The beginning of each chapter sets the scene through stories of her travels in search of the foodstuffs and foodways of these sun-baked countries.
She tells the tale of Majid Mahjoub, who owns olive groves in the Mejerda Valley of Tunisia and who produces high-quality extra-virgin olive oil for the international market. Tunisia has come late to the worldwide market for olive oil, she writes, but producers like Mahjoub are updating their marketing of the oil, which has been crucial to the area since the time of the Phoenicians. Mahjoub speaks eloquently of his green oil. His neighbors call him “the Shakespeare of olive oil,” Jenkins writes.
Through Mahjoub and other growers, she shows us how olives are picked, processed and sold. Then, she encourages her readers to search out good olive oils and tells them what to look for.
Though much of the book is spent in fully discussing the ingredients, Jenkins still found room for 170 recipes within 436 pages. By virtue of the book’s scope, the recipes cover a wide area, from the simple Turkish green beans with olive oil to the more complicated Andalusian stewpot of chickpeas, beef, pork and vegetables.
The recipes are easy to follow. Though some call for ingredients not readily available, the author includes a good list of mail-order sources.
A fine recipe for oven-roasted fish fillets in white wine with almonds, when tested, came from the oven fragrant with its slow-cooked onions and olive oil. The Andalusian spiced pork skewers, marinated in a heady mixture of freshly ground coriander, cumin and paprika, resulted in a delicious summer dish. Lentils made a surprise appearance in a tangy and simple olive spread for country bread.
A recipe for salt-baked fish, though, created a problem in the test kitchen, but it was of our own doing. Calling for sea salt, the recipe instructed to mix it with egg white and to spread it over a whole fish in a baking dish. Not having sea salt on hand, we used kosher salt instead. Once baked, we could not crack open the salt shell without major effort, scattering quantities of salt all over. Chagrined, we tried the recipe again later with sea salt and it worked perfectly.
Andalusian spiced pork skewers (Pinchitos morunos)
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Marinating time: 1 hour
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Yield: 8-10 appetizer servings
“One of my all-time favorite Spanish tapas, these little skewers are very much at home in Andalusia, where they are served in tapas bars along with a glass of chilled fino sherry or manzanilla,” writes Nancy Harmon Jenkins in “The Essential Mediterranean.” “Don’t try these with very lean pork as the meat will simply dry out while cooking. Best is a piece, like country-style boneless ribs, with fat mixed in with the lean.” If you use wooden skewers, be sure to soak them in water at least 30 minutes.
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
2 teaspoons mildly hot Spanish paprika (pimenton de la Vera is good)
Freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 1/4 pounds pork, cut into small pieces
1. Crush the garlic with the salt in a mortar until you have a paste. Combine the coriander seeds and cumin seeds in a dry skillet. Set over medium-low heat and toast for several minutes, until the aromas start to rise. Transfer the spices to the mortar with the garlic and pound gently to a paste. Mix in the turmeric, paprika, lots of black pepper, the olive oil, and the lemon juice. Transfer the mixture to a shallow plate.
2. Thread the pork pieces on skewers. Turn the skewers in the marinating mixture to coat the meat well on all sides. Set aside to marinate for an hour or so.
3. When you are ready to cook, prepare a charcoal fire and let the coals burn down until they are white-hot or preheat an oven broiler for at least 20 minutes. Grill or broil the skewers, turning them once, for a total cooking time of 5 to 6 minutes. Serve immediately.
Tribune test kitchen note: We cut the pork into 1-inch pieces, which took about 10 minutes to cook through.
Nutrition information per serving (calculated by the Tribune, based on 8): 115 calories, 49% calories from fat, 6 g fat, 1.6 g saturated fat, 35 mg cholesterol, 175 mg sodium, 0.5 g carbohydrate, 14 g protein, 0.1 g fiber
Toasts with lentil-green olive spread
(Crostini di lenticchie con ulive verde)
Preparation time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Yield: 6-8 appetizer servings
“Tiny, slate-colored lentils from the Abruzzi, the mountainous region east of Rome, have an earthy, spicy fragrance that acts as a splendid foil for richly flavored olive oil,” Nancy Harmon Jenkins writes in “The Essential Mediter-ranean.” Any small lentils will work in this recipe.
8 ounces tiny lentils from Abruzzi
1 small whole onion, peeled
1 whole garlic clove, peeled
1 bay leaf
1/2 small dried hot red chili pepper
24 plump green olives, pitted and coarsely chopped
1/2 cup finely sliced celery
1/4 cup finely sliced shallots
1 garlic clove, finely minced
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more to serve
1 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar or fresh lemon juice
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 to 8 thin slices crusty country-style bread
1 small fresh sweet red pepper, cored and sliced into very thin rings
1. Pick over the lentils very carefully, discarding any tiny stones or bits of grit. Rinse quickly under running water. Combine the lentils, onion, garlic, bay leaf, and dried pepper in a pot with water to cover by 1 inch. Set over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to a simmer, cover the pot, and cook for 20 to 30 minutes, until the lentils are very tender. Drain the lentils, reserving about 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid and discarding the onion, garlic, bay leaf, and chili.
2. Remove about one-third of the lentils and mash with a fork or whirl to a puree in the bowl of a food processor. Mix the mashed lentils with the whole lentils and stir in the olives, celery, shallots, garlic, oil, and vinegar. Add salt and pepper to taste. If the resulting paste is too thick to spread, thin it with a few spoonfuls of the reserved liquid.
3. Toast the bread slices until crisp and brown under a broiler (rather than in a toaster which will leave the bread too soft in the middle) immediately before serving. Drizzle a little additional oil over each slice, then mound with the lentil-olive mixture and garnish each with a sliver of red pepper.
Nutrition information per serving (calculated by the Tribune, based on 6):
315 calories, 38% calories from fat, 14 g fat, 1.3 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 575 mg sodium, 39 g carbohydrate, 12 g protein, 10 g fiber
