Wizard Recipes

Mussels, with their long, oval, blue-black shells and delicious pink-orange flesh are often called the poor man’s oyster. Clinging to rocks and piers along the seacoasts everywhere, they can be had for the picking at low tide. If you are gathering mussels yourself, take them only from places washed by clear, clean, sea water.

Scrubbing and soaking mussels

Before they can be cooked, mussels must have a rather long and careful cleaning process to remove all possible sand from their interiors, and to rid the shells of any slime and dirt which might spoil the excellent juices they render as they steam open.

Discard any mussels that are not firmly closed, or which feel lighter in weight than the rest. Discard also any too-heavy mussels, as they may be nothing but sand enclosed between two mussel shells. Scrub each mussel very clean with a rough brush under running water.

Then with a small knife, scrape off the tuft of hairs, or beard, which protrudes from be­tween one side of the closed shell halves. Set the mussels in a basin or bucket of fresh water for an hour or two so they will disgorge their sand and also lose a bit of their saltiness. Lift the mussels out of the water into a colander, wash and drain them again, and they are ready to cook.

Note: Some cooks add flour to the soaking water on the theory that while the mussels eat the flour and become fatter and more succulent, they are at the same time disgorging their sand more thoroughly. Use 1/3 cup of flour for each 2 quarts of water, beating the flour and a bit of water with a whip first, to mix it thoroughly. Then, after soaking the mussels, lift them into a colander, and rinse them in cold water.

Canned mussels

Beware of sand if you are using canned mussels. If there is any sand at all in the juices at the bottom of the can, soak the mussels in several changes of cold water. Eat one, and if it is sandy, continue washing the mussels.

Good quality canned mussels may be substituted for fresh mussels in all but the first two of the following recipes; the canned juices may be used as stock for your sauce. Simmer the juices with a bit of white wine or vermouth, and fill out the quantity of stock called for in your recipe with boiling milk

MOULES A LA MARINIERE •

[Fresh Mussels Steamed Open in Wine and Flavorings]

Here is the simplest version of this most typical of French methods for cooking mussels. They are steamed open in a big pot with wine and flavorings, and it takes only about 5 minutes. Then the mussels, shells and all, are dipped out into soup plates, and the cooking liquor is poured over them. Each guest removes the mussels one by one from their shells with fingers or a fork and discards the shells into a side dish.

In addition to shell dish and fork, provide your guests with a soupspoon for drinking up the mussel juices, a big napkin, and a finger bowl. Along with the mussels serve French bread, butter, and a chilled, light, dry white wine such as Muscadet, dry Graves, or one of the Pouillys.

For 6 to 8 people

Ingredients

2 cups of light, dry white wine or 1 cup dry white  vermouth

An 8- to 10-quart enameled kettle with cover

½ cup minced shallots, or green onions, or very finely minced onions

8 parsley sprigs

1/2 bay leaf

1/4 tsp thyme

1/8 tsp pepper

6 Tb butter

6 quarts scrubbed, soaked mussels

1/2 cup   roughly   chopped parsley

How to make

Bring the wine to the boil in the kettle with the rest of the ingredients listed. Boil for 2 to 3 minutes to evaporate its alcohol and to reduce its volume slightly.

Add the mussels to the kettle. Cover tightly and boil quickly over high heat. Frequently grasp the kettle with both hands, your thumbs clamped to the cover, and toss the mussels in the kettle with an up and down slightly jerky motion so the mussels will change levels and cook evenly. In about 5  minutes the shells will swing open and the mussels are done.

With a big skimmer, dip the mussels into wide soup plates. Allow the cooking liquid to settle for a moment so any sand will sink to the bottom. Then ladle the liquid over the mussels, sprinkle with parsley and serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Food, like the people who eat it, can be stimulated by wine or spirits and, as with people, it can also be spoiled. The quality in a white or red wine, vermouth, Madeira, or brandy which heightens the character of cooking is not the alcohol content, which is usually evaporated, but the flavor. Therefore any wine or spirit used in cooking must be a good one.

If it is excessively fruity, sour, or unsavory in any way, these tastes will only be emphasized by the cook­ing, which ordinarily reduces volume and concentrates flavor. If you have not a good wine to use, it is far better to omit it, for a poor one can spoil a simple dish and utterly debase a noble one.

White wine

White wine for cooking should be strong and dry, but never sour or fruity. A most satisfactory choice is white Macon, made from the Pinot Blanc or the Chardonnay grape. It has all the right qualities and, in France, is not expensive. As the right white wine is not as reasonable to acquire in America, we have found that a good, dry, white vermouth is an excellent substitute, and much better than the wrong kind of white wine.

Red wine

A good, young, full-bodied red wine is the type you should use for cook­ing. In France you would pick a Macon, one of the lesser Burgundies, one of the more full-bodied regional Bordeaux such as St.-Emilion, or a good local wine having these qualities.

Fortified wines, spirits, and liqueurs

Fortified wines, spirits, and liqueurs are used principally for final flavor­ings. As they must be of excellent quality they are always expensive; but usually only a small quantity is called for, so your supply should last quite a while. Here, particularly, if you do not want to spend the money for a good bottle, omit the ingredient or pick another recipe.

RUM and LIQUEURS are called for in desserts. Dark Jamaican rum is the best type to use here, to get a full rum flavor. Among liqueurs, orange is most frequently specified; good imported brands as touchstones for flavor are Cointreau, Grand Marnier, and curacao.

MADEIRA and PORT arc often the final flavor-fillip for sauces, as in a brown Madeira sauce for ham, or chicken in port wine. These wines should be the genuine imported article of a medium-dry type, but can be the more moderately priced examples from a good firm.

SHERRY and MARSALA are rare in French cooking. If used in place of port or Madeira they tend to give an un-French flavor to most French recipes.

BRANDY is the most ubiquitous spirit in French cooking from desserts to sauces, consommes, aspics, and flambees. Because there are dreadful con­coctions bottled under the label of brandy, wc have specified cognac whenever brandy is required in a recipe, as a reminder that you use a good brand. You do not have to buy Three-star or V.S.O.P, but whatever you use should com­pare favorably in taste with a good cognac.

If vegetables make up the soul of traditional Mediterranean cuisine, then grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds comprise the body. This food group constitutes the bulk of the traditional Mediterranean diet, and the many manifestations of grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds make delicious, comforting, fragrant, filling, and deeply satisfying food.

Nothing distinguishes a Mediterranean kitchen more than the aroma of fresh-baked bread. Whether a dense, round loaf of country bread from France or crispy Moroccan flatbread, whole-grain bread accompanies most Mediterranean meals in one form or another.

Imagine steaming pots of pasta in shapes ranging from prodigious lasagna noodles and giant shells to rice-shaped orzo and the “little ears” called orecchiette to couscous, the grain like pasta so common in African and Middle Eastern cuisine.

The types of pasta are endless: spaghetti, linguine, fettuccine, penne, rigatoni, ziti, conchiglie, and fusilli, to name just a few.

Creamy risotto, a heavenly Italian rice concoction, may be flavored with any number of vegetables from artichokes to zucchini. Other rice dishes are prevalent as well: saffron colored Spanish rice that is the one consistent ingredient in a Spanish paella, the classic Greek rice pilaf, and various combinations of rice with vegetables or seafood, baked in the oven or added to soup.

Porridge like when fresh, crispy when chilled, sliced, and grilled, cornmeal-based polenta is an Italian specialty, as are gnocchi, little Italian dumplings made with flour and often potatoes. From the Middle Eastern shores of the Mediterranean comes bulgur wheat, cooked into pilafs or tabouli salad. And then there are pizzas, calzones, vegetable and meat pies, moussaka. Anybody hungry?

Grains sit at the base of the Mediterranean Diet Pyramid, which suggests eight or more servings of whole-grain breads, pasta, cereal, rice,  bulgur, couscous, polenta,and others each day. One of the best ways to eat Mediterranean is to add more whole grains to your diet.

Grains of all types become even heartier and more delectable with the addition of protein-rich legumes, nuts, and seeds: penne with white beans, rice with peas, chickpeas with bulgur wheat, spaghetti with walnut sauce. Legumes exist in every Mediterranean country, often taking the place of meat as a main course and, even more often, serving to stretch very small amounts of meat to serve many.

Legumes contain many vitamins (such as folacin) and minerals (such as selenium), are protein- and fiber-rich, and are satisfying dressed with nothing more than a little olive oil and a splash of lemon juice. Their sizes, colors, and types are far too numerous to list here, but some of the more common Mediterranean legumes are white canellini beans, chickpeas (garbanzo beans), fava beans (broad beans), black beans, green and red lentils, tiny white haricot beans, red kidney beans, lima beans, and Egyptian ful beans.

Many cultures have used legumes for centuries as a primary protein source, and the Mediterranean region is no exception.

Nuts and seeds (technically, nuts are large seeds of fruits with hard husks, except for peanuts, which are actually legumes) are often used to add flavor and crunch to raw and cooked foods, whether part of an appetizer, such as almond paste mixed with chickpeas for hummus; a feature of the main meal, such as pasta with pesto rich with pine nuts; or sprinkled over stewed fruit for dessert.

Nuts and seeds can add significant nutrients, phytochemicals, protein, and mono-unsaturated fats to a traditional Mediterranean inspired diet. Although most nuts and seeds can be high in total fat, generally only 10 percent of this fat is saturated.

Frequent nut and seed consumption has been linked to low rates of many chronic diseases such as certain cancers and heart disease. Despite many fears that eating these beneficial foods (especially nuts) will cause weight gain, recent studies have shown otherwise.

Walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts (filberts), pine nuts (pignolia), pistachios (in the Middle East), and peanuts (technically a legume) are the nuts most common in the Mediterranean.

Mediterranean or not, all nuts and seeds, except for the coconut (which is high in saturated fat) can be added to a Mediterranean-inspired way of eating. Just be sure that the nuts and seeds you consume (whether in spreads, such as peanut butter, or in the “whole” form) are not packaged with added hydrogenated oils, which spells trans-fatty acids.

Other types of nuts and seeds include chestnuts, cashews, pecans, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, and sunflower seeds.

Nuts and seeds, either plain or roasted without added oils and salt, make a wonderful and convenient snack food. A handful of nuts and another handful of dried fruit-raisins, currants, dates, dried cherries and blueberries, and so on- make a nutritious quick fix between meals.

Grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds are delicious and filling sources of good nutrition in the true Mediterranean style.

WHEN I don’t know what to make for dinner, I caramelize onions. In the 20 minutes it takes for them to soften and brown, I forage for ingredients and conjure up a plan.

The sweet, golden onions can accommodate whatever I throw at them; they’re perfect as a base for soups, stews and sautés. But usually, I just toss in an assortment of quick-cooking vegetables (like greens, tomatoes or zucchini) and simmer the whole thing down into what my family fondly calls “vegetable mush.” It is especially nice with a mound of buttery polenta and a side of some seared protein matter - boneless chicken, fish or meat.

I’ve been making variations of this dish for years, and it is always extremely satisfying, though never, to tell the truth, terribly exciting.

But I was inspired when I brought home an exuberant bunch of fennel from the farmers’ market. The fronds were particularly perky and too unwieldy for the refrigerator.

My immediate thought was to adapt my vegetable mush by caramelizing a thinly sliced fennel bulb with the onions. To play up the licorice flavor, I’d add a pinch of fennel seed and a drizzle of Pernod. The vegetables could serve as a bed for seared chicken thighs, ideal for absorbing the herbal aromatics.

But what about the fronds? Chopped and strewn over the mush, they might add color and flavor, but I wanted something more integrated.

I decided to purée the fronds with garlic, lemon zest and olive oil, and then spoon the bright aromatic paste over the chicken and vegetables. The lemon zest and garlic helped to counter the sweetness of the onions and fennel, adding a welcome bite. And the deep green color relieved the dish’s overwhelming drab beige hue.

Best of all, the fennel elevated a workaday dinner into a festive dish, with flavors bold enough to make anyone forget its mushy origins - even me.

Perhaps it ’s human nature, but I have far crisper memories of cooking failures than I do of triumphs. The time my omelets for six all stuck to the pan, the raw roast beef, and the curdled hollandaise all come rushing to mind every time I get near a stove to try something adventurous.

It’s with a similar wave of angst and embarrassment that I remember my first vegetable soup, boiled up for a group of friends in my one-room Mont- Martre flat-the one with the radiator that never got hot and the horsehair blanket with “1939″ embroidered on one corner.

In my own defense, the soup’s failure was partly due to poverty, but with a little of an old-fashioned French housewife’s cunning frugality I might have been able to pull it off. Had I known how to make a soupe au pistou, one of the glories of Provençal cooking, my soup would surely have been a long-forgotten triumph.

In soupe au pistou, as in other mixed-vegetable soups, the vegetables are simmered until done in water or broth and are added in stages appropriate to their cooking times. What turns a vegetable soup into a soupe au pistou is pistou-a paste of garlic, Parmigiano- Reggiano cheese, and basil either swirled into the soup immediately before serving orpassed at the table for guests to help themselves.

The basil and garlic release their pungent perfumes and the cheese gives the soup a nutty richness right under the diner’s nose.

To make a successful soupe au pistou, you must first make a vegetable soup, to which you then add some noodles, at least if you’re concerned about authenticity. Most of us almost reflexively use broth when making soup, but a soupe au pistou is more often than not made without it, forcing us to derive its flavor and aroma from vegetables alone.

This is one of the soup’s advantages, since most of us find making broth a nuisance and canned broth rarely worth bothering with. But even if you’re stuck with supermarket vegetables and the soup itself ends up a little insipid, the pistou will enliven it into something heady and satisfying.

The pistou, the Provençal relative of neighboring Liguria’s pesto, is a cause of much bickering, mostly about whether the pistou can be made in a blender or food processor or must be made by hand with a mortar and pestle. True, it is better if you make it in a mortar, but how many of us have mortars large enough to make the process anything other than agonizing?

The mortars and pestles sold at cooking supply stores work fine for crushing a pinch or two of herbs, but making a cup or two of pistou would take most of a day. So I must be honest and admit that I make pistou and pesto in a blender. It takes about a minute.

But now to the soup itself. The vegetables will vary according to the cooks you talk with, the cookbooks you read, and the time of year. Winter or summer squash are almost always available, as are fresh beans, either shell beans or string beans and sometimes both. Tomatoes are commonly but not universally used.

They are often added to the pistou, but because they turn it a rather dull hue, I prefer to add them directly to the soup. Potatoes, zucchini, the root vegetables turnips, carrots, and celeriac, and onions or leeks are also commonly used.

Some recipes call for sweating the root vegetables in olive oil before adding liquid, but usually the vegetables are combined all at once in a pot with water and simmered until done.

More careful recipes use a bit more common sense and call for adding the vegetables in stages according to their cooking times. My own versions are almost entirely seasonal and depend more on what I stumble into at the farmers’ market or supermarket than on any preconceived idea.

My summer soupe au pistou invariably contains zucchini or summer squash, tomatoes, fresh cranberry or lima beans (if I can find them), and string beans. Winter versions contain winter squash (common in many traditional versions), potatoes, and turnips.

Every version, regardless of season, contains leeks or onions and carrots. In traditional recipes, thick vermicelli noodles, called méjanels, are simmered in the soup just long enough to cook through.

Most modern recipes call for vermicelli, but I use little macaroni instead I make soupe au pistou for a crowd because it’s hard to make a small batch, since there’s such a large variety of vegetables.

Combined with bread, sprinkled with olive oil and cheese, and baked, leftover soupe au pistou becomes a gratin or panade.

Served at room temperature, it’s similar to the Tuscan ribollita. I often serve soupe au pistou as a main course, especially in the summer, but it also makes a good first course.

The pistou can be made earlier in the day or while the soup is cooking.

Fat. Does the word make you cringe? Fat is bad, bad, bad . . . isn’t it? Eating fat makes us overweight, gives us heart attacks, causes cancer, wrecks our health . . . doesn’t it? If it says “fat free,” it must be healthy . . . isn’t that true?

Yet, if fat is so bad, how is it that in certain Mediterranean regions such as the Greek island of Crete during the 1950s, where heart disease and other chronic disease rates were startlingly low, fat consumption was about equal to fat consumption in America?

Cretans during this time in history were among the longest-lived people in the world. Yet their diet was full of fat.

According to researcher Ancel Keys, Cretans consumed 3 to 4 ounces (or about 1?2 cup) of olive oil per day, per person.That’s a lot of fat! Keys reported that the people of Crete drenched their salads in it, dunked their bread in it, poured it on their potatoes.

Some Cretan farmers even drank a wineglass full of the stuff for breakfast! Why weren’t the people on this tiny island suffering from the same health problems as Americans during the 1950s and 1960s, those health problems we’ve been told had (and still have) everything to do with too much fat in our diets?

Perhaps Crete is an anomaly? Yet studies from other countries reveal similarly striking results. Heart disease rates in the southern, or rather the Mediterranean, regions of Italy, Spain, and France were also remarkably low, even though percentage of fat calories varied greatly around the region.

Yet not every country could get away with fat consumption to the degree enjoyed in the Mediterranean. Keys’s studies of fat consumption and diet also included Finland, the country with the most coronary heart disease and the shortest life spans in Europe.

Keys examined middle-aged men in Finland to determine why coronary heart disease was so common in this country, even among men who were thinner and more physically fit than many of the overweight, less fit American men in Keys’s studies. Blood cholesterol levels of the Finnish men proved to exceed average levels in American men.

Subsequent dietary surveys revealed that the typical diet in Finland was extremely high in saturated fat. According to Keys, meals included “great mounds of butter,” and it was not unusual to see “grown men down a couple of glasses of rich milk.” Keys also relates watching Finnish loggers take “slabs of cheese the size of slices of sandwich bread, smear them a quarter of an inch deep with butter and eat them with a beer as an after-sauna snack.”

Other studies conducted by Keys revealed that among patients with very high blood cholesterol levels, diets very low in fat produced dramatic drops in cholesterol levels within one week, and studies examining the effects of different types of fatty acids-saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated-on blood cholesterol levels revealed that saturated fatty acids tended to raise blood cholesterol levels the most.

It would seem, then, that the type of dietary fat, not just fat in general, is specifically related to the risk of developing coronary heart disease and other chronic diseases. Does this mean some fat is “good” and some fat is “bad”? That we should eat all of one and none of the other?

Actually, the fat issue is a complex one, and not simply a matter of “bad” and “good,” as the media often imply. For instance, just because the Cretans drowned their food in olive oil doesn’t mean we can do the same and remain slim with unclogged arteries. The residents of rural Crete had far more active lifestyles than most Americans today.

Also, scientists now know that fat per se isn’t bad. On the contrary, fat is beneficial and even necessary to a healthy, fully functioning body. However, certain types of fat in differing proportions do apparently tend to be more or less beneficial to health.

Americans eat a lot of saturated fat, mostly from animal sources. The residents of Crete during the days of Ancel Keys’s research were eating almost all their fat from plant sources, namely olive oil.

What’s the difference? While oil of any type is 100 percent fat and has the same number of calories as any other oil, each oil or fat type has a different composition-its own ratio of saturated to monounsaturated to polyunsaturated fatty acids.

And the fatty acid makeup of an oil appears to make all the difference. The fatty acid composition in, say, a cheeseburger, is far different from the fatty acid composition of a calorie-equivalent portion of olive oil.

Let’s look back at Greece. According to Keys, at the time of his research, the general Greek population received approximately 20 percent of their calories from olive oil alone, with total fat intake ranging around 35 percent. (People living on the island of Crete had total fat intakes exceeding 40 percent of daily calories, again, mostly in the form of olive oil, as reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.)

Keys describes the rural Greeks, who were accustomed to traditional eating habits and who couldn’t afford richer foods, as “remarkably healthy.” The wealthier population of Athens, on the other hand, tended to eat food more inspired by the French school of cooking (more prevalent in non-Mediterranean, northern France), which is relatively heavy on butter and cream compared to olive oil.

Although no study has proven a direct correlation between these varied diets in Greece and heart disease, Keys could not “help but mention” that Athens had no shortage of wealthy coronary heart disease patients.

Keys’s observations significantly complicate the simplified message Americans have been accustomed to hearing over the past fifteen years or so: that fat is bad and we should eat less of it.

Fat is not “bad.” We need fat to function. The trick is how to consume it in a way that maximizes our health and gives us the best possible protection against chronic diseases like coronary heart disease and cancer

In the Mediterranean, snacking is a serious business. From the afternoon snack in the Italian trattoria to the elegant antipasti that precede the fanciest restaurant meals, from street fare of vendors working carts or bicycles or spreading their wares on a blanket on the street to the Spanish tapas bar where food and drink and fellowship can be found in equal parts, from the mid afternoon meze of Greece or Turkey to a quick bite of skewed, spiced meat in Morocco, snacking in the Mediterranean serves many purposes:

It fortifies the body and soul during that long stretch between the midday meal and the evening supper. It may accompany wine or ouzo or other alcoholic beverages, or it may be the perfect foil for a hot cup of tea.

Perhaps most importantly, snacking brings people together, furthering a sense of community. But snacking takes on a more insidious form in contemporary America. We eat our meals at our desks or in front of the TV or the newspaper, barely noticing the food as it passes from lips to stomach.

Because we barely remember those meals, we find ourselves still seeking satisfaction, so we snack between meals, all the while sitting at our computers or in front of our televisions. And then one day, we find that the number on the scale is a lot higher than it used to be!

It’s no wonder. We eat distractedly, so we neither taste nor recognize how much we’ve consumed. Combined with a sedentary lifestyle, such a method of eating spells disaster, for health and for spirit, as we become further and further removed from a sense of appreciation for the food that nourishes us.

The first step may indeed be to cut down on the amount of food we consume while upping the amount of attention we pay to the eating process. Less food of higher quality can help to nurture our palates and our appreciation for really good food.

For this reason, the Mediterranean snack can be, for Americans, a quite adequate and delicious meal. A hardboiled egg sprinkled with cumin and a pinch of sea salt, a wedge of rosemary foccacia, and a fresh piece of fruit make a delicious breakfast.

Who wouldn’t be satisfied with a lunch of capered fish cakes with olive-anchovy relish and a salad of fresh greens dressed in olive oil and a splash of vinegar? Or how about a plate of almond couscous and a serving of white beans with basil and cumin for dinner?

Grilled stuffed portabella mushrooms perhaps? A lovely plate of sautéed shrimp with chilies and broiled tomatoes on crispy rounds of French bread toast?

Here some ideas for Mediterranean-inspired “snacks” in just a sampling of their many wonderful incarnations. These meals are light, satisfying, portion-controlled, and best of all, fantastically memorable.

TAPAS (APPETIZERS)

In Spain, tapas are the snacks, usually served in bars, designed to accompany sherry. However, anyone can enjoy tapas, as a midday snack or as a light lunch-alcohol not required!

Tapas can include any kind of Spanish-inspired hors d’oeuvres, so use your imagination. Add a dish of almonds lightly tossed with sea salt. Wrap slices of melon in paperthin strips of proscuitto. Enjoy a few slices of Spanish goat cheese. Or serve a heaping plate of fresh, bite-sized vegetables with a shallow bowl of olive oil sprinkled with pepper and a pinch of salt, for dipping.

And of course, don’t forget the plate of olives. Try green, black, speckled . . . experiment to see what you like, but please avoid the “California-style” black ones, which are green olives treated with lye to turn them black. These can’t begin to approach the naturally brine-cured olives from Greece, Spain, Morocco, or elsewhere in the Mediterranean.

The superiority of taste in these olives far outweighs the slightly higher cost. (Serving suggestion: Invite friends! It would be a shame to deprive others of such a delightful eating experience!)

ANTIPASTI

In Italy, the fanciest of meals begin with antipasti, or a collection of Italian hors d’oeuvres made just for the purpose of announcing a grand feast and warming up the palate in preparation for the wonders to come. But antipasto can be a meal or midday snack in itself.

You don’t need a recipe to concoct a pile of crudités and a bowl of fresh green olive oil topped with pepper for dipping, which can satisfy the urge to crunch in a way no potato chip ever could.

A few marinated mushrooms, artichokes, and olives on a bed of greens make a luscious lunch, and you can buy these, imported from Italy, in any gourmet food store, and in many grocery stores, too. In the mood to cook? Try a few of these Italian-inspired recipes.

How about a heady minestrone brimming with bright zucchini and carrots, green beans and butternut squash, fragrant garlic and onion, and slivers of plump cabbage leaves for dinner?

Or perhaps you would prefer a simple pizza slathered with ruby-red tomato sauce and flecked with fresh basil? Maybe artichoke hearts and tomatoes stuffed with minced onions, cilantro, and a rainbow of chopped bell peppers, Moroccan-style, are more your speed. Chilled tomato and pepper gazpacho, anyone? A Greek eggplant salad with red bell peppers, tomatoes, and wild marjoram?

Or maybe just a simple antipasto featuring grilled vegetables, marinated olives, and ratatouille?

Fresh and plentiful in the Mediterranean region, vegetables and herbs give traditional Mediterranean cuisine much of its character and flavor, not to mention its beauty and vibrant color.

The traditional Mediterranean diet is naturally heavy on vegetables-not surprising, considering the garden-friendly Mediterranean climate. Traditionally, many people in the Mediterranean made their living farming the land. Others simply grew food to feed their own families.

What would classic Mediterranean cuisine be without vegetables? From eggplant Parmesan and tomatoes Provençal to stuffed vine leaves and spinach-cheese pie, vegetables provide the people of the Mediterranean with variety, color, and flavor without the high cost of meat-based meals. But vegetables, it seems, do much more than provide low-cost meals for people eating them in great quantities in the Mediterranean.

Many of the health benefits of the traditional Mediterranean diet are undoubtedly due to the high proportion of fresh vegetables.

Many studies have examined the protective effect of vegetable consumption against certain chronic diseases. Some have uncovered an inverse association between vegetable and fruit consumption and the risk of many types of cancers, especially cancers of the upper respiratory and digestive tracts, lungs, stomach, pancreas, and cervix, as well as colorectal and ovarian cancers.

Could vegetable consumption in the Mediterranean be linked to low chronic disease rates? Evidence mounts to support this theory, even when the evidence doesn’t directly involve the Mediterranean. Not too long ago, researchers Kristi Steinmetz, Ph.D., R.D., and John Potter, M.D., Ph.D., compiled more than two hundred population and animal studies that looked at plant food consumption and cancer rates.

Indeed, there appears to be a strong relationship between plant food consumption and cancer rates. The researchers could only speculate that cancer can be a disease resulting from a diet devoid of sufficient amounts of plant foods.

Human bodies, it seems, are better able to maintain and even regain their health when plant foods make up the majority of calories in the diet. But that is no surprise to people studying the cuisine and health status of people living in the Mediterranean.

High vegetable consumption seems to have a profound effect on the occurrence of other chronic diseases, not just cancer. The risk of heart disease, arthritis, macular degeneration (age-associated loss of sight due to gradual degeneration of the macula, a part of the retina), age-related cognitive decline (such as Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia), and other age-related health problems may all be reduced as vegetable consumption increases.

In addition to decreasing the risk of chronic diseases, research suggests that once chronic disease is present, certain components in vegetables may slow or even reverse the progress of the disease.

This process occurs perhaps by offering a boost to the immune system, as well as assisting in the fight against cell-damaging free radicals (more on free radicals later in this chapter).

In short, research on many fronts strongly suggests that a plant-centered diet rich in vegetables, as well as fruits and whole grains, may add both quality and quantity to your years

Vegetables were, at one time, abused and neglected, relegated to the minor role of unimportant side dishes, to be taken or left, or not even noticed on the table.

Today, however, lowly vegetables are much more appreciated, not only for their nutritional importance but for the variety, flavor, eye appeal, and even elegance and sophistication they bring to the menu.

This article lists the fresh vegetables commonly used in North American kitchens, including many products that have become familiar from Asian and Latin cuisines. Tips for evaluation and trimming the products, as well as the average trimming yield, are indicated.

Vegetables are listed alphabetically, rather than by family classification, to make them easier to find.

Artichokes, Globe

Identification: Artichokes are the unopened or immature flowers of a type of thistle.

They vary in size and coloration but are usually round to somewhat elongated, colored light to medium green , sometimes with purple tints.

Related Varieties: Baby artichokes are not actually babies but come from a different place on the plant and are at their full size. Especially young baby artichokes may be tender enough to eat whole, with little trimming except for removing the top points of the leaves.

Evaluation: Look for compact, tight leaves; heavy for size; few or no brown blemishes.

Preparation: Wash. Cut 1 inch (2-3 cm) off tops. Cut off stem and lower leaves. Scrape out choke (fuzzy center) with melon ball cutter.(Remove choke before or after cooking.) Dip in lemon juice immediately.

Percentage Yield: 80% (whole, trimmed),30% (bottoms only)

Asparagus

Identification: Spear-shaped new shoot or stem that emerges from the plant’s roots in the spring. The pointed spear tip sprouts branches when the shoot is left to grow.

Related Varieties: White asparagus is the same plant as green, but soil is mounded over the shoots, protecting from the sun so they do not turn green. In Europe, white asparagus is more common than green. The flavor is milder than that of green, although North American white asparagus is usually more bitter than European. Purple asparagus turns dark green when cooked. It is tender and sweet.

Evaluation: Look for tightly closed tips; firm not  withered, stalks. For white asparagus, buy only product that has been kept chilled for its entire storage time; unchilled white asparagus becomes fibrous.

Preparation: Break off woody lower ends. Remove lower scales, which may harbour sand, or peel lower part of stalk. Cut tips to uniform lengths and/or tie them in bundles for cooking. White asparagus should be peeled the entire length of the stalk. Purple asparagus needs no peeling; just trim the bottoms.

Percentage Yield: 55% (green, peeled)

Avocados

Identification: The egg-shaped fruit of a small tree, with a leathery skin, tender, pale-green flesh, and a single large seed or pit in the center.

Related Varieties: There are several varieties that fall into two main categories:

1) The Mexican or Californian avocados, mostly the Hass variety, that have rough dark green skins that turn black when ripe. These have a rich, buttery flesh with a high oil content.

2) The West Indian or Florida type, with smoother skins that remain green. These are juicier and have a lower oil content.

Evaluation: Look for fresh appearance; fruit heavy for size; no blemishes or bruises.

Preparation: Ripen at room temperature,2-5 days. Cut in half lengthwise and remove pit Peel (skin pulls away easily from ripe fruit). Dip or rub with lemon juice immediately to prevent browning.

Percentage Yield: 75%

Bamboo Shoots

Identification: The young shoots of various species of bamboo plants, harvested as they just begin to emerge from the ground. They are roughly cone-shaped, with tough, brown skins and a creamy, crisp, tender interior.

Evaluation: Look for solid, heavy shoots with no soft spots or cracks; no trace of sour smell.

Preparation: Peel down to the creamy white or pale yellowish cone-shaped core.

Slice and boil in salted water until tender, then cut as desired for use in recipes.

Percentage Yield: Varies greatly, depending on size of shoots, which range from a few ounces to a pound (less than 100 grams to 500 grams) or more.

Beans, Fava

Identification: Also called broad bean. Unlike most of our common beans, which originated in the Western Hemisphere, favas are Old World beans. The large pods hold four to six beans in a soft, white lining. The flat beans slightly resemble limas, but they are not as starchy. Flavor is subtle and nutlike.

Evaluation: Select small to medium pods that are fresh green in color, not overly large. Yellowing pods may be too mature. Some spots on pods are normal.

Preparation: Preparation is labor-intensive. Shell the beans, parboil, then peel off skins or husks

Percentage Yield: 15-20%

Beans, Fresh Shell

Identification: These are the fresh, moist versions of the many types of dried beans.

Related Varieties: Although many types of beans are grown to be shelled, most of these are dried, and with the exception of cranberry or borlotti beans, southern peas or cowpeas, and black-eyed peas, few are available fresh. Soybeans and lima beans have their own entries below.

Evaluation: Look for firm, fresh, moderately filled-out pods containing firm but not hard seeds. Avoid yellow or brownish pods, which are likely to be too mature.

Preparation: Shell and rinse. Cook before serving; raw beans can be harmful.

Percentage Yield: 40%

Beans, Snap

Identification: Fresh green beans and other varieties are in the same family as shell beans, except they are grown to be picked immature for their tender, edible pods.

Related Varieties: Green beans are the most common. Some green varieties, picked when very small and tender, are known as haricots verts (ah ree coh vehr ,French for “green beans”).Other varieties include yellow or wax beans, purple beans, and flat, Italian-style green beans.

Evaluation: Look for firm and straight beans, with few shriveled ends; even color, without blemishes. Should be tender and crisp enough to break when bent to a 45- degree angle. Enclosed seeds should be small, not large and bulging.

Preparation: Wash. Cut or snap off ends. Remove any spots. Leave whole or cut into desired lengths.

Percentage Yield: 88%

As a cook ,you have a choice of many kinds of vegetables and many cooking methods. Not surprisingly, then, you are also faced with the necessity of learning many rules for cooking vegetables. Cooking affects vegetables in four ways. It changes the following:

1. Texture.

2. Flavor.

3. Color.

4. Nutrients.

How much these four characteristics change determines whether your final product is attractive and delicious to the customer or whether it ends up in the garbage. You can control these changes if you understand how they happen.

Unfortunately, there is still legitimate controversy among chefs about proper vegetable cooking techniques. Modern technology has not yet solved all the problems that experienced chefs tackle successfully every day in the kitchen.

CONTROLLING COLOR CHANGES

It is important to preserve as much natural color as possible when cooking vegetables. Because many people may reject or accept a vegetable on the basis of its appearance, it can be said that its visual quality is as important as its flavor or nutritional value.

Pigments are compounds that give vegetables their color. Different pigments react in different ways to heat and to acids and other elements that may be present during cooking, so it is necessary to discuss them one at a time.

WHITE VEGETABLES

White pigments, called flavones, are the primary coloring compounds in potatoes, onions, cauliflower, and white cabbage and in the white parts of such vegetables as celery, cucumbers, and zucchini.

White pigments stay white in acid and turn yellow in alkaline water. To keep vegetables such as cauliflower white, add a little lemon juice or cream of tartar to the cooking water. (Don’t add too much, though, as this may toughen the vegetable.) Covering the pot also helps keep acids in.

Cooking for a short time, especially in a steamer, helps maintain color (and flavor and nutrients as well).Overcooking or holding too long in a steam table turns white vegetables dull yellow or gray.

RED VEGETABLES

Red pigments, called anthocyanins, are found in only a few vegetables, mainly red cabbage and beets. Blueberries also are colored by these red pigments.(The red color of tomatoes and red peppers is due to the same pigments that color carrots yellow or orange.) Red pigments react very strongly to acids and alkalis. Acids turn them a brighter red.

Alkalis turn them blue or blue-green (not a very appetizing color for red cabbage). Red beets and red cabbage, therefore, have their best color when cooked with a small amount of acid. Red cabbage is often cooked with tart apples for this reason.

When a strongly acid vegetable is desired, such as Harvard Beets or Braised Red Cabbage, add just a small amount of acid at first. Acids toughen vegetables and prolong cooking time. Add the rest when the vegetables are tender.

Red pigments dissolve easily in water. This means

1. Use a short cooking time. Overcooked red vegetables lose a lot of color.

2. Use only as much water as is necessary.

3. Cook beets whole and unpeeled, with root and an inch of stem attached, to protect color. Skins easily slip off cooked beets.

4. When steaming,use solid pans instead of perforated pans to retain the red juices.

5. Whenever possible, serve the cooking liquid as a sauce with the vegetable.

GREEN VEGETABLES

Green coloring, or chlorophyll, is present in all green plants. Green vegetables are common in the kitchen,so it is important to understand the special handling required by this pigment.

Acids are enemies of green vegetables. Both acid and long cooking turn green vegetables to a drab olive green.

Protect the color of green vegetables by

1. Cooking uncovered to allow plant acids to escape.

2. Cooking for the shortest possible time. Properly cooked green vegetables are tender-crisp, not mushy.

3. Cooking in small batches rather than holding for long periods in a steam table. Steaming is rapidly becoming the preferred method for cooking green vegetables. Steam cooks food rapidly, lessens the dissolving out of nutrients and flavor, and does not break up delicate vegetables. Overcooking, however, can occur rapidly in steamers.

Do not use baking soda to maintain green color. Soda destroys vitamins and makes texture unpleasantly mushy and slippery.

How much water should be used when boiling? A large quantity of water helps dissolve plant acids, helps preserve colors, and speeds cooking .But some cooks feel that an excessive amount of nutrients are lost. See the next section for further discussion.

YELLOW AND ORANGE VEGETABLES

Yellow and orange pigments, called carotenoids , are found in carrots, corn, winter squash, rutabaga, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, and red peppers. These pigments are very stable. They are little affected by acids or alkalis. Long cooking can dull the color, however.

Short cooking not only prevents dulling of the color but also preserves vitamins and flavors.

CONTROLLING NUTRIENT LOSSES

Vegetables are an important part of our diets because they supply a wide variety of essential nutrients. They are our major sources of vitamins A and C and are rich in many other vitamins and minerals. Unfortunately, many of these nutrients are easily lost.

Six factors are responsible for most nutrient loss:

1. High temperature.

2. Long cooking.

3. Leaching (dissolving out).

4. Alkalis (baking soda, hard water).

5. Plant enzymes (which are active at warm temperatures but destroyed by high heat).

6. Oxygen.

Some nutrient loss is inevitable because it is rarely possible to avoid all of these conditions at the same time. For example,

• Pressure steaming shortens cooking time, but the high temperature destroys some vitamins.

• Braising uses low heat,but the cooking time is longer.

• Baking eliminates the leaching out of vitamins and minerals, but the long cooking and high temperature cause nutrient loss.

• Boiling is faster than simmering, but the higher temperature can be harmful and the rapid activity can break up delicate vegetables and increase loss through leaching.

• Cutting vegetables into small pieces decreases cooking time, but it increases leaching by creating more exposed surfaces.

• Even steaming allows some leaching out of nutrients into the moisture that condenses on the vegetables and then drips off.