INTRODUCTION
What follows is a collection of over 65 recipes inspired by Mediterranean village life; pages filled with simple yet delicious food, based on traditional dishes cooked across the region, but developed with modern life in mind. Some recipes are classics, while others are my fresh twists on traditional techniques and ingredients. My aim is to share my enthusiasm for this style of food and cooking with you, and also to offer you a blueprint for a simpler, more balanced way of eating. My recipes are not contrived or designed to be ‘healthy’. I just want to encourage you to eat in a naturally balanced way by enjoying good quality seasonal ingredients, sensible portion sizes, a few treats and a tumbler or two of wine – simple, frugal, humble eating.
My own family hail from Cyprus, coming originally from villages dotted all over the island. It is through conversations with them over the years that I have been able to paint a picture of what life might have been like a generation or two back, and this has shaped my ‘village food’ philosophy. They typically grew their own produce, foraged and fished, and also kept some small livestock, such as chickens, pigs, goats and rabbits, which gave them meat plus eggs, milk, butter and the means to make cheeses. Sourcing food this way automatically meant eating in tune with the seasons and a higher intake of vegetables, fruit, pulses, grains and nuts. Meat and fish, often considered a luxury, were reserved for feast days and celebrations. What was in effect a ‘Mediterranean diet’ (now recognized as one of the healthiest in the world) came from a place of necessity in these rural communities. What I love in particular about this Mediterranean style of cooking is the alchemy of simple, often frugal ingredients morphing into something delicious. It was built on the foundations of ‘low-waste kitchens’ and ‘nose-to-tail eating’, long before these phrases were coined. Never has stale bread tasted so good as when it is transformed into Pangritata, breadcrumbs fried until crisp in olive oil with garlic, and used in place of Parmesan (see page 130) or foraged wild greens and dandelions, pulled from the earth to be laced until silky with olive oil and become Garlic Horta (see page 122). When an animal is killed it is old and every part is used. A hen, tough as old boots, long retired from her egg-laying career, is used to make a flavoursome soup (see Avgolemono on page 108) or a frugal cut of meat will be slow-cooked in wine with herbs until it melts into something delicious, like my Oxtail Osso Buco on page 118. We should all also consider broadening our horizons and embrace meats like farmed rabbit (see Rabbit Pepitoria on page 117) and even goat; both sustainable choices.
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