Dinner Menu: Greek Grilling
- Chickpea Salad
- Grilled Trout Stuffed with Lemon and Herbs
- Orange-Glazed Fruit with Anise Whipped Cream
Our Chickpea Salad is a good example of a recipe that has cousins all around the Mediterranean.
Chickpeas, or garbanzo beans, are a favorite source of protein in the region. Tomatoes and peppers, although imported from the New World, are so much a part of the local cuisines that they are considered practically indigenous. Garlic and onions are used everywhere, as is cilantro (and its seed, coriander).
Then you must consider the olive and its oil. Fine olive oils have always been Greece's source of pride. To a large degree, much of Greek life has revolved around olives for thousands of years. Today, olive oil makes splashy appearances in marinades, salad dressings, and drizzled over vegetables, breads, and soups.
In Greece, ingredients for daily meals have long been gathered from the sea as well as from local farms and fields. Meals were created, with few exceptions, with what was at hand. They still follow that recipe for success.
Whipped Cream
Desserts are a celebration of regional ingredients as well, so expect more fruit and honey than chocolate. Ancient Greeks waxed poetic about honey, believing it to be part of the daily fare of the gods. We use it to glaze fresh fruit -- an adaptation of a centuries-old technique called glyko, the preserving of fruits in a honey-based syrup.
