Think Mezze!

Being married to a Middle Eastern, I am constantly being exposed to mezze-style food. I like this concept immensely. Mezze actually just means appetizer. But the Middle Easterns have perfected the practice of whetting your appetite. Typically, in a Turkish, Lebanese or Israeli restaurants, a mezze serving would consist of small plates of dips, morsels of deep fried food, grilled seafood, cheese and salad. This probably influenced the 'small plate' tapas culture in spain.

A Mezze serving looks impressive to serve at a party. It's a feast for the senses as it is made up of a variety of delectable food. It's the perfect accompaniment to drinks - to be enjoyed slowly with good friends. This Mezze was served for breakfast in Israel as part of an Israeli breakfast.

It's so easy to create your own mezze dish at home. Think mediterranean ingredients and add color and texture on your plate. Contrast fresh salads with grilled veges, fried items or even pickled items.
This mezze plate consists of (from top going clockwise) tomato and olive salad, fig with parmesan cheese, zucchini fritters and char grilled shishito peppers.

How to get you kids to like vegetables

I have a picky eater in my house so I am constantly trying to re-invent vegetables.
Recently my husband gave me a tapas cookbook and I discovered a wonderful stuffed mushroom recipe which I adapted slightly.

I fry some pancetta in my frying pan. Then I cut out the mushroom stalks, dice them and add it to the pancetta in the frying pan. Then, in a separate bowl, I stir some breadcrumbs, lemon rind and chopped parsley and season with salt and pepper. I add the pancetta mix to the breadcrunbs and fill up the mushrooms and mini bellpepers. Pop it into the oven to bake for 15 minutes. Who says Sunday dinners had to be roast meat? My kids loved it!