Authentic Flavors from a Mediterranean Kitchen
The small hot and handheld things that open a Mediterranean meal — crisp spanakopita bites, falafel, stuffed grape leaves, zucchini blossom fritters, baked mussels and phyllo-wrapped feta. Nearly all of them can be shaped or assembled ahead and cooked as people arrive, which is the whole reason this part of the table works. For the cold spreads that sit alongside them, see Mediterranean Dips & Mezze.
Written by Ines Zahraoui — Tunisian home cook and co-founder of The Mediterranean Recipe, developing and testing recipes in her own kitchen since 2020. More about Ines → Soggy spanakopita is not a phyllo problem. It is a water problem, and it is entirely solvable. A pound of thawed frozen spinach can release a substantial … Read more
Written by Ines Zahraoui — Tunisian home cook and co-founder of The Mediterranean Recipe, developing and testing recipes in her own kitchen since 2020. More about Ines → Every witch finger recipe I have made from the internet has told me to stick the almond nails on afterwards, with cream cheese or melted chocolate or … Read more
Written by Ines Zahraoui — Tunisian home cook and co-founder of The Mediterranean Recipe, developing and testing recipes in her own kitchen since 2020. More about Ines → Twenty small glasses of deep red on a dark tray, carried into a candlelit room, create the visual for these Halloween soup shooters. The recipe uses everyday … Read more
Written by Ines Zahraoui — Tunisian home cook and co-founder of The Mediterranean Recipe, developing and testing recipes in her own kitchen since 2020. More about Ines → Every party has one thing that vanishes before anyone reaches the table: these mummy-wrapped dates. For about eight years running, at my house, it has been these. … Read more
A block of feta wrapped in phyllo bandages, baked until molten and drizzled with hot honey. Four ingredients and the most photographed thing on the table.
These zucchini blossom fritters are crisp at the edges, tender inside, and served with a bright lemon aioli. A light batter keeps the delicate blossoms visible instead of masking their mild, grassy flavor. The fritters come together in about 24 minutes, making them practical for a mezze spread. Why You’ll Love This Zucchini Blossom Fritters … Read more
How hard it is to find a healthy appetizer that actually impresses people? I mean, really impresses them — not just a bowl of hummus with sad carrot sticks (no shade to hummus, I love hummus). I wanted something that looked like it came from a coastal Mediterranean restaurant but could be whipped up on … Read more
Picture this: flaky, golden phyllo dough wrapped around a filling so creamy and herbaceous that you’ll forget you’re eating something packed with iron-rich spinach and calcium-loaded feta. They come together in about 35 minutes, they freeze beautifully for meal prep, and they disappear at every single gathering I bring them to. (My neighbor literally texts me when she sees me pulling phyllo out of the fridge.)
There is a sound that takes me straight back to my yiayia’s kitchen in Chania every single time I hear it: the soft, rhythmic pat-pat-pat of grape leaves being smoothed flat on a marble countertop. I was maybe six years old, standing on a wooden stool, watching her weathered hands lay each leaf shiny-side down … Read more
Can we talk about falafel for a second? Those gorgeous, herb-flecked, golden-crusted bites that you get from Mediterranean street vendors — they’re one of the most perfect foods on earth. But the deep-frying at home? The splattering oil, the lingering smell, the guilt? No, thank you. That’s exactly why these crispy baked falafel bites exist … Read more