Mediterranean Dinner Recipes

Easter dinner 2023. I’d bought the most beautiful whole branzino from the fish counter — $24 worth of pristine Mediterranean sea bass — and placed it in a 425°F oven feeling extremely confident. Twenty-five minutes later I pulled out something that looked like it had been through a sandstorm. Skin stuck to the pan, flesh … Read more

There’s a reason this flavor combination has survived literally thousands of years of Mediterranean cooking, and it’s not just because people in the Peloponnese had good vibes. It’s actual chemistry. The honey provides both sweetness and— here’s the nerdy part— fructose-driven Maillard browning at temperatures where plain chicken skin would still be sad and pale. Harold McGee explains in On Food and Cooking that sugars like honey caramelize at lower temps than sucrose, which means your chicken gets that gorgeous sticky-golden crust without needing to blast the oven to 500°F.

For three years — and I mean three literal years — I made the same mediocre Mediterranean shrimp pasta with lemon. Not bad. Not great. Just: fine. Watery sauce. Rubbery shrimp. Pasta that sort of absorbed the blandness of everything around it. My roommate Dina, who is extremely kind and also extremely honest, described it … Read more

Can we talk about the 6 PM scramble? You know — standing in the kitchen after a full day, staring into the fridge, telling yourself you’ll figure it out? I’ve been there more times than I can count, even after getting my nutrition degree in Barcelona. Which is exactly why this Mediterranean Chicken & Orzo … Read more

Valentine’s Day 2024. I’d planned this whole romantic dinner situation — candles, the nice plates, cloth napkins we never use — and the centerpiece was supposed to be pistachio-crusted salmon. What actually happened: I pulled the pan out of the oven and every single pistachio had slid off the fish and was just sitting in … Read more

Here is the thing about aglio e olio Mediterranean: once the pasta hits the water and the garlic hits the oil, this dish runs at full speed. There is no time to hunt for parsley or hunt for your zester mid-cook. Set everything out before you start.

January 2023, a Sunday. My friend Lila had been talking about her grandmother’s Greek beef stew for months and I finally decided to recreate it—except I’d never actually tasted it, had no recipe, and was working entirely from her description of “meat, tomatoes, and like, some olives, I think?” The result was, charitably, a brown … Read more

Close your eyes and imagine this: a tiny kitchen in Chania, late July, windows open to let in the salt-kissed breeze rolling off the sea. My yiayia is standing at the stove humming to herself, squeezing lemons over a bowl of snowy-white ricotta — a cheese she brought back from a small dairy in the … Read more

I need to confess something: I used to think Instant Pots were a scam. Like, a very elaborate infomercial-level scam. Then my coworker Priya brought her Instant Pot Mediterranean chickpea curry to the office potluck in March 2021 and I had three bowls. Three. At a work event. Where people could see me. I went … Read more

7 Secrets: Best Mediterranean Baked Cod with Tomatoes I am not — and I want to be upfront about this — a patient cook. Ask my friend Layla, who watched me attempt this Mediterranean baked cod with tomatoes for the third time on a Tuesday in March and produce what could charitably be called “hot … Read more