mezzes

Mezzes, or appetizers, tappas, antipasto, all are introductory dishes. These are to whet the appetite, to build anticipation for the meal, and test creativeness of the chef. They usually accompany a light liqueur, drink, and bowls of nuts. Turkish tradition has mezzes as the raki plate, a meal to accompany the no holds barred hi proof anise liqueur.

I have been making mezze lately. I had a friend over last night and figured that food; protein would be needed after a long day and anticipation of a longer musical viewing night. A little sliced rare beef, toasted almonds, Romano, tomatoes, garden carrots; a support system for hunger with a little grazing and crunching. Work off stress at the end of the day gnashing and noshing. And my way to show hospitality, caring and 'my tent is yours' in my world. I greet, I feed, and I always meet people arriving at my home at the door, and see them to it when they leave. Appetizers are greeting food, they show I choose them now, and care.

Last week I made another platter for houseguests. It included breasola, the air cured beef of Italy. Dried, but pliable sliced parchment thin, it is not jerky. It is dark burgundy, the color of blood, lust and beef. Drizzled with olive oil, a squeeze of lemon and some crystals of Kosher salt, it is visceral on the palate. I had also: radishes with olive oil and roasted cumin, fresh dug carrots with nutmeg, thin-sliced Reggiano with its salty contrast to the bowls of cherry tomatoes, little round worlds of seeds and red flesh. We included firm Kalamata olives, not the wimpy, mushy, cheap ones from the olive bar, but from a glorious can from the Peleponnese. The next day we went back and bought three more cans, a point noted by the purchaser, a Turk. “I guess we can agree that Turks and Greeks make good olives, " he said wryly.

As mezzes go they are a way for the chef to show creativity. Not limited to some signature dish of protein with starch side such as pork chop with mashed potatoes, an appetizer or tappas is creative, free form and a place to try an idea. For Mediterranean cultures it is a culture in itself, one can troll up and down a street in Madrid or Istanbul and graze on small plates. There are specific mezze or tappas dishes.

I am relatively easy I think, although my former loves and husbands might think not. I welcome all into my home and love to feed them. But when I order out I rarely order the entree. I prefer the appetizers, order two for my meal. They are more creative; I am seduced by adjectives: caramelized, glazed, and nouns: ginger, pomegranate, roasted fig, olive....I drool. I anticipate and forget even looking at the entree. I guess then, that I am high maintenance in this respect.

I don't want to be the entree with the same starchy side night after night. I have been twice NOT someone's entree. Perhaps at this point in my life and the lives of friends and loves I have, that entree is not all it is cracked up to be. Or sautéed, or roasted...it is instead about the introduction, the chase, the anticipation, the roll on the tongue mixing of flavors and unusual combinations. Forget waiting for dessert after slogging through the mashed potatoes, have the appetizers, they are dessert with protein. Put muscle, not sugar behind your creativity. As Auntie Mame said, “Life is a banquet and some poor fools are starving to death."

Life is short, pour the Prosecco, plate the olives, slice the cheese and present. Drizzle my stories with rich oil, plate my words in arrangements that are pleasing, savor them with scent and originality, and lick your fingers, suck the olives. Make my, your, own menu and forget entrees. If entrees follow, then they will, but maybe the anticipation will fill the hunger now without pedestrianism.