FotW's Gastronomic Vocabulary and Lexicon

 

Mediterranean Gastronomic Vocabulary - March 13th, 2012

Written by: Margaux Cintrano

 

Mato: a dessert inspired by Salvador Dalí called Mel i Mató, fresh goat´s milk fresh cheese similar to a ricotta with honey and is served on the northeast coast of Costa Brava, Girona, Catalonia on the Iberian Peninsula. The ingredients include: sugar, water, honey, rasberries and goat´s milk fresh cheese or home made ricotta style cheese.

 

Coca: This is a traditional Mallorca Island, based Pizza without cheese. The name derives from the Latin verb Coquere, which means to cook. Shaped in long oval and / or rectangles, these pizzas are baked in wood burning ovens. The toppings are vegetables.

 

Herbes de Maquis:  The island of Corisca was ruled by Italy for centuries yet today it is a French Island. However, its regional cuisines, are dominated by the sea. The parts of the gorgeous island of Corsica, France, that are not cultivated or forested are covered with a thick underbrush called the Maquis. It consists of a diverse quantity of aromatic herbs that make the hillsides white with tiny flowers in the spring. A blend of herbs is a common flavouring for the many shellfish and seafood dishes served here. The herbs include: oregano, thyme, mint, rosemary and basil. These herbs are paired with: Italian style tomatoes, live lobsters, shallot, garlic, red wine viengar, cayenne and cream in a famous dish called Lobster, Tomatoes & Herbes de Maquis.

 

Genovese Pesto: Basil hails from Ligueria, which hugs the northwestern coast of Italia,  and there is no place in the world where it is more aromatic or more scrumptuous. It has been the base of the renowned Genovese Basil Pesto for centuries. The ingredients are:  1 cup packed basil leaves, 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil, 6 tblsps of a not to cured pecorino sardo ewe cheese or Reggiano Parmesano cow cheese and 1/4 cup of pinenuts and 1 1/2 tsps. of minced garlic.  

 

Neapolitan Biscotti: These not too sweet cookies are based on traditional recipes seldom seem these days. The ingredients are: whole almonds, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, ground cinammon, honey, eggs, grated orange peel and vegetable oil. They are a specialy in Ischia Porto, Napoli, Italy which is a small island across from the bay of Naples on the south west coast. Famed for their tarts, pastries, cakes, babas, biscotti, macaroons, cinammon fritters similar to: Churros, a fried dough breakfast fritter in Spain and gelati ( icecream). 

 

Aubergine in French and British English ( USA English is Eggplant, In Italian, melanzane, and in Spanish, Berenjena ). The Moorish brought eggplant to Sicily in the late 10th century and as a matter of fact, the Italians called aubergine ARABICA or Arab Root. It is the quintessential ingredient in Sicilian Island Cuisine often called Norma on restaurant cartes. Prepared roasted, fried, in Caponata, a Sicilian relish made with olives and tomatoes and in numerous pastas for example layered in earthenware casseroles like a lasagne with Bolognese Sauce and Bechamel white sauce  in addition to 1.000 other uncountable ways.   

 

Orecchiette in Apulian dialect  and Recchietelle in Italian and In English: Little Ear Pasta: In Puglia, women still make pasta at home and their favorite shape is little ears. Called Recchie for short, is eaten almost daily however it is prepared in over 365 whimiscal recipes. It is very typical in southeastern Italy on the heel of the nation on the Adriatic Sea, to prepare Little Ears with Broccoli Rabe, grated Pecorino Sardo, olive oil and garlic. Very simple and straight forward.

 

Palacsinta:  This traditional Hungarian dessert is a vestige of Austro Hungarian occupation in Italia and is still popular in the Port of Trieste on the Adriatic in northeast Italia near Slovenia. In France, it is called Crêpe Suzette.  It later had become introduced to France via the Adriatic. The dessert is prepared with following: club soda, eggs, milk, dark rum, vanilla extract, butter, grated lemon and orange peel, cherries, flour, vegetable oil and sugar.

 

Pastitsatha: This dish hails from Corfu, Greece and for many years, during their invasions, they have learnt to rely on little scant meat products and this the recipe consists of the following ingredients: chicken braised, aromatic tomato sauce, allspice, cumin, smoked paprika, nutmeg, cloves, cayenne, red wine vinegar, cayenne, Perciatelli Pasta and Parmesano. The Ionian Island of Corfu, is located via Ferry 55 km from the Bari Port, Puglia, Italy. Nowhere is it more visible to see such a blend of multi ethnicity. The cooks in Corfu are profoundly influenced by the Italians, and garlic, smoked paprika, spicy tomato sauces and local fish varieties and squid are high on the list of deliciousness and Meze, small appetiser size plates, similar to Tapas in Spain.

 

The Greek National Dish is Moussaka: which is a luscious lamb and eggplant baked casserole is known the world over. Mousakka in recent times, is made with beef verses lamb. The other ingredients employed are: olive oil extra virgin, ground lamb or ground beef, dry red wine, nutmeg, dried currants, cayenne, onion, tomatoes, eggplant, potato, eggs, Greek Yogurt and salt and pepper, rosemary and thyme.  The most famous restaurants serving moussaka are located in   Port of Nafplion, Peloponnese.   

  

Grape Leaves ( Dolmades ): The Greeks have been wrapping food since antiquity. Greece another grape producing country, having a lush harvest of grape leaves, has become renowned for their tasty morsels of currant, lemon, pine nut, olive oil and rice stuffing. Each tavern, restaurant and family have their own fillings, including: shrimp with dill, garlic, parsley and scented fragrant rice.

 

Lamb Böreckler: From the lovely Port of Kudasi, Turkey, once a sleepy fishermen´s village, now a coastal playground, savoury pastries called Böreckler are some of the oldest and most important recipes in traditional Turkisk regional cuisine. This Phyllo dough pastry known in Turkish as a Yufka, is wrapped around meat or vegetable fillings and can be served as an appetiser or meze or lunch starter. The traditional filling is made from: butter, onion, dried thyme, ground lamb, chopped parsley and olive oil.

 

Almond Tarator: Tarator, a creamy almond and garlic blend is one of Turkey´s most ancient and popular sauces. Originating in almond producing Port of Antalaya, home to some of the most lovely desserts in the Mediterranean. This sauce is often paired with seabass or other white firm fish. The recipe is: 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 tsp. smoked paprika, 1/4 tsp. dried crushed red pepper, 4 sea bass fillets, and 1/4 cup olive oil. For the Almond Tarator:  1 cup slithered almonds, 1/ 4 cup breadcrumbs, 2 garlic cloves, 3 tblps. fresh lemon juice. This is an absolutely delightful light flavorful lunch with a lovely white wine, from Greece, designation of origin: Santorini.

 

Designation of Origin, Denomination of Origin or Appellation: is where a wine comes from, or a food product or raw material hails from and is cultivated. Spain alone has over 71 wine Designation of Origins. The Mediterranean is a sea of wine, possessing the soil, micro climate and know how to produce successful wines.   

 

Nightingale Nests:  Antalya is renowned for its oranges. The orange blossoms are distilled into a lovely fragrant flower water. This perfumed liquid is a syrup that is drizzled over the Nightengales, a Phyllo nut filled spiral pastry. The syrup is made from: lemon juice, orange flower water, sugar and the fillings contain: sugar, blanched almonds, pistachios, butter and of course the Phyllo.

 

Couscoussier: a triple decker steamer created exclusively for the making of cous cous. The bottom holds a spicy broth ( fish or chicken ), the middle layer is the fish or chicken with vegetables and  the top contains the semolina grains which make the cous cous.

 

Farka:  this is an interesting dessert or dessert which hails from Port of Call Hammamet, Tunis. It is a sweetened semolina dessert like cous cous, however, the ingredients are as follows:  cous cous, water, sugar, oil, chopped toasted nuts: walnuts. pistachios, hazelnuts, dates and hot milk. It has been traditionally served to children, however, adults have developed a penchant for it as well.

 

Warka:  Dating back to the  times of the occupation by the Ottoman Turks in Morocco, these thin semolina pancakes had been used for savoury pies with feathered game called B´Stilla and was a very worthy contribution to the Briuats, a Moroccan popular sweet or savoury Moroccan pastry which are made in Port Cabo Negro. 

 

Tagine: In Morocco ( Tangier ), the word Tagine denotes an earthenware oven clay dish with a conical lid that is a vessel in which chicken or fish  or lamb stews are slow cooked prepared. However, the name Tagine has also been given to the dish itself. Traditionally lamb tagine is made with dates, one of the country´s largest crops, cumin, parsley, cinammon, ginger, almonds, honey, saffron and fish tagine is made with cilantro, saffron, preserved lemons, onion, olives, tomato, green, yellow gold and red bell pepper. Tajine, on the other hand is a Berber word for Tagine in Moroccan Arabic. 

 

Hand painted patterned servingware with a conical cover to keep the food warm on the table once it is cooked and served. Chicken tagine is prepared with lemons, cumin, cilantro and a combination of olives and vegetables at low temperatures and slow cooked.

 

Some of the renowned dishes served in a tagine or tajine are:

 

1) Mqualli - slow cooked chicken with citrus and olives

2) Mrouzia - slow cooked lamb with almonds and raisins

 

Tunisian Tagine:

 

Tunis tajine is very distinctly different from Moroccan. The word tagine in Tunis refers to a Frittata, similar to an Italian Frittata however, stuffed with rose buds, mint leaf, saffron, meat and spices.

   

Paella: Over two centuries ago, rice field workers in Valencia, Levante on the east coast of the Iberian Peninsula, had begun to cook in a flat, two handled metal pan known as a pallera and so, paella was born. This rice dish has as many recipes as pasta. There are Government Tourism Ministry Competitions throughout the Valencia, Alicante, Murcia, Almeria, Costa Brava, Tarragon, Barcelona and Castellón Provinces. There is the Mountain style and the shellfish - seafood variety. There is the Rice called Arroz Bomba, a dry arborio served in two parts and the Bouilabaisse style, Caldoso and the Valencian urban style, the Fideus or Vermicillo noodle type of Barcelona and Girona, Catalonia. The key ingredients: saffron, short grain rice, olive oil, salt, fish, shellfish or seafood, in addition to red pepper, olives, turmeic and sausage or chicken. Then, for a mountain style, beans, feathered game and chicken or rabbit.    

 

Insalata Mista: This salad translates to Mixed Salad which in Italia, normally consists of Radicchio and / or, Arugula, tomato and fennel bulb, vinegar and olive oil with a drizzle of lemon. Sometimes scallion is chopped finely with a sprinkle of pecorino or reggiano parmesano.