Smashing Plates: Greek Flavors Redefined
Eating well feeds the soul. And without a doubt, with this book, Maria shows us the magic of cooking. (Ferran Adrià)Maria draws on her Greek-Cypriot heritage to present a stunning collection of Mediterranean recipes with a modern twist. All the Greek flavors are here—lamb, oregano, fennel, dill and capers—but Maria updates those classics with her own special touch. (BBC Good Food)Perhaps you have seen this,Smashing Plateson Dorie Greenspan's blog—it certainly does stand out!(Dorie GreenspanDorieGreenspan.com, 4/21/2014)Globe-trotting restaurant and TV chef Maria Elia has landed in the US, where she runs the new, Greek- and Californian-themed Jimmy’s at the Landing Resort & Spa in Lake Tahoe. Elia’s last book,Full of Flavor, laid out a freewheeling approach to the kitchen. But the new book, Smashing Plates, like the new restaurant, is a return to Elia’s Greek Cypriot roots. One thing that you can say about Maria Elia is that she never seems to run out of ideas. So if culinary improvisation and Greek-influenced fare don’t appeal to you, her next book might well. She is bound to bring something new to the table.(T. Susan ChangThe Boston Globe, 4/29/2014)There is a moussaka recipe in the new Smashing Plates, by the chef Maria Elia, and it was among the first dishes to tempt me as I leafed through this inviting cookbook. It amounted to tomatoes stuffed and baked with a moussaka mixture of seasoned ground lamb and diced eggplant, crowned with a glaze of béchamel. It’s a stunning variation that still feels true to Greek cuisine while also improving on the ubiquitous tourist restaurant dish.The book is stitched together with vignettes of her memories of Greece and Cyprus, and of how various ingredients are produced and prepared. Vintage photos alternate with lush food photography. I found several dishes that were arresting and successful in addition to those tomatoes stuffed with moussaka. Consider carrot keftedes, salmon cured with ouzo and lemon, feta wrapped in fig leaves and baked, croquettes of salt cod and taramosalata, pickled chicken, linguine with zucchini and capers, parsnip skordalia and sumac flatbreads. Luxurious small tahini chocolate cakes with crème fraîche.Just as she varies Greek standards, Ms. Elia also invites flexibility in her readers, offering choices of dipping sauces for the carrot keftedes and suggesting different pan sizes for the tahini chocolate cakes as long as the baking time is adjusted accordingly. She was insistent in saying, 'A recipe is not a dictatorship.' In the title of the book, 'smashing' refers to the celebratory Greek practice of breaking crockery, especially at weddings. But it also alludes to the English use of the word as an adjective meaning 'terrific.' (Florence FabricantThe New York Times, 5/12/2014)A lot of cookbooks come across my desk, and a fair number of them claim to be a "modern" take on a traditional cuisine. Most of these leave my desk without making much of an impression.Smashing Platesis different. Maria Elia starts by pairing the Greek cuisine of her heritage down to its essential flavors and ingredients: fava beans, rose water, mint, fennel, tomatoes, olives, Greek coffee, yogurt, figs, lamb, octopus (and so many more). Then she puts them back together again in surprising and alluring ways — combinations that nod to traditional Greek dishes, but aren't afraid to move beyond them. This is how we get dishes like seared scallops with watermelon, zucchini-coated calamari, and a savory baklava pie with tomatoes and string beans. I love it all. There's an emphasis on shared dishes in this book — small plates and sharing plates, party-pleasing sides and big desserts — but the recipes still feel simple and elegant. The recipes aren't necessarily "shared" in the dinner party sense, but rather "shared" in the sense of sitting down together at the table. Some recipes are definitely more involved, but plenty could be made on a weeknight with a little bit of planning or even thrown together spur of the moment. I'm so glad to have discovered this cookbook just as we're jumping into the fresh fruits and vegetables of summer. I can already tell that it will become a favorite before the season is over.(The Kitchn, 4/21/2014)Greek cuisine conjures up images of ouzo, moussaka—and happy partygoers smashing plates. So it's pretty impossible to resist Maria Elia's new cookbook,Smashing Plates: Greek Flavors Redefined(Kyle Books, $27.95, 208 pages). It would be tough to resist, even if the book didn't have such an amusing name, because those iconic flavors—lamb, oregano, capers and, of course, ouzo—get a modern take in the hands of a Greek Cypriot chef who has worked in the kitchens of El Bulli and Arzak in Spain. It says a lot when your book cover quote comes from Ferran Adria. These days, Elia can be found at South Lake Tahoe, heading up the kitchen in the new Jimmy's Restaurant at the Landing Resort & Spa, where she does Greek food with a California touch. It's an approach that's similar to what she does in the new book with ouzo and lemon-cured salmon, for example, moussaka-stuffed tomatoes and zucchini-coated calamari. Dessert gets a fresh twist too, when rice pudding is flavored with strawberries, rose water and Greek basil. We'd smash a plate, but we need it for the plum and lavender baklava.(Jackie BurrellSan Jose Mercury News, 5/13/2014)I love this. It smells wonderful!(Tamron HallThe Today Show, 5/28/2014)World-renowned chef Maria Elia applies a modern approach to traditional Greek cuisine in her new bookSmashing Plates: Greek Flavors Redefined. Perfect for people who love the fresh flavors of Greek and Mediterranean foods, and are open to a little adventure in the kitchen, this cookbook will not disappoint. With over 120 recipes, each dish is packed with rich flavors, colors and textures, all inspired by Maria’s Cypriot roots and a summer spent cooking at her father’s taverna in the Troodos Mountains. Recipes include Oregano Marinated Lamb with Feta Curd, Dried Fig Leaf and Feta Pasta, and Rabbit, White Bean Baklava. Her inventive style will re-ignite your love of Greek cooking.(Zester Daily, 6/29/2014)Just in time for summer, I received a review copy ofSmashing Plates: Greek Flavors Redefinedby Maria Elia. I’m a big fan of her book The Modern Vegetarian, so I suspected there would be a lot to like about this new book. This time, the recipes aren’t entirely vegetarian, but many are and many others are adaptable to exclude meat. Elia set out to take Greek ingredients “on a new culinary journey.” The dishes in this book are familiar but with a new perspective.(Lisa is Cooking, 7/5/2014)