Sheela Prakash - Mediterranean Every Day

Simple, Inspired Recipes for Feel-Good Food

SHEELA PRAKASH

When I think about what or who inspired my deep affection for Mediterranean cuisine, its a simple answer: Graziella. Picture the most Italian of Italian nonnea bit rotund, apple-cheeked, with an apron almost always tied around her waist. Id lived in Italy and had traveled around the Mediterranean and tasted great foodsome of the best everbefore I met Graziella, but it wasnt until her that I knew what true Mediterranean food wasthat its a feeling more than a practice.

A few days after I graduated college, I packed up my miniscule studio apartment in Greenwich Village and flew to Italy. Id studied in Florence my junior year, and the moment I left, I knew I had to return. So soon after, I applied and was accepted for a post-graduate summer internship on an idyllic farm, Tenuta di Spannocchia, south of Florence near the medieval town of Siena. There were eight of us, from all corners of the world, and we all were given specific roles on the farmI was assigned the orto, or vegetable garden.

Each day I weeded, planted, and harvested, and in the evenings Id head into the kitchen. As an agriturismo, the farm held dinner every night for its guests and Graziella was the cook. She was stubborn, relentless, and quickly became my most favorite person on the farm. Graziella didnt understand or speak a lick of English (or so she said), and yet, with my very broken Italian, we had a wonderful understanding. Id come into the kitchen each evening to help her prepare the meal. That might have meant Id stand over the pot of risotto and stir, or simply give her company while she threw together whatever vegetables I had harvested that day into a salad. She taught me that Mediterranean food is so much more casual and relaxed than the great cookbooks and restaurants tell you. Understand the true attitude behind it and youve unlocked the secret. What is that attitude? Be ridiculously unfussy.

When I returned to the States, I brought this attitude with me. Slowly but surely it became the only way I knew how to cook. My meals were inspired by my time with Graziella: Theyd honor the flavors, traditions, and overall wholesomeness of Mediterranean cuisine but be adapted depending on what happened to be in my refrigerator, the limited equipment in my tiny kitchen, how much time I had, and honestly, how motivated I really was to churn out a meal.

What made me fall in love with the food of the Mediterraneanand I think, really, what has made the entire world fall and continue to fall in love with itis its uncomplicated nature, which is exactly what this book is about.

This book harnesses the relaxed attitude of Mediterranean cooking. Each recipe isnt made to feel overwhelming or time consuming and most (though there are a few exceptions) are easy enough to pull off no matter the night of the week. This is the type of food I cook each and every night, whether just for my husband, Joe, and me or when family or friends gather around the table with us. The flavors of the Mediterraneanthe grassy olive oil, the sweet tomatoes, the fragrant herbsare what most inspire me and also just so happen to be ingredients that naturally lend themselves to wholesome, satisfying eating.

Feel confident in your abilities as a home cook, no matter your skill level, and approach these recipes with your own intuition. I hope to be a friend in the kitchen as you cook through the recipes, urging you to trust yourself, rather than someone calling to you from the pages to overcomplicate things. With this outlook, theres no doubt that what comes out of your kitchen will be delicious.