Hanady Nabut - Mediterranea: A Vibrant Culinary Journey Through Southern Europe, North Africa, and the Eastern Mediterranean

Mediterranea

A Vibrant Culinary Journey Through Southern Europe, North Africa, and the Eastern Mediterranean

Hanady Nabut

Creator of Hanady Kitchen

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To Salma and Ghaith, my sources of light and inspiration.

As travelers, we become more detail-oriented. Food becomes more delicious, time more precious, people more interesting, and landscapes more beautiful. Let us be travelers even when we are not traveling.

Coming from a mixed background, I never felt quite at home anywhere. I often felt a deep longing for a home that did not exist. As I grew older, so did my appreciation for being of dual heritage. The kitchen became a place where I could make sense of the world. It was a playground that allowed me to learn the importance of breaking the rules and letting creativity flourish. It was and still is a joyful place where I can connect to my roots in an instant.

Throughout my life, my pantry consisted of ingredients such as sazn, sofrito, guava, tahini, zaatar, and halva. I have vivid childhood memories of my earliest culinary experiences. My Palestinian grandfather, Khaled, taught me to eat pita wraps filled with goat cheese, olive oil, and fresh grapes or figs. And my Spanish grandfather, Antonio, taught me how to eat guava or membrillo with queso fresco. My Puerto Rican grandmother, Anna, taught me the importance of gusto in cooking, especially when she made sofrito. She would say that without it, food had no flavor. To her, gusto meant two things: pleasure and taste. The latter meaning has no English equivalent but can be interpreted as the oomph that makes food great. Meanwhile, my Palestinian grandmother, Nema, could not bake without singing traditional folk songs. There was always an element of love and passion intertwined with the act of cooking, because the way that you feel about cooking shapes how the food will taste. Gusto results only from doing things with care, attention, and, most importantly, plenty of love. This kind of soul cooking simply cannot be learned in schools. It comes from within and from a connection with food that transcends technicalities. I often connect the dots from the Spanish side of the Mediterranean to the Levantine side, celebrating the similarities across cultures. Food is such a powerful force in bringing people together. And it is most fulfilling when it means something special to those sharing it.

This is the concept of Mediterranea. The Mediterranean lifestyle is focused on living and eating well, sharing, and enjoying life. The recipes in this book reflect the flavors that I grew up with and learned to love, the flavors of the lands that surround the Mediterranean Sea. Each country in the region is unique and diverse but tied by common threads. A shared ocean and shared agriculture are just a few. These countries share the qualities of having high-spirited festive traditions and a strong emphasis on community and hospitality. Eating fresh, local, and seasonal ingredients is a way of life. Olives, figs, pomegranates, dates, pumpkins, lemons, oranges, and grapes are all staples in the countries along the Mediterranean coast.

The Mediterranean lifestyle is festive, vibrant, bursting with flavor, and people focused. Yes, eating with good company is part of the Mediterranean diet as well. Cooking and eating slowly, with gusto, with love, and with joy are equally important. Time is always made for enjoying the simple things. People immerse their selves in nature, live active lives, and eat well. Value is placed on respecting food. Produce is enjoyed in its season. Livestock are to live happy and healthy lives. Spices are freshly ground. Cheeses, yogurts, and pickled vegetables are locally made. Even though full-on supermarkets now exist throughout the region, most people still prefer to buy each food group from specialty shops. I used to visit over five shops every time I went out for groceries: the produce market, the butcher shop, the fishmongers, the bakery, the spice market, and the deli. Each took massive pride in their work, providing only the very best of ingredients. Having lived in the eastern Mediterranean for half a decade, I learned to cook with the seasons. The lack of variety with regard to processed foods also taught me to cook from scratch, ground to plate. I learned that it not only resulted in more nutritious food, but was also so much more delicious. Mediterranean food is focused on seasonal eating. A diverse variety of herbs, wild greens, spinach, and stone fruit in the spring. Grapes, figs, and melon in the summer. Olives, almonds, and pumpkin in the fall. Bright aromatic citrus in the winter. Dishes are often centered on ancient grains such as freekeh, wheat berries, barley, bulgur, and durum wheat, sometimes prepared as semolina, couscous, or maftoul. Pulses such as garbanzo beans, fava beans, lentils, and green beans are staples. Popular meats are lamb, chicken, beef, and game birds such as pigeon or quail. Fish and seafood include sea bass, sea bream, hake, mackerel, monkfish, shrimp, squid, clams, mussels, mullet, sardines, anchovies, and cod.

In this book you will find my interpretations of the flavors that I grew up with. From Southern Spain to the eastern Mediterranean and the Fertile Crescent, from the lands spanning the Great Sea, this book brings together the flavors of the region for a vibrant culinary journey. You will find dishes that feed the souls of vegetarians and carnivores alike, soul food to satisfy our nomadic spirits, and most importantly, food that is made to be shared and to bring people together.

Even though I cannot serve these dishes to you personally, I can give you the method to re-create the same experience at home. And in that way, we bond through the same flavors. We leave our normal lives just for a moment to embrace someone elses world. Whether you are an expat in a foreign land or you found a place where you call home, rest assured the kitchen will also be your preferred place to find comfort and familiarity.

Heres to sharing a plate together and creating vibrant relationships along the way.