Maria Speck - Ancient Grains for Modern Meals: Mediterranean Whole Grain Recipes for Barley, Farro, Kamut, Polenta, Wheat Berries & More

Copyright 2011 by Maria Speck
Photographs copyright 2011 by Sara Remington

All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
www.crownpublishing.com
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Excerpt from The Philosophy of Andy Warhol: From A to B and Back Again copyright 1975 by Andy Warhol, reprinted in the United States and its territories by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, outside of the United States by permission of Penguin Books Ltd., and reprinted electronically by permission of The Wylie Agency LLC.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Speck, Maria.
Ancient grains for modern meals : Mediterranean whole grain recipes for barley, farro, kamut, polenta, wheat berries & more / Maria Speck.
p. cm.
Summary: A whole-grain cookbook featuring well-balanced and wholesome recipes inspired by the Mediterranean cuisines of Greece, southern France, Italy, and TurkeyProvided by publisher. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-58008-354-6 (hardback)
1. Cooking (Cereals) 2. Grain. 3. Cooking, Mediterranean. 4. Cookbooks. I. Title.
TX808.S665 2011
641.59822dc22
2010045867

eISBN: 978-0-307-58736-7

Food styling by Katie Christ
Prop styling by Nyssa Quanstrom

v3.1

THIS BOOK GREW OUT OF A BRIOCHE . Actually, it was a plate of butter-rich whole wheat brioches, ever so slightly sweet and risen slowly overnight. I had baked these soft, chewy beauties for Sunday brunch with friends almost exactly ten years ago, another one of my many efforts to transform the world into one planet of whole grain lovers. Our friend Isabel Bradburn soon raved about James Beard, the American icon and a name I had never heard before, and popped the life-changing question: Why dont you write a cookbook? To which I replied, What?

At the time, I was a foreign journalist, covering technology and society stories for German magazines. English was my third language, after my native German and Greek. And I had never published in the United States. Forget about any expertise in food writing. Well, little did I know that indeed I would write a cookbook one day, and how hard it would be.

Professionally, many people helped along the way. First, my editor at Germanys Stern magazine, Bert Gamerschlag, who supported my midcareer change to a budding food writer from the day I started pitching stories to him. In the United States, Darra Goldstein gave me the opportunity to write about my lifelong passion for whole grains in a piece for Gastronomica. Equally, Jim Oseland, in his unpretentious way, welcomed a piece on whole wheat German Pfeffernsse cookies in Saveur. Both stories paved the way to a newfound love of writing in English that surprised even me. And Toni Allegra invited me to speak at, and later to occasionally host, the IACP-Teleforum, a national phone conference for food writers.

For this book, Rachel Laudan shared her knowledge on polentas historical uses, and introduced me to the unforgettable term nixtamalization. Anne Willan answered questions about whole grains with her signature friendlinessdespite the fact that we had never met before. Elizabeth Andoh helped with thoughtful advice on recipe testing. For lively exchanges on many matters of food, I thank Paula Wolfert, Grace Young, CiCi Williamson, and food writer extraordinaire David Leite. Roberta Dowling, founder of the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts, and Sean Leonard supported my teaching throughout.

I would like to thank Lisa Ekus-Saffer, who connected me, a first-time author, with my dynamo of an agent, Jenni Ferrari-Adler. Jenni not only grasped my vision for this book in an instant, but she also pushed my proposal out the door at lightning speedwhile I honed my French cooking skills at the Culinary Institute of America. Jenni patiently helped me understand the U.S. publishing world and provided support whenever a crisis hit. To top it all off, she made the time in her busy schedule to try and test some of my whole grain recipes.

My passion for food I owe to my Greek mom, Theochanthi, who has always cooked for us, regardless of how difficult life would turn at times. And she continues to do so. Her single-minded obsession with the beauty and simplicity of good food ignited my own love affair with all things edible. As Im writing this, I miss my German dad, Paul, who was one of the very few dedicated carnivores I know who embraced whole grains for what they aredelicious. Last but not least, my late Greek grandma, who, for lack of space, covered the furniture in her elegant living room with her own handmade made phyllo dough, and whose craft is my inspiration.

As a first-time book author, I am especially grateful to my testers, who provided their feedback on many of the recipes, first and foremost the tireless Karen Levendusky. Karen and her husband, Joe, have literally eaten through this book with a curiosity and openness to whole grains that I will never forget. From the moment she learned of this project, Karen said in her understated way, Send me whatever you have and Ill try it. With an editors eye, she pointed out missing teaspoons, ingredients, or any other matters that inevitably got jumbled during the endless testing, retesting, and tweaking of recipes. And she worked with the precision of Sherlock Holmes, measuring the size of bulgur kernels, timing the seconds for grinding sesame seeds, and providing uplifting feedback throughout. Thank you.

My thanks go also to Vivian Liu, whose critical palate challenged me more than once to go back to the drawing board. Many more people lent a hand in the process: my sister-in-law Yasmin Dharamsi, Dharni Vasudevan, Diane Asadorian, Myrna Greenfield, Lindsay Haugland, andwho kneweven our own amazing real estate agent, Marsha Price, who, along with her daughter Gabrielle Rosenfeld, kept my spirits up.

Personal support came from people who believed in this bookeven as the rejection letters from agents kept streaming in: my friends Bea Giersig, Lucia Glahn-Kussel, and Jutta Werner. Edward and Lisabeth Weisband were convinced that my whole grain passion would ride out the tough years when the nation went low-carb. My friend Katrina Heron intently listened to all the obstacles and always came up with new ideas on how to move on. I thank my Italian friend Alessandra Campana for her fun-loving approach to making pasta and immensely good cheer throughout, and Thomas Peattie, who kept the wine coming (one with violet notes!) for our dinners together. And Hildegard Eisenmann who brought the whole grains of my childhood back into my lifelittle did she know at the time what a profound transformation would follow.

I will be forever grateful to master baker Greg Patent, whose late career change inspired my own. He saw a first draft of my proposal, joyously prodded me along, and provided support throughout; and to my colleague and super-talented pastry chef, Julie Usher, for her friendship.

More than anything, a cookbook writer needs eaters: thank you to enthusiastic dining companions and friends Marion Fremont-Smith, Oonagh Breen, Jane Nelson, Vera Coelho, Michelle Johnson, Golnaz Tabatabai and her son Hassan, Kate Scott and her daughter Jiao Jiao, and the Khwaja family with Sehr, Asim, Aman, and Nuriya; and to Ali Asani and Bapa, who always picked at his dinner plate like a bird until he died at the age of eighty-one, but ate every whole grain dish I put in front of him, surprising even himself. And the homeless men of the Cambridge First Church Shelter who graciously accepted any overflow from my kitchen, the good, the mediocre, and the less-than-perfect.