About Mediterranean Summer®
Tomato risotto with pistou at La Fenière, Lourmarin, France (Photo by David Shalleck)
“I REALIZED VERY EARLY THE POWER OF FOOD TO EVOKE MEMORY, TO BRING PEOPLE TOGETHER, TO TRANSPORT YOU TO OTHER PLACES, AND I WANTED TO BE A PART OF THAT.”
— CHEF JOSÉ ANDRÉS
Having spent many years living, cooking, and teaching in the Mediterranean region and preparing the food of these wonderful cuisines at home, I am excited to share my enthusiasm with you. In what has become for me an almost insatiable need, the more places I visit, people I talk to, and inquiries I make, the deeper I get into learning about the gustatory delights of the region. This grandiose mosaic of flavors, colors, smells, and textures that have endured millennia of history and tradition continually humble me.
One day, during an internship I did at the incredible Michelin-starred restaurant, Don Alfonso near Sorrento, Italy, the chef and owner Alfonso Jaccarino advised me, “don’t just bring home recipes, bring home ‘the idea’ of our cooking.”
There are many layers to the “idea” of Mediterranean cooking. Something as humble as Alfonso's version of tomatoes with mozzarella cheese, pure extra virgin olive, basil, and sea salt-- what we know as "insalata Caprese"-- is only at its best when the parts are optimum. Where he lives the sun-ripened tomatoes grow in volcanic soil, the mozzarella is made daily from local milk and is in his kitchen hours later, the olive oil is from trees nearby, the basil is from the garden in the back yard, and the flakey salt is from a clean part of the sea.
When success from the kitchen is reliant on the quality of the ingredients there's a reason this dish is timeless and classic. Using less ingredients puts one in synch with the essence of simplicity.
You’ll always hear me say Mother Nature has already done a lot of cooking for us. What can possibly done to plump strawberries in season bursting with color, fragrance, and flavor? Sweet corn in July? Crisp and tart apples in autumn? A beautifully marbled steak? Other than a couple of adornments one of which being some form of basic knife work or cookery, the other a seasoning, just leave them alone!
Mediterranean Summer cooking starts with making choices. A season, mood, occasion, crave, taste memory from another place— even a wine varietal— can inspire what to eat. Better yet, a walk through a community market or the perimeter isles of the supermarket and seeing what’s available can stimulate the build from raw ingredients to a dish or menu. When traveling abroad, conversations about cooking and eating with the folks we meet can lead to amazing discoveries. And there should always be room in one’s luggage to bring home food souvenirs from the markets and shops.
With a backstory that’s thousands of years old I’m not sure if there’s enough time to get through it all. Among many cultural mindsets there are different ways to look at things and numerous opinions about food—all in tandem with a plethora of research that supports the healthy benefits of a Mediterranean style of eating. Suffice to say the entire topic is fascinating. By keeping things simple and approachable, I want Mediterranean Summer to be an alluring source of inspiration for us all.
Read also: Mediterranean Summer Food
Summer fruit, Mercado de Sapadores, Lisbon, Portugal. (Photo by David Shalleck)
The Tomato
“Chef David, why a tomato wedge next to Mediterranean Summer?” you might ask.
It’s a quintessential summer ingredient. It hints to something to eat that’s pure and natural. It’s beneficial to our health and well-being. The bright colors, happy shape of the wedge, and the shadow suggest a sunny day. All of these are wholesome attributes of the Mediterranean Diet.
The tomato wedge also symbolizes one of the greatest imports in the evolution of cuisine. In the late 15th century when Christopher Columbus returned to Spain with plants and seeds from the New World, the cooking calendar should be marked “BC” for Before Columbus, and “AC” for After Columbus. It is indisputable the discoveries of foodstuffs from his voyages changed eating forever. From the creation of pan con tomate along the western shores, anything with pomodori or domates in the center, and shakshouka all along the east, the tomato is one of the most characteristic ingredients in the cooking of the Mediterranean that has become ubiquitous throughout the world.