The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook for Beginners

December 17, 2020
In the first chapters of her first book, registered dietitian Paravantes dispels misconceptions about the Mediterranean diet (i.e., that wine and hearty foods prevail, with occasional dribbles of olive oil and vegetables) and promotes the diet's key principles, techniques, and benefits. She also shares shopping tips, particularly regarding the buying and storing of extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO). The tenets: Eat plants, local and seasonal foods, and sweets in moderation, using EVOO as the only fat and ensuring that dairy of some sort accompanies the green (and purple and yellow ...) things. The 100 recipes represent not only Greece, where Paravantes lives, but also Italy, Spain, and Crete, with both familiar and out-of-the-ordinary dishes: shakshuka, bulgur wheat cereal with apples and raisins, caponata, briami (sheet pan roasted vegetables), Greek yogurt ricotta mousse. Color photographs of finished recipes are sprinkled throughout; each recipe (most are one page in length) features servings, minutes to prep and cook, nutritional analyses, and yield, with frequent tips attached. Not just for beginners.

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