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We may earn a commission from links on this page.Welcome to Cookbook of the Week. This is a series where I highlight cookbooks that are unique, easy to use, or just special to me. While finding a particular recipe online serves a quick purpose, flipping through a truly excellent cookbook has a magic all its own.Every time I see a newly budding tree or a daffodil leaping out of a scruffy patch of grass, it brings me a fresh moment of cheer. Spring is coming to New York. That means sun and spring fashion, but mostly Im excited for the variety of veggies thatll be available. Im choosing to celebrate Springs approach with an appropriately veggie-forward Cookbook of the Week: Yassou.About the bookYassou is a Mediterranean cookbook, specifically focusing on Greek dishes, written by Shaily Lipa. This cookbook is brand new; just published in March. Lipa gives the reader a teeny history lesson on how Greek cuisine developed and other cultures that influenced it, and then quickly jumps into recipes.Woven with beautiful photography, youll get lost flipping through sections like Mezes and Starters, Stuffed Vegetables, and (my favorite section) Patties and Savory Pastries. This cookbook has classic recipes youve probably tried at restaurants, like moussaka or stuffed grape leaves, and new ones youve never heard of but are incredibly tempting, like kolokithokeftedes (fried zucchini and feta balls).I dont usually enjoy historical interludes in cookbooks (Im very recipe focused) but Lipa includes brief informational sections that focus on specific ingredients that are indispensable to Greek cooking, like The Cheeses of Greece, and The Path of the Olive. These sections give welcome insight into the culture, and whets your palate for the recipes to come.A great cookbook for veggie enthusiasts who don't mind branching outYou like vegetables. Youre interested in eating them often. However, you still like to have fun. (You know what I meanraw kale salad isnt fun. Ill eat it, but fun is not an emotion I experience when eating it.) Melitzanosalata, aka Eggplant Spread, drizzled with olive oil and served with pita bread is fun!If you want a cookbook with lots of delicious, vegetable-centric options but you dont want to feel like you live off of salad alone, Yassou is for you. Sure, its a Mediterranean diet, but there is no fear of bread, sugar, oil, or pastry. There are fresh salads for sure, but theyre not the only venue for vegetables. There are numerous styles of cooking with produce, putting them in the background, foreground, and slightly off-stage. Zucchinis are shredded and shaped into fritters; crushed tomatoes create a simmering blanket for shrimp; onion and peppers chargrill on a skewer with juicy hunks of lamb.Many of the recipes rely on plants, but you dont have to commit. Some days you just want bread and cheese and there are recipes for those moments in Yassou too. There are pasta dishes, fish dishes, bread recipes, and oh, the cheese. I have truly enjoyed a free pass this week to eat all the feta I want.The dishes I made this weekOne thing I appreciate about Yassou is that you can jump into these recipes with whatever cooking skill level you exist at. Its written simply, and the instructions are clear and easy to follow. There is no preamble about specialty cookware or how to replace ingredients you cant find. Most of the ingredients are things that are common to the Western grocery store. I didnt have to sift for very long to find recipes I was able to do because I didnt have to consider making any special trips or ordering unusual ingredients. Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann I decided to make Kassiopita (Greek flatbread) and Horiatiki Salata (Greek Salad). Yes, I essentially made Greek Olive Garden unlimited salad and breadsticks, but I dont care what you think. Its always been a great deal. Plus, these recipes made for a fabulous lunch.On the surface, Horiatiki Salata looks like any Greek salad you might have had beforekalamata olives, cucumbers, and feta among other ingredients with a simple dressing. But there are good and bad versions of this salad being made, often in New Jersey diners and pizzerias. This version is perfectly crunchy, briny, and herbaceous with as much creamy, salty feta as you please. I knew I could count on this salad recipe as soon as I saw that the first move was thinly slicing the red onion and pickling it in the oil and vinegar dressing. This should be the treatment of all freshly sliced onions in salad. Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann The Kassiopita, entitled Greek Flatbread in the cookbook, might become something I make quite often. Its easy to make, loaded with feta, and cooks up quite dramatically in the oven. The batter is made with a blend of yogurt, egg, and flour, so it has the texture of a giant popover, or Dutch Baby. Its seasoned lightly and then you mix crumbled creamy feta into the batter. The mixture cooks in a casserole dish with a quarter-cup of olive oil in it. I watched the bread bubble and fry as it puffed up in the oven, and broiled it for the last minute and a half to lightly brown the surface. I ate a piece while it was still warm (too hot actually, but I cant be stopped), and the crumbled feta made decadent melty, tart pockets of cheese dispersed in the eggy bread. Eat it with salad or eat it soloI can vouch for both. I made the bread in the instructed size dish, but if you wanted the bread to be thinner then you could easily use a larger pan and reduce the cooking time. How to buy itYassou is available as a hardcover, or as an e-book for a reasonable price. I highly suggest taking a jaunt to your nearest big box book shops or local independent bookstores to see if they have it on their new or featured cookbook displays. And if its not on their shelves, ask if they can order it to their location (sometimes for no shipping fee). Yassou: The Simple, Seasonal Mediterranean Cooking of Greece $16.99 at Amazon Shop Now Shop Now $16.99 at Amazon
