• Ganga108 on May 03, 2026

  This book disappointed me when it arrived several years ago. It is not really a "vegetarian" book, rather it presents Mediterranean Vegetable Dishes. In addition it openly discusses non-vegetarian dishes that are similar to particular recipes. As a vegetarian I find this distasteful. I don't cook from it very often, in a silent protest. I think the target market is more towards people wanting to eat more vegetables, and for this market I think the book quite works.

Notes about Recipes in this book

• Precooking beans

  • Ganga108 on August 08, 2024

    I do these in the Instant Pot now, tailoring times for each bean. Excellent results in the IP, with oil, salt, herbs and a touch of acid.

• Precooking chickpeas (garbanzo beans)

  • Ganga108 on August 08, 2024

    I do this in the Instant Pot and freeze them in sizes convenient for cooking. Excellent results in the IP, with oil, salt, herbs and a touch of acid.!

• Preserved lemons

  • Ganga108 on August 08, 2024

    I fully quarter the lemons (or cut into 6ths etc, depending on the size) as more can fit into a jar this way. Home made preserved lemons, especially with home grown fruit, are the best, and far superior to store-bought ones.

• Dukkah

  • Ganga108 on August 25, 2024

    A great inspiration for making dukkah, although I add some more elements.

• Pepper, onion, and turmeric paste (H'rous)

  • Ganga108 on July 16, 2025

    Kremezi quotes Wolfert as the original source of this recipe, but my version of MVFs specifies the wrong book. It should be Wolfert's Mediterranean Cooking. It also appears in her Grains and Greens cookbook.

• Green pepper, feta, and pistachio spread

  • dinnermints on February 05, 2018

    Very good! Served this at our Super Bowl party with lots of veggies (meant to put out pita as well, and forgot). It has a nice little kick. Would be nice with red peppers as well. It'd probably be a good idea to let the pepper/oil mixture cool before adding it to the cheese. I used 4 T of Greek yogurt, and when it turned out a bit grainy in my food processor, I gave it a whirl in the VitaMix = excellent texture.

  • Ganga108 on March 08, 2022

    Really excellent1

• Baked feta, tomato, and pepper with olive oil and oregano (Bouyourdi)

  • Yildiz100 on December 15, 2018

    I followed the recipe steps/technique/temperature, but didn't bother measuring amounts of ingredients since I was scaling down and this is kind of a common sense recipe. Omitted the jalapenos since I hoped my kid would eat it. It was SO delicious, but the kiddo wouldn't even try it, so next time, make it spicy. Served with tannour bread. Used beyaz panir. The cheese never took on any color, but it didn't matter.

• Friselle or paximadia with chopped tomatoes, herbs, and feta

  • Ganga108 on March 08, 2022

    This is wonderful! (But Ottolenghi's recipe for same is just that little bit better.)

• Caper, scallion, and parsley spread

  • dinnermints on August 15, 2017

    If you prepare the salt-packed capers the way the recipe calls for, this spread will be WAY too salty. For people who are already familiar with the uber-saltiness of salt-packed capers, this will not be a surprise, but it's the first time I've cooked with them (or anyhow, in such large quantity). I doubled the cooked potato to try and cut the salt a bit, but still ended up with more of a concentrated paste. Tonight I combined equal amounts of the spread and goat cheese, gently heated it with a little chicken broth, and spooned it over soft-boiled eggs on toast....good, but still pretty salty. Also, I used 1 tsp Aleppo pepper instead of black pepper, and it appears in the author's photo of the dish that she also used some sort of red flaked pepper (not called for in the recipe).

• Steamed zucchini and roasted peppers with tomato-garlic dressing

  • macfadden on August 09, 2016

    The picture shows very small "baby" zucchini, about 3-4 inches each, but mine were a bit past done after 5 minutes of cooking, though the recipe calls for 15-20 minutes of boiling. Maybe she just meant regular zucchini that are a bit on the small side. In any case, I would recommend checking them well before the timer goes off. The sauce is delicious and quite intense, even without the garlic, which I left out due to a local prejudice against raw garlic. It would be tasty on lots of vegetables.

• Green beans and roasted peppers with tomato-garlic dressing

  • Yildiz100 on October 19, 2018

    The dressing was ok. The tomato doesn't really contribute any flavor, just color and I think it acts like an emulsifier. I didn't like the resulting texture though - it seemed a bit slimy. Proportion of green bean to red pepper was way off - double the pepper if you want it to look like the picture. Not a repeat for us, in any case.

• Roasted cauliflower with Musa's zahter relish

  • Yildiz100 on May 05, 2016

    Hopefully this recipe isn't an indicator of the general qualify of the recipes in the book. It calls for the dreaded "bunch" of oregano, thyme, and parsley. Can't we get at least a description of how large a bunch should be? The recipe instructions mention savory but there is none in the ingredient list. I assume the author meant oregano since the instructions failed to say when to add the oregano. I liked the technique of partially covering the cauliflower during roasting, but I had to uncover it and cook longer to finish. Something in the relish left an unpleasant bitter after taste. I don't know if it was overkill on the oregano, or something about the pomegranate molasses I didn't like. Too sweet for my taste too. Could probably reduce the molasses by 75%. I liked this better when the cauliflower cooled.

• Semsa's roasted squash and bread salad

  • Yildiz100 on November 20, 2016

    This is a tasty but I had to make some changes to make it work. I believe more and more that the recipes in this book aren't tested at all. I used one large butternut squash and 3 small slices of sourdough-about one slice less than she suggests, and still thought it was it was a bit too much bread. I reduced the sauce to 1/3 of the original amount, which was just right-we used it all. Despite reducing the tahini and yogurt, I still needed the full amount of water and lemon juice. If I had followed the recipe as written, it would have been a very, very thick paste. This makes a very satisfying vegetarian main dish, with protein from the tahini and yogurt and substance from the bread. I will make this again with the changes I noted.

• Red lentil soup with spicy aromatic basil oil

  • Yildiz100 on March 17, 2020

    I wonder if the instructions are in the wrong order in this recipe. It has you add cooked wheat berries to the lentil soup, THEN puree it.

• Old-fashioned bean soup (Fassoláda)

  • Ganga108 on June 07, 2025

    A delicious Saturday afternoon cook on a very wet and windy day. Soup that just hit the spot. I used ordinary celery, and the parsley was an excellent addition. Also, I added some black pepper.

• Cauliflower kookoo (Kookoo gol-kalam)

  • PinchOfSalt on January 30, 2015

    Delish! The combination of vegetables and walnuts was hearty and satisfying. This would be great for someone on a low-carb diet or even a carnivore who is normally leery of vegetarian cuisine. This recipe was so good that now I feel I must make the Cauliflower Cake from Ottolenghi's Plenty More and compare! Cooking notes: Made this in a 9-inch cake pan with parchment in the bottom. Instead of combining all the ingredients in a bowl and then filling the cake pan, I packed the cake pan with the vegetable mixture and then poured the egg/flour mixture over it all. Did not include the optional cilantro but definitely will give that a go next time. Note that this recipe requires a large amount of parsley. (I very much appreciated that the recipe gave a weight measurement (80g) in additon to volume for the chopped parsley.) I used all of a good-sized bunch.

• Tomato and olive oil scrambled eggs

  • macfadden on August 10, 2016

    This was a fine, easy dinner. I think I under-salted it, which might explain why I didn't think it was as good as some of the other recipes from this book. I'll try it again with more salt and report back.

• Laurent Gras's ratatouille Niçoise

  • Ganga108 on February 22, 2021

    P152 Divine. Utterly Divine! it is the sort of dish that makes you feel comforted and nourished. Made with all garden zukes, tomatoes, eggplants. Served with couscous, pistou (from the same book) and a great slab of feta (as she suggests). Yoghurt is good too (salty cucumber yoghurt). A most excellent dish, lots of leftovers. (So much oil used, but honestly, it all disappears into this amazing sauce once the dish is cooked.)

• Quince stuffed with wheat berries, nuts, and raisins

  • dinnermints on July 30, 2017

    Good, but my feeling right now is that it was waaaaaay too much effort. Maybe I will forget that feeling at a later date. I baked the quinces (3lbs = 6 quinces in this case) the night before and put them in the fridge; I'm guessing it would have been much easier if I'd scooped out the flesh while they were still warm. I decreased the olive oil to 1/4 cup in the stuffing, and 2 T in the sauce (maybe 1/4 cup would've been better in the sauce, though). Used currants instead of raisins, 2 t. marash pepper in the sauce, and Marsala wine. The quince halves were heaped with stuffing. Added a Marcona almond on top, which looked nicer. People thought it tasted meaty because of the ground almonds + quince.

• Crispy cheese pie (lazy woman's pie)

  • macfadden on August 14, 2016

    Ovens vary, but mine was done 10 to 15 minutes before the suggested time and my oven doesn't run that hot, so you might want to keep an eye on it. It was delicious.

• Milk, herb, and scallion baked rice (Stamatia's Greek-Albanian briani)

  • Ganga108 on May 03, 2026

    I wanted to make dill rice to have with dinner (my favourite recipe has fresh fava/broad beans beans and dill but fresh fava are out of season here). I came across this unusual recipe in Mediterranean Vegetarian Feasts, the book I have some difficulty with (see my note for the book). It cooks medium grain rice in milk in the oven with dill, chilli and spring onions. So I am trying it. It is a bit like a savoury rice pudding. UPDATE: It took a lot longer to cook in my oven than the recipe specifies (my sweet rice pudding recipe takes 1 hr in the oven). The dill and spring onions/scallions float to the top and form a layer that needs to be stirred through. Perhaps a stirring half way through would be helpful. It is a bit bland. Overall, it has potential but I need to tinker with it. UPDATE 2: I formed the leftover rice into patties and cooked them in an oiled pan. Delicious!!

• Camargue risotto with leeks, mushrooms, fresh fava beans, and cilantro

  • Ganga108 on October 25, 2021

    I am pretty trad when it comes to what is called a risotto and I am pretty sure this rice dish with Camargue red rice is not a risotto. A google search on Camargue rice shows it is only called a risotto rice by a very few sites, and they credit it with a whole lot of other uses as well. So I call this a Camargue Pilaf or Camargue Salad instead. Whatever its name it is quite lovely. I used dried wild mushrooms from my local quirky continental shop, and broad beans straight from the garden. I had to cook the rice a lot longer than specified. I thought it needed some time after cooking for the flavours to meld properly - it was nicer later in the day.

• Balkan polenta with feta

  • dinnermints on August 12, 2016

    Very satisfying and delicious comfort food. I added one bunch of kale with the cornmeal and cut the olive oil down to 1/4 cup. Also sauteed some garlic in a bit of oil with maras pepper and drizzled that on top = divine. This very much reminded me of a dish I ate in Romania; brought me right back (in a good way). The yogurt and cheese do cool the mixture down quite a bit, so next time I'd heat the plates while cooking the polenta.

  • Nancith on June 20, 2019

    Very tasty, but more loose than I was expecting, almost like a pureed soup in consistency. I did use the full 1/2 cup of olive oil, which required a great deal of frantic whisking to incorporate fully into the polenta. This even seems like it could work as breakfast which will be tested tomorrow! My guys enjoyed it served with chicken breast in vodka tomato sauce. My intention was to make the version with rapini, but the grocery only had broccolini which served as a side dish. Very nice twist on the usual plain polenta dish.

• Coiled wedding bread stuffed with fruit preserves

  • dinnermints on April 25, 2021

    I'd wanted to make this bread for awhile as some the ingredients intrigued me - saffron, one whole tangerine ground up, mahlep, saffron, almond butter, and olive oil. Lovely to look at and delicious, although the center turned out a bit doughy even after baking the full amount (30 minutes). I can't fathom using 2.5 cups of spoon sweets for one coil; I used 1 cup of my mom's apple rhubarb conserve per coil, and that was plenty. This bread is vegan, and almond butter was likely added to make up for the lack of eggs, but I believe eggs would have been better. I ended up adding just 1 cup of water to make the dough (instead of 1.5), and if I make it again, would try retarding overnight and would use eggs instead of the almond butter. I'd also try resting the dough before rolling it, coiling it more in an oval shape, and would try harder to avoid having the middle of the coil much taller than the outside of it.

• Orange and crumbled phyllo cake (Portokalopita)

  • dinnermints on July 30, 2017

    This wowed the potluck crowd - looked gorgeous, was unusual, and delicious to boot. And me, I'm a sucker for a boozy dessert. I made the syrup the night before, and the base could've been made ahead too (forgot the cinnamon!). For the base, next time I would cover the six sheets of phyllo with a damp towel. For the batter, it was tricky to get the torn bits of phyllo thoroughly mixed in, and I did not succeed - there were still a few dry spots in the cake despite all of the syrup (which took a long time to soak in, had to pour it on in batches). Next time I'd bake it closer to the 35 mark. I completely disagree with inverting it, as the top was much prettier than the bottom.