Its Mediterranean style way serve a light lunch or meal. Mezze or meze is little bits of tasty treats to please the palate. All served on separate plate so that you can take a much or as little as you want.

Almost anything that is small and tasty qualifies as a mezze dish. Mezze can include miniature versions of main dishes.

Meze - Mezze cuisine is collections of tasty dishes that be can served as appetizers, a light lunch, a main meal or select a combination of dishes and serve as a meze or feast.

Recipes cover a range of appetizers, dips, sauces, salads, sweets, meat and vegetable dishes served with bread.

Here is what I may put on my platters. I just put out enough food out per person serving plus one extra serve for the table.

Little dishes with nuts - mixed and dried fruits Dried apricots and almonds: Stuff each apricot with a whole almond. Or Sultana raisins and nuts: Combine equal parts of whole walnuts, peanuts, almonds or hazelnuts with sultana (golden seedless) raisins and serve in bowls.

Serve bowls of fresh fruits in season & Sliced can pineapple as it's Summer here.

Bowls of marinated olive, pepper, feta cheese, or pickled cucumbers.

Plate of sliced tomatoes, sprinkled with Italian herbs.

Dips of Hummus, Red Lentil Dip or Lite Cream Cheese Spread or Labni - Fresh Cheese made from Yogurt (if have no feta and I have fresh yogurt made.)

Salad greens, red onions or shallots that I have in my garden.

Platters of can tuna or sliced ham what ever in the fridge at the time.

Can asparagus or artichokes whichever that I have in the pantry.

Pita, Lavash Turkish Pide Bread or Crackers if I have none of the others.

Sweets - Turkish Delight or Greek shortbread

Some Recipes

Greek Village Salad

Serve 6-8
6 tomatoes, cut into thin wedges
1 red onion, cut into rings
2 Lebanese cucumbers, sliced
185g kalamata olives
200g feta
1/2 cup olive oil
dried oregano, to garnish

Combine the tomato, onion, cucumber and olives in a bowl.
Season to taste.
Break the feta into large pieces and scatter over the top.
Top with olive and oregano.
Calories 235, fat 20g

Tunisian Tuna Salad

1 chopped onion
1 large fresh tomato
1 can of tuna
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup olive oil
5-10 olives (pitted)
1 boiled egg

Mix chopped onion, peppers and tomatoes and put them in a bowl.
Season the tuna with salt, pepper and olive oil.
Mix all ingredients and garnish with the olives and rounded pieces of the boiled egg.

Marinated Peppers - Pipperies
I usually use green bell peppers to make this recipe because they're so easy to find, but it's delicious and colorful made with a range of colors. The recipe is very simple and the peppers keep in the refrigerator for weeks, so if you love them, make a large batch to keep on hand for a tasty and unusual last minute salad or appetizer.

bell peppers (any color or mixed)
red wine vinegar
salt
olive oil
Wash peppers and trim stems (do not remove entirely), and cut into quarters from top to bottom. Do not remove seeds.
Bring enough water to cover peppers to a boil, add peppers, and cook for 5-6 minutes, until partially softened.
Drain in a colander, sprinkle with salt, and allow to cool for 20 minutes.
Place in a ceramic or glass container and cover with red wine vinegar.
Cover and refrigerate.
Peppers are ready to use after 1 hour, and will keep for weeks.
When ready to use, take pieces of pepper from the container and shake off excess vinegar.
Serve marinated peppers as an appetizer or side salad:
Cut marinated peppers into thin slices or smaller pieces and drizzle with olive oil to taste.

Labni - Fresh Cheese made from Yogurt
2 cups yogurt
1/2 t. salt
Need:
Muslin sack or several layers of cheesecloth made into a bag
Large bowl

Combine yogurt and salt.
Pour into a muslin sack, tie up, and suspend over a large bowl. Let drain overnight.
The bowl will catch the dripping liquid.
In the morning, discard the water.
Unwrap the cheese and use as a spread on pita or form into small balls.
Serve with olive oil and chopped fresh mint or with black olives.
Makes 1/2 cup

From "Mediterranean Cooking" by Paula Wolfert

Mahammara Labni - Fresh Yogurt Cheese with Dill and Pimento
1/2 cup labni - fresh yogurt cheese (refer recipe for Labni)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 T. chopped fresh dill
1 roasted pimento, chopped
Sweet paprika
8 melba toasts or crackers

Combine labni, salt, pepper, dill and pimento, mixing well.
Spread on melba toasts and sprinkle with paprika.

From "Mediterranean Cooking" by Paula Wolfert

Hummus bi Tahina - Chickpea and Sesame Dip
125 g (4 oz) chickpeas, soaked for a few hours
juice of 2 lemons
3 Tbs. tahina
2 garlic cloves, crushed
salt

Garnish
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 tsp. paprika
a few sprigs of parsley, finely chopped

Drain the chickpeas and simmer in fresh water for about an hour or until tender.
Reserve the cooking water.
Process the chickpeas in a blender (or food processor) with the lemon juice, tahina, garlic, salt and enough of the cooking liquid to obtain a soft creamy consistency.
Serve on a flat plate, garnished with a dribble of olive oil, a dusting of paprika (this is usually done in the shape of a cross) and a little parsley.
Serve with warm pita bread for dipping. Serves 4-6.
Note: I only put garnish on when I am serving. I do freeze this in small containers. Put out to thaw the night before.

From "Mediterranean Cookery" by Claudia Roden

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