Yassou Makes Vegetarian Greek Cuisine Accessible
Welcome to Cookbook of the Week . In this series, I highlight cookbooks that are unique, easy to use, or just special to me. While searching for a specific recipe online serves a quick purpose, flipping through a truly excellent cookbook has its own magic.
Every time I see a tree budding or a daffodil jumping out of the scruffy grass, it brings me a new moment of joy. Spring is coming to New York. This means sunny and spring fashion, but what I’m most excited about is the variety of vegetables that will be available. I decided to celebrate the coming of spring with the appropriate vegetarian cookbook of the week: Yassu .
About the book
Yassou is a Mediterranean cookbook with a focus on Greek dishes written by Shaylee Lipa. This cookbook is brand new; published only in March. Lipa gives the reader a little history lesson on how Greek cuisine and the other cultures that influenced it developed, and then quickly moves on to the recipes.
With beautiful photography, you’ll get lost browsing sections like “Mezzes and Appetizers”, “Stuffed Vegetables” and (my favorite section) “Pies and Savory Pastries”. This cookbook features classic recipes you’ve probably tried in restaurants, like moussaka or stuffed grape leaves, as well as new ones you’ve never heard of but are incredibly tempting, like kolokytokeftedes (fried zucchini and feta balls).
I don’t usually like historical inserts in cookbooks (I’m very recipe-focused), but Lipa includes brief informational sections that focus on specific ingredients essential to Greek cuisine, such as “The Cheeses of Greece” and “The Way of the Olive.” These sections provide a welcome cultural insight and sharpen your taste for future recipes.
A great cookbook for vegetable lovers who don’t mind growing.
You love vegetables. You are interested in eating them often. However, you still like to have fun. (You know what I mean: raw kale salad is not fun. I’ll eat it, but “fun” is not an emotion I feel when I eat it.) Melitzanosalata, also known as eggplant pasta, drizzled with olive oil and served with pita bread is fun!
If you want a cookbook with lots of delicious, veggie-centric dishes, but don’t want to feel like you’re living off salad, Yassu is for you. Sure, it’s the Mediterranean diet, but there’s no fear of bread, sugar, butter or baked goods. There are certainly fresh salads, but vegetables are not the only place. There are many styles of cooking using produce in the background, in the foreground, and a little behind the scenes. The zucchini is chopped and formed into pancakes; crushed tomatoes create a shrimp shell; grilled onions and peppers on a skewer with juicy pieces of lamb.
Many recipes are plant-based, but you don’t have to make any commitments. Sometimes you just want bread and cheese, and Iasi also has recipes for this occasion. There are pasta dishes, fish dishes, bread recipes and, oh, cheese. This week I really enjoyed the free pass to eat as much feta as I wanted.
Dishes I cooked this week
What I love about Yassu is that you can master these recipes no matter your culinary skill level. The writing is simple and the instructions are clear and understandable. There is no information in the preamble about special cookware or how to substitute ingredients you can’t find. Most of the ingredients are common in a Western grocery store. I didn’t have to search long for recipes I could make because I didn’t have to think about making special trips or ordering unusual ingredients.
I decided to make Kassiopita (Greek flatbread) and Horiatiki salata (Greek salad). Yes, I basically made unlimited Greek Olive Garden salads and breadsticks, but I don’t care what you think. It was always great. Plus, these recipes make an amazing lunch.
At first glance, Horiatiki Salata looks like any Greek salad you might have tried before: kalamata olives, cucumbers and feta among other ingredients with a simple dressing. But there are good and bad versions of this salad, which are often served in New Jersey diners and pizzerias. This version is perfectly crunchy, salty and grassy, with as much creamy and salty feta as you like. I knew I could count on this salad recipe as soon as I saw that the first step was to thinly slice the red onion and marinate it in an oil-vinegar dressing. This is how all freshly chopped onions in a salad should be treated.
Called “Greek Flatbread” in the cookbook, Cassiopita will probably be something I make quite often. It’s easy to make, filled with feta, and cooks quite impressively in the oven. The dough is made from a mixture of yogurt, eggs and flour, so it has the texture of a giant popover or Dutch baby . It is lightly seasoned and then crumbled creamy feta is added to the dough. The mixture is prepared in a saucepan with a quarter cup of olive oil.
I watched the bread bubble and toast as it puffed up in the oven and toasted it for the last minute and a half to get the surface lightly browned. I ate the piece while it was still warm (it was actually too hot, but there was no stopping me) and the crumbled feta formed decadent melty, tart chunks of cheese scattered across the egg bread. Eat it with a salad or eat it on its own—I can vouch for both. I baked the bread in this size pan, but if you want the bread thinner, you can easily use a larger pan and reduce the cooking time.
How to buy
Yassou is available in hardcover or as an e-book at a reasonable price. I highly recommend stopping by your local big bookstores or local independent bookstores and seeing if they have this book in their new or select cookbook displays. And if it’s not on their shelves, ask if they can order it to you (sometimes without a shipping fee).