Cookbook: The Olive and the Caper

the appetizer:

The Olive and the Caper by Susanna Hoffman is a culinary travelogue of Greece, with classic Greek recipes like Leek, Potato and Olive Pie (Prassopita), Warm Greens (Horta), and Roasted Lamb Shanks with Garlic and Thyme.

The Olive and the Caper
Adventures in Greek Cooking

by Susanna Hoffman

Click to buy The Olive and the Caper

"It's Greek to me" has becoms the happy answer to what's for dinner. Here's yet another reason to embrace all things Greek: The Olive and the Caper, Susanna Hoffman's 700-plus-page serendipity of recipes and adventure.

In Corfu, Ms. Hoffman and a taverna owner cook shrimp fresh from the trap—and for us she offers the boldly-flavored Shrimp with Fennel, Green Olives, Red Onion, and White Wine. She gathers wild greens and herbs with neighbors, inspiring Big Beans with Thyme and Parsley, and Field Greens and Ouzo Pie. She learns the secret to chewy country bread from the baker on Santorini and translates it for American kitchens. Including 325 recipes developed in collaboration with Victoria Wise (her co-author on The Well-Filled Tortilla Cookbook, with over 258,000 copies in print), The Olive and the Caper celebrates all things Greek: Chicken Neo-Avgolemeno. Fall-off-the-bone Lamb Shanks seasoned with garlic, thyme, cinnamon and coriander. Siren-like sweets, from world-renowned Baklava to uniquely Greek preserves: Rose Petal, Cherry and Grappa, Apricot and Metaxa.

In addition, it opens with a sixteen-page full-color section and has dozens of lively essays throughout the book—about the origins of Greek food, about village life, history, language, customs—making this a lively adventure in reading as well as cooking.

About the Author

Susanna Hoffman, alumnus of the Chez Panisse restaurant and co-founder of Oakland's Good & Plenty Café, is a co-author of The Well-Filled Microwave Cookbook and Good & Plenty: America's New Home Cooking. She is an anthropologist and cook who has lived and worked in Greece on and off for more than thirty years, dividing her time between Telluride, CO, and Santorini, Greece.