When I was traveling in California earlier this month, I found myself ridiculously drawn to every single mezze platter I encountered…and there were MANY of them. “Mezze” is a Middle Eastern/Mediterranean inspired-spread of fresh items that encompass every flavor (and every texture,) and they’re typically enjoyed as an appetizer and I recall enjoying copious amounts of these little tasty, flavorful and transformative bites in my travels through Greece and Turkey years ago.
It turns out that – for those of us who need to have a little forethought built into our meals, and nourishing spreads on our plates when lunchtime rolls around, just so we can show up with vibrancy for the remains of our day – a mezze-style lunch is a solid plan. And, because so many of the components come together easily, but can be made ahead, it makes for a lovely kind of masterpiece-in-motion; a mezze plate for lunch is the best kind of way to use all the components in your fridge, any yet completely able to transform as those components change in a satisfying and exciting way.
One last note and that is that mezze is a PERFECT meal to have through the spring and summer months because many of the components are light, fresh, uplifting and still densely nourishing in a way that supports our bodies through warmer weather.
Here’s how I’ve been making mezze these past weeks.
One of my favorite falafel mezze plates comes from the Daisy Restaurant in Santa Barbara. The plate is colorful, full of flavor and actually really fun to eat. Fresh and pickled veggies, crunchy and herby falafel, tzatziki, hummus and grilled flatbread to mop and swipe up all the goodness. When I make mezze at home, this is what I’m thinking about; I want as many colors as possible on the plate, I want all Six Flavors , and I want textural intrigue, I want warming spices to keep this cold-leaning lunch digestible and I want my lunch to be densely nourishing enough for me to run my high-energy day on it…which is not something I can say of a mere Mediterannean salad (which is definitely the way that mezze can lean if you’re not paying attention.)
This is not a snacking plate I’m building, it’s a meal. I like to include homemade falafel, a zippy coconut yogurt (in lieu of tzatziki,) homemade hummus (which is SO easy and good on everything,) an herby zhoug-pesto, pickled onions, fresh veggies, and homemade chapati. I’m getting excited about lunch just thinking about it!
If you’ve been following along for a little while now, you’l know that I’m not a big fan of “meal prepping,” or of eating leftovers for days on end. Ayurveda isn’t a fan of this either, as eating leftovers or food that hasn’t been made fresh brings an element of “tamas” or stagnation into the body, and is considered to be a sub-optimal way of nourishing the body. The further our foods get from their harvest date, the less nutritious they are. And, the longer foods sit between being cooked and being eaten, the less nourishment is within as well. Suffice to say the best way to get optimal nourishment into the body is with freshly harvested, freshly cooked foods — not meal prepping 7 days ago!
But with mezze, there are a few components we can put together quickly that actually improve in flavor with age. Among them are the pickled onions, herby pesto, and homemade hummus that help this mezze bowl to shine. The zipped up coconut yogurt is pretty good the next day, and only takes a moment to make so that’s a win too.
Pulling a multi-component meal like this off for me – with my desire to spend most of my free time either playing with Leo or on my bike/in my running shoes, I have very little interest in spending hours on end on any given day making components to suit my mezze addiction. So, I sorta cook as I go and enjoy the fruits of my labor as I do. Here’s an example of what my “cooking + eating mezze week” might look like.
Saturday: soak beans for hummus + pickle onions
Sunday: make falafel + make beans in InstantPot
Monday: blend hummus + blend herby pesto
Tuesday: whip up coconut yogurt + make chapati – enjoy mezze for lunch!
Wednesday, Thursday + Friday: mezze for lunch!?
Saturday: soak beans for hummus…repeat
Everything you’re about to make for this mind-bendingly excellent mezze lunch is a component you’ll use for other things. The falafel freeze well and can be pulled from the freezer for meals on the fly. The hummus doesn’t freeze well but is excellent as a spread on sandos, dolloped on grain bowls and dunked into with crackers or veggies. The coconut yogurt is amazing on this soup (obvs) as well as on grain bowls, tacos, you name it. The zhoug-pesto is amazing as a pasta sauce, spread on sandos, drizzled as a dressing, or swirled into soups – anywhere you’d use a pesto is a place to put this one. And the chapati are simply GOOD; easy to make, confidence inspiring and fun.
Making each of these components might not fit into your week this week. Or ever for that matter. But that does NOT mean you shouldn’t be eating amazing mezze! If you’re needing to substitute something (or all the things,) here’s how I recommend that you do it:
That's ok, just sign up or log in to see this recipe.