Milk Street Mediterranean: Just What the Doctor Ordered

Last Updated on October 15, 2022 by Rebecca Huff

In April, while browsing the bookstore, I caught sight of a beautiful cookbook cover from a distance. As I approached the book and the title came into view, I actually laughed out loud. Christopher Kimball. Of course.

Milk Street Mediterranean Style? Yes, please!

Don't miss the vlog at the bottom of this post where I make several meals from this cookbook.

Milk Street: Tuesday Nights Mediterranean 125 Simple Weeknight Recipes

You know how I feel about Christopher Kimball's Milk Street stuff. Since I first discovered his recipes in Milk Street Tuesday Night's, I've been a huge fan of his cookbooks. You can find my past reviews and posts here:

Milk Street: Cookish
Milk Street: The New Rules
Milk Street: Tuesday Nights Recipe (and Keto Selections from Milk Street)
Now, let's checkout the newest Milk Street Cookbook – the selection for A Tasty Bite Cookbook Club this quarter: Milk Street Mediterranean!

Mediterranean: The World's Healthiest Cuisine

Mediterranean cooking is said to be the world's healthiest cuisine. With use of antioxidant rich olive oil, vegetables, fish, herbs and spices, home cooking is elevated to extreme health food status!

Study after study supports the diet’s heart benefits, and an analysis of more than 1.5 million healthy adults has demonstrated that following the Mediterranean diet is associated with a significant improvement in health, as well as a reduced risk of cardiovascular mortality and overall mortality. Why Doctors Recommend the Mediterranean Diet

What I loved about Milk Street Mediterranean

So what's with Tuesday Night's? Apparently it's about eating good every night of the week with ingredients you might already have in your kitchen.

Tuesday Nights at Milk Street are our solutions for slapdash weeknight meals. We bring together ideas, tips and recipes from chefs, cookbook authors and food writers, then shape them into simple, flavorful meals using pantry staples and a few other ingredients. Each recipe is designed to come together quickly and to become a go-to in your weekly dinner repertoire. 177MilkStreet

Milk Street Mediterranean: Just What the Doctor Ordered 3

So here's why I think you should add this cookbook to your collection:

Mediterranean food is naturally healthy
Gorgeous photos, one per recipe which is my favorite feature in a cookbook.
Easy to understand instructions.
Explanations that go beyond instructions – not only do you learn how, but you also learn the why.
Uses vibrant tasting ready made ingredients like pesto to elevate the flavor without adding extra work. (i.e. gourmet flavor without gourmet effort, as they say.)
Ingredients include pantry staples you most likely already have in your kitchen.
Recipes that can be served any time of the day.
No dessert section (see how good for you this is?!)

Recipes we tried and loved:

Zucchini and Saffron Risotto was the dish we made on repeat. My son and I made this dish so many times we memorized the recipe. All I can say is you must taste it to understand why!
Green Shakshuka – a good way to get in your greens, I've been making this for breakfast. (Watch me make Green Shakshuka in this video with the addition of dandelion greens.)
Eggs in Purgatory is one I've added to my weekly breakfast rotation, my kids love to eat it with some toasted sourdough bread.
Greek Chicken and Potato Tray Bake is full of flavor with ingredients like these: bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, lemons, olives, and capers.
Spicy Egyptian Eggplant with Chickpeas and Herbs was inspired by a street food in Cairo. The harissa paste really adds a delicious depth to what could be a rather bland food. We served ours with a side of yogurt.
Chicken Shawarma along with a delicious yogurt sauce that we had leftover from the Chicken Souvlaki with Tzatziki (On a funny note, the same night we made this we just happened to be watching an episode of The Golden Girls and Rose mentioned they learned to make Souvlaki from Greek sailors! It was our first time having this dish or hearing of it, so we thought that was a comical coincidence!)
Shrimp with Ouzo, Orange and Oregano gets a lot of the flavor from ouzo which is a Greek liquor made with anise plant, that tastes a lot like licorice. (I used to drink this after meals at a restaurant I frequented in Germany by the name of “The Green Shack.” A Greek dive that brought meat on a spit over to shave delicious, tender piles of meat onto your plate along with warm pitas and fresh olive oil. The Ouzo was served with appetizers or “meze” which literally translates to “a small bite.” I bought some Ouzo just for this dish and drinking it brought back memories!
Ham, Gruyere and Asparagus Tartines – a slice of bread rubbed with garlic, then topped with the aforementioned ingredients. A huge hit with my family and so fast and easy to make.
Pan-Fried Beef-Filled Pita paired with a simple yogurt sauce. We found they taste even better the following day, heated gently in a bit of olive oil.
Inverted Pizza – Believe it or not, this pizza has no tomatoes, instead it has potatoes and onions. Carb city but divinely delicious.
Sumac-Spiced Chicken Cutlets with Tomato Onion Salad – This recipe has a couple of harder to find ingredients; one sumac, which we adore and I wrote about here. Two, pomegranate molasses which we found at Earth Fare, but you can also order some from 177milkstreet. Pomegranate molasses is a thick syrup that has a sweet fruit flavor with a bit of a sour punch.
Andalusian Tomato and Bread Soup (Salmorejo) with garden fresh tomatoes – need I say more?
Tomato and Cucumber Salad with Capers and Feta – Refreshing and perfect for all those summer garden goodies.
Umbrian-Style Chicken alla Cacciatora – based on a dish from central Italy, this dish uses lemon zest and white wine for flavor and believe me, it delivers. Make sure to use fresh cracked black pepper and good quality pancetta in this dish and you can't go wrong!
Soupe au Pistou – Although I listed this last, it was the first dish I made from this cookbook. My friend Oly came over for lunch and we enjoyed preparing this hearty yet humble bean and pasta soup which hails from Provence. I made it again one weekend while visiting my mom. The addition of pesto at the end makes for big flavors without the use of meat.

What you'll love about this cookbook

If I'd know a new milk street cookbook is about to publish, I pre-order it, but somehow this one slipped under the radar. I found it on the shelf; the book is stunningly beautiful it called out to me from across the store!

Even if you never made one single recipe, it makes a great coffee table book, because the pictures are drool-worthy.

But you'll want to prepare all of the 125 simple weeknight recipes listed in this book, not one of them looked boring or bland.

Mediterranean: The Best of Both Worlds

If you enjoy traditional Spanish and Italian foods, you'll love Milk Street: Tuesday Nights Mediterranean.

Again, the recipes are divided into the time it takes to prepare —Fast (45 minutes), Faster (35 minutes), and Fastest (under 25 minutes)—as well as into themes.

Milk Street Mediterranean: Just What the Doctor Ordered 2 — Inverted Pizza

You'll find:

Salad Suppers
Hearty Vegetarian Mains
Supper Soups
Flat and Folded (pizzas, pitas,other bready things)

That's the only “con” I found in this book, was that many of the recipes do include carbs such as pasta, pitas, potatoes, and various types of breads. I did make a list of the lower carb recipes, which you can download here. Even if I strictly avoided carbs, I'd still buy the cookbook because many of the recipes that aren't low-carb can easily be adapted.

About Christopher Kimball

Kimball was born and raised in Westchester County, New York, the son of Mary Alice White and Edward Norris Kimball. The family had a cabin in southwestern Vermont. He graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy and then Columbia University (1973) with a degree in Primitive Art. 2

In a Forbes interview, Kimball was quoted as saying,

I hope that the kitchen is the most fun room in the house and the place one should spend the most time outside of sleeping.
Christopher Kimball

And that certainly rings true for me. I hope it does for you as well. My kitchen is the first place the kids look when they want to find me, and that is where, I hope they'll remember me long after I'm gone.

Just like how I picture my grandmother, in her tiny kitchen, which my sweet cousin still cooks in to this day.

Final Note on Milk Street: Tuesday nights Mediterranean

Every home cook will appreciate how much this cookbook will spice up every day meals.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution summed it up nicely by saying, “If there is one takeaway from this cookbook, it’s that gourmet meals don’t require gourmet effort.”

The Daily Herald Calls it a winner for weeknights. We agree. The Houston Chronicle named it one of Eight great new cookbooks for the home cook this spring.

Goodreads has a rating of 4.8 stars as of this writing. I guess that's because Mediterranean cooking is still gaining popularity. Just a few weeks ago, my best friend mentioned to me that her doctor put her on a Mediterranean diet. When I asked why, she said “better for your health and heart.”

Mediterranean cooking is so much more than olive oil, grilled fish, and just-harvested vegetables. It is a diverse cuisine that encompasses the cultures and traditions of Southern Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. The food is direct, simple, and honest. It is proud to be served without disguise or embellishment. Voracious

Amazon, “From the James Beard award-winning Milk Street team, enjoy 125 easy weeknight dinners that bring the flavors of the Mediterranean into your home—with most meals ready in under 45 minutes.”

If you don't order a copy today, you'll at least want to add Milk Street Mediterranean to your wish list!