Daring Cooks: Mezze

The 2010 February Daring COOKs challenge was hosted by Michele of Veggie Num Nums. Michele chose to challenge everyone to make mezze based on various recipes from Claudia Roden, Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Dugid.

If you’re anything like me, you may be asking yourself, “What the heck is mezze?”. Mezze (pronounced ?mez-ay”, although many people seem to pronounce it as “mezz?) is more of a style of eating than a specific recipe or recipes. Mezze is a bunch of small dishes served all at once?sort of like the Middle Eastern version of Spanish Tapas. It can be served as appetizers before a meal, or as the meal itself.

Michele gave us a variety of recipes to choose from, but homemade hummus and pita bread were the required portions of this challenge. My mind immediately thought of the Mediterranean hummus from Zea’s. Roasted garlic, kalamata olives, sundried tomatoes, and basil were calling my name.

I loved the hummus and the pita bread, although my pita didn’t puff up as I’d hoped. Hmm, that may be my excuse for making more. Click here for the recipes. Be sure to see what the rest of the creative and Daring Cooks concocted this go around and visit me on the 27th when I reveal this month’s Daring Bakers’ challenge. I can’t wait to share it with you!