Mezze platter still rocks, years after 'Moosewood'

I’m standing in front of my tall bookshelf, stacked from stem to stern with colorful cookbooks, covering topics from ice cream to superfoods and everything in between.

Loosely organized by topic, some categories can be discerned only by me; for example, Cookbooks Written by Uber-Fancy Chefs that I Won’t Open Until My Kids are in College.

One finally catches my eye — my very first cookbook. Mollie Katzen’s “Moosewood Cookbook” (Ten Speed Press, 1977, re-issued with updates in 1992).

It was originally published when it was considered “an eccentricity and an affliction” to be a vegetarian, says Katzen in her introduction. I first encountered Katzen’s book, famous for its all-vegetarian recipes, handwritten pages, illustrations and extensive instructions,in the kitchen of the Urban Environmental Lab at Brown University.

I was in charge of organizing the lab’s weekly “Soup Seminars,” by which speakers would come in over the lunch hour and students would make a vast quantity of soup and bread for the audience to slurp while learning about the latest in environmental economics, permaculture or alternative energy.

At least 97% of the soups that students made came from this book, from vibrant ginger carrot to savory split pea.

As I began to dip my toes into cooking post-college, I asked for this book for Christmas. Over the years, as I’ve used it, Katzen’s positive attitude and gentle reassurances that many ingredients in a recipe are flexible and customizable helped me develop my own style and bolster my confidence.

Katzen gave me the nerve to jump into some international cooking, and Chinese peanut sauce, borscht and tabbouleh were made on repeat. I shopped and cooked for vegetables that I had never used before, like jicama and wood ear mushrooms.

Back in the ’90s in Nebraska, my home state, these weren’t easy to find.

Katzen also had a number of suggestions for fun sandwiches (see “celebratory sandwich fillings”), grain and legume-based salads and what is to this day one of my favorite “meals” to assemble: a mezze platter.

Cut-up veggies, slabs of salty feta, olives and pita bread accompany a lavish spread of dips and condiments. Today, many of these dips are available for purchase at grocery stores (think hummus), but others are still best made from scratch. Katzen gives recommendations on making yogurt cheese, wicked garlic dip, hummus and several variations on eggplant spreads.

Invite over some friends or surprise the kids by hosting a Middle Eastern mezze night. Between a well-stocked store and the Moosewood cookbook, you will have everything you need.

Anna Thomas Bates is a mother, writer and cheesemaker who lives in southern Wisconsin. Email her at tallgrasskitchen@gmail.com.

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This is one of the mainstays on a mezze platter, according to Mollie Katzen’s “Moosewood Cookbook” (Ten Speed Press, 1977 and 1992). Keep it thick for a dip or spread, or add more water to thin it and use it as a sauce or salad dressing. It has three of my all-time favorite ingredients: lemon juice, garlic and fresh parsley.

Tahini Lemon Sauce

Recipe tested by Anna Thomas Bates

Makes 1 to 2 cups

• ¾ cup tahini
• 5 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• ¾ to 1 ½ cups water, depending on how thick you’d like it to be
• ½ to 1 teaspoon salt (add more if using more water)
• ½ cup minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
• A few dashes of cayenne pepper or to taste (optional)

In a blender or food processor, combine tahini, lemon juice and garlic. Add ¾ cup water and begin to blend, adding more water until desired consistency is reached. Scrape into a bowl and stir in salt, parsley and cayenne, if using.