ATOM: A Taste of the Mediterranean

If it weren’t for the whole making-a-living part of life, I would spend all my days traveling the world without even giving it a second thought.  Unfortunately, making a living seems to be one of the cruel prerequisites to my globe-trotting dreams; so, until then, I travel when I get the chance and often resort to cooking to fulfill the rest of my curiosity.

This past month I thought of an idea that would be awesome to do with all the fellow food bloggers out there.  Let’s travel around the Mediterranean!  I know!  Why didn’t I think of this before?  My type of travel doesn’t require any sort of luggage or even a passport, just a hearty appetite for Med deliciousness.  We’ll taste it all; from the Portuguese influences present in Spanish cuisine to the earthy undertones unique in North African fare. 

The project has been appropriately titled, A Taste of the Mediterranean.  Each month I will feature a different culinary region from the Mediterranean (French, Greek, Italian, Middle Eastern, North African and Spanish) along with an appropriate regional recipe.  This is where the traveling comes in.  The challenge will be to blog about your own spin on that particular recipe (or technique) for a chance to win that month’s grand prize.

Each challenge will also come with a unique stamp that all participants can use to decorate their blogs with!   If you need a smaller version of the stamp for your blog, click here.  Participate each month and collect them all!

Pesto with my Italian Double

What better place is there to start our Mediterranean excursion than in Italy?  The challenge for this month is based on the classic Pesto Genovese!  The sky’s the limit on the type of pesto you choose to make, so long as it follows the basic nut-cheese-garlic-oil combo.  All entries must be submitted (i.e. posted) by June 15th in order to be eligible to win that month’s prize. 

In the mean time, I leave you with a Pesto video I made with my Italian Double, Paolo.  I look forward to reading all the amazing pesto ideas everyone has to share!

Cheers,

Tony

All the rules & regs are posted here.

These are a couple of my favorite pestos: 

• Spinach Walnut Pesto (aka Pasta alla Zarina)
• Avocado Pesto

Posted in A Taste of the Mediterranean, Italian, savory, videos by Antonio Tahhan on May 15th, 2008. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.