dear cooks,

Mediterranean-style wine bars where people gravitate to relax with friends are catching on all over the U.S. There’s something really delightful about savoring small bites paired with good wine, treating your palate to some incredible flavors before dinner—or even making a meal out of a few shared plates. But you don’t even have to stray from home to create a wine-bar atmosphere.

In Wine Bar Food, Tony Mantuano, chef-partner at Spiaggia in Chicago, and his wife, Cathy Mantuano, an expert on food and wine pairing, show you how to re-create this irresistibly appealing part of the Mediterranean lifestyle at home. Whether you want a pre-meal plate for two on a Wednesday night or a dozen small tapas for a weekend fete, you’ll find 100 recipes emphasizing flavor and ease of preparation over strict authenticity that are popular from Lisbon to Rome. Plus, this book is filled with great suggestions for affordable regional wines you can buy here in the States that’ll pair perfectly with many of these fabulous dishes.

Flaming Ouzo Shrimp

Serves 6 as an appetizer or 4 as a main course

This recipe is in the tradition of the flambéed Greek cheese dish known as saganaki. Ouzo is a Greek anise-flavored liqueur that matches well with shrimp.

Make sure that the ouzo goes on while the dish is very hot, or it will not light. And remember to stand back when flaming the shrimp. Serve with crusty bread to mop up the juices.

• 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 russet potato, very thinly sliced
• 1 jalapeño pepper, thinly sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 1 1/4 pounds peeled and deveined extra-large shrimp (under 15 per pound)
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 6 ounces ouzo
• 1/2 lemon

1. Preheat the oven to 500°F.

2. Heat a large skillet in the oven for 5 minutes.

3. Remove the pan from the oven and add 1/4 cup of the olive oil. Carefully layer the potato slices in the pan, slightly overlapping them. Top with the slices of jalapeño, garlic, and finally the shrimp. Season with salt and pepper. Drizzle with the remaining tablespoon of olive oil.

4. Return the pan to the oven and bake until the shrimp are opaque throughout, 5 to 7 minutes.

5. Remove the pan from the oven and add the ouzo. Stand back and carefully hold a lit match to the juices to flame the dish. As the flame begins to die down, squeeze the lemon over the shrimp. Serve immediately.

Limoncello Martini

Makes 1 cocktail

Amalfi in southern Italy is full of lemon trees that produce the biggest, most flavorful lemons in the world. So what do you do when life hands you these lemons? Make limoncello martinis, wonderfully refreshing in spring and summer, bracing in fall and winter.

• 1 lemon wedge
• Confectioners' sugar
• 1 1/2 ounces citrus-flavored vodka
• 1 ounce fresh lemon juice
• 1 ounce limoncello
• Twist of lemon peel

1. Rub the rim of a martini glass with the lemon wedge. Put some confectioners’ sugar on a small dish, tap the dish to level the sugar, and invert the glass into the sugar to coat the rim.

2. Shake the vodka, lemon juice, and limoncello with ice in a cocktail shaker. Strain into the prepared glass and garnish with a lemon twist.

happy cooking!

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