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For salads, vinaigrettes, and any other dishes that are either not cooked or barely cooked, I use a Greek extra-virgin olive oil.

For cooking any protein, I use a blend of vegetable oils—canola, safflower, or best of all, grapeseed—plus extra-virgin olive oil, usually in a ratio of 10 percent extra-virgin to 90 percent vegetable.

For confit vegetables, I suggest using blended oil in a ratio that makes sense for you—tastewise and financially—anywhere from 10 percent to 90 percent as above, to 50/50 percent, or even a higher ratio of extra-virgin to the vegetable oil.

For cooking vegetables—and any time you are making a pan sauce—I prefer to use a mild-flavored extra-virgin olive oil. There’s no need to waste full-bodied or peppery oils here, but stay away from anything labeled “extra-light virgin olive oil.” This product is marketed under the pretense of being more healthful. In truth, the process of its extraction involves heat, which breaks down the polyunsaturated fats that give olive oil its health benefits.

OLIVES

I use three kinds of olives: oil-cured black olives, brine-cured black olives, and cracked, brine-cured green olives. Some people are put off by the excessive brininess of these olives. You can tame the briny-salty flavor of olives, capers, caperberries, pepperoncini, and/or sun-dried tomatoes by blanching them for four or five minutes in boiling water. This plumps the fruit and lets its own flavor shine through.

OLIVE VARIETIES

Tsakistes, or cracked, brine-cured green olives: These olives are picked when still green (immature), then cracked (or slit) and brined, often with herbs and lemon and/or garlic. Any forward-flavored, brined green olive, such as Picholine, may be substituted if tsakistes are unavailable.

Thássos, or oil-cured black olives: These olives are picked when black (ripe) and cured in oil rather than brine. They are often sold loose without any liquid, and usually appear somewhat shrunken and wrinkled. Any oil-cured black olive, such as Niçoise or Moroccan, may be substituted if Thássos are unavailable.

Kalamata, or brine-cured black olives: Picked when ripe, as with Thássos, but cured and then packed in brine. Kalamata olives are widely available.

OREGANO

Greek oregano is wild, so it has a very different flavor from the usual oregano. If you can’t find oregano specifically labeled as “Greek,” look for “wild-harvest oregano.”

PEPPERONCINI

I use pepperoncini to add heat to many of my dishes. I always chop them whole, seeds and all, but if you don’t want quite as much heat, remove the seeds before chopping.

“PICKED HERBS”

I call for picked herbs in most of my dishes, because the bright flavor of fresh herbs is, for me, what makes Greek cooking so wonderful. To “pick,” take a sprig of thyme, parsley, dill, or rosemary, and gently pull your fingers backward down the central stem, releasing the small, very tender stems and leaves. Discard any tougher or woody stems. If the resulting sprigs are large, pull them apart into smaller pieces, getting rid of any remaining tougher stems as you do. All parsley is flat-leaf. All measurements should be considered “loosely packed.”

SUN-DRIED TOMATOES

Try to find large, plump, and pliable sun-dried tomatoes. Or use oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, well drained. If all you have are dry-packed sun-dried tomatoes that are dark purple, very dry, and papery, reconstitute them in hot water for twenty minutes, then squeeze dry.

TOMATOES & TOMATO SAUCE

I don’t worry much about peeling or seeding fresh tomatoes. That’s the way they come and that’s the way I use them.

Crushed tomatoes: Lift the tomatoes from a can of good Italian plum tomatoes and crush with your hand as you add them to the pot.

Tomato purée: This is just a simple, thin tomato sauce. You can also use a good-quality marinara sauce from a jar.

YOGURT

All yogurt in the book is Greek yogurt. Almost all markets now carry this thick yogurt, but if you can’t get it, you will have to drain whole-milk yogurt overnight in the refrigerator, in a