Beyond the Bud
Capers are not the only product to come from the caperbush. If the caper bud is not picked, it will flower and after it flowers it produces a sort of fruit called a caperberry. Meaty and pungent, the fruit is picked and pickled and then served as a Greek mezze.

In addition, the Greeks make good use of the caper’s leaves, which are especially desirable and hard to find outside of Greece. They are pickled or boiled and preserved in jars with brine like the caper buds. Excellent in salads and in fish dishes, caper leaves provide a sweet pungency to entrées. Dried caper leaves are also used as rennet in the manufacturing of high quality cheese. The flavors are quite different from those of cheeses made with traditional calve’s rennet. Caper leaves release similar enzymes that clot milk in the cheese-making process, satisfying those of us who are interested in new culinary delights and vegetarians who do not have the stomach for classically made cheeses.

After the summer harvest, capers are graded into six different sizes. Like the six sizes of large format wine bottles, with their wonderful names (Jeroboam, Methuselah, Salmanazar, Balthazar, Nebuchadnezzar), each caper size has it own name and distinction. The grand Nebuchadnezzar, holding twenty 750 ml bottles of wine, is equivalent to the Grusas, which is large enough to contain twenty nonpareil capers. Capers are categorized as follows: Nonpareil (0-7 mm), Surfines (7-8 mm), Capucines (8-9 mm), Capotes (9-11 mm), Fines (11-13 mm), and Grusas (14+ mm). Though the Nonpareils are probably the most popular and most highly regarded by the commercial market, I find the size of the Capote the most appealing and flavorful. The Capote is large enough to taste like a plant, as opposed to a salty morsel, yet small enough to maintain a firm shape. With hints of oregano and yuzu, the salt-cured Capote capers from the Cyclades are especially flavorful and pleasing to eat. Regardless of their size, to best appreciate the most subtle flavors, capers should be added at the last possible moment, since their delicate flavor can be as fleeting as that of citrus exposed to heat.

The next time your menu includes capers, avoid buying the carelessly cultivated capers found in most markets and choose the tasty ones from Greece. Your efforts will be rewarded when your guests discover flowers in their mouths!

Mediterranean Sole Meuniere

This is an adaptation of a Lebanese recipe known as Samak Bi Pistachio (Fish with Pistachios), which combines a French technique of preparation with flavors of the Mediterranean. Sole is preferable, but other white fish such as flounder work as a substitution. Try to purchase fillets that are of a similar size and thickness. (serves 4 )

Fish
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup pistachios
4 sole or white fish fillets 6 oz each, rinsed and dried with paper towels
Salt and ground black pepper
2 tablespoons hazelnut or safflower oil
2 tablespoons clarified unsalted butter, cut into 2 pieces

Browned Butter
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
2 tablespoons drained Greek capers
3 tablespoon chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
4 tablespoons lemon juice, plus 1 lemon, cut in wedges for serving
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1/4 cup chopped Aegina pistachios

1. For the Fish: Warm 4 ovenproof dinner plates inside an oven set at 200 degrees.

2. In a food processor make pistachio flour by processing the ó cup of pistachios with the _ cup all-purpose flour. Watch closely, adding more flour if the mixture becomes moist from the pistachios.

3. Place flour in a baking dish. In a separate dish season both sides of each fillet generously with salt and pepper; let stand until fillets are glistening.

4. Coat fillets with flour, shake off excess, and place in single layer on a baking sheet bone-side down. (This side of the fillet is best cooked first in order that it is facing up on the plates.)

5. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a nonstick skillet over high heat until shimmering, then add 1 tablespoon butter; when foaming subsides, carefully place 2 fillets in the skillet. Reduce heat to medium-high and cook, without moving fish, until edges of fillets are opaque and bottom is golden brown approximately 3 minutes. Flip fillets and cook on second side until thickest part of fillet easily separates into flakes about 2 minutes longer.

6. Transfer each fillet to a heated dinner plate and return plates to the oven. Repeat with remaining 1 tablespoon each oil and butter and remaining fish fillets.

7. For the Browned Butter and Caper Sauce: Deglaze the pan with the orange juice and set aside. There should be approxi-mately 2 or 3 tablespoons left.

8. Heat butter in the empty skillet over medium-high heat until butter melts. Continue to cook, swirling pan constantly, until butter is golden brown and has nutty aroma; remove skillet from heat.

9. Remove plates from oven and sprinkle fillets with parsley and chopped pistachios. Add lemon, orange juice and capers to browned butter and season to taste with salt; spoon sauce over fish and serve immediately with lemon wedges.