Average customer rating:
- Surprisingly Tasty!
- so so cookbook
- Easy and Delicious
- Awesome no "meat replacers" Vegan Cookbook!!!
- Love this book ... I'm not vegan or vegetarian ....
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The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen
Donna Klein
Manufacturer: HP Trade
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 General
| Cooking, Food & Wine
| Subjects
| Books
Mediterranean
| European
| Regional & International
| Cooking, Food & Wine
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Vegetables & Vegetarian
| Cooking, Food & Wine
| Subjects
| Books
Vegan
| Diets
| Diets & Weight Loss
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
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Accessories:
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Tanita BC533 Glass Innerscan Body Composition Monitor
ASIN: 1557883599 |
Amazon.com
The medical world has been touting the health benefits of the Mediterranean diet for decades. In The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen, Donna Klein provides more than 300 recipes suited to anyone who wants to eat a healthful diet free of animal products. Unlike many vegetarian or vegan cookbooks that simply take the meat or dairy products out of a recipe--or even worse, use tasteless substitutes--this book includes only recipes that actually exist in Mediterranean cuisine. You won't find any grainy cheese substitutes or spongy meat imposters here.
In chapters on every course from appetizers to desserts, the author presents recipe upon recipe for flavorful and healthy dishes--all without meat, dairy, or eggs. Appetizers like Mushrooms Stuffed with Bread Crumbs, Parsley, and Garlic--given a sweet and nutty zing from the addition of a fortified wine--or Baked Black Olives with Herbes de Provence and Anise are so full flavored they certainly don't need the richness of animal products. The Poor Man's Pesto (so named because of the absence of cheese) that tops fluffy Potato Gnocchi proves that fruity green olive oil is the heart and garden-fresh basil is the soul of a good pesto. Desserts don't disappoint either. Relying on fresh fruits for flavor, they are just the sort of sweet and rich concoctions we expect from the Mediterranean. Baked Pears are stuffed with a rich blend of bread crumbs, toasted almonds, and chocolate and baked in a flavorful mixture of marsala, white wine, and pear or apple juice.
An extremely helpful Meals in Minutes section offers menu suggestions for those whose schedules allow only an hour or less for meal preparation, and the nutritional information provided for each dish is a welcome bonus for health-conscious cooks. --Robin Donovan
Book Description
After years of research, scientists declared that the Mediterranean diet was the best one for overall good health-and the exciting news was that it tasted great, too.
With recipes for everything from nutritious appetizers to dairy-free desserts, this unique Mediterranean vegan cookbook is ideal for vegetarians, those with a lactose intolerance, and anyone who wants to make gloriously delicious dishes without meat, eggs, or dairy. Dishes include:
¥ Sicilian Eggplant Relish
¥ Catalan Grilled Vegetables with Almond Sauce
¥ Classic Italian Minestrone
¥ Moroccan Fresh Tomato Salad
¥ Black Olive Bread
¥ Zucchini-Lemon Couscous
¥ Greek Currant Cake
¥ Braised Pears in Red Wine
¥ and more
Customer Reviews:
Surprisingly Tasty!.......2007-09-23
I'm not a vegan, but I bought this book because I wanted to learn how to cook with vegetables and grains, instead of constantly adding butter and cheese to everything in order to make it taste great! I will say, the other reviews that rate this book are right. It's surprisingly tasty, and I'm learning how to use vegetables and grains in ways I have never thought of before. None of the recipes I've tried so far feel anything short of restaurant-yumminess.
If you're trying to diet, many of the recipes here are also lower-calorie, and provide the nutritional content on each recipe. I find that very helpful when I am trying to keep track of my calories, fat grams, carbs, protein, and sodium intake.
I would recommend this cookbook for anyone, not just vegans or vegetarians. It's delicious...honest!
so so cookbook.......2007-09-19
I tried a few of the recipes, some were good, some weren't. There are no pictures to inspire you to try the recipes.
Easy and Delicious.......2007-09-05
I love how easy and delicious the recipes are in this book. I was happy to find a vegan Mediterranean cookbook that focuses on simple flavors. It is always easy for me to find a recipe to make without having to grocery shop first!
Awesome no "meat replacers" Vegan Cookbook!!!.......2007-07-24
I truly cannot say enough good things about this cookbook. It is the first vegan cookbook I've seen that doesn't use "meat replacements" in its recipes. These are true, natural flavors and textures as they were meant to be consumed, not pre-packaged artificially-created I-just-need-to-think-I'm-eating-meat textures. The recipes in this book are designed around the vegan lifestyle. There are no "veggie hotdogs" or "veggie burgers", yet every recipe I have made with this book has come out wonderful, tasty, and unique.
The recipes in this book, for the most part DO take a bit of work, but most recipes I have made are under 45 minutes, and I take my time when I cook, so I'm sure some stock-car-paced cooks could get them done in 30.
This is not like some other vegetarian cookbooks where you have breakfasts as only muesli, lunches as bland salads, entrees as grain-sauce concotions and desserts as fruit only. This is not to say that meat replacers and standard vegan cookbooks are not on my shelves and used daily, but rather sometimes I just crave CLEAN, substaintial, healthy food in my-goodness-why-didn't-I-think-of-that easy combinations.
All in all, this is one cookbook you cannot afford NOT to buy! You'd be missing out!!!
Love this book ... I'm not vegan or vegetarian ...........2007-07-13
I ran across this book a few years ago at the library (where I work). I've made the minestrone recipe for years now and it is my favorite ever. I finally decided that I needed to own this book... and I'm not vegan or veggie. It's a great way to boost vegetable intake while keeping things simple. I personally hate tofu and I love it that this book has no "substitute" foods like tofu in it. It's just the veggies speaking for themselves. Highly recommended for everyone who wants some good veggie recipes with ingredients you can find even at a small town supermarket. On a side note, it's perfect for folks who practice Lent (if you give up all animal foods) ... I think I recall reading that this is how some of the recipes were inspired.
Book Description
From one of the leading lights of contemporary gastronomy comes an irresistible collection of slow-cooked, flavor-drenched dishes from the cuisines of the Mediterranean
Who can resist the sensuous delights of a slow-simmered stew, salmon fillet slow-roasted until it is soft as silk, or leg of lamb braised until it is meltingly tender? Slow cooking is the hottest new trend in food, and no one better captures the art of sumptuous, unhurried cooking than renowned food writer Paula Wolfert. In The Slow Mediterranean Kitchen, she returns to her favorite culinary regions and shares an enticing treasure trove of more than 150 authentic recipes that wend their way from North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean to Italy, Spain, and the South of France. With her trademark passion for detail and curiosity about cultural traditions and innovations, she offers loyal fans and new converts the secrets to simmering, slow roasting, braising, poaching, and marinating their way to flavor-drenched dishes that capture the enchanting tastes and aromas of the Mediterranean table. Perfect for anyone who loves to cook, this rich resource is a must-have for the bookshelf of everyone who is serious about food.
Paula Wolfert (Sonoma, CA) is widely acknowledged to be the premier food writer in America. Her writing has received many awards, including the Julia Child Award, the M.F.K. Fisher Award, and the James Beard Award. She has a regular column in Food & Wine magazine, and her articles have appeared in such major publications as the New York Times, Saveur, Bon Appétit, and Cook's Illustrated. She is the author of six other cookbooks, including Couscous and Other Good Food from Morocco, Mediterranean Cooking, and The Cooking of South-West France.
Customer Reviews:
Paula Wolfert is Sublime.......2007-09-27
It can be no mistake that this book is addressed to the passionate cook. As others have stated, most recipes are labors of love, requiring hours and often days to complete. This passionate cook states emphatically that they are worth it.
Those who dislike or are not willing to devote the time and patience and sometimes lengthy ingredient lists needed to create her dishes should look elsewhere for cooking inspiration - this book is not for them. If, however, you have the time, passion, and slower outlook and lifestyle which are the hallmarks of Mediterranean cooks, then this book is a jewel.
I will single out a few recipes of the many I have made and the one I come back to time and again is the Gazpacho With Melon. I have never tasted a more beautifully complex cold soup. Both light and deep, it sings on the tongue and will dazzle anyone lucky enough to taste it. Spicy Mussels with Herbs and Feta Cheese and eaten like a soup are the only way I serve mussels now. Greek and Moroccan lamb stews, braised veal, slow-cooked duck and chicken - every recipe delights.
This book takes me back to time spent around the Mediterranean, time that was slower, more fully experienced, and far better flavoured than anywhere else. Time filled with passion :)
This cookbook is a good read.......2007-03-30
I have enjoyed just sitting down and reading this cookbook. I look forward to trying many of the recipes included in the book.
I've only tried two recipes so far..........2007-02-28
...but both were disappointing. The "Fall-Apart Lamb Shanks" were good--but after marinating overnight and more than seven hours of careful prep and cooking (to say nothing of the expense), they should have been grrrreatt! The "Golden Potato Gratin" was bland. The recipe suggested using one of three cheeses; I used Buffalo mozzarella because I couldn't find either of the other two suggestions. Maybe if I'd used one of them, the flavor would have been brighter--but the third cheese suggestion WAS mozzarella! I am glad I tried this on my patient, forgiving husband first rather than serving it to company.
Transforming.......2005-10-20
I never thought I would consider a cook book to be transforming, but that has been my experience with The Slow Mediterranean Kitchen. It has changed my cooking habits more than any cookbook I own (some 40 - 50 at this point, and still growing).
Cooking has been a long haul for me. I used to not like it at all, and considered anything that took longer than 10 minutes to prepare from start to finish as being way too involved! But by the time I have reached Wolfert's Mediterranean masterpiece, maybe I was ready to be picked. I absolutely savored Wolfert's long leisurely approach to preparing food. Now I'm somewhat disappointed if a dish doesn't take at least a whole day to prepare (cutting the amount of time one can enjoy making the dish.) Cooking a complicated recipe (not that these recipes are all that comlicated) now seems like an invigorating puzzle, the challenge being to get the pieces to go together just right.
I've learned so much from this book. First, how to roast a perfect chicken! That in itself is worth kajillions. Second, the very best way to roast rack of lamb. Also, one recipe involved a two hour preparation of carmelized onions. I always wanted to know how to properly do that. I guess, in the final analysis, this book has contributed more than any other book in making me a passionate cook, or at least pointing me in that direction. Introducing me to a very interesting cuisine is frosting on the cake.
Typos, major steps left out, dead ends........2005-05-12
My wife and I are on our third recipe. We are experienced amatures, so we knew a few instructions were being left out here and there, but, what do you do with the ingredients that are never brought back into the dish. The ideas are great and I'm sure dinner at the authors home would be quite thrilling, but forget this book if you want to prepare food without a lot of guess work.
Book Description
Moroccan food features the delicious flavors and health benefits of other Mediterranean cuisines, but tantalizes the senses with its own unique combinations of spices and simple ingredients. Grilled meats, vegetable or fruit tagines (stews), delicately spiced salads, couscous, and sweet or savory pastries are its hallmarks. Kitty Morse, who grew up in Casablanca, brings to this new book fascinating details about life and food in Morocco. Her approach to this exotic culinary tradition is surprisingly accessible yet authentic. With Morse's easy, step-by-step recipes and time-saving tips, any cook can create exquisite Moroccan flavors. On-location photos taken by the author's husband together with Laurie Smith's luscious stills create a beautiful insider's look at an intriguing cuisine and culture.
Customer Reviews:
The Top Moroccan recipe cook book.......2007-08-07
Kitty Morse is probably the primary Moroccan cook book author and well deserved. She still has a home in Morocco and leads a cooking tour once a year. The book contains all types of recipes to have a true diffa (feast) and uses ingredients generally available (you should make preserved lemons). The instructions are excellent and the tastes are remarkable. My wife and I have done a number of dinners, including the breads and our guests uniformly agree they are superior dinner parties. A great wine to serve with the bastila is either a spat lase or aus lase. This book is a standard. Monte K. and Anne R. Marshall of Sarasota, FL
Excellent entry to Moroccan cooking .......2007-07-27
I shipped back two cooking tagines from Morocco for grandchildren getting married this year, and wanted to include a cookbook. Morse's colorful photos, interesting text and good, easy-to-follow authentic recipes were just the ticket. I even bought one for myself.
Wonderful Book.......2007-06-10
This is a great book. It's organized perfectly: observation and notes on the region, notes on the cuisine, definitions of the basic ingredients and basic techniques. There are even basic recipes for the staples, such as preserved lemons. There are menues to help you with choosing which dishes pair best.
The recipes that follow are varied -- soups and salads, pastries and breads, meat, poultry, fish and veggies, couscous, and beverages and desserts. All are easy to follow. There are beautiful pictures of many of the recipes.
This is a wonderful book, good for any Moroccan cuisine enthusiast.
Kasbah Found.......2007-06-08
Excellent cook book thoroughly recommended for the experienced chef.
Good layout and introduction to the cuisine
authentic and great recipes!.......2005-11-16
My husband is a Moroccan and I am a Taiwanese. I love Moroccan food and always want to learn how to make those delicious dishes my mother-in-law made. When I bought this book, my husband and his brother thought the recipes must be westernized. After they tasted my Briouats(shrimp and ground beef) and B'stilla (seafood and chicken), they changed their minds. Most recipes are authentic and easy to follow. It's a great book. I love it!
Customer Reviews:
Love this cookie cookbook............2001-09-29
......with lovely photos and great recipes.
The biscotti recipes are not only great, they present a good variety of biscottis that I've never tried before: Pine Nut and Honey Biscotti, Pistachio and Orange Biscotti, and Almond, Lemon and Anise Biscotti. All tasted wonderful and really impressed my family!
The remainder of the cookbook is divided into bar, drop and specialty cookie recipe sections and I have found recipes that kids love (Peanut and Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies), recipes that intrigued me (Walnut-Cardamom Viennese Crescents), recipes that were a sure thing at family gatherings or parties at work (White Chocolate and Macadamia Nut Blondies, especially whe served still slightly warm). I could go on and on, but you get my drift. This cookbook is loaded with wonderful, treasured cookie and biscotti recipes and I highly recommend it!!
Great asset!.......1999-12-15
The biscotti recipes in the book are the best I have ever tried! The orange pistachio biscotti is always a crowd pleaser. Easy to follow directions and wonderful photos! You will get lots of use year round out of this cookbook.
Book Description
A young American chef's fresh new interpretation of beloved Mediterranean cuisine, Matthew Kenney's Mediterranean Cooking is a masterful blend of tradition, passion, and creativity. Celebrated chef Matthew Kenney opened his restaurant, Matthew's, to instant critical acclaim, including a listing in the Zagat guide as one of the top five Mediterranean restaurants in New York City. Recently, he was named a Rising Star Chef in America by PBS. And now with this seminal new cookbook, he shares his signature style of relaxed Mediterranean cooking with 150 wonderful dishes anyone can prepare at home. Relying on widely available ingredients and simplified cooking techniques, Kenney makes it possible for busy cooks everywhere to enjoy the sensuous culinary traditions of the Mediterranean coastal rim, from the hill towns of Spain and Italy to the sun-baked villages of North Africa. A new classic is born.
Customer Reviews:
Great recipes .......2005-10-22
I am not a fan of every dish in the book, but there are enough recipes to keep me busy. Beautiful photos. The book does not a lot about the region's culture or the cultural significance of the recipes (I prefer to have that info in a region-specific book.) However, each recipe does include brief observations by the author. What I particularly enjoy is that at the end of some recipes, there are suggestions about what else to serve with the dish. One of my favorite recipes is the fennel salad with clemembines and moroccan olives.
YUMMY!!.......2001-03-27
This is a wonderful cookbook by famous chef Matthew Kenney. I love Morrocan and Mediterranean foods. I found the recipes not only delicious but very easy to make. Matthew describes his first interest in Mediterranean cooking and how he became a chef. Some of my favorite recipes are the carpaccio, the fennel salad, and the poek loin with apricot and pistachios. It's a great little book if you like cooking "exotic foods".
A great addition to your kitchen..........2000-08-23
This book offers a great combination of things: Excellent recipes, relative ease of cooking the dishes, beautifully graphic layout/design, and wonderful text.
Matthew has a good ability to cook these dishes, and an equally good ability to "teach" the reader how to do the same.
The recipes are really all over the place, drawing upon influences of all Mediterrean countries. Some dishes for instance, are really more common to Middle-Eastern countries, but all flow wonderfully together in this work.
A truly enjoyable, as well as informative, book.
Something for everyone!.......1999-07-03
With recipes easy enough for beginners and interesting enough for seasoned (no pun intended) gourmands, this book is one I keep going back to time after time. This book also makes a great gift, as it is as attractive as it is usable. I'm here in the heart of America's Dairyland, but Matthew's Olive Oil Mashed Potatoes could almost make me give up butter!
Beautifully done.......1998-06-28
My husband bought me this book, and I love it! The recipes are easy to follow, and the pictures are great. It's a fun book to go through, and Kenney adds a lot of personal touches. It's one of my favorite mediterranean cookbooks. Try the Sicilian Rice Salad with Tuna and Mint. It's one of my favorites.
Amazon.com
The Sephardim were Jews who settled in medieval Spain during the Diaspora. Expelled from Spain and Portugal in the 1490s by the Christians, most Sephardic Jews migrated elsewhere around the Mediterranean, taking with them a cuisine richly influenced by the sensual cooking of their former Muslim rulers. Rabbi Sternberg records the history of Sephardic cooking and presents food you can't wait to prepare. Dishes like Ajada, a garlic spread, and a spinach and yogurt salad seasoned with dill are typical of the sunny, mostly simple-to-prepare food in this book. Sternberg's writing is flat but the richness of information and the vivid descriptions of each dish, including their Ladino names, hold your attention. Brief folk tales at the end of each chapter are enchanting. Sternberg's recipes are easy to follow, even if you've never made food like this.
Book Description
Light, healthy and robust -- these are the outstanding qualities of the summery, sun-splashed cooking of the Sephardic Jews, which Rabbi Robert Sternberg offers in this enlightening book about an under-explored aspect of the increasingly popular Mediterranean cooking.
Expelled from Spain during the Inquisition, the Sephardic Jews scattered to all corners of the Mediterranean. Their strong traditions and varied cultural experience combined with the fertile climate in which they settled, created one of the most flavorful and distinctive cuisines in the world. It is a melding of delicious flavors from all around the warm salt waters of the Mediterranean -- Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, Algeria, Greece, Morocco, Israel and the remains of the Ottoman Empire.
In each distant place the Sephardic Jews cooked inventive and delightful meals whose flavor comes more from herbs and spices than from fat. The core ingredients -- fresh fruits, spices, olives, nuts, tomatoes, fennel, eggs and seafood -- are as tasty as they are versatile.
The tempting recipes in this book include Canton de Sardellas, a delicious anchovy salad from Portugal, Sopa de Spinaca y Lentijas, a spicy and delicate soup from Macedonia, Sopada con Bamias, a hot and sweet braised beef with okra from Egypt, and the incomparable Los Site Kilos -- Bread of the Seven Heavens -- whose layers represent the connection between this world and the next.
Alongside his recipes Rabbi Sternberg relates the rich history and lore of the Sephardic Jews, to whom hospitality is one of the most important virtues. "When visiting the home of a Jew from a Mediterranean country, one is usually greeted with an apology from the host or hostess for the poor and limited quality of the food being served," says Rabbi Sternberg. "The apology is generally followed by a lavish buffet with a dazzling array of mouthwatering appetizers and salads." Rabbi Sternberg also explains Jewish Holiday traditions and culinary celebrations, from Sabbath dinners to observation of the High Holy Days.
Generously illustrated, easy to follow, and sprinkled with Sephardic folktales, Rabbi Sternberg's book is certain to become the mainstay in the kitchens of people who like Mediterranean cooking, lighter eating and just plain good food.
Rabbi Sternberg is the executive director of the Holocaust Museum and Learning Center in St. Louis, Missouri. He is also the author of Yiddish Cuisine.
Customer Reviews:
New recipes!.......2004-02-02
Great Cookbook, with lots of extras!
"Oh My God -it's my Grandma's Food!!!".......1999-01-24
"I was so delighted to actually see my grandmothers favorite recipes in this book -in her very own dialect!! There were 'Yaprakas', and 'Biscochos' - as she called them. And the authors descriptive narrations of the history of the food -was as if I could see my family from places long ago. When he said you never walked in a sephardic's house without being offered a buffet of food any present day caterer would envy, I had to laugh out loud! That was my family!
Product Description
This very popular book which has been out of print a fes years, is now newly revised and expanded and available! It is bigger, has 40 more pages with additional new recipes, and lots more photos. Alice's Kitchen is authentic Lebanese home cooking at its best! An immigrant family cookbook, with more than 140 original recipes, from how to pick and cure olives to how to bake pocket bread. Here are generations of recipes passed down from mother to daughter in the mountain village of Douma, overlooking the Mediterranean, brought to America by Grandmother Dalal and Mother Alice, and then passed on to Linda. In Alice's Kitchen, Linda presents their recipes, along with family stories, as a culinary gift to you of Lebanese cuisine-one of the healthiest on the planet. Traditional, home style Lebanese recipes that include quick, familiar vegetarian favorites such as hommous, tabbouli, baba gannouj and many other fantastic and authentic salads, rice, and vegetable entrees. Learn to create Lebanese ice cream and pastries, such as heavenly, light baklawe, where one piece is never enough. Tantalizing, traditional lamb and rice dishes keep company with rolled grape leaves, soups, and appetizers in this expansive collection. Sawaya provides excellent recipes seasoned with a generous amount of memoir and much love.
Customer Reviews:
Traditional Lebanese Cuisine.......2006-11-22
"Having a garden and eating foods in season is our inherited ancestral tradition of living gently on the earth, using its resources respectfully, and preparing and sharing food with love. Food, of course, is a central part of Lebanese culture." ~Linda Dalal Sawaya
Linda Dalal Sawaya presents a cookbook with a beautiful warm personality, filled with recipes for: Appetizers, Cheese, Yogurt, Butter, Sauces, Soups, Salads, Lamb, Chicken, Fish, Vegetarian Entrees, Vegetables, Beans, Grains, Breads, Sweets, Preserves, Beverages, Herbs, Spices and Fragrant Waters.
Sample Recipes:
Fig Jam with Aniseed and Walnuts
Spinach Pies
Stuffed Grape Leaves with Lamb and Rice
Savory Pastry or Meat Pies
Lemony Lentil Soup with Chard
Turkish Coffee
Rose Water Pudding
Filo Cheescake with Orange Blossom Water
Baklava
Sesame Cookies
Alice's Kitchen is a world of Lebanese cooking that gives insight into how life was lived in Lebanon and how a family adapted to buying ingredients in America while living in California. Linda Dalal Sawaya tells the story with humor and we learn about how her family maintained their traditions despite a variety of obstacles.
"Dear, if you make it with love, it will be delicious." ~ Mother Alice
Each recipe is set out in a way that is easy to follow with step-by-step instructions and plenty of pictures throughout to keep you entertained. The pictures and the family stories make this book collectible and the recipes bring the warmth of Lebanese cooking into your home in a way that is very accessible. The ingredients include spices and herbs like parsley, paprika, cinnamon and allspice. Lemon juice and olive oil are used throughout the recipes. Pomegranate syrup and orange blossom water are very easy to find these days, especially online. Most of the recipes use ingredients you can find at your local grocery store, but you might want to order some "zaatar."
This book made me long for my childhood overseas when we had Lebanese friends who always made delicious dinners and taught me to make a spinach dish with yogurt and cheese. My dad also used to make fig jam from a tree in our backyard. So, this book was filled with lots of memories and introduced me to a world of treasured memories as shared by Linda Dalal Sawaya.
As you cook from this book your home will be filled with the scents of fragrant spices, warm syrupy baklava, rose, lemon, anise, coffee, doughnuts, buttery cookies, fresh bread, lamb with rice, and of course, garlic!
Sufra deimi!
~The Rebecca Review
Delightful eat down somenone else's memory lane.......2002-08-08
Growing up as third generation Lebanese-American, I enjoyed many of the dishes in this book. I have prepared many of the dishes in this book with great success. I enjoy cooking Lebanese food regularly (now if I could just get some help with the language). The recipes are easy to follow and yield marvelous results. I highly recommend the Lentil Soup (Shourbat Addis)and the Lebanese Squash stuffed with lamb and rice (Kousa Mihshi). Reading Ms. Sawaya's introduction and tips greatly enhanced my enjoyment of using this cookbook. If you are interested in preparing Lebanese foods, or like me, remembering food from you childhood, this book is an excellent place to start. Simple recipies that produce tasty results.
Absolutely Excellent book.......2001-12-05
This book has accurate, yummy recipies. A little cultural background and story. The recipies are very traditional and simple. Highly highly recommend it. Many friends have asked for this book for XMAS. Well done.
An exquisite, thorough cookbook........1999-08-16
As a 22-year-old Lebanese American, I know that our food is not simply something thrown down your throat. It is love, it is nourishment to our souls as well as to our hearts. It is shared at every event, every home...sometimes when you are not even hungry! Sawaya starts the book with her family's history, which truly brought tears to my eyes. She explains all the ingredients, even their history. The book includes everything Lebanese I have ever eaten, and those I haven't. She covers all breads, preserves, herbs, sauces, hors d'oevres, salads, lamb, chicken, fish, sweets, beverages, grains, vegetables...It is 216 pages of hard work and lots of love. Family pictures of Sawaya's abound, and her hand-done illustrations grace the cover. I am moving away from home soon and will take this book with me, to share with all who come into my home, the pleasure and joy of Lebanese cooking. Thank you, Linda Sawaya, for this book.
Book Description
The Mediterranean Kitchen brings the dazzling array of tastes of Mediterranean cuisine into your kitchen. With clarity, easy style, and tremendous passion, Joyce Goldstein celebrates some of the world's most popular and flavorful foods. Travel to the sun-drenched southern coasts of Europe and North Africa to sample cuisines remarkable for their lustiness and sparkling tastes. From Spanish tapas to Provencal ice cream with lavender and honey, from gazpacho and baba ghanoush to paella and pasta, from Greek baked goat cheese in filo to Moroccan couscous, these superbly robust dishes will delight time and time again.
Customer Reviews:
Good Mediterranean Recipes for the Rest of Us. Recommended.......2004-05-19
I was just a bit disappointed when I began reading this book, as I was expecting something a bit more scholarly, based on the title, the very classy artwork on the cover, the impressive blurbs from Paula Wolfert and Jacques Pepin on the back cover, and the large number of expository books on Mediterranean cuisine by the likes of Ms. Wolfert. As it turns out, this book is neither a historical and geographical study like Claudia Roden's `The New Book of Middle Eastern Food', nor an analytical study of Mediterranean cuisine like Nancy Harmon Jenkins' `The Essential Mediterranean'. The book is teacher and restaurant chef Joyce Goldstein's interpretation of a cuisine which skips around the entire rim of the Mediterranean.
Since these other books and many like them have some interest beyond the recipes themselves, Ms. Goldstein's book will shine primarily if she succeeds in doing a better job with the recipes. After all, unlike the other authors who are primarily culinary journalists, Ms. Goldstein is a professional chef with credentials that include a stint at running the shop for Alice Waters at Chez Panisse.
Thus, what I did was to compare Ms. Goldstein's recipes to those for the same dish in the books by the culinary journalist / scholars. The first is the old war-horse Baba Ghanouj. Comparing Ms. Goldstein to Ms. Roden, the first difference one sees is that Ms. Goldstein adds pine nuts to the recipe and gives a wider range of presentation tips. The more significant difference is that Ms. Goldstein's procedure is just a bit fuller and fussier in its detail. While Ms. Roden clearly knows her stuff, Ms. Goldstein proves her professional kitchen experience here.
The second comparison was based on a Moroccan Lamb Tagine with Lemon and Olives, comparing again to Ms. Roden. The first thing which jumps out at you is that Ms. Goldstein is very clear that this is not an authentic dish, as she substitutes a lemon conserve for the traditional briny Moroccan preserved lemons prepared with salt. The second big difference is that Ms. Goldstein begins by marinating the lamb cubes with a spicy olive oil `rub'. The third big difference is that Ms. Goldstein (optionally) adds baby artichokes and specifies `Moroccan or Kalamata' olives to Ms. Roden's generic green olives. Lastly, Ms. Roden's method is specifically written to be done in a tagine, while Ms. Goldstein's procedure is more friendly to a commercial kitchen.
The third comparison with Ms. Roden was for a Fish and Couscous soup / stew. Ms. Roden's recipe is an Algerian recipe, while Ms. Goldstein bases her recipe on a suggestion from Paula Wolfert. Both recipes call for harissa and both books give recipes for same. Ms. Goldstein's recipe from Pantelleria adds Moroccan Charmoula (go figure), a spicy lemon / olive oil based fish sauce. The procedures are remarkably similar, although Ms. Goldstein's method is more clearly based on restaurant practice, where prepared fish fumet is used and lots of flavor are imparted by a long, refrigerated marinade.
As the pattern of differences with Ms. Roden the journalist have become clear, I decided to compare a pasta, Spaghetti alla Puttanesca from Ms. Goldstein to a `gold standard' recipe by Cooks Illustrated `best recipe' workup. True to the spirit of the dish, Ms. Goldstein's recipe is simple, but does not violate any cautions posed by the fastidious `Cooks Illustrated' interpretation. My only reservations with Ms. Goldstein's recipe is that it uses a prepared tomato sauce as an ingredient, which seems contrary to the spirit of the dish and she does not offer any suggestions on using the pasta cooking water to loosen up the sauce, if necessary.
In my last comparison, I decided to put Ms. Goldstein against the great (literally) Mario Batali's potato gnocchi recipe which Mr. Molto says has been done in his family since his Nonna made them. In all essential matters, the recipes follow almost identical steps, with the single major difference that Ms. Goldstein bakes her russets rather than boils them as Mario does. Ms. Goldstein spent a great deal of research to arrive at this variation to tradition. Also, while Mario describes a simple well method done with riced potato, Ms. Goldstein adds many cautions regarding minimal working and the smallest possible amount of flour added. Other gnocchi recipes have also been more emphatic about being spare with the flour than Mario is, but then, his book is stressing simplicity and other books are not. I give Ms. Goldstein big points on adding to our understanding of this dish, even if I am sure Mario's technique is much more traditional. Ms. Goldstein's method will work better for those of us who have not been making potato gnocchi for the last forty years.
Ms. Goldstein's book literally takes a cooks tour of the Mediterranean with chapters on Appetizers; Antipasto and Other Mixed Plates; Mediterranean-Inspired Salads; Soups; Pasta; Beans, Rice, and Other Grains; Fish and Shellfish; Poultry; Meats; Vegetables; and Desserts. There is no plan to the selection and a clear statement that these are interpretations done for the restaurant, not traditional dishes.
The book includes a rather good chapter on wine recommendations. I cannot speak for the choices, as I know nothing about wine. I can only say the presentation of the wine selection rationale is as good or better than I have seen elsewhere.
Highly recommended source for a thoughtful, tasty, and very wide-ranging selection of Mediterranean dishes from Gibraltar to the Levant. Not always easy, but always fully explained.
Delicious!.......2004-01-29
I got this cookbook for Christmas and have made about 10 of the recipes since that time. Although I didn't know anything about Mediterranean cooking before I got this book, all of the recipes I've tried have been a success. The techniques are easy, and most of the ingredients are easy to find. In addition to vegetables and grains, Goldstein includes recipes for several different types of meats (lamb, beef, poultry and pork), and she explains how some of the same recipes can be given different national flavors by varying the spices. I think this shows how international Mediterranean cuisine really is.
I will put in one caveat, though -- not that I have any complaints about this book, but I can imagine that some people would. There's been some buzz about how healthy Mediterranean cooking is lately, and if you're looking for a health food cookbook, this might not be the one for you. For example, my favorite recipe in the book, Izmir Koftesi with Hunkar Begendi, calls for a cup of heavy cream and a few tablespoons of unsalted butter in addition to a pound and a half of ground beef (this is to serve four). Goldstein is fairly generous with the oil and butter in the other recipes as well. I don't mind this, and if you're used to modifying recipes to lighten them up, it won't be a problem for you. But if you need low-fat cooking techniques spelled out for you, you will probably want to look at a Mediterranean cooking book that is specifically geared toward a low-fat diet. But you should definitely get it in addition to this one!
The Best Cookbook.......2002-10-30
This is one of my favorite cookbooks in my library of 100 plus books. I have made almost everything in this book. It's a must have for your library since it's a great resource.
Flavors of the Sun.......2002-06-05
This cookbook will not disappoint; Joyce Goldstein's writing is encouraging and funny, and you will find youself making restaurant-quality meals at home while venturing into the history of Mediterranean cuisine at the same time. I tried the chicken with honey-tomato sauce and couscous and was in heaven. The peasant risotto is the best thing I've ever made with what are essentially kitchen "scraps," and the hardcover edition I have is disintegrating from over-use. I came to buy a new copy --that's how much I love it! Joyce Goldstein is my heroine of the kitchen.
Every recipe we have tried worked well and became a favorite.......1999-11-08
This cookbook is a winner! Most of the recipes we have tried have become favorites. If we were having company for dinner, I wouldn't hesitate to try a new recipe from this book.
Customer Reviews:
A Must for Chocolate Lovers!.......2002-03-29
This book has been a favorite of the entire family for years! Every recipe we've tried has gotten rave reviews. The Chocolate Chip Scones are a real breakfast treat, and the Denver Chocolate Pudding Cake is one of my most requested desserts. The recipes are easy to follow, and produce wonderful results. If I ever lost this book I would replace it at any cost!
This Cookbook is a Treat.......2002-01-03
I found this to be a great cookbook. The recipes are out of this world - - our favorites are chocolate pound cake and chocolate pudding. Williams-Sonoma and Lora Brody are the Dream Team of Cookbook Authors. Their recipes are beautifully written, always work and have gorgeous photos to boot. What's not to like?
Exceptionally good chocolate desserts, easy to follow.......1999-03-17
I have had great luck with many of the recipes in this book. It is well illustrated, the directions are easy to follow and the results are delicious and attractive to look at. Try the White Chocolate Cheesecake with Raspberries on top!
Don't eat this book!.......1997-08-03
But you can eat everything in it. It gives new meaning to the idea of a food pyramid. I will construct a "chocolate food pyramid". We will start with Chocolate Pecan Quick Bread (pg 85) for our bread group. We will go on to Ginger Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream (pg 31) for our vegetable group. Isn't ginger a vegetable?? Our fruit group will be Poached Pears with Chocolate Sauce (pg 22). Covering milk, eggs, and nuts will be Steamed Chocolate Pudding (pg 51), Congo Squares(pg 94), and Chocolate Creme Brulee. Each delicious recipe has a color photograph to go along with it, so you are always aware of the goal you are hungrily anticipating. E-mail me and let's pick our favorites
Book Description
This culinary milestone has been hailed as a masterpiece, a classic, and the first and last word on eastern Mediterranean cooking. A welcome blend of scholarship and entertaining reading, this revelatory work features a wide range of authentic, clearly written recipes, many personal reminiscences, impressive culinary history, valuable information on ingredients, meals, and traditions, stunning period illustrations, and much more.
Customer Reviews:
Very Good Culinary History of Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan.......2007-05-20
`Recipes and Remembrances from an Eastern Mediterranean Kitchen' by Sonia Uvezian, a native of Beirut, Lebanon, and a leading culinary journalist on Middle Eastern cuisines, is both a personal and scholarly account of food history and modern practice from the Arab (and other) traditions of Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria.
The very best thing about the book is the mix of scholarly history, personal observations, and culinary content. While the scholarly aspect is firmly grounded in copious footnotes and a five page bibliography, mostly of 19th and early 20th century travelogues and histories, it is neatly tucked away, below the level of our stream of consciousness read of the excellent prose. The personal observations have all the richness of an upper class native, whose family could afford a country house up in the mountains east of Beirut, and also afford all of the best ingredients, and were familiar with the full range of the cuisine of the Levant.
All this makes the book very different from the long-standing authority on cooking of the Levant, Paula Wolfert's celebrated `The Cooking of the Eastern Mediterranean'. Not only is the approach different, but Ms. Uvezian does not even cite Ms. Wolfert, even though Wolfert's well-known book was published five years before Ms. Uvezian's volume. Ms. Uvezian also does not cite the other great writer on eastern Mediterranean cooking, Claudia Roden, with her `The New Book of Middle Eastern Food'. I point this out not as a criticism, but as an indication that Ms. Uvezian has much of her own thing to say and does not need references to other modern culinary writers. I compared Ms. Uvezian's recipes with those from Mme. Wolfert, and was surprised to find little overlap there, even in the very well defined realm of breads. All this adds up to the conclusion that if you have an interest in Arab cooking of the Levant, you would do well to get both books (although if your interest is strictly culinary, Ms. Wolfert has a slight edge, as she is the better writer, and has an extremely good eye for describing recipes, even if they were not learned at her mother's knee.)
Ms. Uvezian gives us a lucid description of the history the culinary history and landscape of Arab, Turkish, Druse, Persian, and French influences on the cooking of the Levant. It should be no surprise that in spite of the presence of Israel smack dab in the middle of this region, ancient Hebrew and modern Jewish food traditions are not covered, although there are shelves of other books dedicated to this subject.
This cuisine is part of the greater Mediterranean world of food, with some very important differences from the western (European) Mediterranean of Spain, France, and Italy. First, there is no charcuterie to speak of, since there is the prohibition against eating pork. Thus, there is also no cooking with lard; however, the rich sources of olive oil and nut oils make this absence virtually unnoticed. And, butter is more important than in pig-rich Spain and southern Italy. Next, there is no cooking with wine, due to the Muslim prohibition against alcoholic beverages. And, cheese (especially hard aged cheese) is largely replaced by yoghurt (The primary hard cheeses mentioned are kashkawan, imported from Turkey or Rumania and the famous Italian Parmesan). On the positive side, there is far more cooking with sugar and other sweet products such as dried fruit. While the Italians give little thought to sweet desserts, the Arabs of the Levant love sweet desserts and pastries. They also make much heavier use of spice mixtures, based on their being closer to the source, and somewhat under the influence of the great Indian tradition of spice mixtures. Where the great French cuisine can muster but two named spice mixtures, the Levant has a dozen or more.
While the book is subtitled `A culinary journey through Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan', the direction of the text is oriented more toward a historical rather than a geographical perspective, with each chapter giving an historical overview of how various food lines evolved.
One of the great surprises, given the absence of a tradition of bars, taverns, or other alcoholic dispensers, is the tradition of Mazza, virtually identical in social and culinary function as the tapas of Spain, the merende of Italy, and the mezze of Greece and Turkey. The typical mazza spread looks remarkably like all those other traditions, with ample portions of olives, spiced nuts, fresh fruits and bread-based bites, but without the salamis and hams and wide variety of cheeses. In the place of cheese there is the rich variety of seed and eggplant-based dips plus yoghurt preparations.
Like the very best studies of Italian, Spanish, and French regional cooking, the book includes chapters on virtually every corner of the culinary landscape, including chapters on Appetizers; Salads; Soups; Dairy Products and Dishes; Egg Dishes; Fish and Shellfish; Poultry and Game Birds; Meat; Kibbeh; Stuffed Vegetables and Fruits; Grains and Pasta; Vegetables and Fruits; Sauces Marinades, Garnishes, and Stuffings; Pickles and Preserves; Breads and Savory Pastries; Desserts; and Beverages.
The book includes a list of middle-Eastern food markets from practically every state; however, these are only in major cities, and there are no Internet sources. If your family is from this region, this book is satisfying oasis of great culinary history, lore, and recipes. For all others, it's a great supplement to Ms. Wolfert's famous volume.
A True Reader Experience.......2003-02-19
I recently purchased this cookbook and at first I thought that this was absolutely the best Middle Eastern book I could possibly get my hands on. However, after a few weeks use, I discovered that this book is very biased and does not reflect the true culinary journey through the Middle East. Furthermore, none of the receipes faired well with my favorite Courvoisier.
The one eastern Mediterranean cookbook I wouldn't be without.......2002-12-16
I was thoroughly disgusted to read the baseless criticisms of this superb cookbook. It is precisely to obtain an accurate account of the cookery of this region along with first-rate recipes that one needs to own "Recipes and Remembrances." Although Claudia Roden's "A New Book of Middle Eastern Food" is better than Paula Wolfert's "The Cooking of the Eastern Mediterranean," when it comes to recipes and text neither can approach "Recipes and Remembrances" in quality. I have cooked extensively from many Middle Eastern cookbooks, including these three, and I can honestly say that Uvezian's book upholds the highest standards of eastern Mediterranean/Middle Eastern cooking and is in a class by itself.
Fascinating History Book.......2002-10-09
While I haven't cooked a tremedous amount of food out of this book yet, it is probably the first cookbook that I have read more than once. It is some wonderful information on the people, history and food of the Levant. It goes through how the different groups in the Middle East serve and prepare food. Talks about the influence of foreign powers on the food and culture. I really enjoyed this book. It's only flaw if that it is long and difficult to wade through if you just in the mood to cook a simple Middle Eastern dish. One of the strengths is the spice mixes. I keep the prepared spice mixes in my cupbard within easy reach and use them a lot.
Deserves a permanent place on your cookbook shelf.......2002-06-14
A gastronomic find, especially for those who evaluate the quality of their lives in terms of what they eat. Uvezian's dedication to excellence is apparent on every page. Impressively authentic recipes and outstanding culinary background information make this richly illustrated volume enormously useful to both professional chefs and home cooks.
Another great cookbook by this author is "The Cuisine of Armenia."
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