Book Description
On a trip to Turkey as a young woman, chef Ana Sortun fell in love with the food and learned the traditions of Turkish cooking from local women. Inspired beyond measure, Sortun opened her own restaurant in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the award-winning Oleana, where she creates her own interpretations of dishes incorporating the incredible array of delicious spices and herbs used in eastern regions of the Mediterranean.
In this gorgeously photographed book, Sortun shows readers how to use this philosophy of spice to create wonderful dishes in their own homes. She reveals how the artful use of spices and herbs rather than fat and cream is key to the full, rich flavors of Mediterranean cuisine -- and the way it leaves you feeling satisfied afterward. The book is organized by spice, detailing the ways certain spices complement one another and how they flavor other foods and creating in home cooks a kind of sense-memory that allows for a more intuitive use of spice in their own dishes. The more than one hundred tantalizing spice categories and recipes include:
- Beef Shish Kabobs with Sumac Onions and Parsley Butter
- Chickpea and Potato Terrine Stuffed with Pine Nuts, Spinach, Onion, and Tahini
- Crispy Lemon Chicken with Za'atar
- Golden Gazpacho with Condiments
- Fried Haloumi Cheese with Pear and Spiced Dates
Absolutely alive with spices and herbs, Ana Sortun's recipes will intrigue and inspire readers everywhere.
Customer Reviews:
Spice: Flavors of the Eastern Mediterranean.......2006-08-21
A very useful book for lovers of the Levantine kitchen. Recipees are very easy to execute
Great Variety.......2006-08-18
I purchased this book a few months back and I have tried out a number of the dishes with great results. My personal favorite is the Lamb Steak dish. Her descriptions of the various stages and completed dishes provide just the right amount of information for all cooking afficionados. One criticism I do have is with the authors website which she promotes as a source of some of the more difficult to obtain ingredients. I have had no luck getting a response from it when I tried to order some ingredients.
Delightfully Different Restaurant Book. Buy It Now........2006-08-13
`Spice, Flavors of the Eastern Mediterranean' by New England chef, Ana Sortum is, behind its façade of being a text on spices and herbs, is really a restaurant cookbook, but done in such an imaginative way that one immediately forgives this little subterfuge. All the recipes are from Ms. Sortum's current restaurant, Oleana or from her previous postings, before starting out on her own and almost immediately winning the James Beard award for best chef in the Northeast.
One thing which immediately impresses me about Ms. Sortum, even before reading any recipes, is that she gives ample acknowledgments to four of the leading writers on Mediterranean cuisine, Paula Wolfert, Nancy Harmon Jenkins, Clifford Wright, and Claudia Roden. She has amply repaid all her gratitude to these sages by giving us a book whereby the casual foodie can really appreciate important tastes of the Eastern Mediterranean without wading through, for example, Clifford Wright's monumental study of Mediterranean cuisine.
A second thing which impresses me early in my reading is that the author, assisted by ghost writer Nicole Chaison, cites Internet sources for important ingredients directly in the text, rather than having you flip to the back of the book. A minor note worth pointing out is that this is the first cookbook in which I have seen our beloved [...] as a source for cited foodstuffs.
A last bit of ephemera to note is that this is an exceptionally well designed book. While there are few color photographs, the warm tans and browns of the fonts, paper, and sidebars, with the old-fashioned ornamentation is the kind of care I usually see from only from Alfred A. Knopf cookbooks. Congrats to Harper Collins for the great window dressing which makes reading the book just a bit more satisfying.
By far the most interesting thing which sets this book apart from all other restaurant books I have reviewed is that the recipe chapters are organized by collections of spices, grouping together in a chapter those spices which often appear together in Eastern Mediterranean cooking. While most of these spices and herbs are pretty familiar to those of us who routinely work the French, Italian, and Spanish cuisines, there are several which are never found in Western European cooking, or in Far Eastern cooking either. The most important of these are Sumac, Aleppo pepper, Urfa, Nigella seeds, Fenugreek, Za'atar, and Jasmine.
The twelve (12) groups of three, four, five, or six flavors are divided into six spice combinations and six `herbs and other flavors. The seven (7) spice combinations are:
Cumin, coriander, and cardamom
Saffron, Ginger, and Vanilla
Sumac, Ditrus, and Fennel Seed
Allspice, Cinnamon, and Nutmeg
Aleppo Chile, Urfa, and Paprika
Poppy seeds, Nigella seeds, and Sesame seeds
Curry Powder, Turmeric, and Fenugreek
The five (5) other flavor combinations are:
Dried Mint, Oregano, and Za'atar
Fresh Parsley, Mint, Dill, and Sweet Basil
Oregano, Summer Savory, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme
Flowers: Nasturtium, Orange Blossom, Rose, Chamomile, Lavender, and Jasmine
Nuts, Yogurt, and Cheese
The grouping that may be most familiar to us is the third, the family of `cookie spices', allspice, cinnamon, and nutmeg; however, the author does not limit herself to recipes familiar to us. Most of the recipes even in this chapter are savory rather than sweet. But even the sweet recipes are pure Eastern Mediterranean, such as baklava.
In addition to the featured spices, there are several other distinctly Eastern Mediterranean ingredients used, such as tamarind, pomegranate molasses, Grano, Yufka dough, Greek yogurt, and Basturma. Even when Ms. Sortum colors outside the lines a bit and gives us a western Mediterranean dish, the Moroccan Bisteeya, she calls for genuine ethnic makings, in this case, brik pastry (Oddly, Paula Wolfert says brik is a Tunisian and not a Moroccan dish) but the author assures us the dish can quite successfully be made with phyllo dough sheets.
Speaking of the Bisteeya recipe, this is the only case where the author (or her design and illustration team) has made a misstep. I only consider pictures in a cookbook really important when they are presented to illustrate a technique, and here, the pictures must agree perfectly with the text. Yet, where Ms Sortum calls for a pie plate in her text, the picture shows the procedure being done with a straight-sided cake pan and not a sloping sided pie dish. My biggest problem with this is that I suspect the author actually uses the cake pans when the dish is made at her restaurant.
Otherwise, the descriptions of the recipes are really superior. In fact, sometimes, as a reasonably knowledgeable amateur cook, I feel the procedures are actually just a bit too detailed, and detailed in the direction of using restaurant kitchen techniques. For example, cooked potatoes are `mashed' for potato dough in the food processor, where I believe the home cook would do just as well with their potato master or even better, and a potato ricer. To be sure, the processor is probably used because other ingredients are mixed in later, but I see no special need for the heavy-duty equipment here.
There are a few other little quirks here and there, such as the recipe for aioli that uses bland canola oil rather than the very Mediterranean olive oil (I will forgive Ms. Sortum here, because aioli is a Provincial preparation and the Larousse Gastronomique does NOT specify olive oil. The defining ingredient is the garlic. On the other side of the coin, the author gives us the great gift of lemon aioli, a very Mediterranean notion indeed!
The recipes are a great mix of main course dishes, sauces, condiments, side dishes, appetizers, and desserts. This is a great source for cooking, but its even greater pleasure starts off as a great foodie read, light, but very illuminating.
Very Highly recommended for all!
Devine.......2006-07-04
I am fortunate to have been to Oleanas three times, and watched a cooking demo performed by the author. Fabulous! You can't imagine how happy I was to have heard she had put out a cookbook too!
The layout is unique, but great and everything I have tried thus far has been very good. My fiance loves it when he sees me poking into it.
I think if I hadn't been to the demo I would be a litle leary of trying out some "new" spices. (In my house we use a lot of fresh basil and cilantro aka Italian or Mexican food, so this was a bit of a leap.) But knowing how much I loved her restaurant made it easier for me to put in an order for those harder to find ones.
I placed my order in at Christina's Spices across the street from Oleanas and have decided to purchase a total of 12 of the cookbooks with enough spices to give as part of a gift set. Some for friends weddings 6 of them for thank you gifts for some of the helpers for my own wedding.
amazing book.......2006-06-11
What an amazing, generous book. This is a text dense book that manages to be clear and informative but never boring. I had heard that the recipes were complicated, but this is not true unless you are very new to cooking or don't want to purchase a few simple spices. There are many, many great vegetarian recipes to go along with a fine and unusual variety of meat and seafood ones. I love the spice mixtures, they are perfectly balanced, immensely flavorful and come with many helpful suggestions for their use. I haven't tried to make my own string cheese - yet - but I'm grateful for the recipe. I can't recommend this book highly enough, it is one of those rare cook books that's great to read and great to work with.
Amazon.com
What is Jewish cooking? Most of us would cite matzo balls, gefilte fish, and other Eastern European-born fare. But there's a second Jewish food tradition--the cuisine of the Mediterranean Sephardim. Author Joyce Goldstein first encountered it in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Turkey. Dishes such as Poached Fish with Walnut Sauce, Roast Chicken with Apples and Pomegranate, and Saffron Rice Pudding exemplify this delectable legacy. Part investigation of Sephardic cooking--of the migrations and religious directives that gave it life--and part paean to its bright, tantalizing flavors, Goldstein's cookbook should prove a revelation to all cooks, Jewish or not.
Starting with a history of the Spanish and Portuguese (Sephardic) diasporas that brought Jews to the Mediterranean, Goldstein then provides information on kosher law and a discussion of American Sephardim, among other relevant topics. Standouts among the recipes that follow include Fish with Rhubarb Sauce, Lamb with Green Garlic, and Meat Loaf with Sweet and Sour Tomato Sauce. The book's chapters on savory pastries and vegetables and grains are particularly noteworthy, and include such tantalizing recipes as Cheese-Stuffed Peppers and Pumpkin-Filled Filo Roses. With photographs of many of the dishes, suggestions for Sephardic holiday meals, and a wealth of anecdotes and lore throughout, the book uncovers an unexplored Jewish cuisine now available to all. --Arthur Boehm
Book Description
Bargain Books are non-returnable.
Chef, author, and Mediterranean cooking expert Joyce Goldstein follows her acclaimed Cucina Ebraica: Flavors of the Italian Jewish Kitchen with this remarkable exploration of Jewish cooking of the Mediterranean. In Sephardic Flavors, Goldstein uncovers the culinary history of the Diaspora, revealing in vivid prose and delicious recipes how the Sephardic Jews adapted the cuisines of their new homelands. Drawing upon the cultural and gastronomic heritages of Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Turkey, Goldstein has amassed a remarkable array of unique recipes and historical information. A fascinating voyage into culinary history as well as a compilation of superbly satisfying dishes, Sephardic Flavors captures the indomitable spirit and brilliant cuisines that continue to capture our imaginations today.
Customer Reviews:
Varied food, beautifully presented.......2007-04-11
We usually think one excellent dish is worth the price of a cookbook (think of the price you'd pay to eat an excellent dish at a restaurant), and we've made at least 3 or 4 out of this one already. Joyce Goldstein has also really sought out a nice variety of Sephardic cuisines. And the photographs are gorgeous.
Must Own.......2001-09-11
Joyce Goldstein author and chef also understands the relationship between culture and food. Her book on Jewish Italian cooking should be read by anyone who likes to read cook books.
In this book, Goldstein explores Sephardic food, the culinary heritage of Jews of the Middle East. She does not disapoint. The recipes are easy to follow and very tasty. The presentation is excellent and will make your mouth water. What is wonderful about all of Goldstein's work is you can see how Jews have, for centuries, absorbed the recipes of the culture in which they live, adapting them for their own tastes and dietery requirements. My wife and I have had a wonderful time cooking out of this book. The only problem is deciding what to make first.
A great work.
A Fascinating Filling Exploration of Sephardic Cuisine.......2000-11-12
Chef, author, restaurateur, and Mediterranean cooking specialist Joyce Goldstein follows her acclaimed Cucina Ebraica: Flavors of the Italian Jewish Kitchen with a study of Mediterranean Jewish cooking. While researching Cucina Ebraica, she immersed herself in Sephardic History. She wondered how the Jews evolved their cuisine, what influences they took from the Moors, the Portuguese, Andalusians, Valencians, Balearic Islanders, Greeks, Ottomans, and Balkans. What were the harmonizations to other communities and the contrasts to the Italian Jewish cuisine she was researching? She answers these questions and more in the book's opening collection of essays (about 22 pages). This is followed by several pages of sample full menus for Shabbat and Jewish holidays and commemorations. For example, there are Leek Fritters for Hanukkah, Mijavyani (a vegetable soup with plums) for Tu B'Shevat, Lentil Soup for Tisha B'Av, or Moussaka di Pesce and Macaroni and Cheese-Thrace Style (using feta and non-elbow Ziti) for Shavuot. If you are wondering how her book compares to DRIZZLE OF HONEY by David Gitlitz and Linda Kay Davidson, it is her feeling that while DRIZZLE is filled with fascintaing stories and history, her cookbook adds more culinary skills to the execution of recipes. The chapters include ones for Salads and Appetizers; Savory Pastries; Soups; Vegetables and Grains; Fish; Poultry and Meat; and Desserts. In the chapter for Salads and Appetizers, Goldstein writes, that Sephardic cuisine inverts the oil to vinegar ratio (3:1) with which most North Americans are familiar. Sephardic cooking is more tart, so the vinegar ratio is much higher (1:3). My favorite recipes were the Tarator (a cousin to Tzatziki) and Huevos HAMINados, or onion skin eggs, or Jewish eggs (Yahudi Yamurta). The chapter on savory pastries, which are also known as borekas, inchusa, tapada, rondanches, boyos, and filas (to name just a few), includes recipes for Izmir-style Handrajos, or Eggplant and Squash filled borekas. In her chapter on soups, Goldstein tells the reader that it is not a coincidence that the Spanish word for Jewess is the same for bean (judia). She provides recipes for several soups and adafina, or what some Jews may call cholent. My favorites included meatball soup, and a white bean soup. There are 24 recipes in the Vegetables and Grains chapter. Standouts are Turlu, a Turkish Ratatouille; a squash omelet fritada; and pumpkin and prunes, which resembles a Moroccan Jewish style Hilou. The tomato bread pudding was also very unique. A fish dish that is very interesting for the period between Simhat Torah and Hanukkah is Peshkado Avramila, or fish with sour plums or prunes. Goldstein writes that it recalls Abraham's self-circumcision, since Sephardic folklore says that Avraham sat under a plum tree after the procedure. The 22 meat and poultry recipes includes one for Gayna al Orno, a roast chicken with apples and pomegranates; and one for Keftas de Gayna, chicken meatballs with egg and lemons (two of them). The standout is the Rollo me HAMINados is a meatloaf with sweet and sour tomato sauce (uses honey and wine) baked with eggs in the center. The book closes, as do meals, with desserts that include Hanukkah Fritters in a honey lemon glaze; Baklava, Tispishti, Sutlatch, and Zerda ( a rice pudding).
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.
Customer Reviews:
Best Mushroom Sauce Recipe Ever.......2007-03-04
I haven't made too many recipes from this book yet, but I plan to. I was looking for a sauce to put over a plain burger and I found it here. Absolutely wonderful! Dress up plain chicken or beef with this winner and turn something commonplace into a gourmet meal. I love the chit-chat of the author as well.
Gotta Love Nick.......2005-10-07
I also have ALL of Nick Stellino's cookbooks. This one is at the top of my list (along with CUCINA AMORE, and FAMILY KITCHEN, it's so hard to choose!). One thing they all have in common is how organized they are, presented in table of contents by category to find what you're looking for quickly---soups, entrees, side dishes, appetizers, desserts, etc.. Once there, in this particular book, each recipe is listed by name along with the page number--no need to even thumb through the section at all. The "Chicken with Garlic sauce" is 5 star. Even my simplest vegetable dishes have improved, and w/o any additional effort. Broccoli and carrots have never tasted as good nor looked so appetizing. Goodbye to boiling and steaming! In summary I'd have to simply state that there is something new to find in each of his cookbooks, one book doesn't cover it all; but this book is as good a place to start as anywhere. Like all journeys, it starts with the first step, and in this case, your first Nick Stellino cookbook...your journey will not end there once you start!
Minimum Effort - Maximum Result Cookbook.......2002-08-29
Stellino is passionate about the cuisine he grew up with from Sicily and wants to share it with homecooks. So, his style is to minimize ingredients, techniques and equipment so that all flavor is there, but without much of the fuss.
As but one example from this great collection from the Mediterranean: Moraccan Chicken and Almond Pie, simplified using phyllo sheets and chicken, is heavenly concoction of Moroccan spiciness with cumin, cinammon, et al. Meditteranean Shepherd's Pie substitutes beef stew meat, chicken thighs and Italian sausage for the traditional lamb pie, topped with Romano cheese crust! Along with entrees are wine suggestion.
Appetizers are highlighted by unbelievable Shrimp Fritters with Spicy Mayonnaise sauce, while favorite from Pasta offerings is Cannelloni with Prosciutoo and Zucchini, which is rich combo of garlic and cheese and ham.
Desserts are well represented by such as Chocolate Zabaglione which features strawberries with delectable Marsala pudding cream. Yummo! Also try the Coffee Cheesecake and Ricotta Raisin Tart.
This like each of Nick's cookbooks provides the home gourmet with ample sophisticated recipes that aren't above what I would determine a medium skill level at the max, but turn out consistently fine, flavorful dishes that are unique and memorable.
Exotic Flavors with Supermarket Ingredients.......2002-03-03
Unlike many cookbooks we have purchased there is no need for a mail order source for ingredients. Very affordable shopping lists with easily found ingredients leading to excellent results. The Hummus and Tabbouleh are better than that at a local Lebanese restaurant that is touted for these condiments. My wife made the Ginger Tuna which was a revelation to us.( I only knew tuna came in a can, which had no resenblence to the great steaks using mostly pantry items.)The Spanish Chicken with Almond Sauce had nutmeg and cinnamon notes that made a great cold noghts meal. The Lemon Souffle with Blueberry Sauce (using frozen blueberries) hit the right note bringing a bright fresh color, texture and flavor to the table.
Again a strong point is the repeated use of ingredients rather than having to buy something that will languish in your cupboard never to be used again. Cauliflower with Nutmeg, and Ginger Glazed Carrots as examples. I can't be the only one who has thrown away a ginger root that was long forgotten in the fridge after a once in a great while stir-fry.
Look at the sample pages and the photos. The food tastes as good as it looks. As to Stellinos "chat" you can look at a recipe for yourself in the samples to see what you think. I think he sets a great tone for inviting you into his kitchen to bring new flavors to your family that are easy, affordable and satisfying.
My Favorite Cookbook.......2001-12-15
My mom says you can tell how good a cookbook is by how messy the pages are. If that's the case then one look at my copy of Nick Stellino's book would speak volumes. I have really been pleased with everything I have tried out of the book. The food has a gourmet feel with out being pretencious or overwhelming. Excellent!
Amazon.com
Acknowledging the increasing popularity of olive oil, Deborah Krasner's The Flavors of Olive Oil offers a comprehensive guide to tasting, understanding, and cooking with superior extra-virgin olive oil, the cold first pressing of the olive crop's best. Most valuably, the book offers profiles of the best oils from countries including Italy, France, Spain, and the U.S. (as well as international blends). Useful, too, are sections on olive oil grades; label reading (you can tell olive oil from its package); and usage and storage pointers. Though it's hard to derive a unique recipe selection from as basic an ingredient as olive oil, the book also offers over 90 easy, attractive recipes for dishes that include it--from appetizers, sandwiches, and small dishes to salads, pizzas, entrées, and even desserts. Among these, readers will discover delicious versions of familiar friends like tapenade and focaccia with caramelized onions as well as "finds" including White Peach, Corn, and Toasted Almond Salad; Turbot with Fennel, Potatoes, Olives, and Lemon; and Slow-Cooked Boneless Pork Spareribs in Tomato, Rosemary, and Juniper Sauce. As a Jewish cook, Krasner also supplies formulas for enticing Eastern European Jewish classics such as challah and noodle kugel. Also useful is a section that explores the oils through detailed analysis of flavor characteristics--delicate and mild through leafy green and grassy. It's hard to imagine a better introduction to olive oil and its enjoyment. --Arthur Boehm
Book Description
Walk along the aisles of almost any grocery store in America and you'll be overwhelmed by the shelves of olive oil: bottles from France, Greece, Italy, and Spain; cold-pressed oil; hand-pressed oil. How do you know which oil is best? Which one should you choose for salads? For sautéing? For dipping?
In The Flavors of Olive Oil, Deborah Krasner demystifies the world of olive oil. Olives-just like wine grapes-respond directly to variations in climate, soil, cultivation, and harvest, so each oil is unique. By classifying olive oil in four distinct groups (delicate and mild, fruity and fragrant, olivey and peppery, and leafy-green and grassy), Krasner guides readers through the different characteristics of more than 150 different olive oils, providing a step-by-step tasting guide to the flavors and aromas of each one. With notes on oils from Italy to Morocco to California, Krasner transports the reader to olive-oil-producing regions around the world.
As all good cooks know, olive oil is an essential ingredient in preparing great food. In this comprehensive volume, Krasner incorporates olive oil into more than 100 delicious, mouthwatering recipes. With everything from appetizers and small dishes to breads and desserts, Krasner showcases each type of oil and combines complementary flavors. Leafy-green and grassy oils stand out when combined with shellfish in Seared Scallops on Chickpea Crêpes. The fruity oils sing when combined with pasta in Penne with Pesto from Naples. The peppery oils retain their boldness in the recipe for Seared Sirloin Steak on a Bed of Watercress, and they add complexity to mashed potatoes in Olive Oil and Rosemary Mashed Potatoes.
Demonstrating that olive oil isn't just for use in savory dishes, Krasner offers recipes like Gingered Carrot Cake with Figs, "Hot" Chocolate Cake, Orange Chocolate Chip Biscotti, and Apple-Cherry Cardamom Strudel. These recipes, and many more, will showcase the delicate olive oils in your pantry and leave your guests clamoring for the recipes.
Hints on technique, pantry basics, and equipment are also included. No book on olive oil would be complete without noting the important health benefits offered by olive oil, and Krasner points to significant evidence that using olive oil is essential to a healthful diet.
The Flavors of Olive Oil is an indispensable guide to the joys of olive oil and a font of information you'll turn to again and again.
Customer Reviews:
Enjoyable reading.......2007-08-23
I really liked this book; the author examines the different types of olive oils in a framework of her own personal experience- not text bookish, but very informative. I liked that she categorized the main 'flavors' of oils and what these flavors go best with. Since I am a lay person in the realm of cooking that made it very easy for me to actually apply what I learned in her book. I also like that she offered a rating of olive oils based on her own personal tastings, along with resources (including web sites! It's a treat when someone sees the usefulness of that..)on where to locate them. Her notes on cooking supplies like which pots or pans to use for different foods were very helpful. I would recommend to any 'olive oil' novice.
Great Way to Narrow Your Search.......2007-01-15
Once you develop a palate for different oils and have a favorite type or types of olive oil, this book is extremely helpful in guiding you towards the types of purchases you would most enjoy. In the past, I bought many bottles of olive oil which were good, but were not of my preferred types, so I ended up feeling as if I had wasted my money. This book has been a very helpful guide to me. On my wishlist would be a revised and expanded edition!
Highly Practical Advice on Making the Best of Olive Oil.......2004-07-14
This book, `The Flavors of Olive Oil' by professional writer Deborah Krasner may be the answer to your prayers as you browse the fifty or more different labels of olive oil on the shelves of even a modest local market, let alone the bounty available at a megamart or a super gourmet store such as Zabar's or Balducci's in New York City. These riches cannot begin to be approached by a three-page article in `Cooks Illustrated' or `Consumer Reports'. And, even this book doesn't tell the whole story, as most of the economic, historical, and geopolitics of olive oil are left to other writers. This book truly concentrates only on Flavor, nutrition, and cooking with olive oil. A perfect companion to this book is Mort Rosenbloom's book `Olives' which has not a single recipe, but lots of poop on the ways of the European Union, politics, olive growing locations and people, history, and economics. You simply cannot get the full picture without reading both.
But getting back to Ms. Krasner's `A Tasting Guide and Cookbook', the very, very best chapter is the second on techniques for tasting olive oil. This falls under the category of teaching you how to fish rather than giving you a fish. As preparing for a group tasting can be a bit pricy, it is one of the very best excuses I have ever found for gathering together a group of like-minded people to a common cause. (You find ways of socializing in some of the strangest places). In the absence of a handy group to help share opinions and defray the costs of buying ten or twelve bottles of olive oil, the author offers an 18 page guide to commercially available olive oils and her own olive oil karass' opinions on them (for the explanation of the obscure term karass, see Kurt Vonnegut's novel, `Cat's Cradle').
The depressing thing about this long list of olive oil tastings is that it doesn't even cover some of the brands on my megamart's shelves. But, it covers the most important ones, for sure. I was especially pleased to find the author and her tasters giving a very good opinion of at least one nationally available brand, Colavita, which is a doubly good value as it is available in metal cans in fairly small quantities. Other big Italian supermarket brands such as Berio (also very good) and Bertolli (not quite as distinctive a taste as the other two) come in cans of only a gallon or more. And, as the book so carefully states, protecting extra virgin olive oil from heat and light will prolong it's shelf life.
As I was already quite familiar with the differences between `extra virgin olive oil', `virgin olive oil', `olive oil', and `light olive oil' before reading this book, this was no great illumination. What was illuminating was the great variety of tastes in olive oil from region to region, and how delicate those tastes are. For those of you who always skip to the back of the book, Tuscan extra virgin olive oil has the most distinctive taste, followed by oils from Apulia (Italy), Greece, and Provence (France). It was also illuminating to read how ephemeral the sharp tastes were. A year old oil, kept under the very best conditions, will simply not taste as fresh and bright and distinctive as an oil bottled and tasted in January, a month or two after most olives are harvested.
One of the most important economic lessons one can get from this book is the fact that you are wasting money if you use an expensive olive oil to sautee, pan fry, or deep fry, as heat kills most, if not all of the distinctive flavors of the extra virgin oil. The whole point to producing extra virgin oil is to do it without any application of heat and without any technique which creates heat. If you are an avid follower of Mario Batali and believe that even deep frying should be done in extra virgin olive oil, be aware that there are several very good brands of extra virgin which will not fracture your pocket book. After all, if you are intent on following Mario to pure southern Italian goodness, then you may expect to have to pay for it. (Mario's point is that Italians used EVOO because that was all they had. The techniques for squeezing the second and third pressings from the olives simply did not exist until the 19th century).
If you did not already know of olive oil's health benefits, this book will also fill you in on this score. Olive oil benefits by being a mono-unsaturated lipid that, by itself, is better than saturated animal fats such as butter and lard, and also better than poly-unsaturated fats such as canola and safflower oils. Olive oil adds value by containing vitamins, anti-oxidants, and other good stuff that only a chemist can pronounce. The down side is, I suspect, that this goodness degrades with time, enhancing the importance of getting the fresh stuff.
The book contains an excellent list of internet sources, which, surprisingly, leaves out two of my favorites, Zingermans in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which does a national mail order business and DePalo in Little Italy, Manhatten, NY, NY. I cite this store because it is one place where I am sure you can go in and request a taste of olive oil samples and you will receive them with a smile. They also make primo fresh ricotta and mozzarella.
The recipes are useful and comprise the lion's share of pages in the book, but the real gold comes before you get to the recipes.
Highly recommended if you dote on Mediterranean food, or even if you just dote on good food and health.
Should Come Packaged With Samples.......2004-07-07
Deborah Krasner rises to the challenge of leading a tour through the world's olive oils without actually having any on hand for us to sample. Her recipes fit in well with her tasting notes, and the extensive listing of olive oil varieties and brands from different countries dovetails with her resources section. She give guidelines for a tasting. It is important in the beginning that Krasner gives us a warning on "the dark side of current olive production in countries of the European Union" relating to quantity production and environmental damage. There's also the question of possible corruption and chicanery in popular European oils. Perhaps the growing presence of high quality California oils is the answer.
Food writer Elliot Essman's other reviews and food articles are available at www.stylegourmet.com
Don't forget Australia!.......2003-01-10
This is an excellent book - well researched, authoritative and entertaining. As an olive producer I read a lot of nonsense about our product so I'm always delighted to find someone who has gone to the trouble to get it right.
However ... while Deborah has given a fairly comprehensive review of oils produced around the world, it's a pity she hasn't heard of the largish island west of New Zealand which has been producing excellent olive oils for many years. (I would have overlooked the omission except that New Zealand got a mention.) She even accuses prominent Australian nutritionist Dr Rosemary Stanton of being British!
Perhaps in the next edition?
Book Description
Marseille, once notorious for its assorted mischief, has recently experienced a cultural renaissance, establishing it as a Mediterranean capital of film, fashion, music, literature, and, most assuredly, cuisine. From the city's beloved, world-famous bouillabaisse to enticing émigré flavors to venerable street treats to classic and contemporary Provencal bistro fare, this culinary crossroads, the Paris of Provence, offers an exciting array of tempting foods that, while global in scope, have a folksy, made-in-Marseille personality. Join Daniel Young, author of The Paris Café Cookbook, as he explores the authentic flavors of France's oldest city, its great southern gateway, extending from the Marseille of antiquity, found intact in the limestone cliffs of the rocky coastline, to the Marseille of romantic intrigue, still apparent in the labyrinthine passageways of the historic Panier quarter, to its storied center, the Vieux Port. Of course there's bouillabaisse: an entire chapter on this legendary fish stew-soup, including rustic, home-style Marseille recipes adapted so they can successfully be made with North American fish -- not entirely authentic but wholeheartedly delicious. There are many other definitive fish recipes from this seafood lovers' paradise as well, including the legendary pan-fried calamari with parsley and garlic from Chez Etienne and the foolproof formula for grilling fish from the Restaurant L'Escale. In addition, there are aromatic appetizers, traditional and newfangled desserts, savory pastries, meat and chicken dishes, and hearty vegetable stews, all prepared with the building blocks of the healthful, French-Mediterranean diet: olive oil, garlic, tomatoes, zucchini, fennel, eggplant, artichokes, olives, basil, thyme, rosemary, bay leaves, almonds, figs, and honey.
It's a full cookbook, offering 120 recipes and also a remarkable portrait of France's "Second City." With evocative black-and-white photographs by Marseille native Sébastien Boffredo, Made in Marseille is a lively panorama of the food, flavors, culture, and mystique of France's vital and fascinating cosmopolitan seaport.
Customer Reviews:
Magnifique!!!.......2004-04-18
Alors! robertolov's review is spot on. The author, Daniel Young, has created a sense of place and people that is warm, engaging, and thoughtful. It's somewhat akin to being regaled about a person's family history before actually meeting them. No cutesy French stereotypes here; to bastardize Shakespeare, the author has taken the approach of "what is a cuisine, but its people." Daniel Young is an evocative, compassionate interpreter who shares Marseilles' culture with descriptions that are so intimate, I felt as if I were right there. There is such joy in his discoveries that I couldn't put this book down -can you imagine, a cookbook! As for the recipes... they are terrific, healthy, flavorful and for the most part, quite simple. But of course.
Readable and Doable.......2002-12-15
The first 50 pages of this "cookbook" is a wonderfully romantic but not romanticized portrait of Marseille and that historic Mediterranean port of call's long history, native customs, literary inspirations, immigrant influences, notorious mischiefs, and recent cultural revival. Recalling the movie "The French Connection," it's hard to think of Marseille as being trendy, yet Daniel Young makes a convincing case, especially through his side-by-side presentation of the local Provence-based cooking and emigre flavors that gives the food its contemporary appeal.
The recipes I have attempted so far have been delicious and very doable (so far I've preferred to try the straightforward, home-style dishes from home cooks (many from grandmothers, others from fishermen) rather than the more elaborate ones from Marseille's restaurant chefs). I can see myself making the Parmesan and black olive biscuits all the time. The Provencal-style eggs in cocotte are terrific and also simple to prepare. My friends loved the basil potato chips and the Moroccan crepes. The soupe au chocolat -- that's right, chocolate soup -- is to die for!
Incidentally, I'm not sure what "Cloudia," my fellow customer reviewer, is talking about when she complains of no index. My copy of the book has a very detailed index where you would expect to find it, in the back (pages 259-272).
Made in Marseille.......2002-12-04
Daniel Young's recent book, Made in Marseille belongs in every serious cook's library, this is a wonderful book. His recipes are a good mix , some Eastern Mediterranean rather than the usual type of French Cookbook which we're more familar with. Mr. Young's bouillabaisse,his excellent appetizers especially his Tapenade are a very good reason to have his very special book, additionally the photographs by Sebastien Boffredo really capture the area.
Left me wanting more..........2002-11-24
It was interesting to learn that Marseille is a great Pizza town and has Pizza trucks complete with North African Pizza styles, but that didn't make me feel like I was there. The recipes all seem very complex and seem to come from the kitchens of fancy restaurants. I did manage to create a halfway decent vegetarian Spinach bouillabaise as inspired by one of the recipes.
Incidentally, I was moving when I wrote this review, and so I goofed. Of course there is an index! I don't know why I thought there wasn't one. So I apologize to the author and review readers for that considerable error.
Book Description
The bold flavors of the Mediterranean have been inspiring American home cooks for years. And now, at last, comes Desserts: Mediterranean Flavors, California Style, a book bursting with exciting desserts.
Both California and the Mediterranean, whose terrain and climate are similar, boast a market basket of intensely flavored foods for the baker -- warm spices, fresh fruits, nuts, herbs, honey, chocolate, cheeses, preserves, filo dough, wines, and spirits. Cindy Mushet has spent more than fourteen years as a pastry chef incorporating these flavors into classic desserts -- cookies, custards, cakes, ice creams, and sorbets -- that are uniquely American yet convey the wonderfully intense and unique flavors that capture the feel and spirit of the Mediterranean.
If it's Italian you love, experience the Pistachio Layer Cake with Nougat Cream or the Raspberry Mascarpone Tart with Chocolate Crust.
Dreaming of the south of France? Soothe your soul with the farmhouse simplicity of Caramelized Apple Cake with Rosemary or the cool, refreshing, and surprising Mint and Chocolate Pots de Crème.
If Spain makes you swoon, try the luxuriantly rich Crema Catalana or sample the Spanish Olive Oil and Spice Biscotti.
The white-washed hills of Greece surface in a new version of the classic Galataboureko, a spiced semolina pudding in filo topped with a crimson Spiced Blood Orange Caramel Sauce.
North Africa's bright flavors can be found in the creamy Coconut Rice Pudding with Mango in Lime Caramel Sauce or the dramatic filo Snake Pastry with Fig, Almond Paste, and Lemon.
If you draw from the exciting flavors of the Middle East, try the Caramel, Date, and Sesame Tart or any of the five enticing new versions of baklava.
Drawing from her years of teaching experience, Mushet has written recipes with simple, detailed instructions to ensure your success. Each recipe includes notes on which steps can be completed in advance, as well as suggestions on how best to serve and store your dessert. A mail-order guide provides sources for hard-to-find ingredients and equipment integral to the Mediterranean and American kitchens.
Every detail of Desserts: Mediterranean Flavors, California Style creates a sense of confidence and inspiration that will lead you to the kitchen and, best of all, to the table with friends and family.
Customer Reviews:
Very food instruction and variety.......2006-04-29
Cindy Mushet has a great book...easy to read, with clear instructions and good hints in the sidebars.
If you want to make beautiful and tasty desserts with a Mediterranean flair, buy this. It delivers what it offers, pure and simple. If you want "exact" Mediterranean recipes, look elsewhere, both for another book and also for the hard to get items such as proper blood oranges, specific types of flour, vanilla beans instead of vanilla extract, etc to go with such "authentic" precision. I don't need such for my cooking.
I'm happy with 5 different baklava as follow:
...Antibes with almonds, hazlenuts, cinnamon and cloves...Pistachio and apricot with orange cardamon syrup.....quince and walnut.....sour cherry and almond.....hazelnut and chocolate. Not bad, eh, and you can create your own variations.
Try Konafa with tangerine lime syrup, tiropetes with chocolate and apricot filling, various biscotti variations as well.
For cakes, try strawberry mascarpone layer cake, fregolatta with almonds and jam...grilled coconut cake with double-lime ice cream, almond brown butter cakes with raspberries, pomegranate dacquoise (a beautiful and tasty variation on the classic French dessert)...the variety is more than enough, and the instructions are doable for advanced beginner to intermediate cooks.
As this is published in 2000, there's not an abundance of pictures. That's not a problem, as Cindy gives serving and even storage suggestions to make you look like a pro!
This is better quality than "storebought", and you can taste the difference. Start with the cover..the Roasted pears with spiced sabayon...and learn about sabayon preparation, and how to buy a proper pear corer, too!
EZ to follow great often slightly exotic recipes!.......2003-12-18
I first purchased this book because of the great title. At the time I bought this book, I was a student studying baking and pastry for the first time at a college in Sonoma County. I wanted a tasty impactful recipe to present at my backshop management class and decided to try Mushet's "Marbleized Chocolate Velvet Tart" pg 104. It came out perfectly! I have since tried the pistaccio ice-cream recipe that has become my favorite ice-cream. Other recipes that I tested came out equally well. Her recipes are easy to understand and do not have much extra information. I obviously like the book and her style. By the way this is the first book review that I have felt compelled to write.
Great recipes.......2003-10-18
This book is extraordinary for the innovative takes on old favorites (e.g., greek pastries). I was drawn to this book because of its particular konafa (aka kataifi) recipe which I had been searching for many years, and it was delicious. I also attempted her baklava (not to my taste only b/c I didn't like the orange flower water). I am giving it 4 stars however, because the author does stretch the concept of "mediterranean" a bit. This doesn't detract from the tastiness of the recipes she offers, however.
Hands Down My Favorite Cookbook.......2002-08-28
I've gone through several dessert cookbooks and this is by far the best one. I consistently get "wow"s from the recipes. You will not find these recipes in any other cookbook. I hesitated on some of the recipes because they sounded too "weird", but when I ended up making them, they produced wonderful flavors. I've even seen some of the recipes show up in upscale New York City restaurants. A woman at work told me "That's the best baklava I've ever had and I'm from Greece!" All the instructions are easy to follow and the desserts don't take forever to prepare like a lot of other cookbooks. Cindy Mushet - please do another cookbook!
Fantastic flavor combinations with excellent instructions.......2001-05-19
Cindy Mushet has accomplished a difficult task - that of creating a dessert cookbook chock-full of truly original flavor combinations, warm prose and explicit instructions. Several recipes grabbed me off the bat: a pistachio cake with a nougat cream enhanced with the flavors of honey, Amaretto and orange; one of several baklavas with pistachios and apricot with an orange cardamom syrup and a filo pastry with figs, almond paste and lemon. For chocolate fanatics there's a marbleized chocolate velvet tart and a chocolate souffle roll with rum and mascarpone. This book will complement any already in your library and I will certainly refer to it often. Buy it; you will love it!
Amazon.com
For all the demands it makes on one's imagination, the Riviera is but a scrap of beach to the whole body of the Mediterranean, a maritime nook where France meets Italy and mountains meet sea. Genoa is the main Italian city of the region, Nice speaks for the French, and the Riviera is more or less everything in between. It's a land of ancient languages still spoken and equally old traditions still practiced. Colman Andrews brings it all to life. His Flavors of the Riviera can't be called a cookbook and left at that; there's far too much more going on. The recipes lead the food adventurer deeper and deeper into the country. Andrews combines a scholar's taste for history and culture with a sybarite's joy at a well-laid table, allowing you to smell and taste the food as you learn about its origins. There's more to it than Salade Niçoise--though that dish is here--or ratatouille. Although wealth and privilege come immediately to mind when the Riviera is considered, the food itself rises out of poverty. The central food tradition, then, is one of maximizing the flavors of humble ingredients--that, and making the unexpected guest feel welcome. Andrews not only takes you there, but he shows you how it's done, all with grace, style, and a keen sense of pleasure.
Customer Reviews:
Superbly Scholarly take on Authentic Cuisine. Buy it!!!.......2005-12-21
`Flavors of the Riviera' by leading culinary journalist and executive editor of `Saveur' magazine, Colman Andrews, could just as easily be identified as `The Cuisine of Liguria' (more on this later) but the most important message of this book is in its subtitle, `Discovering Real Mediterranean Cooking'.
In many ways, this book belongs to that noble clan of books on Italian regional cooking exemplified by Arthur Schwartz's `Naples at Table', Fred Plotkin's `La Terra Fortunata' on the region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, and Lynne Rosetto Kaspar's `The Splendid Table' on the cuisine of Emilia-Romagna. To some people, including myself, the Riviera in the title primarily evokes France of Cannes and Toulon and Marseilles. Actually, the proper geographical region `Riviera' is in three parts, the larger two being in the Italian region of Liguria from La Spezia in the east to Sanremo in the west. The smallish French portion of the true Riviera is the Mediterranean coast from Menton to Nice, including the principality of Monaco. To make the picture even more Italian, Mr. Andrews relates how this French region was for several centuries part of an Italian region, conquered for France by Napoleon in his invasion of Italy and ceded permenantly to France in an election coinciding with the unification of Italy under Garibaldi. In fact, the dialects of these French and Italian provinces is its own Latin based language sounding part French and part Italian.
So, while the Riviera is largely Italian Liguria, it is not all of Liguria, because this coastline is bordered by steep hills and mountains, being the foothills of the Alps and the Apennines. The region is dominated by two cities, Genoa, the capitol of Liguria and Nice, the fourth largest city in France. Neither are as glamorous as some of their more famous cousins such as Venice, Florence, Rome, Naples, Milan, and Trieste. Genoa, in fact, is downright dowdy, immersed in its role as a major port and not bothering itself a lot with tourism. Nice has a bit more of the `Atlantic City' air about it as a resort town, but it is not as fashionable as other French cities such as Paris, Lyon, or Marseilles.
Among all books on regional culinary subjects, one may place those by Paula Wolfert and Lynne Rosetto Kaspar at one extreme where the focus is on culinary excellence. Mr. Andrews' book falls at the other extreme, aiming primarily for journalistic, historical, and analytical excellence. As such, his opening essay on the elements of an `authentic' cuisine in general and the `authentic' Mediterranean cuisine in particular should be read by all foodies before they read any more books on any regional culinary speciality. I have no wish to steal his thunder, but the sense of his analysis is that many writers of the `Mediterranean' cuisine is more a description of how people eat at Chez Panisse than how they eat in Nice or Messina or Antioch or Tunisia. I have had some faint intimations of the incongruities of which Coleman speaks when I read and hear one Italian cuisanard after the other claim that `we are talking of the cuisine of poverty' only to proceed to recipes laden with procuitto, parmesan, truffles, and artichokes. This is a bit of an exaggeration, since, for example Mario Batali, on his `Molto Mario' show often highlights ways in which the use of bread crumbs, stale bread, organ meats, and wild greens played a role in the `cuisine of poverty', but that didn't stop him from using the expensive stuff too.
Andrews does not dispute the evidence of the healthfulness of the `Mediterranean Cuisine', but like the very popular recent book on why French women don't get fat, he points out that this healthfulness has as much to do with taking a long time to eat and proper rest and exercise in conjunction with eating what is available locally.
One of Andrews' points is that we probably are not really interested in the authentic cuisine of poverty. How many of us are really eager to sit down to a gruel of chestnut flour and milk? Another very interesting point in Andrews' analysis is that many classic dishes are really rather new. I was first struck with this fact when I realized that dried pasta was not even very common in northern Italy until the second half of the 20th century. Another excellent example is the fact that the ingredients of the classic Provencal dish, ratatouille are almost half `New World' immigrants, which were not even used very much in Europe until early in the 19th century, as they were suspect due to their relation to the deadly nightshade.
The last of Andrews' key points about `authentic' cuisine is that very, very few dishes have a single `authentic' recipe. While one can point to a `genuine' Caesar's salad recipe, since the dish was invented at a particular time and place by a particular well-known individual, it is simply impossible to identify a definitive Salade Nicoise. While Julia Child may give us a complicated recipe with lettuce and a potato salad, the historical recipe includes neither ingredient.
Coleman Andrews does not go so far as to give us a book full of recipes for chestnut flour and milk. He does, however, give us recipes that can be traced to practitioners who are native to the Italian Riviera, and he is careful to cite these sources. In many ways, his book is an excellent extension of Nancy Harmon Jenkins' analytical `The Essential Mediterranean' in that he gives us essays on all the basic elements of the Riviera terroir.
While the recipes in this book are sound, they are not the main attraction. The center ring at this show is Andrews' manifesto on what you really mean when you speak of `authentic' cooking and cuisine.
Highly recommended for foodies and students of cuisine.
High journalistic standards for this "not-just-a-cookbook".......1998-12-22
Colman Andrews was my roomate's boyfriend when I lived in LA in the 60's, and it is a pleasure to see that the very handsome young writer and foodie became so distinguished in his career path. In those days he and my roomate would often go off to Italy or Yugoslavia (the Dalmatian Coast) on trips that always encompassed dining excursions; hilarious stories of these events made the trips come alive for me upon their return. Colman is as interesting a person as is his writing, and this book is unlike any other cookbook I have read, as it is as much a travel book as cookbook. He is also editor of Saveur Magazine...this man knows cooking and travel and writes intelligently and humorously on both subjects. Even if you don't cook, you will be entertained, enlightened by the information on food, produce, wine, language, history and probably you will want to book a seat on the next flight to the Riviera within the first few pages!
Book Description
Following his internationally best-selling book on olive oil with chef Jacques Chibois, author Olivier Baussan has teamed up with another talented chef, Jean-Marie Meulien, to give readers recipes full of the sunny tastes and aromas of the Mediterranean tradition. The authors first present the ingredients, condiments, and cooking methods common to the Mediterranean region, before laying out 90 recipes to suit every occasion. Through the different chapters-- Seasonal Vegetables, Seafood, Market Produce, Meat and Game, and Garden and Orchard Produce--readers are treated to recipes ranging from olive soup with anchovies and three-pepper caviar to roast peaches with basil and lime-blossom juice. The table is set for unforgettable meals.
Average customer rating:
|
Flavors of Morocco
Ghillie Basan
Manufacturer: Ryland Peters & Small
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 General
| Cooking, Food & Wine
| Subjects
| Books
Mediterranean
| European
| Regional & International
| Cooking, Food & Wine
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 1845976061 |
Book Description
Moroccan food is sensual exotic, and a feast for the eyes. In "Flavors of Morocco", Ghillie Basan brings you tantalizing recipes for authentic Moroccan food, allowing you to recreate the scents and flavors of this fascinating culinary tradition at home. Follow simple Kemsia and Salad recipes such as Garlicky Fava Bean Dip or Carrot and Cumin Salad with Orange Blossom Water. Make the traditional Classic Chicken Pie with Cinnamon (B'Stilla) from Soups, Breads, and Savory Pastries. A chapter on Tagines, K'dras, and Couscous features the classic Lamb Tagine with Almonds, Prunes, and Apricots and some K'dras (stews), such as Chicken K'dras with Chickpeas, Raisins, and Red Bell Peppers, Grills, Pan-fries, and Roasts include Roast Duck with Honey, Pears, and Figs. Delicious Vegetables, Side dishes, and Preserves include Casablancan Stuffed Tomatoes and Green Leaf and Herb Jam with Olives. Finally, Sweet Snacks, Desserts, and Drinks features treats such as Rose-flavored Milk Pudding--perfect to serve with authentic Mint Tea or a glass of Almond Milk. Also appearing throughout the book are essays on: The Olive and the Argan; Islam, Ramadan, and Bread; Dadas and the Traditional Kitchen; Berber Traditions and Tagines; The Art of Making Couscous; The Souks, Spices, and Sensual Flavors; and finally, Hospitality and Mint Tea. *Moroccan food is hugely popular--it's delicious and easy to cook. *In the same popular series as "Flavors of Provence" and "Flavors of Tuscany", also beautifully photographed on location by Peter Cassidy.
Books:
- Tapas: A Taste of Spain in America
- Testing IT: An Off-the-Shelf Software Testing Process
- The Beach House Cookbook
- The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook
- The Cleveland Clinic Foundation Creative Cooking for Renal Diets
- The Complete Book of Essential Oils and Aromatherapy: Over 600 Natural, Non-Toxic and Fragrant Recipes to Create Health - Beauty - a Safe Home Environment
- The Complete Book Of Sauces
- The Complete Italian Vegetarian Cookbook: 350 Essential Recipes for Inspired Everyday Eating
- The Diabetic Gourmet Cookbook: More Than 200 Healthy Recipes from Homestyle Favorites to Restaurant Classics
- The Essential Baker: The Comprehensive Guide to Baking with Chocolate, Fruit, Nuts, Spices, and Other Ingredients
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- The Fair Tax Book: Saying Goodbye to the Income Tax and the IRS
- On Talking Terms With Dogs: Calming Signals
- Diary of Samuel Pepys Complete 1669 N.S.
- Guests of the Ayatollah: The Iran Hostage Crisis: The First Battle in America's War with Militant Is
- History: Fiction or Science
- Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog: The Quirky History And Lost Art of Diagramming Sentences
- Islands, the Universe, Home
- Combat Robots Complete : Everything You Need to Build, Compete, and Win
- Glossary of Insurance Policy Terms
- The True Story of Hansel and Gretel
Arabesque: A Taste of Morocco, Turkey, and Lebanon
Cradle of Flavor: Home Cooking from the Spice Islands of Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia
The Arab Table: Recipes and Culinary Traditions
The New Book of Middle Eastern Food
The Soul of a New Cuisine: A Discovery of the Foods and Flavors of Africa
