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19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
'Food from the land & sea inspired by travels across the world.....', 25 Nov 2008
....this super book is a COMPILATION of over 130 of his most popular dishes 'evoking the pleasure and flavour associated with the coast', coupled with his own travel stories - all written in the familiar, relaxed Stein way.
BBC Books/2008
'Rick Stein's passion for fresh, well-sourced food has taken him from continent to continent, across magnificent shorelines and to the very best produce the coast has to offer.'
From the acknowledgements:-
Amongst others, Rick pays tribute to his new commissioning editor, 'who saw the sense of a book of recipes as a record of all the parts of the world that have influenced me in my cooking......'
From the introduction:-
'.....I'm just someone with an enthusiasm for food and a curiosity that that's sent me sniffing around all over the place looking for lovely dishes in all corners of the globe....'
....and that is precisely what this chunky tome contains!
Colourful, simply appealing board covers open to 287 high quality pages, split over 7 chapters:-
Britain & Ireland
Western Europe
Mediterranean & Middle East
India
Far East
Australia & New Zealand
The Americas
plus
basic recipes (inc. dashi, duck confit, Thai red curry paste)
preparation techniques (inc. butterflied lamb)
specialist ingredients suppliers
sandwiched between an introduction and a full index.
Each chapter opens with a full page of typical RS banter giving the background to the recipes which follow.
Each recipe has a bold title, (with a translation, if applicable) followed by a general opening narrative, the full list of ingredients, the number of servings and a clear method.
The book has superb full colour photography throughout, but not all of the dishes are featured, which may prove slightly negative to those of us who like to see what they are aiming for on the plate!
However, I feel it is still not worth dropping a full star from five - maybe only a half!
From Pizza Margherita:-
'This isn't any old recipe for pizza - this is my recipe, and it's worth making for the following reasons.
Firstly, the dough will give you the lightest, crispiest, thinnest base.
The buffalo mozzarella will give you a very good-tasting cheese on a pizza, and the use of the best vine-ripened tomatoes, peeled and seeded, then concentrated in hot olive oil, will give you a really fresh tomato sauce.
I add a bit of oregano and garlic, too, but basically this is just a pizza Margherita , which is finished with fresh basil leaves and said to resemble the Italian flag - i.e. red tomato, white mozzarella and green basil.......'
and the finished product is duly photographed on page 115!
Other recipes in this delightful book include:-
Hugo's breakfast fishcakes
Creamy chicken and asparagus soup
Cauliflower cheese
Poached salmon with cucumber and dill salad
North Atlantic prawn pilaf
Stein's classic Cornish pasty
Roast rib of beef with Yorkshire puddings and roasties
Raspberry cranachan
Carbonnade of beef à la flammade
Sole Véronique
Beef Stroganoff with matchstick potatoes
Couers à la crème with raspberries
Crème brûlée ice cream
Moussaka
Crab linguine with parsley and chilli
Matar peneer
Keralan curry with prawns and kokum
Crisp Chinese roast pork
Sri Lankan fish curry
Cured duck breasts with melon, soy and pickled ginger
Pavlova with cream and passion-fruit
Char-grilled beef tortillas
Hangtown fry
Strawberry and vanilla shortcake
......'Really good local dishes tell me more about the thoughts, habits and enthusiasms of a foreign country than museum visits or a walk round a famous cathedral.....'
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by Gordon Ramsay
by Nigella Lawson
by Rachel Allen
by Rick Stein
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