Rick Stein's Mediterranean Escapes [Hardcover]

I'm a passionate cook, but also hugely critical of lots of the TV celebrity cooks, the manners and posturing of many. However, this is an extraordinary cookbook with lots of absolutely delicious Moroccan food, easy to make focaccia,stunning vegetables. It is impossible to cook a failed meal from this book. Every dish cooked at home lives up to the promise of the magnificent photographs in this book. Even my usually useless-in-the-kitchen daughter and partner managed to produce astoundingly delicious food from these easy to follow recipes. I have more than 300 cookbooks, but this is the one I will use most in the months to come. It is so good that for this addictive cook, I'm now nervous about seeking out or buying new cookbooks in case they disappoint. I cannot recommend this cookbook to highly for either the novice or passionate cook.

I bought this book because I saw the series on TV and greatly enjoyed seeing the beautiful landscapes and learning about local ingredients and dishes. For anyone who loves Mediterranean food with its varied influences and would like to be able to recreate typical dishes at home, this book is a very accessible resource.

The photography is bright and clear and linked to the recipes which are divided into sections according to the type of dish and main ingredients used so there are sections on cheeses, antipasti, pasta and rice, rabbit and game, fish, fruits, herbs and salads. The text is informative and gives details about the provenance of the dishes and the cultural influences on Mediterranean food.

The instructions are clear and concise and the majority of recipes are well within the capabilities of most home cooks. More experienced cooks will enjoy trying out the more adventurous dishes such as wild boar stew. I was delighted to find a recipe for pastitsio, a dish I have enjoyed many times in Greece. Some of the ingredients are hard to find in the UK, but the appendix gives details of suppliers as well as suggesting suitable substitute ingredients. Many of the recipes are suitable for vegetarians or can be easily adapted for vegetarians.

On television Rick Stein can come across as a bit full of himself, but his book is visually attractive and informative. It would make a great gift for anyone interested in food and cookery.

...this is a Mediterranean JOURNEY.......with over 100 NEW recipes inspired by the flavours of this region.

'A fascinating journey into a rich and varied culinary heritage. Approach the Mediterranean Sea from any direction and you know you've entered a different world. Rick Stein's newest culinary odyssey takes in both the islands and coast of this remarkable region.

Published to accompany Rick's new five-part television series for BBC2, this new book starts where 'French Odyssey' left off - at the mouth of the Rhone in the port of Marseilles......'

Durable hardboard covers open to 216 high quality, shiny pages, split over main chapters:

1. Mezze, Kemia, Tapas and Antipasta
2. Herbs, Salad Leaves, Weeds and Other Greens
3. Aubergines, Artichokes, and the Mediterranean Garden
4. Pecorino, Feta, Ricotta and Mozzarella
5. Sardines, Red Mullet, Swordfish, Calamari and Tuna
6. Free-Range Chicken and Eggs
7. Lamb, Veal, Beef and the Whole Pig
8. Rabbit, Partridge, Quail and Wild Boar
9. Dried Beans, Grains, Rice and Pasta
10. Sweet Things, Fruits, Ices, Cakes and Sticky Pastries
11. The Mediterranean Larder:- Ingredients, Sauces, Relishes and Basics

plus sections entitled:

* Escape Routes
* Where to get Ingredients
* Notes on the Recipes

and conversion charts, plus a full recipe index, indicating illustrated dishes.

Written in the typical Rick Stein style, this book is arguably his best to date combining great cooking, culinary knowledge and breath-taking photography:

food shots, from Earl Carter
landscape shots, from Craig Easton.

Each chapter opens with an apt paragraph, e.g.:

'What we love most about Mediterranean Cooking are those small, informal dishes that seem to be served everywhere in generous quantities to accompany a glass of something in the early evening.'

Each recipe has a general opening paragraph, title/s (both foreign and English, where applicable), region, full list of ingredients and a clear method, followed by suggested variations if applicable.
One of Rick's main qualities is acknowledging other cooks and their recipes/publications, and these interesting paragraphs have numerous such references.
Followers of the TV series will hear Rick's voice as he describes one of his encounters ahead of a marvellous recipe for 'Lamb Tagine with Prunes and Almonds':

'This recipe was given to me by Lahcen Bequi who runs a cookery school in Fes. He started cooking when he was just 10, when his parents sent him away to school in a town a fair distance away from the Berber village in the High Atlas mountains in which he grew up. It was amazing for me to talk to this intelligent and gifted cook, knowing that he'd spent his childhood out in the high pastures shepherding sheep and goats.
A tagine is historically a Berber dish and it seemed to me, tasting this one with lamb and prunes, that I was eating the real thing.
The meat was meltingly soft, and this, above all dishes, convinced me of the sophistication of the Moroccan use of fruit and nuts with meat. It had a beguiling smokiness about it. He took an immense time to cook it, and explained in detail that the importance of the shape of the tagine is that the steam inside rises to the top of the still cold conical lid, where it condenses and drips back down, bathing the meat in fragrant juices.......'

Other recipes in this delightful book include:

* Tabbouleh
* Focaccia
* Spiced Octopus Salad
* Baked Greek Omelette
* Caponata
* Imam Bayildi
* Braised Artichokes
* Easter Lamb
* Seared Swordfish Steaks
* Chicken and Prawn Paella
* Moroccan Chicken
* Kleftiko
* Stifado
* Seafood Couscous
* Spaghettini
* Bulgar Wheat Pilaf
* Crema Catalana
* Baklava
* Moroccan Orange Salad
* Almond Cake with Almond Ice Cream
* Zabaglione
* Sicilian Orange Cake

'Key Mediterranean Ingredients:

Among the most exciting things I found travelling the Mediterranean over the last couple of years have been the local ingredients that give the food its characteristic flavour. The lardy, pimento-flavoured sobrasada in Majorca, strattu, the sun-dried tomato paste of Sicily; aci biber salcasi, the hot red-pepper paste from the markets of Gaziantep and Adana in eastern Turkey; figatellu, the smoked pig's liver and clove sausage from Corsica; ras el hanout, the Moroccan spice mix - all these and more are a source of delight to the travelling cook.'

A different language, perhaps, but...typically...made simple by Mr Rick Stein.