Mediterranean Cookbook: Fresh, Fast, and Easy Recipes from Spain, Provence, and Tuscany to North Africa

by Marie-Pierre Moine, Elisabeth Luard, Ghillie Basan

Bringing together authentic recipes from Italy, Greece, Provence, northern Africa, and the Middle East, DK's Mediterranean Cookbook gives cooks the necessary tools to recreate the flavors of the Mediterranean in their own homes. Fresh, healthy, and easy to make, the Mediterranean Cookbook contains more than 300 recipes, from Citrus Lamb Tagine and Leek Moussaka to Panzanella and Tzatziki.

Whether it's the food of Tuscany, Provence, the Greek Islands, Morocco, or Spain, DK's Mediterranean Cookbook is a wonderful resource for families that want to eat fresh, fast, and healthy.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking

320 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2014

Reviews

[Dana Al-Basha | دانة الباشا · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so beautiful and filled with new and favorite recipes from back home to different locations, but all in all, the recipes and dishes seem so familiar to me, because of the ingredients and spices; I guess our cuisine has the same spirit.

By far, I think this is my favorite cookbook that I got that day, it's truly beautiful.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a gorgeous and inspiring cookbook. It is definitely not for beginners as the recipe instructions are either not complete or badly edited - you have to have experience and know what you are doing. The amount of oil in one of the recipes (not the imam bayildi) was beyond believable, even that amount of olive oil is probably unhealthy.

These are recipes you have to practice to get right. I went one beyond my usual three tries of recipes to judge the quality, because the cookbook is so pretty, and one came out ok and one or two I wouldn't mind practicing to get right.

This is more an idea book for experienced cooks.

And this flagged one of my pet peeves: there were runs of pages without page numbers. I find it annoying in magazines and inexcusable in books, especially cookbooks/books with indexes.

[Aprilleigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is ideal for someone who already understands the basics of the Mediterranean diet and just wants more variety in the recipes they use. There's no explanation of the Mediterranean diet at all, but there are 2-4 page spreads scattered throughout the book on the essentials of various ingredients (peppers, herbs, garlic, spices, eggplant, tomatoes, cheese, honey, nuts, etc.) and the various Mediterranean communities (Greece, Tuscany, Sicily, Morocco, Andalusia, Turkey, Provence, Lebanon). The latter includes a typical meal for each community.

The recipes themselves are varied, and the directions are excellent. Many include short notes about advance preparation, variations on the recipe, and a variety of cook's tips. My only real complaint is some of the ingredients will be quite difficult to find (melokhia, for example), but many of these include alternatives (kale instead of melokhia). You'll learn a lot just reading through the recipes.

Every recipe is labeled with its region of origin, and there's a regional index in the front if you'd like to focus on a specific area. The Italian recipes are generally not separated by region (Italy is home to several very distinct food cultures), but the descriptions often give clues as to where in Italy the recipe originated.

[Martha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have used this all week for my salad supper dinners. Delicious and simple to prepare. They made great summer meals for us. Liked the variety of preparations for each recipe depending on the country of origin. Fresh, fast and easy just as the title suggests. And glorious pictures. That always makes me want to start cooking. Highly recommend, especially the salads.

[Wdmoor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yum...buy lots of olive oil. Not every recipe in this book is fast or easy, and some of the ingredients I've never heard of but we've had some wonderful dinners from this book. And the book is easy to work with.

[Lanny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably the best cookbook that I've gotten from the library. So many good recipes and pretty pictures. My kids would flip through it and pretend to eat whatever was on each page.

[Sarah Louise · Rating 5 out of 5]

what a fantastic collection of beautiful dishes! At least 12 made it into my permanent collection. Half dozen others were just fun to make. I was very happy with the selection .

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

The variety of countries in one book is amazing. I found the background information helpful and educational. This is a very good cookbook.

[Jennifer Barr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a beautiful book, great information and authentic recipes.

[Lino Matteo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful book with recipes, pictures and (most importantly) the feel, warmth and flavour of Mediterranean cuisine.

To bad we could not do a taste sharing menu when skimming through this book.

Will put some ideas to work in tonight's supper.