Published to accompany Rick Steins ten-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. Reluctantly abandoning his idyllic canal boat, the Anjodi, Rick takes to the public ferry system which plies between the islands and coastlines of the Mediterranean. The thing about filming, says Rick is its always an adventure. I think the main reason Chalky likes going with us is its like one big walk. Its the same for us really pure escapism. At the end of French Odyssey, David Pritchard, Ricks longtime friend and producer, said to camera I know where were going next, I see it all now, its like Ive shot it already. Its the Med with all its wonderful islands all the influences (from other cuisines) like Italian, but also Greek, Arab, Spanish and Turkish. Lots of seafood, great spices lashings of history well a bit of history. Rick and David have now made this culinary journey and sampled the cuisines of Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, Corfu, Mallorca, the Catalan coast, Turkey and Morocco. Rick was fascinated to discover how varied the recipes were despite using common ingredients such as olive oil, tomatoes, capers, fresh fruit, fish, local wines and so on. The book contains over 100 recipes divided by types of ingredient or types of dish from mezze and tapas to calamari and couscous. Although Mediterranean food is always considered to be very healthy, by virtue of its ingredients, Rick will not shy from luxurious ice creams and sticky pastries and the book will also include basic recipes, accompaniments and sauces. He introduces the book with a diary of his gastronomic journey, recounting the many interesting characters and interesting dishes he discovered en route. The book is stylishly designed and illustrated throughout with specially commissioned food and location photography.
A favourite pastime of the English — whenever the sky is grey — is to thumb lovingly through sumptuous recipe books such as Rick Stein’s Mediterranean Escapes and be transported to sunnier climes while (simultaneously) being inspired to tackle these delicious-sounding recipes. To read this book is very much like entering the exotic world the author unfolds for us, and Stein’s culinary journey takes us through all the islands and along the coast of this exquisite region. For Stein, this is as much a book about the striking personalities he met along the route as he located the region’s finest cuisine. And as the people he met reminded him over and over again, culinary ‘trends’ are simply not considered in this region: the crucial thing is the quality of the ingredients and who are the best producers of such essential commodities as olive oil.
All of this, of course, chimes perfectly with Stein’s own views on such issues, and he commendably ignores the various trends currently driving much cookery, presenting to us here a hundred recipes, including Feta and Mint Pastries, Corsican Oysters with a Pernod and tarragon dressing, along with many others that will inspire and delight. It’s a battered cliché to say how essential impressive photography in a cookery book such as this is, but Earl Carter deserves particular commendation here for showcasing Stein’s creations. —Barry Forshaw
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