Cookbooks:     Vegetarian     Vegan     Living Food     Cooking Magazines

Vegetarian Cookbook Review
Mediterranean Harvest
Vegetarian recipes from the world's healthiest cuisine
by Martha Rose Shulman

The Mediterranean region is famous for its delicious and healthy, olive-oil based cuisine which has been credited with everything from lower rates of cancer to improved breathing.*

With more than 500 recipes, the wonderful Mediterranean Harvest cookbook includes is a huge variety of dishes from Spain, France, Italy, Greece, and the Middle East, and I love the way it's organized. I usually go shopping to see what looks good and then skim through cookbooks to decide what to make, rather starting with recipe and a grocery list. And then of course after shopping, I usually have a primary ingredient, such as eggplant or artichokes, and so I tend gravitate toward cookbooks that index recipes by ingredient. Mediterranean Harvest does that, but it also goes one step further: it groups similar recipes in different regions and countries. For example, if I just bought a beautiful bunch of spinach or chard, I might make Ligurian artichoke and greens torta (Italy), mushrooms and greens tart (France), or greens and sweet onion pie (Greece).

The chapters are divided as follows:

• Aperitifs
• Breads, pizza, and panini
• Sauces, dressings, and condiments
• Little foods: starters, snacks, meze, and more
• Soups
• Eggs and cheese
• Pasta
• Savory pies and gratins
• Vegetables and beans
• Rice, couscous, and other grains
• Sweets and desserts

There are so many good recipes that while paging through the book writing down the ones I wanted to try, my list was getting so long it was easier to just put page ranges. The one thing that bothers me a bit is that the author often mentions meat accompaniments; though all of the recipes are vegetarian, she regularly says things like "this would be good with fish," which can be a bit jarring. Other than that, Mediterranean Harvest is pretty much perfect, and it's definitely one of my favorite cookbooks.

Buy Mediterranean Harvest:
Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Author's website: Martha Rose Shulman

*Scientific studies on the Mediterranean Diet
 

More cookbooks:

Vegetarian     Vegan     Living Food

Cooking Magazines

  Laura K. Lawless
All Rights Reserved.
About The Veggie Table
 

Custom Search