SIGNED BY RICK STEIN, published by BBC Books. 2015, hardcover, illustrated, index, 320 pages, some minor edgewear to dustjacket otherwise condition: basically as new.
I was a bit disappointed at first, as I had expected more Fish recipes in a book by Rick stein, and initially thought there were not as many recipes that I wanted to try as I had expected. However, when I read through the book properly, I found there were more than enough new and interesting dishes to keep me happy. In particular, I liked the range of meat stews (perfect for the cold weather) and the salads and side dishes.
In total, my husband cooked me thirteen of the recipes five meat dishes, and the rest vegetarian salads or side dishes. He commented that all the recipes were very easy to follow, with clear instructions. All tasted good, some were excellent, and all bar one I would make again. My favourites were: Turkish King of Breakfasts Eggs with Tomato, Red Pepper & Green Chillies (a scrambled egg dish with feta cheese), the surprisingly excellent Turkish Spiced Cabbage & Minced Lamb Stew with Tomatoes (is cheap and easy to make, filling and very, very tasty); and three carbohydrate rich salads: Davids Salad of Chickpeas, Coriander, Tomato & Red Onion; Kisir (bulgur wheat, tomato, harissa and herb salad, which my neighbour thought was wonderful, and wants the recipe); and the Freekeh Salad (which had an excellent texture and taste).
I did adapt the recipes somewhat, to take account of what ingredients I had to hand. Often, this just meant adding extra vegetables to the stews. But, the Slow-Cooked Pork Knuckle & Onions, I made with pork trotters and lardons. It had a good taste, but it was not the right meat to use. I would like to try the recipe again, but with the specified meat.
Other recipes I tried and enjoyed were the side dishes of Shallot Stifado, and Green Beans in Tomato Sauce, and the meat dishes of Lamb & Potatoes with Lemon, Pot-Roasted Goat with Potatoes, Artichokes & Fennel and Oven-Roasted Chicken with Sumac, Pomegranate Molasses, Chilli & Sesame Seeds. The latter was very nice and sticky, and would work well on chicken wings, or maybe even Tofu for a vegetarian meal.
A lot of the recipes involved a long cooking at low heat, so did require a bit of planning time-wise. Pomegranate molasses featured a lot, but apart from that, most of the ingredients were readily available. We are lucky that we live in a part of London where virtually every ingredient can be found.
There were some fish recipes, but I have not tried any of those yet. The one I would especially like to try is the Croatian Black Risotto with squid and squid ink, which I once had and loved in Dubrovnik. And there are still plenty of other recipes I want to make.
There are photos of some of the places visited, and of the people met, which was nice, but I would have preferred more photos of the completed dishes. While many are accompanied by pictures, not all are, and some just show one ingredient.
One criticism I would have of the book, is the very small font used for the ingredients of each recipe. It did at times, make it difficult to read.
But all in all, this was a recipe book that I really enjoyed, and would recommend.
