Mediterranean Fresh

My Cookbook Club, My Kitchen My Table loved this cookbook. Mediterranean Fresh is one of those cookbooks that become a kitchen staple. The 351 pages between the covers are chock full of recipes, pairings, tips, and anecdotes that we all felt that Joyce was with us in the kitchen while we were cooking. Her voice is so natural, tips so forthcoming that her years of experience in the kitchen and writing cookbooks shine right through and make the book extremely readable and interesting. Headnotes were all relevant to the recipe, most contained tips, suggestions, and stories. We ended up reading several out loud when discussing a respective recipe. One guest even chose the Beets and Greens with Yogurt Dressing p.124 because of the headnote - “This dish is a visual bombshell because the beets tint the yogurt an electric pink” – how often do we get to make and serve something that’s electric pink?! The general consensus was that the recipes were all pretty easy – on a 1-10 scale, most were ranked in the 2-4 range. And while they were not terribly difficult to make, some were time consuming and some have several ingredients which could be intimidating. We all loved that each recipe had a primary dressing then alternate dressings as well as ingredients that could be added to offer options and variety. We also liked the dressing section in the back and appreciated the lists of recipes that the dressing worked with. We tried really hard to come up with our list of the top 3 recipes but found it impossible. The top dressing was the Moroccan Charmoula p.326 – it was served with Moroccan Lamb Sausage p.255. We coined it “secret sauce” and decided that it went well on the Cheese-Stuffed Eggplant Rolls p.89, mixed into the Greek Country Salad, p.77, and drizzled atop the Couscous Salad p.176. One guest was on a mission to try it with just about everything on the table! In the end, we all made a note in the margin to double the recipe and have it on hand as a kitchen staple. Other recipe winners included Moroccan Salad of Raw Carrots with Citrus Cinnamon Dressing p.115, Cheese-Stuffed Eggplant Rolls p.89 (better warm than cold), Scallop Carpaccio with Meyer Lemon Dressing p.209, Seafood, Potatoes, and Green Beans with Pesto Vinaigrette p.230, and the Middle Eastern Hamburger or Kefta p.256. Visit mykitchenmytable.com for further reveiws and recipes.