The Food of Spain and Portugal
Elizabeth Luard has written this Regional Celebration of the food of Spain and Portugal, and there is nobody better placed to do just that. She is considered one of the best writers about Spanish food in the English language and with Elizabeth’s
background I am
inclined to agree with those opinions. Having been bought up in both Europe and South America, Elizabeth moved at age 21 to the Andalucian hills and learnt about real Spanish food from the locals. The cuisine of the Iberian Peninsula is enjoying immense popularity at the moment and this book will help to bring that trend to your table. If you can’t have a real Spaniard in the kitchen with you, this might be the next best thing.
The Food of Spain and Portugal is a delight. Photographs by the talented Jean Cazals are marvellous and shots of food are punctuated with landscapes to present a combined travelogue and cooking lesson. There are even a few Old Masters. You don’t have to be a budding chef to appreciate this book - a love of Spain and Portugal is enough.
Elizabeth writes with passion and intelligence: “The gentle braising tenderises the meat of a well-grown mountain lamb, allowing the flavours to melt into each other and form a rich sticky, little sauce.” It’s enough to turn a vegetarian’s head!
There is something for everyone, be they vegetarian, carnivore, practised cook or raw beginner. Roasted Red Peppers with Anchovies only has three ingredients and is easy yet vibrant of colour and taste. Cream Cake with Sour Cherries is sophisticated but wouldn’t be too taxing. My favourite of all, Spiced Chicken with Peppers: simple, delicious and a true taste of Aragon.
The recipes are enticing and broad-based covering the most rustic to the most refined, leaving the reader wanting to linger over ingredients and pictures, but anxious to turn another page to discover more. It isn’t a book to skim through nor is it a volume that you’ll read only once. You’ll dip into it and use its mouth-watering and authentic recipes but you’ll visit again to enjoy the countryside and the history.
The Food of Spain and Portugal
Author: Elizabeth Luard
Published by: Kyle Cathie
Price: £14.99
ISBN 978-1-85626-712-0
Spain Body and Soul
This is another remarkable book from those nice people at
Haus Publishing. This is truly quality food writing, travel writing, poetic
writing, and thoroughly absorbing and charming.The author H M van den Brink isn’t famed for his food writing but he is nevertheless famed for writing. He published his first book in1993 but had huge success with On the Water in 1998 which was translated into numerous languages and won several literary prizes including the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize.
Spain Body and Soul isn’t a cookbook but it does have some delicious traditional recipes for dishes such as Chicken with Garlic, and Hazelnut Cake. It’s more a book about a Dutch journalist living in Spain and observing life and attitudes. H M van den Brink describes himself as an eater so he pays attention to meals, eating habits and culinary culture.
Perhaps the recipe for Bread with Tomato is the quintessential Spanish dish. It is, in truth, hardly a dish or a recipe but a flavourful preparation of soft and sun-drenched tomatoes crushed into a piece of bread. A drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of sea salt complete this little slice of simple gastronomic heaven.
I could fill pages with quotes from this superb volume. When writing of something as banal as Churros (long, thin, deep-fried doughnuts) H M van den Brink writes... “Eaten immediately, hot, they are like most sins: no less sinful in the heat of the moment than considered in hindsight, and in any case irresistible.” It’s enough to fill this writer with literary self-doubts and the urge to throw away her computer!
H M van den Brink paints marvellous landscapes with his words. Always well chosen, they describe scenery as well as could any travelogue. You’ll seek out the dishes he describes and thumb through a few of these pages as you sit in a cafe drinking a very small, very black coffee. If you are planning a trip to Spain then consider Spain Body and Soul as your companion.
Spain Body and Soul
Author: H M van den Brink
Published by: Haus Publishing
Price: £10.39
ISBN 1-904950-79-5
Cooking from the Heart of Spain
Janet Mendel is an American-born journalist and food writer who has penned several other books about the food of Spain. My Kitchen in Spain was winner of the Andre Simon Award and was short-listed for the Glenfiddich Food Book of the Year award. I have already reviewed
Traditional Spanish Cooking, Janet’s other book.
Cooking from the Heart of Spain is the title but where exactly is the heart of Spain? Well, it’s La Mancha and although you might not be able to stick a pin in a map and hit right upon it, I don’t doubt that you would have heard of its produce... and Don Quixote.
La Mancha is a region that encompasses cities such as Toledo, Cuenca, Ciudad Real and Guadalajara. Unless you have travelled away from the Costas you probably wouldn’t realise that the REAL Spain in all its culinary glory lays waiting for you. Manchego cheese (wonderful served with quince paste), saffron, and Serrano ham are the products of this area along with wine and olive oil. In short, the foods we think of as typically Spanish are probably from La Mancha.
Janet shares nearly 200 recipes that give a flavour of all that the Heart of Spain has to offer, everything from tapas to desserts. Almost every recipe has a foreword which charmingly gives the cultural context to the dish. Cooking from the Heart of Spain is not only a cookbook but also a guide to food and its place in Spanish society.
The recipes have the solid and rustic feel of seasonal dishes. They are simple to prepare from ingredients that are readily available in the high street. Spanish Potato Tortilla has long been a favourite in tapas bars but it makes a substantial and cheap family lunch. Tortilla with Artichokes and Ham is another version that might be more appropriate for a smart meal with friends. A recipe that is both posh and rustic, if that is not an oxymoron.
Spain has winter and cold weather, so it’s no surprise to find such a fine collection of warming soups and One-Pot Meals. La Mancha is also the heart of garlic country, and Garlic Soup is said to be a good hangover cure, although Don Quixote’s advice to his companion Sancho Panza is...”Don’t eat garlic or onions, so that they don’t take you for a peasant.” Glad we are more enlightened these days because Janet also recommends the Double Garlic Soup!
Cooking from the Heart of Spain has dishes suitable for every occasion and with so many fish and vegetable recipes, this is a book with broad appeal. There is so much more to Spanish food than Paella, and Janet Mendel acts as a guide through delicious and authentic alternatives.
Cooking from the Heart of Spain
Author: Janet Mendel
Published by: Frances Lincoln
Price: £14.99
ISBN 978-0-7112-2873-3