Jeff is an incredible food writer with a knack for making recipes just look delicious before you even tackle the cooking. This, his most recent title, is stunning!

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Product Description

At the heart of Mediterranean cuisine lies a trio of traditional staples: rice, pasta, and couscous. Join the author as he travels from Morocco to Syria to Italy to Spain, discovering such delectable treats as Classic Seven Vegetable Couscous and Handmade Tagliatelle with Fresh White Truffles. Along the way he tells fascinating stories of the food artisans he meets and cooks with. He prepares couscous in Algiers with Sid Ali Lahlou, the world's only commercial manufacturer of hand-rolled grains, while in Tuscany his six-year-old daughter accompanies him to a master class in making fresh pasta. 100 gorgeous photos of the dishes, ingredients, faces, and places show what it's like to live and travel in this special area of the world, and reveal how rice, pasta, and couscous have become an integral part of Mediterranean culture and today's family table.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #261866 in Books
• Published on: 2009-10-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 224 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780811862974
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
Cookbook author Koehler (La Paella) takes readers on a culinary tour of the Mediterranean in this inspired collection of starchy dishes from Italy, Spain, Algeria, Malta, Morocco, and elsewhere. More than a one-off collection of token recipes, Koehler digs deep, offering insight into the importance of rice, pasta and couscous in regional cuisines through lengthy tales of his years immersed in Mediterranean kitchens and restaurants. Liberally seasoned with photos of local characters as well as finished dishes, the book falls into a comfortable valley between travelogue and cookbook. Koehler's patient, detailed instructions and color commentary are transporting, whether he's discussing his favorite cabbage rolls, found in Dubrovnik; the tomato pilaf he discovered during a trip to Istanbul; or a recipe he squired away from Countess Rosetta Clara Cavalli d'Oliviola in Vermicelli, Italy (for Whiskey Risotto with Rosemary). Though classics like Paella and Ravioli are included, the emphasis is on lesser-known but equally satisfying dishes like Pappardelle with Duck Ragu and Tunisian Lamb Couscous with Meatballs. Though far from the definitive work on rice, pasta and couscous, this makes a palate-rousing roundup for hose with a taste for travel.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author
Jeff Koehler's work has appeared in Saveur, Gourmet, and Food & Wine. He is the author of La Paella, which was named a noteworthy cookbook by the New York Times. He lives in Barcelona, Spain.

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Customer Reviews

Carbs, glorious carbs!
Once again, I am out of step with the rest of the world. The entire US may be eliminating carbohydrates from its diet, but I'm siding with the Mediterranean on this matter. In his cookbook Rice, Pasta, Couscous, Jeff Koehler has produced a terrific introduction to a diverse cuisine and its starchy staples.

Koehler really does get props for exploring the full diversity of his offerings. Pasta dishes, for example, range far beyond the typical Italian offerings and include dishes from Greece, Spain, Croatia, Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, and Algeria. Yes, there are familiar favorites, but even those generally have an interesting twist, such as Cannelloni Stuffed with Spinach, Pine Nuts, and Raisins. More unusual offerings such as the Turkish, ravioli-like Meat-Filled Manti with Garlic Yogurt Sauce are especially intriguing. Oh, and in addition to the savory fare, Koehler even includes a couple of sweet dishes. The rice and couscous sections are equally diverse, but I have to admit it was the couscous that was the real draw for me. How can a girl named Tunis not be intrigued by North African cuisine?

Another great aspect of the book's diversity can be seen in the recipes' complexity. While some recipes are major undertakings, other dishes, such as Lentils and Rice with Fried Onions, can be pulled together quickly with just a few staples you probably have on hand. The recipes are easy to follow, and Koehler has included all sorts of additional information about cooking techniques, spices, ingredient sources, etc.

My two minor complaints are as follows: There are dozens of lovely color photographs scattered throughout the book. People, storefronts, close-ups of ingredients, all sorts of things--just not as many photos of the actual recipes as I'd ideally like to see. The other thing is the text. It's informative, but it's not wildly compelling reading. However, that's not what most people are looking for in a cookbook. If you're looking for an excellent cross section of one of the world's great cuisines, Rice, Pasta, Couscous would be a terrific starting place.

A valuable addition to any cookbook library
With a collection of nearly 300 ethnic and international cookbooks, and with my wife and I having a serious hobby of cooking multi-course "exotic" meals, my standards for cookbook excellence are pretty high. Very few cookbooks, in my opinion, deserve five-star ratings. A couple of examples of the very best of the genre are classics like Tess Mallos' "The Complete Mediterranean Cookbook" and Charmaine Solomon's "The Complete Asian Cookbook."

Jeff Koehler's "Rice Pasta Couscous: The Heart of the Mediterranean Kitchen" is a very good cookbook, but not up to my admittedly lofty five-star standards. It first presents some interesting information on these three staples of Mediterranean cuisine in a general Introduction, and in "primers" that introduce each of the three specific sections. Each primer includes a history and overview of the ingredient, a description of the varieties available and a "Techniques and Secrets" section that presents tips for creating successful rice, pasta and couscous dishes. The 80 recipes (30 for rice, 29 for pasta and 21 for couscous) range from exceptionally simple, with just four ingredients, to relatively complex, with a dozen or more ingredients. But all should be within the skills of the average home cook (feel free to adjust the amounts of onion, garlic and spices to your liking, of course). My biggest gripe with the book is that the ingredient lists for each recipe are printed in a very tiny font--I measured it at six points--which cooks with older eyes may find hard to read. There's plenty of room in the page layouts for a much larger font.

I recommend "Rice Pasta Couscous: The Heart of the Mediterranean Kitchen" if you'd like to expand your culinary repertoire to include some representative, intriguing and very flavorful dishes from Italy, Malta, Morocco, Turkey, Tunisia and other countries in the Mediterranean region. It has found a permanent place in my cookbook library.

Exotic, Informative, Tasty, and Hard to Shop
"Rice, Pasta, and Couscous" by Jeff Koehler is lavishly illustrated and researched. Koehler has clearly spent much time enjoying cuisines of the world, and he brings that love to the pages of his book. From the steaming of couscous to the various types of rice of the Mediterranean, he leaves no pasta/rice/couscous stone unturned.

The recipes are numerous and diverse. My favorites would include:

Mussel dolmas, in which the mussel shell itself is used as a sort of plate, making this a fast food treat in Istanbul

Clams and rice in the shell, from Croatia, which incorporate green and black olives into the recipe, adding texture to the rice

The Countess's Whiskey Risotto with Rosemary, from Italy, using whiskey in place of dry white wine for an intriguing aroma and flavor

Spinach with Rice (Spanakorizo) from Greece, which serves as a comfort food during meatless days on the Greek orthodox calendar

Busiate with Trapini Pesto of Tomatoes, Garlic, Basil, and Almonds - a pesto with cherry tomatoes adding flavor and texture

Handmade Tagliatelle with Fresh White Truffles (good news - it only requires one truffle)

Kushary, from Egypt - a dish with pasta, rice, lentils, chickpeas, a tangy tomato sauce, AND fried onions. This one will definitely stick to your ribs.

The book is filled with intriguing dishes to try.

My problems with it were 1) it is very meat-centric. I would expect a book of pasta, rice, and couscous dishes to be more adaptable to those who don't eat a lot of meat. While there are some dishes that are vegetarian, and some that can be adapted, they are in a minority.

My other problem with the books is that there are a lot of ingredients that are difficult to find. Got some mastic tear in your cupboard? (It comes from the resin of a tree native to Greece.) How about a one pound eel, scrubbed and sliced into steaks? Nano rice? Conserved choicero pepper paste? Me, neither.

But there is definitely at least one dish within its pages that will pique your curiosity and tempt your tastebuds.