Savory Baking from the Mediterranean or Dim Sum

Savory Baking from the Mediterranean: Focaccias, Flatbreads, Rusks, Tarts, and Other Breads

Author: Anissa Helou

The Mediterranean is full of varied and diverse cuisines, but the one thing they all share is a basic reliance on bread. From Italian focaccia and French brioche to Lebanese tabouneh (sourdough pita) and Egyptian fiteer (flatbread), bread is the single most important staple in Mediterranean diets, and serves as the foundation for countless other savory dishes. In Savory Baking from the Mediterranean, Anissa Helou presents a collection of classic and favorite recipes that will provide home cooks with a broad overview of Mediterranean savory baking, from countless variations on flatbreads like pita, focaccia, and lavash, to raised breads such as French Bacon Bread, Greek Spinach and Olive Bread, and Italian Nut Bread. In addition, she offers recipes for a wide variety of pies, tarts, and savory pastries, such as calzones, empanadas, pizzas, and spanakopitta. Savory Baking from the Mediterranean is illustrated through out with 100 artful black and while photographs of landscapes, communities, and breads.

Publishers Weekly

In Helou's (Mediterranean Street Food) latest, breads that are often overlooked get a star turn: pitas that enfold spicy meats, pillowy focaccia that serves as a platter for rich tomato sauce and flatbreads used to scoop up hummus. Helou draws on cultures from around the region to offer everything from Piquitos (rich Spanish breadsticks) to Sicilian eggplant bread rolls, a lamb-filled Cretan Easter Pie to Moroccan Triangles with Minced Meat, with the similarities between ingredients and preparations demonstrating how much the cultures share despite national divisions. Along with entries as familiar and simple as the aptly named Regular Italian Bread and classic Neapolitan Pizza, Helou delves into less charted territory with recipes like the dazzling sweet Greek Holy Bread and the flavorful Lebanese Strained Yogurt Triangles. Unfortunately for a book about such a colorful region, the accompanying photos of bakers and breads are all in black and white, but home cooks who just want the goods will appreciate the straightforward, easy-to-follow steps and the often detailed remarks about ingredients, history and preparation that preface many of the recipes. Helou has created a paean to the foundation of Mediterranean food. (Aug.)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

Judith Sutton - Library Journal

In Helou's (Mediterranean Street Food) latest, she explores savory baking all around the Mediterranean, from flatbreads, pizza, and focaccia to yeast breads to breadsticks and rusks. She provides more than 125 recipes, among them Tunisian Spicy Breads, Turkish Pilaf Pie, and Pissaladière à la Tomate (French "Pizza"). Helou writes well, and the headnotes provide both context and culinary advice; her recipe instructions are thorough but unintimidating even for novice bakers. For all baking collections.

Books about: New Vegetarian Cooking or The Go Green East Harlem Cookbook

Dim Sum: Delicious Asian Finger Food

Author: Fiona Smith

Fiona Smith shows you how to make some of the best dim sum -- and lots of modern variations. She has included dishes from Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Japan, as well as from China -- all ready for you to recreate when you entertain.

Fiona's ideas are based on tried-and-true, easy-to-prepare recipes that she uses in her own catering business. The emphasis is on lots of flavor, finger-food-sized morsels, and cooking methods that are simple enough for home cooks to manage. Just one or two of these recipes will make all the difference to your next party.

Publishers Weekly

Food stylist Fiona Smith dishes out 30 manageable recipes for party food in Dim Sum: Delicious Asian Finger Food. Innovating on classic dishes, Smith tells lay chefs how to whip up wonders like Pea Shoot and Shrimp Dumplings, Peking-style Duck Pancake Wraps, and Jicama and Lime Salad. With mouthwatering photographs by William Lingwood and suggestions for presentational flourishes, this attractive little hardcover will appeal to established and aspiring gourmands. ( Mar.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.