Whether you’ve been on a summer trip already, are looking forward to one, or are just chilling out at home, food is always the best way to channel holiday energy onto your doorstep.
While we’d like to be eating arancini in Sicily all the time, it’s not always possible – but that doesn’t mean you can’t recreate some of your favourite southern European dishes at home even after the last of the summer sun.
And Mediterranean food is having a moment right now, judging by the amount of brilliant new cookbooks being released shining a spotlight on the cuisine.
What’s particularly exciting about these books is how they showcase the sheer range within Mediterranean food. While there’s lots of pastas, grilled seafood and dishes you’ll likely be more familiar with, there’s also plenty more – demonstrating the diversity of food in the countries along the Med.
Looking for some culinary inspiration this summer? Let these new cookbooks lend a helping hand…
1. Mediterra by Ben Tish
Chef Ben Tish has worked under the Michelin-starred likes of Marcus Wareing and Jason Atherton, so he certainly knows his stuff.
Mediterra is his fifth cookbook, and it’s handily divided up by geography. First, we head to the ‘Northern Shores’, which spans Spain, France, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, and Greece.
Highlights include salmon baked in fig leaves from Provence, the only spaghetti al pomodoro (spaghetti with tomatoes) recipe you’ll ever need, BBQ’d scallops from Croatia and a classic Greek salad.
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Then it’s on to the ‘Eastern Shores’ – Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt. While the dishes differ from the first chapter – think seven-spice falafel, lamb and pistachio meatballs, and labneh cheesecake – there’s a similar emphasis on simple, seasonal ingredients.
Finally, Tish stops off at the ‘Southern Shores’, which represent Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. Recipes range from honey and harissa chicken wings to a Medjool date and cardamom loaf.
The variety in this book is truly impressive – there’s something for everyone, and plenty of recipes to get you trying something new and expand your impression of what Mediterranean food is.
2. Crazy Water, Pickled Lemons by Diana Henry
We’re slightly cheating with this one, because Crazy Water, Pickled Lemons is actually a brand-new reprint… of an older book.
But it’s still well worth looking at, particularly as none other than Yotam Ottolenghi refers to it as an “all-time classic” and “the book I’m happy to return to, over and over again”.
This was Co Derry food writer Diana Henry’s first book, first published back in 2002. Back then, some of the ingredients she spoke about – pomegranates, figs, saffron and more – were relatively hard to come by, but not so now. Now, the book is more accessible than ever.
Packed with familiar Mediterranean recipes, like simple Greek lamb or lemon and basil ice cream, Henry also ventures further into the Middle East and Africa, with dishes like Turkish pizza with pomegranates, spinach and feta, and rose ice cream.
Henry is greatly skilled as a storyteller, whether it’s talking about discovering set natural yoghurt as an au pair in France, or explaining the meaning behind the titular ‘crazy water’. FYI, it’s actually the name of a poached fish dish from the Amalfi Coast.
No one knows exactly why it earned this title – it could be a reference to the seawater the fisherman used to cook the catch at sea, or it could be a reference to the chilli in the recipe.
3. Moroseta Kitchen by Giorgia Eugenia Goggi
Moroseta Kitchen is the most laser-focused of all three books on this list, zeroing in on recipes from Puglia, a southern region of Italy.
It comes from Giorgia Eugenia Goggi, the resident chef of Ostuni-based hotel Masseria Moroseta, whose focus is seasonal and modern Italian cuisine.
If you haven’t quite managed to navigate the waitlist to dine at the hotel’s restaurant – which has over 300 people clamouring a night in peak season – this is the next best thing.
It’s divided up into seasons, giving you a taste of Puglia all year round – spring brings fresh grilled asparagus dishes; summer has tomato raviolo; autumn features an apple, spelt and coriander cake; and winter stars a lot of artichoke, like a recipe for an artichoke, chestnut and almond emulsion.
It’s definitely the most complex of all the cookbooks – featuring less mainstream ingredients like rabbit and experimental dishes like potato skin gelato, so is perhaps for cooks looking to take their food to the next level.
The pictures in the book are particularly stunning – all shot on film, they transport you to a farmhouse in Puglia. And while you might not have on-site hens to give you eggs for breakfast or your own herbs to add into a spritz, you can still soak up a bit of Italian flair at home with Goggi’s recipes.
