Paola Gavin

Mediterranean Vegetarian Cooking is text-dense (nearly 350 pages, no pictures, paper has aged exceedingly well in the 16 years since 2005). It positions itself as a compendium of naturally vegetarian and naturally healthy cuisine. Most recipes are quite simple, not spicy, and can be easily creatively altered. The recipes are labeled with their country of origin and a sentence or two of introduction text -- but really, this cookbook is about the recipes.

---

Lentils with orzo (main dish): Gavin labels this recipe as Greek but I found it to be an even faster take on fast Egyptian kushari (كشري). The variant in this cookbook includes the caramelized onions and tomato in the cooking liquid rather than atop, and doesn't include rice or chickpeas. It's a solid base recipe, and would been a nice introduction to the lentils-and-carb-and-caramelized-onion combo if I weren't already intimately familiar with kushari.

Carrots in harissa (side): This Tunisian recipe is quite similar to some of the delicious carrots I've gotten at Israeli and Lebanese restaurants. The spice profile is not one I'd have ever created (garlic, harissa, paprika, caraway, cumin, vinegar), which is the kind of inspiration I like in a cookbook. I'll use this approach for carrots again.… (mais)

Mediterranean vegetarian food is one of the healthiest in the world. This is a collection of over 200 dishes that makes it easy to reap the benefits of eating a Mediterranean diet. Based on fresh produce and readily-available ingredients, the recipes range form starters and salads to a wide variety of healthy main courses, rice, pasta and desserts, as well as all kinds of ways to prepare vegetables. This book includes traditional fare from every country around the Mediterranean, such as potato and spinach croquettes from Albania, Catalan split pea soup, Sardinian aubergine ravioli, Provencal onion quiche, Tunisian couscous with sweet and hot peppers, and Dalmatian cream caramel. The recipes are simple and easy to prepare, with plenty of room for improvisation and flexibility.… (mais)