My Kitchen in Spain: 225 Authentic Regional Recipes

by Janet Mendel

Book Overview

From the sun-drenched Spanish countryside to the seaside villages to the bustling city tapa bars, one thing unites all of Spain: its varied and satisfying food. In this Mediterranean land of beauty and bounty, good food is a pleasure everyone shares. Spanish cuisine has flourished for centuries, inspired by luscious fruits and vegetables, fresh seafood and game, artisanal cheeses, cured meats, and renowned local wines. The influence of North African...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060195266
• ISBN13: 9780060195267
• Release Date: May 2002
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 1.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 8.0" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Easy to follow and fun to do

The receipes are accurate, fun, easy to follow and release in your kitchen awesome cooking smell. Receipes are colorful, pleasant to the eye and fun to eat.

Excellent Recipes of Personal Experience of Spanish Food

`My Kitchen in Spain' by Janet Mendel, one of the two major English language writers on the food of Spain, is not your definitive review of a food's culinary culture like Penelope Casas' `The Food and Wine of Spain' or Diane Kochilas `The Glorious Foods of Greece' or even Jean Anderson's smaller book on `The Food of Portugal'. While it is a bit less than these works, it is a bit more than Patricia Wells' two books on cooking in Provence, which are very personal recipe collections from a single region of France. It is most similar to `Rome at Home' by Suzanne Dunaway' or even to Mario Batali's `Cooking from My Two Villages'. That is, it is a personal view of a region's cooking with a fair coverage of at least all the major topics of that region's cooking, if not being a comprehensive survey. Ms. Mendel gets on my good side immediately upon my opening the cover, where there is a very nice map of the provinces and major cities of Spain. The book's subtitle is `225 Authentic Regional Recipes' and while the geography of Spain may be more familiar to most Americans than, say, the geography of Thailand, it is still a very important matter to have a map of your region with all the place names you mention on that map. Ms. Mendel's editors slip just a bit by mentioning places in Spain which are not noted on the map, but I will forgive them, as they are small villages and the location by direction and relation to the coast are clearly described. While I am sure that the recipes are authentic and I am sure that Ms. Mendel presents recipes from outside her immediate region, the presentation is not systematic by region. Rather, it is done by type of dish, leading off with the recently very popular Tapas. This chapter of 28 recipes begins with the big three classics, spiced fried almonds, olives, and the inimitable Spanish potato omelet (Tortilla Espanola). I was tickled when I discovered this dish and the related fact that the badly misnamed `Spanish omelet' of diners across the country has virtually nothing to do with Spain. I immediately tried Ms. Mendel's recipe as this is a favorite dish of mine, and I found it to be at least as good as all the other recipes I have tried. My personal observation is that I may rather finish it like a frittata by sliding it under a broiler rather than flipping it. Even with a modestly weighted Calphalon aluminum pan, this was pretty messy business. I followed the author's recipe by slicing the potatoes on a cheap mandoline, but she says her son claims that chopped potatoes give a better result than slicing. I am almost inclined to believe that the best procedure is to grate the spuds, as the object seems to get a pretty tightly intertwined mix of egg and potato. The book has several sidebars on major Spanish culinary products, especially ham, sherry, and olive oil. She claims Spain produces the most and the best olive oil. There is no question that Spain produces the most. Many experts believe the best comes from Tuscany

Excellent and Easy-to-Follow Recipes

This book provides excellent, easy to follow recipes for a variety of course from Tapas to Holiday Fare, and it's all excellent.The book, generally, calls for simple ingredients which makes for delightfully rustic meals. The recipes are clear and suitable for even a novice cook. The several Paella recipes are excellent and the Flan is to-die-for. (This is the first time I've made Flan that has ever turned out perfectly.)Granted, there are no pictures, so this cookbook is more suitable as a COOKBOOK rather than a coffeetable book. The pictures are not necessary, as even a beginner could make the recipes beautifully, and a little creativity will help you to plate them well.

A wonderful read to teach or entertain

Janet Mendel has written a marvelous book for anyone interested in Spanish cooking, or who plans to travel to Spain. Filled with anecdotes from her 30 years of living in Spain, the book is a well-written and fascinating compendium of recipes from all over the country. It serves up descriptions and explanations of the various ingredients found in Spanish cooking, as well as substitutions available on this side of the Atlantic, where necessary. I highly recommend this book to food lovers of all levels of cooking experience.