Wine Bar Food: Mediterranean Flavors to Crave with Wines to Matchby Cathy Mantuano and Tony Mantuano
Two summers ago, my mother and sister and I went on a Mediterranean cruise, starting in Barcelona and ending in Venice, with stops in Marseilles, Florence, Rome, Capri, Mykonos, Istanbul, Ephesus, and Athens. I'm not explaining this to gloat, but to show why I love this cookbook. It is divided into sections based on cities and stops around the Mediterranean Sea, with most of the above (except the Turkish ones), but also Milan, Seville, Lisbon. Each city gets a tour with recipes and suggestions. Every time I pick up this book, I relive our cruise.
The cruise left from Barcelona, so we had a night there before we departed. I had a little guide book and we managed to found a restaurant listed in it - I felt like I was on the Amazing Race. We sat outside, eating tapas, and just drinking up the atmosphere. Our waiter insisted we order tomato bread so we did. It was plain, but delicious along with everything else. I've been wanting to make tomato bread ever since.
Some nice Irish tourists next to us took our picture, that's me on the left.
There are two types of cooks: the ones who faithfully follow a recipe, especially the first time and the ones who figure they know what they want and will make changes right away. I am usually the second type, but I faithfully followed the Tomato Bread recipe from this book for our family party. It called for Serrano ham which was my concern. It's a cured bacon type meat which I didn't actually enjoy for breakfast in Barcelona, but I found it in the grocery store so I decided to be true to the recipe. The Tomato Bread was yummy and got the requisite "ooh's" from my relatives last weekend. Once the ham was mixed with the other flavors, it was delicious.
The recipe book is filled with fabulous pictures, great ideas, and suggestions for wines and cheeses and how to use canned foods that might be more readily available in North America. Some recipes look like what you would order in a restaurant but not make for yourself like the Lavender Ice Cream on Briocche from Nice or the Potato Chips with Sea Salt and Rosemary from Milan. But I have a list of recipes I'd like to try, like Fried Eggs with Mushrooms, Garlic and Parsley from Barcelona or the Barolo Risotto from Milan. Fresh vegetables and herbs, good cheeses and wines, and good olive oil are the staples of Mediterranean eating and also coincide with healthy eating. Lots of great recipes in this book mean I will be reliving my cruise and adventure for years to come.
