Across the Mediterranean, one delicious food influence gives way to the next. From Spain and Italy, through Greece and Turkey and down to North Africa, the Med is a rich seam of deeply delicious food. While each country has its own unique dishes and distinct cultures, there is a commonality that brings the Med together – hot summers, dry winters, coastal briny winds, alfresco eating, street markets, sacrosanct meal times and making the best of local seasonal ingredients and produce, often in the simplest way.
In this mouth-watering collection, Ben Tish creates outstanding simple, modern recipes whose flavours transport you to the Med with minimal effort in the kitchen, bringing the flavours, sights and smells of your favourite holiday meals to life.
Recipes include:
Burek with honey-roasted pumpkin, goat's cheese and mint from Croatia
Oven-baked black rice from Spain
Lebanese seven-spice falafel
Cumin-roasted aubergines from Tunisia
Cretan grilled smokey sardines
Sicilian sea bass crudo with blood orange and cumin
Pork belly gyros from Greece
Turkish-style spiced lentils with pumpkin, chicken and aleppo pepper
Moroccan pastilla with slow-cooked pheasant
Quince and honey tart from Syria
and a classic Italian Tiramisu
Ben loves the food and flavours of the region, from the eastern shores of Turkey and Syria to the islands of Sardinia and Crete and the northern reaches of Slovenia and Croatia, and these are the recipes that he loves to share with friends, family and customers. His message is simple: cook like a Mediterranean, but also eat like one too: take time, invite friends and family, pour a glass of wine and lay the table.
