This book is a great introduction to the diverse cuisines of the Mediterranean. I found the book at the library when I started working at Trigo, my first restaurant in New York. Trigo had a general Mediterranean menu, a great mix of Italian, French, Spanish, North African, and Israeli cuisines. I wanted to learn more about the dishes we were making, and this book provided great background information.

The book is divided into chapters by ingredient: olives, tomatoes, wheat, pasta, etc. There are many classic Med flavor combinations here: olives and blood oranges, capers and anchovies, tomatoes and herbs. As with most Mediterranean cooking, the dishes are mostly simple and easy to prepare, but delicious and timeless. The author, Nancy Harmon Jenkins, traveled around the Med to gather these recipes.

When I traveled to Turkey in early 2007, I quickly fell in love with the food. After I got back, I immediately wanted to recreate the dishes I had enjoyed so much: Sultan’s delight, kofta kebabs, pitas and flatbreads with all types of spreads and toppings, and of course for the sweettooth, delicious pistachio baklava.

This book is written by the chef of a restaurant by the same name, and the recipes are both authentic and easy to follow. Although some recipes call for hard-to-find ingredients such as Turkish pepper and Turkish sheep’s cheese, advice on where to find them and what substitutions work well is given.

Another great introduction to Turkish cuisine. The recipes are a little more simple than Sultan’s Kitchen, but the classics are all here: kebabs, hummus, baba ghanouj, etc.