Review
The very idea of Mexican microwave cookery may strike many as an anomaly: the subtle glories of ethnic cooking from a high-speed heartless appliance? The ultimate short-changing of a complex-flavored cuisine? I am delighted that Mexican Microwave Cookery is an informational and useful cookbook of Southwestern and Mexican recipes that can be realistically, and I emphasize the word, made in the microwave oven. Carol Medina Maze is also a home economics teacher. Her great grandmother and great-aunt were both cooks in New Mexico. Maze is intimately familiar with - and this is much of the charm of the book the native ingredients of her landscape, the chiles, the corn that becomes flour for tortillas, the spices, such as Mexican saffron. She has matched regional recipe to cooking technique. Huevos rancberos con cbile verde (ranch-style eggs with green chiles) is a one-dish breakfast or brunch that cooks in all of five minutes. Similarly, shrimp with a lovely, light combination of vegetables and chiles takes nine minutes to complete. Eight chapters - from chiles and sauces to meat, chicken, and fish dishes, to beverages and desserts - provide many tempting options from which to choose. Add to this the fact that each recipe has been nutritionally analyzed for content - fat, sodium, cholesterol, and so on - and what you have is a book that engagingly investigates the surprises of ethnic cooking in not only a modem but a health-respectful manner. Furthermore, the book is pretty. A winning combination. -- From Independent Publisher
