Amazon.com Review
Roasted meats seasoned with precious saffron underlaid with the pungent notes of cumin, cinnamon, and turmeric. Marinated fish snuggled in a bed of almonds, pickled lemon, and couscous. Simultaneously sweet and piquant salads. Delicate and sugary pastries flavored with fragrant orange-blossom water, dripping with honey, and served with a fresh rinse of mint tea. What more proof could there be that food for the body should be food for the soul? Small wonder that the worshippers of sensual culinary delights have anointed Momo one of the most successful new restaurants in recent years for vibrantly conjuring up the atmosphere of a North African
souk in the heart of London.
The Momo Cookbook is much more than a recipe collection. Prose portraits of the land of the Maghreb (Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria) connect its rich history to the development of a distinctive cuisine that, over the centuries, has been influenced by Jewish, Arabic, Italian, and Spanish cultures. Stunning location photographs bring the colorful landscape, its traditions and people, to life.
But the meat of the book is, of course, the food. The 90 recipes open a door to North Africa, and fortunately the ingredients do not cost the price of a return flight: lots of vegetables, fruits, cereals, meats, fish, and poultry that, with the artful use of spices, herbs, and fragrant waters, are transformed into marvels. Momo himself offers traditional recipes (such as mechouia, a roasted-pepper and tomato salad; harira, a rich, thick soup made with cereal; and briouats, stuffed and fried pastry parcels) as well as modern dishes created in the restaurant (such as Fillet of John Dory, with aubergine confit and polenta; dried fruit salad with aromatic spices; and boureks of crispy vegetables) that can easily be prepared in a home kitchen. Although some of the more exotic ingredients such as orange-blossom water may need searching out if you don't live in a large multicultural city, the book includes helpful and surprisingly easy methods for making such ingredients as pickled lemons and almond milk, as well as a full glossary and meal plans. A doorway to a land where sugar and salt, spice and honey coexist happily will always serve up pleasure, whether on the coffee table or the kitchen counter. --Fiona Buckland
From Publishers Weekly
Algerian-born Mazouz, chef and owner of the titular London restaurant, offers a vivid immersion into the Maghreb region-made up of Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria-with this elegant, temptingly illustrated cookbook. The chef's lyrical introduction, historical and cultural background on North Africa, an explanation of the region's cuisine (it emerged from Jewish, Arab, Turkish, French and Spanish influences) and a glossary of herbs and spices precede the book's 90 recipes. The extensive chapter of Moroccan recipes details a range of salads, desserts, tagines and couscous dishes, many accompanied by information on the food's cultural context and all with a vibrant photo. Most of the recipes are traditional, like the pigeon pastilla, a "sweet and spicy" meat pie, and harira, a thick, rich soup eaten by Muslims during Ramadan, but Mazouz also includes modern Momo innovations such as fillet of John Dory with confit aubergines and polenta. The chapters for Tunisia and Algeria are shorter but no less appetizing, with appetizing basics like a Tunisian version of couscous with seven vegetables and lhem lahlou, an Algerian sweet lamb stew. Mazouz deliberately omits recipes that might be inaccessible for Westerners (no chicken's feet or stuffed tripe, for example), and most ingredients should be readily available. Despite the clarity of the recipes, though, some home cooks might be daunted by the preparation required, from steaming couscous three times to folding thin, delicate pastry sheets. Even if the sumptuousness on display here doesn't convince readers to make the effort, they should be tantalized by this culinary exploration of North Africa.
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