Matthew Kenney's Mediterranean Cooking: Great Flavors for the American Kitchen (Hardcover)

~ Sam Gugino (Author), (Author), Paul Franz-Moore (Photographer) "A well - stocked pantry need not contain truffles and a dozen types of olive oil..." (more)
Key Phrases: chopped summer salad, small sheet pan, mezze table, Mediterranean Rim, United States, North Africa (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

One of New York City's most talented young chefs, Kenney has just opened his third Manhattan restaurant, Monzu; Mezze, a casual cafe/take-out spot, and his namesake restaurant, Matthew's, are thriving. Kenney categorizes his food as "Mediterranean Rim cuisine," a fitting description for the imaginative dishes he cooks, influenced by Moroccan, Egyptian, and a variety of other Mediterranean cuisines, not just those of Italy and France's Provence. Most of these recipes are uncomplicated but full of flavor: Sauteed Scallops with Spicy Orange Dressing, Tunisian-Style Sea Bass with Chili and Saffron; many are shown in striking full-color photographs. Mediterranean food continues to be popular, and Kenney's attractive book is recommended for most collections.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Reviews From:

Metropolitan Home

Bon Appetit

By Julia Moskin

Remember the old days of supermarket produce shopping when tracking down a fresh mango or a bunch of cilantro could be a week-long project? Today, as Americans have become more knowledgeable about food, tropical fruits perfume the air in most markets, and fresh herbs like rosemary, thyme and basil are familiar sights.

And as our desire for more intense and exotic tastes continues, the search has moved beyond the produce section. Thanks to chefs like New York's Matthew Kenney, we're discovering an old-world solution to the question of how to keep meals interesting: the creative use of spices. Vivid seasonings like coriander, cumin, cardamom and anise are becoming more common, and old favorites like ginger, paprika, cloves and cinnamon are being used in surprising new ways.

We're quickly learning that whole-roasted, freshly ground spices, freely combined in ways that ignite our palates, can infuse any dish with flavor. Even bland chicken breasts, mild fish fillets, or plain potatoes can be encrusted, scented or otherwise imbued with spice.

Chef Kenney is in the vanguard of this revival. "Freshness is important, but the flavors of my food also come from strong seasoning." At his restaurants, Matthew's, Mezze and Monzu, Kenney cooks the way Jackson Pollock painted: The method looks excessive, but the result is always harmonious. "My food is about layering flavors on, not stripping them down." he says.

When Kenney pulls out his arsenal of spices, we can never be sure what will come of it. A vegetable stew transformed by coriander seeds or a pear dessert warmed up with a spark of black pepper. Odd-sounding combinations like rosemary with strawberries turn out brilliantly in his confident hands.

Kenney complements his alluring cuisine with lemon zest, honey, capers, nuts and a whole gardenful of herbs and fresh ginger, but it is his dedication to spices that sets him apart. Roasting and grinding the spices is a daily task for his kitchen staff, but he wouldn't have it any other way. Fresh flavor isn't the only concern; commercial spices are often milled to a too-fine powder, which affects the outcome of the dish.

"I love how fresh, coarsely ground spices break up the way the flavor hits your palate—the texture of food is also very important to me," says Kenney, who recalls his training in French cuisine as a process in which smoothness was always the goal. "We were always filleting and pureeing, straining and clarifying, making the food as soft and refined as possible." Today, intensity and boldness hold more appeal for most people. And any home cook can find fresh spices at ethnic markets or through mail order. With an oven for toasting and a coffee grinder, these flavors are easy to replicate.

There are no rules in Kenney's realm. Warm spices like cinnamon and nutmeg, cloves and ginger usually say dessert, but Kenney is just as likely to use them to perfume lamb shanks or pan-roasted carrots. Delicate, licorice-flavored anise can season a sweet-hot glaze for roast duck, can mix with warm olive oil to definitively reinvent mashed potatoes, or can lighten a citrusy almond cake. Cardamom's woody quality—it's redolent of both cedar and sandalwood—begins a chain of associations in Kenney's mind that ends with forest mushrooms. The result is an immensely satisfying flatbread with wild mushrooms, cardamom and hazelnuts.

Are there any exotic new spices we should be on the lookout for? "Well," Kenney says with a dreamy expression that signals a new dish in the making, "I haven't really begun to think seriously about salt yet."

The best of the most recent crop [of cookbooks] take you into an alternative reality. Matthew Kenney, the celebrated chef-owner of three Manhattan restaurants—Matthew's Mezze and Monzu—has created, along with Sam Gugino, a welcoming little book on Mediterranean Cooking. Although small in format, the book packs a punch with attractive typography and inviting, not-too-precious food photography (none of that glistening, too-beautiful-to-cook look here). Kenney's focus is what he calls Mediterranean Rim cooking, including Egypt, Turkey, and Algeria. By the time I finished perusing the book, it was punctuated with Post-its that marked recipes I wanted to try—from a simple chilled chickpea, tomato and yogurt soup to the more ambitious spicy shrimp paella with clams and fresh fava beans.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 168 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (October 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811814432
• ISBN-13: 978-0811814430
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 8.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #692,765 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Yum Yum! Great for both experienced and inexperienced cooks!, November 11, 1997

By A Customer

Not only is this book beautiful to look at and hold, with great pictures and graphics (some of the pictures are works of art in and of themselves!) and lovely paper, it also has really great recipes, with clear, easy to follow directions. The VERY best part about it for me, though, is the sections running along the edges of each page, where the chef talks about various ingredients in each recipe, and how that ingredient fits in with other things, and how to combine this dish with other dishes and flavors. This is not just a book of recipes, it is a guide to mediterranean cooking in general, and much of it reads like a good novel. You can sit down and just read it, for fun, and when you are finished, you will have an understanding of the flavors and textures of the food, and how to work with them on your own to create meals. It's a great gift (even for yourself!), both beautiful and informative. Even if you have never been to Matthew's restaurant in New York, you'll love this book!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great addition to your kitchen..., August 23, 2000

By	Jack Dempsey (South Miami Beach, Florida) - See all my reviews

This book offers a great combination of things: Excellent recipes, relative ease of cooking the dishes, beautifully graphic layout/design, and wonderful text.

Matthew has a good ability to cook these dishes, and an equally good ability to "teach" the reader how to do the same.

The recipes are really all over the place, drawing upon influences of all Mediterrean countries. Some dishes for instance, are really more common to Middle-Eastern countries, but all flow wonderfully together in this work.

A truly enjoyable, as well as informative, book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars YUMMY!!, March 26, 2001

By	rhapsdyblue "rhapsdyblue" (NY NY) - See all my reviews

This is a wonderful cookbook by famous chef Matthew Kenney. I love Morrocan and Mediterranean foods. I found the recipes not only delicious but very easy to make. Matthew describes his first interest in Mediterranean cooking and how he became a chef. Some of my favorite recipes are the carpaccio, the fennel salad, and the poek loin with apricot and pistachios. It's a great little book if you like cooking "exotic foods".