TURKEY Recipes and tales from the road

By: Leanne Kitchen

A book review by Franz Scheurer

Of all the books that make me want to pack and take a plane this is the one. Love Leanne’s portrayal of a country, a culture and a cuisine that is as fascinating as it’s rooted in history. Apart from being a gorgeous book with superb location photography by Leanne herself and stunning food photography by Amanda McLauchlan, it opens up a new world of flavours and textures that needs exploring.

Turkey’s cuisine is multi-faceted with opposites like the refined cooking of the Ottoman court and on the other end of the spectrum the rustic simplicity of peasant food and Leanne manages to capture it all. The book is divided into:

Mezze

Soups

Bread, Pastry and Pasta

Vegetables and Salads

Rice and Burghul

Fish and Seafood

Poultry and Meat and finally

Desserts

A comprehensive and useable index finishes the book. The recipes are achievable and the ingredients are easy to obtain locally. I love the diversity from ‘Muhamara with Stuffed Flat Bread’ to ‘Baked Rabbit with Cinnamon Rice and Lemon Sauce’ ending with a ‘Pomegranate Gel with Fairy Floss’.

Whenever I read parts of this book (again and again) I start salivating and have to decamp to the kitchen or, if pressed for time, go to Efendy in Balmain to eat terrific Turkish food.

This is a must have! Coffee Custard with Halva Pastries anyone?

ISBN 978-1-74196-599-5

Published by Murdoch Books

RRP: $ 69.99

Available March 2011