Cookery and recipes - Rick Steins french odyssey Rick Stein cookbooks list
Intrigued by a little book by a yachtsman who preferred to use the canal system to get to the Mediterranean rather than sailing round Spain and Portugal, Rick Stein embarks on his own journey of gastronomic discovery from Padstow to Bordeaux and then to Marseille. On the way he browses in French markets, meets the producers of wine and food and eats in family-run cafes. Was it to be the dawning of a harsh new reality of burgers and frites, or would he find that the French rural gastronomic dream still exists? And what was this shortcut between two seas really like?
The book is divided into a diary section and recipe chapters. The story starts in Cornwall with a painful goodbye to Chalky the Jack Russell, who has become too old for such adventure, then a ferry crossing to Brittany and the drive south to Bordeaux. Here the inland trip by water begins, which will travel over aqueducts and through echoing tunnels and flights of locks until it ends in Marseille, with many encounters along the way.
The recipe section is inspired by those encounters: with the food producers, in the markets and among the regional specialities of south-west and southern France. Featuring starters, light lunches, main courses and desserts, the recipes include authentic versions of the classics - Vichyssoise. Pissaladière. Bouillabaisse. Cassoulet and Tarte Tatin - as well as new takes on traditional ingredients: Seared Foie Gras on Sweetcorn Pancakes, Fillets of John Dory with Cucumber and Noilly Prat, Rabbit with Agen Prunes and Polenta and Prune and Almond Tart with Armagnac.
Fully illustrated with beautiful food photography by James Murphy and landscape photography by Craig Easton, Rick Stein's French Odyssey is both a souvenir of an unusual and idyllic journey through rural France and an inspiring collection of classic and original recipes. The good news is that the French rural gastronomic dream is still a reality, and the best of its food can be reproduced at home. (Source: Front Flap)
Rick Stein OBE is one of Britain's favourite cookery writers and chefs. In 2004 he was named the BBC Food Personality of the Year at the BBC Radio Food and Farming Awards for his Food Heroes television series. The two books that accompanied that series, Rick Stein's Food Heroes and Food Heroes: Another Helping, which celebrate the champions of good food in Britain, were the latest in a line of bestsellers; his Guide to the Food Heroes of Britain is also available and regularly updated. His other TV programmes include Rick Stein's Taste of the Sea, Seafood Lovers' Guide - which won the Television Programme Award at the Glenfiddich Awards in 2001 - and his latest, French Odyssey, which this book accompanies. Previous books include English Seafood Cookery, which won the 1989 Glenfiddich Award for Food Book of the Year, and Taste of the Sea, which won both the 1995 André Simon Memorial Fund Food Book Award and the 1996 Good Food Award for Cookery Book of the Year. Rick himself was awarded the overall prize, the Glenfiddich Trophy, in 2001. His most recent seafood book, Rick Stein's Seafood, won the coveted James Beard Foundation Cookbook of the year Award in 2005.
Rick Stein owns The Seafood Restaurant in Padstow in Cornwall, which every year attracts thousands of fish lovers from Britain and abroad. He also runs the highly acclaimed Padstow Seafood School, two smaller restaurants, St Petroc's Bistro and Rick Stein's Café, a deli and a fish-and-chip takeaway. Rick was awarded his OBE in 2003 for services to tourism. (Source: Front Flap)
Inspired by his gastronomic journey through the idyllic waterways of Southern France, "Rick Stein's French Odyssey" explores French culinary tradition - perfect for aspiring cooks everywhere. Beginning with a diary of his trip and then divided into 6 chapters, with classic recipes at the back, the book is illustrated throughout with stunning food and location shots. Rick' s culinary tour on an ancient barge takes him along the Canal du midi from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. His final destination is a little restaurant near Marseille where several years ago he had the best seafood lunch imaginable. Along the way he samples regional foods from country stew in Castelsarrasin to the Montaine Noire hams of Castelnaudary. Further south he stops over in the Languedoc wine region and samples local delicacies before heading towards Marseilles via the Canal du Rhone. With over 100 recipes, Rick's gastro-tour will motivate every reader to try French cooking again and again. (Source: Amazon UK October 2005)
|
|
|
Over 100 new recipes inspired by the flavours of France
Rick Stein TV chefs, TV cooks and cookbooks |
|
