The Complete Mediterranean Cookbook

I’m a fair cook, but since buying this book, I’ve learned more about how to choose, mix and prepare ingredients than I could have imagined. There are fantastic, delicious recipes - yummy zucchini and feta fritters, scallops with orange/lime dressing, orzo with lemon shrimp, to name just of few of the dishes I’ve already made!! The authors explain why they do certain things (e.g. braising vs. baking), provide really helpful tips (e.g. how to devein shrimp and zest a lemon), give overviews on basic ingredients like olive oil, beans and fresh herbs, and offer variations for many of the dishes. Nutritional information for each recipe is even provided! Recipes are easy to follow and presented in a logical order that makes preparation efficient, even to the point of indicating when mixing bowls and pans can be re-used. To be fair, most of the recipes take more than 40 minutes to prepare, and while most of the ingredients can be found at any grocery store, they aren’t items I already had in my pantry. After making about 10 of the dishes, however, I now have most of the staples for Mediterranean cooking readily available and use them regularly. Buying sherry vinegar and ground coriander may seem like one-off investments, but trust me, you’ll be using these items again in no time! And to my surprise, this book has done such a great job educating me, I’m can now modify some of the recipes based on personal preferences! If you’re looking to change your diet, or for just a few great dishes, this book is a must have! UPDATE: I've been using this cookbook for a year now, and have made more than 125 of the recipes, many on multiple occasions. All but 1 of the dishes have ranged from good to great! I've even tried some of the recipes that didn't sound appealing on paper and am so glad I did...who knew Spicy Turnips and Chickpeas could be such a delicious combo?? I can't overstate how great this cookbook is! My absolute only issue is the binding is weak. Pages started falling out almost immediately, so I suggest going with the spiral bound version if it's available. Happy cooking!

This is one of the best cookbooks I have purchased in a long time! I am a newbie to the Mediterranean diet, but super interested in a low-glycemic, anti-inflammatory and high veggie, herb and spice lifestyle. I’m fairly picky and have a good mix of need for quick and easy meals as well as a rewarding and fun longer meal. This book has both. I will highlight that it also has it organized in sections where you can find an ingredient like chickpeas, and then it gives you 5 or so recipes using that ingredient as the base. So if you are someone who is like “I want to learn how to cook with chickpeas more” then this gives you a good couple of options to get those in your diet and I’m sure you will find at least one go-to favorite from those few choices. It is well organized, informational, beautiful, and super handy! Great wedding gift, staple cookbook for any household.

Very comprehensive cookbook. Lots of recipes, some pictures, ideas for substitutions, info about new ingredients or cooking techniques. Some ingredients are hard to find but from the recipes we've cooked, they've been good. Even my children have liked them!

I don’t normally write reviews (I’m a harsh critic), but I’ve recommended this book to so many people now, I thought I should. I lost 35 lbs. by cooking recipes from this book 3-5 times a week on average. No, I don’t exercise; I just eliminated all processed foods from my diet and replaced them with recipes from this book. I also enjoy a glass of wine (or two!) with my meal most evenings. I’m not sure how many different recipes I’ve made from the book, but it’s definitely more than 50–possibly 100. They are all DELICIOUS! There is not a single recipe in this book I would not serve to guests. In fact, I’m a bit embarrassed when I serve these recipes to guests and they tell me what a talented cook I am. I blush and point to the book and say “honestly, I can read and follow directions.” It’s really that simple! The recipes are very easy to follow and even a complete novice like me can turn out wonderful food if you follow the directions carefully. The recipes all call for readily available ingredients that you can find in any grocery store. There are a handful of ingredients I’ve never used or even heard of, but you can find them and I tell people to not be intimidated by them. If I can do it, anyone can. There are a great number of vegetarian recipes in here, which my wife’s family (Hindu strict vegetarians) LOVE. My wife even complains when we go out to fancy Italian restaurants now, “this isn’t as good as what you make!” I wasn’t much of a vegetable guy before I started this journey, now I literally crave vegetables—it makes my mouth water just thinking about it! If you’re going to diet, you have to like the food to stick to it—you really can’t do better than this. My one complaint (and it’s extremely minor) is the author(s) write in the beginning that they did not include any recipes featuring things like salmon because it’s not indigenous to the Mediterranean. Really? Because neither are tomatoes (!!!), potatoes, halibut, etc. There are plenty of AMAZING seafood recipes, however. Simply put, I would have continued cooking out of this book even if I hadn’t lost the weight—turns out that’s just a side benefit! P.S. You may want to start a small herb garden, as I recently have. Almost all the recipes call for fresh herbs (parsley, thyme, basil, oregano, etc.). While fresh herbs are relatively inexpensive, I find the quantities generally include more than I need and go bad before I can use the whole bunch. I don’t recommend trying to substitute dry herbs (unless specifically noted)—they just don’t compare. EDIT: It’s been a year now and I’ve stuck to my diet and maintained my weight (I’m right on my ideal BMI). I saw some reviews that said the nutrition info is somewhat cumbersome to find. Honestly, I never even looked at that section! I just made the recipes that appealed to me and the pounds came off. I also saw some people say they thought some ingredients were hard to find; that has not been my experience. I shop at wegmans, which granted, does carry a lot of gourmet food items. But the ones that are more unique (pomegranate molasses, Dukkah, preserved lemons, etc.) the book provides recipes on making them—however, I didn’t make any of those as you can also find them right here on Amazon.

Bought this for My wife and she said she loves this cookbook and she found this book very inspiring. Easy to follow. She said she’s happy so I’m happy too because I will be having a delicious meal every day! Overall, we are so happy with this product!

I bought this as a gift and the recipient loves it! Great recipes that are easy to follow and lots of good ideas for healthier eating.

What's good about it? The variety and sheer number of recipes. The in-depth how-to and how-comes. What's bad about it? 1. I bought the hardcopy and the print is so small!!! 2. Exotic ingredients that are hard-to-find. I couldn't find fontina cheese at any of the big 3 national grocery chains in my medium-size city of almost one million people. Lavash bread was not available at one of the stores. Forget about finding squid in Kentucky. 3. Not enough pictures. There is not a picture of each recipe. 4. Complicated recipes with a lot of ingredients. I'm an experienced cook with almost 40 years of experience preparing meals and I will have to read, and re-read as I go. This is a very advanced cookbook and not for the faint of heart. 5. The nutrition information is at the back of the book instead of with the actual recipe, almost like it was an afterthought. 6. Too many "just buy the premade processed crap" instead of giving 100% of the information to make the whole item from scratch. Why would you tell the reader to buy premade Lavash bread instead of giving the recipe?? I bought this particular cookbook because of the 20,000 almost 5- star reviews. I'm still scratching my head at that. Not even close to 5 stars in my mind.

Wonderful book! Great photos of most every recipe! Superb introduction to the Mediterranean Diet!

A cookbook filled with so many new ideas for a Mediterranean menu.

Fantastic cookbook loaded with awesome recipes.

Really loved the book. So many good recipes, really recommend!

Wanting to eat healthier, I checked ATK books and bought this and the Salads one too. For this book, there are so many beautiful recipes that I will make and eat. I tried the baked rice dish last night and it was delicious. I have a lot of ATK books and they never disappoint. There are a lot of nice clean recipes that I have bookmarked already. For those who love pictures in their cookbooks, this has a lot. There are humus variations as well as beans, fish, veg and so much more.

Lost two stars directly for Ratatouille recipe: "Remove pot from oven and using a potato masher or heavy wooden spoon smash and stir eggplant mixture until broken down to a sauce like consistency.” Eggplant is a delicate and wonderful vegetable and this recipe wants you to mash it like potatoes. Apparently the US based team doesn't understand the finesse in European cooking.