Description:
Northern California lies on the same latitude as Spain, Greece, Turkey, and southern Italy. This, Joanne Weir explains, accounts for its similarities to these Mediterranean lands. Tied to a U.S. public television show, Weir Cooking invites you to enjoy the fruits of California's wine country. Focusing on olives, goat cheese, crunchy crostini made from artisan baked bread made in wood-fired ovens, wine, and other ingredients commonly associated with both areas, she provides recipes marrying the culinary bounty they share. In this collection of 140 recipes, Weir manages to draw cooks and more passive recipe readers into the California experience, describing how the development of small-family farming in northern California contributes to the soul-lifting experience of shopping at San Francisco's Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, where urban customers become part of a friendly and revolutionary agricultural community, farmers remember what they like, and conversation leavens the interchange. Weir's classic white bean soup warmed with rosemary and pizza topped with pungent arugula and shaved Parmesan cheese are the epitome of California cooking. She is brilliant, too, at giving familiar dishes a new twist, poaching balls of buffalo mozzarella in warm, fresh tomato sauce perfumed with basil and frying risotto flavored with olive paste into irresistible, bite-size croquettes she calls Rice Olives. Any cook can appreciate the intelligent simplicity of lamb grilled on skewers of fresh rosemary and will gladly undertake the modest effort required to serve salmon drizzled with blood orange vinaigrette accompanied by plump asparagus. Apart from the TV show, Weir's way with food and her passion for northern California lets this book stand alone as a source for convivial meals. --Dana Jacobi
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