South African cooking encompasses a variety of food, to be expected from a large country with a vibrant indigenous history and influences from colonization and immigration. Cape Mediterranean, the first cookbook by Western Cape food blogger Ilse van der Merwe, focuses on food from the Mediterranean-like climate in her region, adding to the "thriving, contemporary multicultural South African foodscape."
More than 75 recipes cover breads, braises and soups, sweets and much more. Some recipes are simple, with easily sourced ingredients, and sound familiar to anyone who has cooked from Mediterranean cookbooks: Tagliatelle with Fresh Basil and Pesto, for example, or Roasted Tomato Soup with Garlic and Thyme. But van der Merwe also includes more elaborate dishes with a South African flair. Baked Cape Figs with Fynbos Honey and Gorgonzola, an appetizer, lists locally farmed purple figs rather than imported figs, and South African Blue Cheese. Enthusiastic cooks will enjoy searching out these ingredients in well-stocked grocery or specialty stores, but can substitute more common ingredients if necessary. Pork and Fennel Ragu with Tomato and Preserved Lemon riffs on the classic heavy Mediterranean ragu by using tomatoes rather than tomato paste and preserved lemons (recipe included), making "a fragrance that is unusual and inviting."
Cape Mediterranean has full-color pictures throughout, and lists ingredients in both U.S. standard and metric. The recipes are clearly written to ensure success the first time. Cooks looking to expand their repertoire of modern ethnic dishes will welcome this practical cookbook to their shelves. --Cindy Pauldine, bookseller, the river's end bookstore, Oswego, N.Y.