Moro joins the starry ranks of beautifully presented London restaurant cookbooks such as The River Café Cookbook and Momo that have excelled in delivering the tastes of the Mediterranean to our colder climes. Both the cookbook and the restaurant are the realisation of the dreams of Samuel and Samantha Clark, chef-owners and now writers. Their passion for the intense flavours of the cuisine of Spain, North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean follow the saffron-cinnamon connection; the robust style of Spanish cooking balancing the lighter, more exotic dishes of the Muslim Mediterranean.

Tapas favourites such as tortilla, pimientos del piquillo (sweet peppers), boquerones (anchovies), sardines and chorizo share the table with familiar mezzes like grilled chicken wings with tahini, baba ghanoush and tabbouleh. But the joy of Moro is that it balances such favourites with rarer fare and new inventive recipes with traditional ingredients, such as the colourful and deliciously rich carcuteria cecina with beetroot and almond sauce and grilled quail with rose petals. If you thought you knew what to expect from paella, try monkfish paella with saffron or pork, chorizo and spinach, or Chicken, artichokes and oloroso sherry. All of which might not leave much room for the bitter chocolate, coffee and cardamon coffee cake or the Malaga raisin ice-cream.

If some of the ingredients leave you a trifle bewildered, Moro ends with an appendix of suppliers from specialty ethnic shops to local supermarket fare and a terrifically handy almanac of vegetables and fruits in season. Like its other restaurant cook books, Moro also serves up a feast for your eyes and belongs on your coffee table as well as in the kitchen, splendidly extending and deepening our appreciation for these too often over-looked cuisines. --Fiona Buckland

souvenir chef-book, 11 Apr 2008
This must be for people who have already eaten at Moro or in Andalusia - despite being a good cook I cannot make these recipes taste good. There are far better (but less trendy) Spanish/Moroccan books by any of the following food writers (as opposed to chefs-of-the-moment): Elizabeth Luard, Penelope Casas, Paula Wolfert; all keepers, unlike this one! In its favour, the reference section is reasonably helpful & the pics are intermittently charming. The paper stock stains & dissolves very easily - not great for a bone fide cook book, eh?

Yes but, 13 Mar 2008
I've eaten at the restaurant a couple of times, and loved it. I love Spanish food, and Moro's take on it is a real winner. And there are some recipes in here we come back to time and again (the carrot, cumin and coriander salad is just sensational and I never tire of it).

So why three stars? Well, just because we only ever cook three or four things. We've tried a couple of recipes that just didn't really work - they didn't go wrong, they were just, well, fine. But a lot of trouble for just fine. And a load of others I've just thought "oh, I can't be bothered". Which isn't to say it's complicated, just a bit off putting.

The mezze/tapas dishes are great though, the yoghurt cake not to my tastes but everyone we've made it for has raved about it, the liver with cumin wonderful, and the patatas pobres lovely). Have a look through it before buying, and see how many you're really likely to cook though.


Not authentic Moroccan dishes, 22 Nov 2007
I was very disappointed when I received this book. The national dish of Morocco is tagine with couscous. This book only sport ONE tagine recipe and included a lot of recipes with ham and sherry which is not part of the main Moroccan diet as they are majority Muslim. I bought a tagine pot in the hope to use it but will have to put it off until I get a better book. With all the good reviews I was hoping that the dishes would be more authentic but I am afraid not. I have not tried any of the recipes. I am pretty sure it will taste good but probably no different to any other book or recipes. The book seemed to have a Spanish feel to it. If you are after authenticity then I recommend you look elsewhere.

Original, fresh, simple, fabulous cooking!, 12 Nov 2007
I love this cookbook! Though presently suffering under a self imposed ban on cookbook buying - I could NOT resist this... I picked it up in a friends house and read page after page of delicious and different recipes for things like carrots with coriander, beetroot and garlicky yoghurt, patatas bravas, chicken baked in harissa, pork cooked in milk etc.
There is also guidance on where to buy sherry and what types work best with different food (a drink I have ALWAYS hated but am happily being won over.) There is a slight over dependence on London suppliers and speciality shops in the references given but... I have not bought a book in years that I have loved as much or produced food that has elicited so many compliments from friends. Plus the pictures are pretty!

kitchen treasure, 07 Oct 2006
I think I can safely call this my favourite cookbook. It has spent as much time on my beside table as in the kitchen, and has inspired a fair few trips to Andalucia with my family. This is proper cooking, and although some recipes I don't dare try because I lack the confidence, I'm glad they're included for that day when I just might take the leap. The rest of the recipes, however, are those that make me want to stay at home and prepare as much as possible of this remarkable and distinctive food. If you're not lucky enough to live near a Spanish food shop, there is a very useful directory in the back for mail-order companies. And if you're ever in London, make a pilgrammage to the restaurant (if you can get a table!).

souvenir chef-book, 11 Apr 2008
This must be for people who have already eaten at Moro or in Andalusia - despite being a good cook I cannot make these recipes taste good. There are far better (but less trendy) Spanish/Moroccan books by any of the following food writers (as opposed to chefs-of-the-moment): Elizabeth Luard, Penelope Casas, Paula Wolfert; all keepers, unlike this one! In its favour, the reference section is reasonably helpful & the pics are intermittently charming. The paper stock stains & dissolves very easily - not great for a bone fide cook book, eh?

Yes but, 13 Mar 2008
I've eaten at the restaurant a couple of times, and loved it. I love Spanish food, and Moro's take on it is a real winner. And there are some recipes in here we come back to time and again (the carrot, cumin and coriander salad is just sensational and I never tire of it).

So why three stars? Well, just because we only ever cook three or four things. We've tried a couple of recipes that just didn't really work - they didn't go wrong, they were just, well, fine. But a lot of trouble for just fine. And a load of others I've just thought "oh, I can't be bothered". Which isn't to say it's complicated, just a bit off putting.

The mezze/tapas dishes are great though, the yoghurt cake not to my tastes but everyone we've made it for has raved about it, the liver with cumin wonderful, and the patatas pobres lovely). Have a look through it before buying, and see how many you're really likely to cook though.


Not authentic Moroccan dishes, 22 Nov 2007
I was very disappointed when I received this book. The national dish of Morocco is tagine with couscous. This book only sport ONE tagine recipe and included a lot of recipes with ham and sherry which is not part of the main Moroccan diet as they are majority Muslim. I bought a tagine pot in the hope to use it but will have to put it off until I get a better book. With all the good reviews I was hoping that the dishes would be more authentic but I am afraid not. I have not tried any of the recipes. I am pretty sure it will taste good but probably no different to any other book or recipes. The book seemed to have a Spanish feel to it. If you are after authenticity then I recommend you look elsewhere.

Original, fresh, simple, fabulous cooking!, 12 Nov 2007
I love this cookbook! Though presently suffering under a self imposed ban on cookbook buying - I could NOT resist this... I picked it up in a friends house and read page after page of delicious and different recipes for things like carrots with coriander, beetroot and garlicky yoghurt, patatas bravas, chicken baked in harissa, pork cooked in milk etc.
There is also guidance on where to buy sherry and what types work best with different food (a drink I have ALWAYS hated but am happily being won over.) There is a slight over dependence on London suppliers and speciality shops in the references given but... I have not bought a book in years that I have loved as much or produced food that has elicited so many compliments from friends. Plus the pictures are pretty!

kitchen treasure, 07 Oct 2006
I think I can safely call this my favourite cookbook. It has spent as much time on my beside table as in the kitchen, and has inspired a fair few trips to Andalucia with my family. This is proper cooking, and although some recipes I don't dare try because I lack the confidence, I'm glad they're included for that day when I just might take the leap. The rest of the recipes, however, are those that make me want to stay at home and prepare as much as possible of this remarkable and distinctive food. If you're not lucky enough to live near a Spanish food shop, there is a very useful directory in the back for mail-order companies. And if you're ever in London, make a pilgrammage to the restaurant (if you can get a table!).

Genuin spanish and mediterranean food., 14 Dec 2007
I'm originally from Granada. Can't remeber the times I've been my self at Las Alpujarras. The book it's beautifully written an the recipies are not adapted to the american or north-european taste. If you want really Spanish or Meditrranean food this is one of the best books you might ever have.
Might be also tru you find it difficult to find som ingredients. I feel free to change them. Just try to keep with the sort of fish or meat indicated in the recipe (meaning white fish for white fish, rock fish for rock fish, lam for lamb, and so on).
This review should also apply to the book nr. 1, though here pictures are better in my opinion. As I recognise the book nr. 1 is also a 5 stars I wish I could give this one a 6 stars!

Congratulations to the writers!

Good Food, Easy to Cook, 01 Dec 2007
I just love Casa Moro. This is excellent, unpretentious home cooking at its best.

The food is mostly very easy to cook and always so yummy... I get hungry just looking through it.

The only problem I find is deciding which of the wonderful dishes to cook next!

'A personal and highly evocative account of a culinary journey ...., 20 Aug 2007
that resonates with history, tradition and, most important of all, delicious dishes.'

`The food of `Moro' has most of its roots in the home.......
This book has the same cultural culinary mix of Spain and the Muslim Mediterranean as our first book. However, we have also included a chapter on the wild food and traditional dishes we have come across in our Alpujarran village.
We are always interested in a sense of place with our food, that place often being the street or the home.
This book therefore prefers to be at home, as there is no substitute for the love and care of the home cook....'

319 high quality pages, split over main chapters:-

Bread, flatbreads and Stuffed Breads
Soups
Tapas & Mezze, Starters and Light Meals
Salads and Cooked Moroccan Salads
Fish Main Courses
Meat Main Courses
Vegetables
Grains & Pulses
Home-Made & Home-Cured
Puddings & Cakes

plus sections entitled `Casa Moro' and `Las Alpujarras and Wild Food', along with the appendix which includes `Basics and Stocks', and a full index.

Each recipe is preceded with some relevant narrative, a full list of ingredients then the clear method.
Foreign and English titles, where applicable.

Interspersed with `on-location' photography and useful `step-by-step' methods.
Perhaps a slight negative may be that this volume is a little light on photographs of the finished dishes - which may be less appealing to those of us who like to see what we are aiming for - but it is easy to forgive this with the general flow of this well written, passionate book.

Recipes include:-

Almond Cake
Turkish Pizza with Tomato, Lamb and Allspice
Thick Gazpacho
Chicken Dumplings Broth
Seafood Salad
Garlic Prawns with White Wine and Chilli
Salt Cod, Orange and Potato Salad
Warm Tomato Bread & Garlic Purée
Winter Tabbouleh
Black Ink Sauce
Scrambled Eggs
Deep Fried Sardine Balls
Roast Pork with Quince Purée
Quail with Grapes & Ginger
Tangia
Paella
Saffron Potatoes
Harissa
Kate's Sherry Trifle
Orange Flan
Anise Biscuits
Pomegranate Molasses
Rice Pudding
Beef Tagine with Prunes - and what better excuse to purchase a `Le Creuset' Tagine, also available at Amazon, in a variety of colours, today!

An excellent book packed with yummy recipes, 03 Jun 2007
I think this book has to be the best cookery book I have bought so far! The variety and amount of recipes is exceptional. Have cooked three so far this week alone, and was not disappointed. The Carrot Puree with Caraway and Feta is to die for! I never realised carrots could taste so good!

Casa Moro is an enjoyable read, full of easy to follow yummy recipes with nice colour photographs. I look forward to trying many more great dishes.

The only negative I would say, is that the dessert section leaves a lot to be desired. There are not many recipes and most are various ice cream dishes which if like me, you don't have an icecream maker are not much good.

Its a small negative, and overall I am extremely happy with my purchase.

Yum Yum, 04 May 2005
In the first week of owning this book, I cooked 3 meals from it, and now, 6 months later there is barely a week that goes by without a meal either from or influenced by this book.

Most dishes are straightforward to prepare, even easy at times, and little is required outside the ingredients most enthusiastic cooks are likely to have.

I am now very much looking forwards to trying the many light summer dishes after having been on gutsy winter fare so far. Surely a book for all seasons. Prawns and Oyster mushrooms in manzanilla on toast makes for a hard to beat lunch!

souvenir chef-book, 11 Apr 2008
This must be for people who have already eaten at Moro or in Andalusia - despite being a good cook I cannot make these recipes taste good. There are far better (but less trendy) Spanish/Moroccan books by any of the following food writers (as opposed to chefs-of-the-moment): Elizabeth Luard, Penelope Casas, Paula Wolfert; all keepers, unlike this one! In its favour, the reference section is reasonably helpful & the pics are intermittently charming. The paper stock stains & dissolves very easily - not great for a bone fide cook book, eh?

Yes but, 13 Mar 2008
I've eaten at the restaurant a couple of times, and loved it. I love Spanish food, and Moro's take on it is a real winner. And there are some recipes in here we come back to time and again (the carrot, cumin and coriander salad is just sensational and I never tire of it).

So why three stars? Well, just because we only ever cook three or four things. We've tried a couple of recipes that just didn't really work - they didn't go wrong, they were just, well, fine. But a lot of trouble for just fine. And a load of others I've just thought "oh, I can't be bothered". Which isn't to say it's complicated, just a bit off putting.

The mezze/tapas dishes are great though, the yoghurt cake not to my tastes but everyone we've made it for has raved about it, the liver with cumin wonderful, and the patatas pobres lovely). Have a look through it before buying, and see how many you're really likely to cook though.


Not authentic Moroccan dishes, 22 Nov 2007
I was very disappointed when I received this book. The national dish of Morocco is tagine with couscous. This book only sport ONE tagine recipe and included a lot of recipes with ham and sherry which is not part of the main Moroccan diet as they are majority Muslim. I bought a tagine pot in the hope to use it but will have to put it off until I get a better book. With all the good reviews I was hoping that the dishes would be more authentic but I am afraid not. I have not tried any of the recipes. I am pretty sure it will taste good but probably no different to any other book or recipes. The book seemed to have a Spanish feel to it. If you are after authenticity then I recommend you look elsewhere.

Original, fresh, simple, fabulous cooking!, 12 Nov 2007
I love this cookbook! Though presently suffering under a self imposed ban on cookbook buying - I could NOT resist this... I picked it up in a friends house and read page after page of delicious and different recipes for things like carrots with coriander, beetroot and garlicky yoghurt, patatas bravas, chicken baked in harissa, pork cooked in milk etc.
There is also guidance on where to buy sherry and what types work best with different food (a drink I have ALWAYS hated but am happily being won over.) There is a slight over dependence on London suppliers and speciality shops in the references given but... I have not bought a book in years that I have loved as much or produced food that has elicited so many compliments from friends. Plus the pictures are pretty!

kitchen treasure, 07 Oct 2006
I think I can safely call this my favourite cookbook. It has spent as much time on my beside table as in the kitchen, and has inspired a fair few trips to Andalucia with my family. This is proper cooking, and although some recipes I don't dare try because I lack the confidence, I'm glad they're included for that day when I just might take the leap. The rest of the recipes, however, are those that make me want to stay at home and prepare as much as possible of this remarkable and distinctive food. If you're not lucky enough to live near a Spanish food shop, there is a very useful directory in the back for mail-order companies. And if you're ever in London, make a pilgrammage to the restaurant (if you can get a table!).

Genuin spanish and mediterranean food., 14 Dec 2007
I'm originally from Granada. Can't remeber the times I've been my self at Las Alpujarras. The book it's beautifully written an the recipies are not adapted to the american or north-european taste. If you want really Spanish or Meditrranean food this is one of the best books you might ever have.
Might be also tru you find it difficult to find som ingredients. I feel free to change them. Just try to keep with the sort of fish or meat indicated in the recipe (meaning white fish for white fish, rock fish for rock fish, lam for lamb, and so on).
This review should also apply to the book nr. 1, though here pictures are better in my opinion. As I recognise the book nr. 1 is also a 5 stars I wish I could give this one a 6 stars!

Congratulations to the writers!

Good Food, Easy to Cook, 01 Dec 2007
I just love Casa Moro. This is excellent, unpretentious home cooking at its best.

The food is mostly very easy to cook and always so yummy... I get hungry just looking through it.

The only problem I find is deciding which of the wonderful dishes to cook next!

'A personal and highly evocative account of a culinary journey ...., 20 Aug 2007
that resonates with history, tradition and, most important of all, delicious dishes.'

`The food of `Moro' has most of its roots in the home.......
This book has the same cultural culinary mix of Spain and the Muslim Mediterranean as our first book. However, we have also included a chapter on the wild food and traditional dishes we have come across in our Alpujarran village.
We are always interested in a sense of place with our food, that place often being the street or the home.
This book therefore prefers to be at home, as there is no substitute for the love and care of the home cook....'

319 high quality pages, split over main chapters:-

Bread, flatbreads and Stuffed Breads
Soups
Tapas & Mezze, Starters and Light Meals
Salads and Cooked Moroccan Salads
Fish Main Courses
Meat Main Courses
Vegetables
Grains & Pulses
Home-Made & Home-Cured
Puddings & Cakes

plus sections entitled `Casa Moro' and `Las Alpujarras and Wild Food', along with the appendix which includes `Basics and Stocks', and a full index.

Each recipe is preceded with some relevant narrative, a full list of ingredients then the clear method.
Foreign and English titles, where applicable.

Interspersed with `on-location' photography and useful `step-by-step' methods.
Perhaps a slight negative may be that this volume is a little light on photographs of the finished dishes - which may be less appealing to those of us who like to see what we are aiming for - but it is easy to forgive this with the general flow of this well written, passionate book.

Recipes include:-

Almond Cake
Turkish Pizza with Tomato, Lamb and Allspice
Thick Gazpacho
Chicken Dumplings Broth
Seafood Salad
Garlic Prawns with White Wine and Chilli
Salt Cod, Orange and Potato Salad
Warm Tomato Bread & Garlic Purée
Winter Tabbouleh
Black Ink Sauce
Scrambled Eggs
Deep Fried Sardine Balls
Roast Pork with Quince Purée
Quail with Grapes & Ginger
Tangia
Paella
Saffron Potatoes
Harissa
Kate's Sherry Trifle
Orange Flan
Anise Biscuits
Pomegranate Molasses
Rice Pudding
Beef Tagine with Prunes - and what better excuse to purchase a `Le Creuset' Tagine, also available at Amazon, in a variety of colours, today!

An excellent book packed with yummy recipes, 03 Jun 2007
I think this book has to be the best cookery book I have bought so far! The variety and amount of recipes is exceptional. Have cooked three so far this week alone, and was not disappointed. The Carrot Puree with Caraway and Feta is to die for! I never realised carrots could taste so good!

Casa Moro is an enjoyable read, full of easy to follow yummy recipes with nice colour photographs. I look forward to trying many more great dishes.

The only negative I would say, is that the dessert section leaves a lot to be desired. There are not many recipes and most are various ice cream dishes which if like me, you don't have an icecream maker are not much good.

Its a small negative, and overall I am extremely happy with my purchase.

Yum Yum, 04 May 2005
In the first week of owning this book, I cooked 3 meals from it, and now, 6 months later there is barely a week that goes by without a meal either from or influenced by this book.

Most dishes are straightforward to prepare, even easy at times, and little is required outside the ingredients most enthusiastic cooks are likely to have.

I am now very much looking forwards to trying the many light summer dishes after having been on gutsy winter fare so far. Surely a book for all seasons. Prawns and Oyster mushrooms in manzanilla on toast makes for a hard to beat lunch!

Plenty of ideas for delicious meals, 13 Jun 2008
I felt the need to stretch my cookery limbs and have a change from asian-inspired meals, and this book jumped off the shelf at me. There's a range of simple, well-described and beautifully photographed recipes, ranging from quick meals to slow-cooked tagines.

Some of the ingredients used aren't really to my taste (e.g. prunes and apricot in savoury dishes), but the recipes work great and still have plenty of flavour without them. The spiced cous-cous and rice meals are very filling and always go down well.

souvenir chef-book, 11 Apr 2008
This must be for people who have already eaten at Moro or in Andalusia - despite being a good cook I cannot make these recipes taste good. There are far better (but less trendy) Spanish/Moroccan books by any of the following food writers (as opposed to chefs-of-the-moment): Elizabeth Luard, Penelope Casas, Paula Wolfert; all keepers, unlike this one! In its favour, the reference section is reasonably helpful & the pics are intermittently charming. The paper stock stains & dissolves very easily - not great for a bone fide cook book, eh?

Yes but, 13 Mar 2008
I've eaten at the restaurant a couple of times, and loved it. I love Spanish food, and Moro's take on it is a real winner. And there are some recipes in here we come back to time and again (the carrot, cumin and coriander salad is just sensational and I never tire of it).

So why three stars? Well, just because we only ever cook three or four things. We've tried a couple of recipes that just didn't really work - they didn't go wrong, they were just, well, fine. But a lot of trouble for just fine. And a load of others I've just thought "oh, I can't be bothered". Which isn't to say it's complicated, just a bit off putting.

The mezze/tapas dishes are great though, the yoghurt cake not to my tastes but everyone we've made it for has raved about it, the liver with cumin wonderful, and the patatas pobres lovely). Have a look through it before buying, and see how many you're really likely to cook though.


Not authentic Moroccan dishes, 22 Nov 2007
I was very disappointed when I received this book. The national dish of Morocco is tagine with couscous. This book only sport ONE tagine recipe and included a lot of recipes with ham and sherry which is not part of the main Moroccan diet as they are majority Muslim. I bought a tagine pot in the hope to use it but will have to put it off until I get a better book. With all the good reviews I was hoping that the dishes would be more authentic but I am afraid not. I have not tried any of the recipes. I am pretty sure it will taste good but probably no different to any other book or recipes. The book seemed to have a Spanish feel to it. If you are after authenticity then I recommend you look elsewhere.

Original, fresh, simple, fabulous cooking!, 12 Nov 2007
I love this cookbook! Though presently suffering under a self imposed ban on cookbook buying - I could NOT resist this... I picked it up in a friends house and read page after page of delicious and different recipes for things like carrots with coriander, beetroot and garlicky yoghurt, patatas bravas, chicken baked in harissa, pork cooked in milk etc.
There is also guidance on where to buy sherry and what types work best with different food (a drink I have ALWAYS hated but am happily being won over.) There is a slight over dependence on London suppliers and speciality shops in the references given but... I have not bought a book in years that I have loved as much or produced food that has elicited so many compliments from friends. Plus the pictures are pretty!

kitchen treasure, 07 Oct 2006
I think I can safely call this my favourite cookbook. It has spent as much time on my beside table as in the kitchen, and has inspired a fair few trips to Andalucia with my family. This is proper cooking, and although some recipes I don't dare try because I lack the confidence, I'm glad they're included for that day when I just might take the leap. The rest of the recipes, however, are those that make me want to stay at home and prepare as much as possible of this remarkable and distinctive food. If you're not lucky enough to live near a Spanish food shop, there is a very useful directory in the back for mail-order companies. And if you're ever in London, make a pilgrammage to the restaurant (if you can get a table!).

Genuin spanish and mediterranean food., 14 Dec 2007
I'm originally from Granada. Can't remeber the times I've been my self at Las Alpujarras. The book it's beautifully written an the recipies are not adapted to the american or north-european taste. If you want really Spanish or Meditrranean food this is one of the best books you might ever have.
Might be also tru you find it difficult to find som ingredients. I feel free to change them. Just try to keep with the sort of fish or meat indicated in the recipe (meaning white fish for white fish, rock fish for rock fish, lam for lamb, and so on).
This review should also apply to the book nr. 1, though here pictures are better in my opinion. As I recognise the book nr. 1 is also a 5 stars I wish I could give this one a 6 stars!

Congratulations to the writers!

Good Food, Easy to Cook, 01 Dec 2007
I just love Casa Moro. This is excellent, unpretentious home cooking at its best.

The food is mostly very easy to cook and always so yummy... I get hungry just looking through it.

The only problem I find is deciding which of the wonderful dishes to cook next!

'A personal and highly evocative account of a culinary journey ...., 20 Aug 2007
that resonates with history, tradition and, most important of all, delicious dishes.'

`The food of `Moro' has most of its roots in the home.......
This book has the same cultural culinary mix of Spain and the Muslim Mediterranean as our first book. However, we have also included a chapter on the wild food and traditional dishes we have come across in our Alpujarran village.
We are always interested in a sense of place with our food, that place often being the street or the home.
This book therefore prefers to be at home, as there is no substitute for the love and care of the home cook....'

319 high quality pages, split over main chapters:-

Bread, flatbreads and Stuffed Breads
Soups
Tapas & Mezze, Starters and Light Meals
Salads and Cooked Moroccan Salads
Fish Main Courses
Meat Main Courses
Vegetables
Grains & Pulses
Home-Made & Home-Cured
Puddings & Cakes

plus sections entitled `Casa Moro' and `Las Alpujarras and Wild Food', along with the appendix which includes `Basics and Stocks', and a full index.

Each recipe is preceded with some relevant narrative, a full list of ingredients then the clear method.
Foreign and English titles, where applicable.

Interspersed with `on-location' photography and useful `step-by-step' methods.
Perhaps a slight negative may be that this volume is a little light on photographs of the finished dishes - which may be less appealing to those of us who like to see what we are aiming for - but it is easy to forgive this with the general flow of this well written, passionate book.

Recipes include:-

Almond Cake
Turkish Pizza with Tomato, Lamb and Allspice
Thick Gazpacho
Chicken Dumplings Broth
Seafood Salad
Garlic Prawns with White Wine and Chilli
Salt Cod, Orange and Potato Salad
Warm Tomato Bread & Garlic Purée
Winter Tabbouleh
Black Ink Sauce
Scrambled Eggs
Deep Fried Sardine Balls
Roast Pork with Quince Purée
Quail with Grapes & Ginger
Tangia
Paella
Saffron Potatoes
Harissa
Kate's Sherry Trifle
Orange Flan
Anise Biscuits
Pomegranate Molasses
Rice Pudding
Beef Tagine with Prunes - and what better excuse to purchase a `Le Creuset' Tagine, also available at Amazon, in a variety of colours, today!

An excellent book packed with yummy recipes, 03 Jun 2007
I think this book has to be the best cookery book I have bought so far! The variety and amount of recipes is exceptional. Have cooked three so far this week alone, and was not disappointed. The Carrot Puree with Caraway and Feta is to die for! I never realised carrots could taste so good!

Casa Moro is an enjoyable read, full of easy to follow yummy recipes with nice colour photographs. I look forward to trying many more great dishes.

The only negative I would say, is that the dessert section leaves a lot to be desired. There are not many recipes and most are various ice cream dishes which if like me, you don't have an icecream maker are not much good.

Its a small negative, and overall I am extremely happy with my purchase.

Yum Yum, 04 May 2005
In the first week of owning this book, I cooked 3 meals from it, and now, 6 months later there is barely a week that goes by without a meal either from or influenced by this book.

Most dishes are straightforward to prepare, even easy at times, and little is required outside the ingredients most enthusiastic cooks are likely to have.

I am now very much looking forwards to trying the many light summer dishes after having been on gutsy winter fare so far. Surely a book for all seasons. Prawns and Oyster mushrooms in manzanilla on toast makes for a hard to beat lunch!

Plenty of ideas for delicious meals, 13 Jun 2008
I felt the need to stretch my cookery limbs and have a change from asian-inspired meals, and this book jumped off the shelf at me. There's a range of simple, well-described and beautifully photographed recipes, ranging from quick meals to slow-cooked tagines.

Some of the ingredients used aren't really to my taste (e.g. prunes and apricot in savoury dishes), but the recipes work great and still have plenty of flavour without them. The spiced cous-cous and rice meals are very filling and always go down well.

Fabulous food and an excuse to experiment - a real adventure!, 13 Jan 2008
This book is absolutely FANTASTIC! The recipes, mostly from West Africa, range from very simple side dishes, that you could add to more familar fare, to complex fish, vegetable and meat dishes. All are clearly described and well illustrated (i'm no great chef but like to experiment in the kitchen and, having received this book just 2 weeks ago have already tried 6 or 7 of the recipes. All of them have turned out successfully - as far as I can judge - and all of them I will definately make again). There's also a nice section at the beginning explaining what some of the more unfamiliar basic ingredients you'll need to find are. BUT there is so, so much more to this book . . . you'll need to go out and visit those stalls in the local market that you were never brave enough to approach and find out how to judge the ripeness of a 'Plantain', choose your 'Yam' as well as find some extraordinary new ingredients like 'Egusi', 'Gari' and 'Palm Oil' that'll change your kitchen forever. . . and might just change your life.

Cant cook - Well you can with this book , 24 Dec 2007
Cant cook - well u can with this book . I actually bought this book for my sister- in -law but have now returned to purchase another 2 copies ,one for me and another for another friend who cant cook either . Excellent easy to follow recipes it makes cookery so much more fun !!!!!Highly recommended

souvenir chef-book, 11 Apr 2008
This must be for people who have already eaten at Moro or in Andalusia - despite being a good cook I cannot make these recipes taste good. There are far better (but less trendy) Spanish/Moroccan books by any of the following food writers (as opposed to chefs-of-the-moment): Elizabeth Luard, Penelope Casas, Paula Wolfert; all keepers, unlike this one! In its favour, the reference section is reasonably helpful & the pics are intermittently charming. The paper stock stains & dissolves very easily - not great for a bone fide cook book, eh?

Yes but, 13 Mar 2008
I've eaten at the restaurant a couple of times, and loved it. I love Spanish food, and Moro's take on it is a real winner. And there are some recipes in here we come back to time and again (the carrot, cumin and coriander salad is just sensational and I never tire of it).

So why three stars? Well, just because we only ever cook three or four things. We've tried a couple of recipes that just didn't really work - they didn't go wrong, they were just, well, fine. But a lot of trouble for just fine. And a load of others I've just thought "oh, I can't be bothered". Which isn't to say it's complicated, just a bit off putting.

The mezze/tapas dishes are great though, the yoghurt cake not to my tastes but everyone we've made it for has raved about it, the liver with cumin wonderful, and the patatas pobres lovely). Have a look through it before buying, and see how many you're really likely to cook though.


Not authentic Moroccan dishes, 22 Nov 2007
I was very disappointed when I received this book. The national dish of Morocco is tagine with couscous. This book only sport ONE tagine recipe and included a lot of recipes with ham and sherry which is not part of the main Moroccan diet as they are majority Muslim. I bought a tagine pot in the hope to use it but will have to put it off until I get a better book. With all the good reviews I was hoping that the dishes would be more authentic but I am afraid not. I have not tried any of the recipes. I am pretty sure it will taste good but probably no different to any other book or recipes. The book seemed to have a Spanish feel to it. If you are after authenticity then I recommend you look elsewhere.

Original, fresh, simple, fabulous cooking!, 12 Nov 2007
I love this cookbook! Though presently suffering under a self imposed ban on cookbook buying - I could NOT resist this... I picked it up in a friends house and read page after page of delicious and different recipes for things like carrots with coriander, beetroot and garlicky yoghurt, patatas bravas, chicken baked in harissa, pork cooked in milk etc.
There is also guidance on where to buy sherry and what types work best with different food (a drink I have ALWAYS hated but am happily being won over.) There is a slight over dependence on London suppliers and speciality shops in the references given but... I have not bought a book in years that I have loved as much or produced food that has elicited so many compliments from friends. Plus the pictures are pretty!

kitchen treasure, 07 Oct 2006
I think I can safely call this my favourite cookbook. It has spent as much time on my beside table as in the kitchen, and has inspired a fair few trips to Andalucia with my family. This is proper cooking, and although some recipes I don't dare try because I lack the confidence, I'm glad they're included for that day when I just might take the leap. The rest of the recipes, however, are those that make me want to stay at home and prepare as much as possible of this remarkable and distinctive food. If you're not lucky enough to live near a Spanish food shop, there is a very useful directory in the back for mail-order companies. And if you're ever in London, make a pilgrammage to the restaurant (if you can get a table!).

Genuin spanish and mediterranean food., 14 Dec 2007
I'm originally from Granada. Can't remeber the times I've been my self at Las Alpujarras. The book it's beautifully written an the recipies are not adapted to the american or north-european taste. If you want really Spanish or Meditrranean food this is one of the best books you might ever have.
Might be also tru you find it difficult to find som ingredients. I feel free to change them. Just try to keep with the sort of fish or meat indicated in the recipe (meaning white fish for white fish, rock fish for rock fish, lam for lamb, and so on).
This review should also apply to the book nr. 1, though here pictures are better in my opinion. As I recognise the book nr. 1 is also a 5 stars I wish I could give this one a 6 stars!

Congratulations to the writers!

Good Food, Easy to Cook, 01 Dec 2007
I just love Casa Moro. This is excellent, unpretentious home cooking at its best.

The food is mostly very easy to cook and always so yummy... I get hungry just looking through it.

The only problem I find is deciding which of the wonderful dishes to cook next!

'A personal and highly evocative account of a culinary journey ...., 20 Aug 2007
that resonates with history, tradition and, most important of all, delicious dishes.'

`The food of `Moro' has most of its roots in the home.......
This book has the same cultural culinary mix of Spain and the Muslim Mediterranean as our first book. However, we have also included a chapter on the wild food and traditional dishes we have come across in our Alpujarran village.
We are always interested in a sense of place with our food, that place often being the street or the home.
This book therefore prefers to be at home, as there is no substitute for the love and care of the home cook....'

319 high quality pages, split over main chapters:-

Bread, flatbreads and Stuffed Breads
Soups
Tapas & Mezze, Starters and Light Meals
Salads and Cooked Moroccan Salads
Fish Main Courses
Meat Main Courses
Vegetables
Grains & Pulses
Home-Made & Home-Cured
Puddings & Cakes

plus sections entitled `Casa Moro' and `Las Alpujarras and Wild Food', along with the appendix which includes `Basics and Stocks', and a full index.

Each recipe is preceded with some relevant narrative, a full list of ingredients then the clear method.
Foreign and English titles, where applicable.

Interspersed with `on-location' photography and useful `step-by-step' methods.
Perhaps a slight negative may be that this volume is a little light on photographs of the finished dishes - which may be less appealing to those of us who like to see what we are aiming for - but it is easy to forgive this with the general flow of this well written, passionate book.

Recipes include:-

Almond Cake
Turkish Pizza with Tomato, Lamb and Allspice
Thick Gazpacho
Chicken Dumplings Broth
Seafood Salad
Garlic Prawns with White Wine and Chilli
Salt Cod, Orange and Potato Salad
Warm Tomato Bread & Garlic Purée
Winter Tabbouleh
Black Ink Sauce
Scrambled Eggs
Deep Fried Sardine Balls
Roast Pork with Quince Purée
Quail with Grapes & Ginger
Tangia
Paella
Saffron Potatoes
Harissa
Kate's Sherry Trifle
Orange Flan
Anise Biscuits
Pomegranate Molasses
Rice Pudding
Beef Tagine with Prunes - and what better excuse to purchase a `Le Creuset' Tagine, also available at Amazon, in a variety of colours, today!

An excellent book packed with yummy recipes, 03 Jun 2007
I think this book has to be the best cookery book I have bought so far! The variety and amount of recipes is exceptional. Have cooked three so far this week alone, and was not disappointed. The Carrot Puree with Caraway and Feta is to die for! I never realised carrots could taste so good!

Casa Moro is an enjoyable read, full of easy to follow yummy recipes with nice colour photographs. I look forward to trying many more great dishes.

The only negative I would say, is that the dessert section leaves a lot to be desired. There are not many recipes and most are various ice cream dishes which if like me, you don't have an icecream maker are not much good.

Its a small negative, and overall I am extremely happy with my purchase.

Yum Yum, 04 May 2005
In the first week of owning this book, I cooked 3 meals from it, and now, 6 months later there is barely a week that goes by without a meal either from or influenced by this book.

Most dishes are straightforward to prepare, even easy at times, and little is required outside the ingredients most enthusiastic cooks are likely to have.

I am now very much looking forwards to trying the many light summer dishes after having been on gutsy winter fare so far. Surely a book for all seasons. Prawns and Oyster mushrooms in manzanilla on toast makes for a hard to beat lunch!

Plenty of ideas for delicious meals, 13 Jun 2008
I felt the need to stretch my cookery limbs and have a change from asian-inspired meals, and this book jumped off the shelf at me. There's a range of simple, well-described and beautifully photographed recipes, ranging from quick meals to slow-cooked tagines.

Some of the ingredients used aren't really to my taste (e.g. prunes and apricot in savoury dishes), but the recipes work great and still have plenty of flavour without them. The spiced cous-cous and rice meals are very filling and always go down well.

Fabulous food and an excuse to experiment - a real adventure!, 13 Jan 2008
This book is absolutely FANTASTIC! The recipes, mostly from West Africa, range from very simple side dishes, that you could add to more familar fare, to complex fish, vegetable and meat dishes. All are clearly described and well illustrated (i'm no great chef but like to experiment in the kitchen and, having received this book just 2 weeks ago have already tried 6 or 7 of the recipes. All of them have turned out successfully - as far as I can judge - and all of them I will definately make again). There's also a nice section at the beginning explaining what some of the more unfamiliar basic ingredients you'll need to find are. BUT there is so, so much more to this book . . . you'll need to go out and visit those stalls in the local market that you were never brave enough to approach and find out how to judge the ripeness of a 'Plantain', choose your 'Yam' as well as find some extraordinary new ingredients like 'Egusi', 'Gari' and 'Palm Oil' that'll change your kitchen forever. . . and might just change your life.

Cant cook - Well you can with this book , 24 Dec 2007
Cant cook - well u can with this book . I actually bought this book for my sister- in -law but have now returned to purchase another 2 copies ,one for me and another for another friend who cant cook either . Excellent easy to follow recipes it makes cookery so much more fun !!!!!Highly recommended

'a glorious and magical feast for the senses', 22 Jul 2007
'a glorious and magical feast for the senses' (as Claudia Roden says about this book..) & I really can't say more ~ This is a wonderful book full of inspiration, a myriad feast for the senses, drawing from the rich cultures & flavours of the Mediteranian & Middle East. Just reading through & looking at this book is an evocative experience, which has a much to do with place & culture/experience as it does with flavour & tastes.

A very personal book ~ far more than just a collection of recipes, which conjures up the whole experience of places, tastes, sounds, sights, textures & smells. And reproducing the tastes contained within it's recipes transports you to these places.

A real treasure!

An exploration of the ingredients and dishes of the Mediterranean, The Middle East and North Africa., 10 May 2006
'Crazy Waters, Pickled Lemons is an exploration of the ingredients and dishes of the Mediterranean, The Middle East and North Africa, presenting recipes that combine flavours in ways long forgotten - or never even discovered - in many western kitchens.
Special ingredients - the colourful, the aromatic, and the perfumed - which are all too often overlooked in the modern kitchen, are also featured.'

This book stands out from the average cookery book because of the passion, which really flows from the author's descriptions, so the reader can almost see and taste those flavours and ingredients!

'Places, as well as tastes, are locked up in food. The clear perfumed stillness of a bottle of flower water, the sexy, velvety skin of a fig, the sunburnt blood colour of a jar of cayenne. Our love of foods has as much to do with what they represent as with what they taste like.'

'Fennel, Pomegranate and Feta Salad' combines flavours as a great starter, followed by the different, but interesting combination of ingredients in 'Greek Herb Pilaf with Prawns and Feta'.
'Spiced Quinces with Crema Catalana Ice Cream' is a great pud and to wind up... a coffee served with a 'Violet Liqueur Truffle' , a truly wonderful recipe, making a seemingly complicated sweet relatively easy to achieve, in your own kitchen!


Enchanting Dishes from the Middle East, the Mediterranean & North Africa., 09 May 2006
'Crazy Waters, Pickled Lemons is an exploration of the ingredients and dishes of the Mediterranean, The Middle East and North Africa, presenting recipes that combine flavours in ways long forgotten - or never even discovered - in many western kitchens.
Special ingredients - the colourful, the aromatic, and the perfumed - which are all too often overlooked in the modern kitchen, are also featured.'

This book stands out from the average cookery book because of the passion, which really flows from the author's descriptions, so the reader can almost see and taste those flavours and ingredients!

'Places, as well as tastes, are locked up in food. The clear perfumed stillness of a bottle of flower water, the sexy, velvety skin of a fig, the sunburnt blood colour of a jar of cayenne. Our love of foods has as much to do with what they represent as with what they taste like.'

'Fennel, Pomegranate and Feta Salad' combines flavours as a great starter, followed by the different, but interesting combination of ingredients in 'Greek Herb Pilaf with Prawns and Feta'.
'Spiced Quinces with Crema Catalana Ice Cream' is a great pud and to wind up... a coffee served with a 'Violet Liqueur Truffle' , a truly wonderful recipe, making a seemingly complicated sweet relatively easy to achieve, in your own kitchen!



A cookery book you can read, 06 Dec 2003
What a book.....great recipes, fantastic descriptions .....you just feel as if you are "there" tasting, smelling.
The recipes I've tried so far are tasty and simple.
A book to dip into time and time again.

Sumptious Arabian Nights, 05 May 2003
What a glorious celebratory cookbook this is. I've always like cookbooks that explain the cuisine to you, and describe all the differenct ingredients used. Diana Henry doesn't disappoint here as each section opens with a 2-page description of the food, and the ingredients required. Her description of the different honeys available is just mouth-watering.

Since I bought this book, I've also bought saffron, apricots, lots of honey, and I'm dying to try to make my own pickled lemons(!). So that should give you an idea of just how influential this cookbook is.

This book is actually one of the few cookbooks I take down off the shelf and read when I have a few minutes. It just inspires you.

souvenir chef-book, 11 Apr 2008
This must be for people who have already eaten at Moro or in Andalusia - despite being a good cook I cannot make these recipes taste good. There are far better (but less trendy) Spanish/Moroccan books by any of the following food writers (as opposed to chefs-of-the-moment): Elizabeth Luard, Penelope Casas, Paula Wolfert; all keepers, unlike this one! In its favour, the reference section is reasonably helpful & the pics are intermittently charming. The paper stock stains & dissolves very easily - not great for a bone fide cook book, eh?

Yes but, 13 Mar 2008
I've eaten at the restaurant a couple of times, and loved it. I love Spanish food, and Moro's take on it is a real winner. And there are some recipes in here we come back to time and again (the carrot, cumin and coriander salad is just sensational and I never tire of it).

So why three stars? Well, just because we only ever cook three or four things. We've tried a couple of recipes that just didn't really work - they didn't go wrong, they were just, well, fine. But a lot of trouble for just fine. And a load of others I've just thought "oh, I can't be bothered". Which isn't to say it's complicated, just a bit off putting.

The mezze/tapas dishes are great though, the yoghurt cake not to my tastes but everyone we've made it for has raved about it, the liver with cumin wonderful, and the patatas pobres lovely). Have a look through it before buying, and see how many you're really likely to cook though.


Not authentic Moroccan dishes, 22 Nov 2007
I was very disappointed when I received this book. The national dish of Morocco is tagine with couscous. This book only sport ONE tagine recipe and included a lot of recipes with ham and sherry which is not part of the main Moroccan diet as they are majority Muslim. I bought a tagine pot in the hope to use it but will have to put it off until I get a better book. With all the good reviews I was hoping that the dishes would be more authentic but I am afraid not. I have not tried any of the recipes. I am pretty sure it will taste good but probably no different to any other book or recipes. The book seemed to have a Spanish feel to it. If you are after authenticity then I recommend you look elsewhere.

Original, fresh, simple, fabulous cooking!, 12 Nov 2007
I love this cookbook! Though presently suffering under a self imposed ban on cookbook buying - I could NOT resist this... I picked it up in a friends house and read page after page of delicious and different recipes for things like carrots with coriander, beetroot and garlicky yoghurt, patatas bravas, chicken baked in harissa, pork cooked in milk etc.
There is also guidance on where to buy sherry and what types work best with different food (a drink I have ALWAYS hated but am happily being won over.) There is a slight over dependence on London suppliers and speciality shops in the references given but... I have not bought a book in years that I have loved as much or produced food that has elicited so many compliments from friends. Plus the pictures are pretty!

kitchen treasure, 07 Oct 2006
I think I can safely call this my favourite cookbook. It has spent as much time on my beside table as in the kitchen, and has inspired a fair few trips to Andalucia with my family. This is proper cooking, and although some recipes I don't dare try because I lack the confidence, I'm glad they're included for that day when I just might take the leap. The rest of the recipes, however, are those that make me want to stay at home and prepare as much as possible of this remarkable and distinctive food. If you're not lucky enough to live near a Spanish food shop, there is a very useful directory in the back for mail-order companies. And if you're ever in London, make a pilgrammage to the restaurant (if you can get a table!).

Genuin spanish and mediterranean food., 14 Dec 2007
I'm originally from Granada. Can't remeber the times I've been my self at Las Alpujarras. The book it's beautifully written an the recipies are not adapted to the american or north-european taste. If you want really Spanish or Meditrranean food this is one of the best books you might ever have.
Might be also tru you find it difficult to find som ingredients. I feel free to change them. Just try to keep with the sort of fish or meat indicated in the recipe (meaning white fish for white fish, rock fish for rock fish, lam for lamb, and so on).
This review should also apply to the book nr. 1, though here pictures are better in my opinion. As I recognise the book nr. 1 is also a 5 stars I wish I could give this one a 6 stars!

Congratulations to the writers!

Good Food, Easy to Cook, 01 Dec 2007
I just love Casa Moro. This is excellent, unpretentious home cooking at its best.

The food is mostly very easy to cook and always so yummy... I get hungry just looking through it.

The only problem I find is deciding which of the wonderful dishes to cook next!

'A personal and highly evocative account of a culinary journey ...., 20 Aug 2007
that resonates with history, tradition and, most important of all, delicious dishes.'

`The food of `Moro' has most of its roots in the home.......
This book has the same cultural culinary mix of Spain and the Muslim Mediterranean as our first book. However, we have also included a chapter on the wild food and traditional dishes we have come across in our Alpujarran village.
We are always interested in a sense of place with our food, that place often being the street or the home.
This book therefore prefers to be at home, as there is no substitute for the love and care of the home cook....'

319 high quality pages, split over main chapters:-

Bread, flatbreads and Stuffed Breads
Soups
Tapas & Mezze, Starters and Light Meals
Salads and Cooked Moroccan Salads
Fish Main Courses
Meat Main Courses
Vegetables
Grains & Pulses
Home-Made & Home-Cured
Puddings & Cakes

plus sections entitled `Casa Moro' and `Las Alpujarras and Wild Food', along with the appendix which includes `Basics and Stocks', and a full index.

Each recipe is preceded with some relevant narrative, a full list of ingredients then the clear method.
Foreign and English titles, where applicable.

Interspersed with `on-location' photography and useful `step-by-step' methods.
Perhaps a slight negative may be that this volume is a little light on photographs of the finished dishes - which may be less appealing to those of us who like to see what we are aiming for - but it is easy to forgive this with the general flow of this well written, passionate book.

Recipes include:-

Almond Cake
Turkish Pizza with Tomato, Lamb and Allspice
Thick Gazpacho
Chicken Dumplings Broth
Seafood Salad
Garlic Prawns with White Wine and Chilli
Salt Cod, Orange and Potato Salad
Warm Tomato Bread & Garlic Purée
Winter Tabbouleh
Black Ink Sauce
Scrambled Eggs
Deep Fried Sardine Balls
Roast Pork with Quince Purée
Quail with Grapes & Ginger
Tangia
Paella
Saffron Potatoes
Harissa
Kate's Sherry Trifle
Orange Flan
Anise Biscuits
Pomegranate Molasses
Rice Pudding
Beef Tagine with Prunes - and what better excuse to purchase a `Le Creuset' Tagine, also available at Amazon, in a variety of colours, today!

An excellent book packed with yummy recipes, 03 Jun 2007
I think this book has to be the best cookery book I have bought so far! The variety and amount of recipes is exceptional. Have cooked three so far this week alone, and was not disappointed. The Carrot Puree with Caraway and Feta is to die for! I never realised carrots could taste so good!

Casa Moro is an enjoyable read, full of easy to follow yummy recipes with nice colour photographs. I look forward to trying many more great dishes.

The only negative I would say, is that the dessert section leaves a lot to be desired. There are not many recipes and most are various ice cream dishes which if like me, you don't have an icecream maker are not much good.

Its a small negative, and overall I am extremely happy with my purchase.

Yum Yum, 04 May 2005
In the first week of owning this book, I cooked 3 meals from it, and now, 6 months later there is barely a week that goes by without a meal either from or influenced by this book.

Most dishes are straightforward to prepare, even easy at times, and little is required outside the ingredients most enthusiastic cooks are likely to have.

I am now very much looking forwards to trying the many light summer dishes after having been on gutsy winter fare so far. Surely a book for all seasons. Prawns and Oyster mushrooms in manzanilla on toast makes for a hard to beat lunch!

Plenty of ideas for delicious meals, 13 Jun 2008
I felt the need to stretch my cookery limbs and have a change from asian-inspired meals, and this book jumped off the shelf at me. There's a range of simple, well-described and beautifully photographed recipes, ranging from quick meals to slow-cooked tagines.

Some of the ingredients used aren't really to my taste (e.g. prunes and apricot in savoury dishes), but the recipes work great and still have plenty of flavour without them. The spiced cous-cous and rice meals are very filling and always go down well.

Fabulous food and an excuse to experiment - a real adventure!, 13 Jan 2008
This book is absolutely FANTASTIC! The recipes, mostly from West Africa, range from very simple side dishes, that you could add to more familar fare, to complex fish, vegetable and meat dishes. All are clearly described and well illustrated (i'm no great chef but like to experiment in the kitchen and, having received this book just 2 weeks ago have already tried 6 or 7 of the recipes. All of them have turned out successfully - as far as I can judge - and all of them I will definately make again). There's also a nice section at the beginning explaining what some of the more unfamiliar basic ingredients you'll need to find are. BUT there is so, so much more to this book . . . you'll need to go out and visit those stalls in the local market that you were never brave enough to approach and find out how to judge the ripeness of a 'Plantain', choose your 'Yam' as well as find some extraordinary new ingredients like 'Egusi', 'Gari' and 'Palm Oil' that'll change your kitchen forever. . . and might just change your life.

Cant cook - Well you can with this book , 24 Dec 2007
Cant cook - well u can with this book . I actually bought this book for my sister- in -law but have now returned to purchase another 2 copies ,one for me and another for another friend who cant cook either . Excellent easy to follow recipes it makes cookery so much more fun !!!!!Highly recommended

'a glorious and magical feast for the senses', 22 Jul 2007
'a glorious and magical feast for the senses' (as Claudia Roden says about this book..) & I really can't say more ~ This is a wonderful book full of inspiration, a myriad feast for the senses, drawing from the rich cultures & flavours of the Mediteranian & Middle East. Just reading through & looking at this book is an evocative experience, which has a much to do with place & culture/experience as it does with flavour & tastes.

A very personal book ~ far more than just a collection of recipes, which conjures up the whole experience of places, tastes, sounds, sights, textures & smells. And reproducing the tastes contained within it's recipes transports you to these places.

A real treasure!

An exploration of the ingredients and dishes of the Mediterranean, The Middle East and North Africa., 10 May 2006
'Crazy Waters, Pickled Lemons is an exploration of the ingredients and dishes of the Mediterranean, The Middle East and North Africa, presenting recipes that combine flavours in ways long forgotten - or never even discovered - in many western kitchens.
Special ingredients - the colourful, the aromatic, and the perfumed - which are all too often overlooked in the modern kitchen, are also featured.'

This book stands out from the average cookery book because of the passion, which really flows from the author's descriptions, so the reader can almost see and taste those flavours and ingredients!

'Places, as well as tastes, are locked up in food. The clear perfumed stillness of a bottle of flower water, the sexy, velvety skin of a fig, the sunburnt blood colour of a jar of cayenne. Our love of foods has as much to do with what they represent as with what they taste like.'

'Fennel, Pomegranate and Feta Salad' combines flavours as a great starter, followed by the different, but interesting combination of ingredients in 'Greek Herb Pilaf with Prawns and Feta'.
'Spiced Quinces with Crema Catalana Ice Cream' is a great pud and to wind up... a coffee served with a 'Violet Liqueur Truffle' , a truly wonderful recipe, making a seemingly complicated sweet relatively easy to achieve, in your own kitchen!


Enchanting Dishes from the Middle East, the Mediterranean & North Africa., 09 May 2006
'Crazy Waters, Pickled Lemons is an exploration of the ingredients and dishes of the Mediterranean, The Middle East and North Africa, presenting recipes that combine flavours in ways long forgotten - or never even discovered - in many western kitchens.
Special ingredients - the colourful, the aromatic, and the perfumed - which are all too often overlooked in the modern kitchen, are also featured.'

This book stands out from the average cookery book because of the passion, which really flows from the author's descriptions, so the reader can almost see and taste those flavours and ingredients!

'Places, as well as tastes, are locked up in food. The clear perfumed stillness of a bottle of flower water, the sexy, velvety skin of a fig, the sunburnt blood colour of a jar of cayenne. Our love of foods has as much to do with what they represent as with what they taste like.'

'Fennel, Pomegranate and Feta Salad' combines flavours as a great starter, followed by the different, but interesting combination of ingredients in 'Greek Herb Pilaf with Prawns and Feta'.
'Spiced Quinces with Crema Catalana Ice Cream' is a great pud and to wind up... a coffee served with a 'Violet Liqueur Truffle' , a truly wonderful recipe, making a seemingly complicated sweet relatively easy to achieve, in your own kitchen!



A cookery book you can read, 06 Dec 2003
What a book.....great recipes, fantastic descriptions .....you just feel as if you are "there" tasting, smelling.
The recipes I've tried so far are tasty and simple.
A book to dip into time and time again.

Sumptious Arabian Nights, 05 May 2003
What a glorious celebratory cookbook this is. I've always like cookbooks that explain the cuisine to you, and describe all the differenct ingredients used. Diana Henry doesn't disappoint here as each section opens with a 2-page description of the food, and the ingredients required. Her description of the different honeys available is just mouth-watering.

Since I bought this book, I've also bought saffron, apricots, lots of honey, and I'm dying to try to make my own pickled lemons(!). So that should give you an idea of just how influential this cookbook is.

This book is actually one of the few cookbooks I take down off the shelf and read when I have a few minutes. It just inspires you.

Very tasty book., 11 Sep 2007
Whilst you'll need a pretty good grasp of kitchen technique to get the most of this book, I unhesitatingly recommend it. The recipes are lucid and easy to use (baring in mind my initial caveat), and they show a real understanding and love for the food described and the culture that produced it. It's also sufficiently well written as to not suffer for the lack of pictures: quite the contrary in fact, pictures would interupt the text.

Well worth the price, or even twice the price........

This is one of the best Moroccan cookery books around, 13 Dec 1999
If you want to cook authentic marrocan cusine this is the book for you . However this book is not for the beginner , Omars couscous is absolutely fantastic as is the Bastilla {Pidgeon and egg pie with ground almonds}

It also has a good dinner party planner at the back to help you plan your meal.

No pictures

souvenir chef-book, 11 Apr 2008
This must be for people who have already eaten at Moro or in Andalusia - despite being a good cook I cannot make these recipes taste good. There are far better (but less trendy) Spanish/Moroccan books by any of the following food writers (as opposed to chefs-of-the-moment): Elizabeth Luard, Penelope Casas, Paula Wolfert; all keepers, unlike this one! In its favour, the reference section is reasonably helpful & the pics are intermittently charming. The paper stock stains & dissolves very easily - not great for a bone fide cook book, eh?

Yes but, 13 Mar 2008
I've eaten at the restaurant a couple of times, and loved it. I love Spanish food, and Moro's take on it is a real winner. And there are some recipes in here we come back to time and again (the carrot, cumin and coriander salad is just sensational and I never tire of it).

So why three stars? Well, just because we only ever cook three or four things. We've tried a couple of recipes that just didn't really work - they didn't go wrong, they were just, well, fine. But a lot of trouble for just fine. And a load of others I've just thought "oh, I can't be bothered". Which isn't to say it's complicated, just a bit off putting.

The mezze/tapas dishes are great though, the yoghurt cake not to my tastes but everyone we've made it for has raved about it, the liver with cumin wonderful, and the patatas pobres lovely). Have a look through it before buying, and see how many you're really likely to cook though.


Not authentic Moroccan dishes, 22 Nov 2007
I was very disappointed when I received this book. The national dish of Morocco is tagine with couscous. This book only sport ONE tagine recipe and included a lot of recipes with ham and sherry which is not part of the main Moroccan diet as they are majority Muslim. I bought a tagine pot in the hope to use it but will have to put it off until I get a better book. With all the good reviews I was hoping that the dishes would be more authentic but I am afraid not. I have not tried any of the recipes. I am pretty sure it will taste good but probably no different to any other book or recipes. The book seemed to have a Spanish feel to it. If you are after authenticity then I recommend you look elsewhere.

Original, fresh, simple, fabulous cooking!, 12 Nov 2007
I love this cookbook! Though presently suffering under a self imposed ban on cookbook buying - I could NOT resist this... I picked it up in a friends house and read page after page of delicious and different recipes for things like carrots with coriander, beetroot and garlicky yoghurt, patatas bravas, chicken baked in harissa, pork cooked in milk etc.
There is also guidance on where to buy sherry and what types work best with different food (a drink I have ALWAYS hated but am happily being won over.) There is a slight over dependence on London suppliers and speciality shops in the references given but... I have not bought a book in years that I have loved as much or produced food that has elicited so many compliments from friends. Plus the pictures are pretty!

kitchen treasure, 07 Oct 2006
I think I can safely call this my favourite cookbook. It has spent as much time on my beside table as in the kitchen, and has inspired a fair few trips to Andalucia with my family. This is proper cooking, and although some recipes I don't dare try because I lack the confidence, I'm glad they're included for that day when I just might take the leap. The rest of the recipes, however, are those that make me want to stay at home and prepare as much as possible of this remarkable and distinctive food. If you're not lucky enough to live near a Spanish food shop, there is a very useful directory in the back for mail-order companies. And if you're ever in London, make a pilgrammage to the restaurant (if you can get a table!).

Genuin spanish and mediterranean food., 14 Dec 2007
I'm originally from Granada. Can't remeber the times I've been my self at Las Alpujarras. The book it's beautifully written an the recipies are not adapted to the american or north-european taste. If you want really Spanish or Meditrranean food this is one of the best books you might ever have.
Might be also tru you find it difficult to find som ingredients. I feel free to change them. Just try to keep with the sort of fish or meat indicated in the recipe (meaning white fish for white fish, rock fish for rock fish, lam for lamb, and so on).
This review should also apply to the book nr. 1, though here pictures are better in my opinion. As I recognise the book nr. 1 is also a 5 stars I wish I could give this one a 6 stars!

Congratulations to the writers!

Good Food, Easy to Cook, 01 Dec 2007
I just love Casa Moro. This is excellent, unpretentious home cooking at its best.

The food is mostly very easy to cook and always so yummy... I get hungry just looking through it.

The only problem I find is deciding which of the wonderful dishes to cook next!

'A personal and highly evocative account of a culinary journey ...., 20 Aug 2007
that resonates with history, tradition and, most important of all, delicious dishes.'

`The food of `Moro' has most of its roots in the home.......
This book has the same cultural culinary mix of Spain and the Muslim Mediterranean as our first book. However, we have also included a chapter on the wild food and traditional dishes we have come across in our Alpujarran village.
We are always interested in a sense of place with our food, that place often being the street or the home.
This book therefore prefers to be at home, as there is no substitute for the love and care of the home cook....'

319 high quality pages, split over main chapters:-

Bread, flatbreads and Stuffed Breads
Soups
Tapas & Mezze, Starters and Light Meals
Salads and Cooked Moroccan Salads
Fish Main Courses
Meat Main Courses
Vegetables
Grains & Pulses
Home-Made & Home-Cured
Puddings & Cakes

plus sections entitled `Casa Moro' and `Las Alpujarras and Wild Food', along with the appendix which includes `Basics and Stocks', and a full index.

Each recipe is preceded with some relevant narrative, a full list of ingredients then the clear method.
Foreign and English titles, where applicable.

Interspersed with `on-location' photography and useful `step-by-step' methods.
Perhaps a slight negative may be that this volume is a little light on photographs of the finished dishes - which may be less appealing to those of us who like to see what we are aiming for - but it is easy to forgive this with the general flow of this well written, passionate book.

Recipes include:-

Almond Cake
Turkish Pizza with Tomato, Lamb and Allspice
Thick Gazpacho
Chicken Dumplings Broth
Seafood Salad
Garlic Prawns with White Wine and Chilli
Salt Cod, Orange and Potato Salad
Warm Tomato Bread & Garlic Purée
Winter Tabbouleh
Black Ink Sauce
Scrambled Eggs
Deep Fried Sardine Balls
Roast Pork with Quince Purée
Quail with Grapes & Ginger
Tangia
Paella
Saffron Potatoes
Harissa
Kate's Sherry Trifle
Orange Flan
Anise Biscuits
Pomegranate Molasses
Rice Pudding
Beef Tagine with Prunes - and what better excuse to purchase a `Le Creuset' Tagine, also available at Amazon, in a variety of colours, today!

An excellent book packed with yummy recipes, 03 Jun 2007
I think this book has to be the best cookery book I have bought so far! The variety and amount of recipes is exceptional. Have cooked three so far this week alone, and was not disappointed. The Carrot Puree with Caraway and Feta is to die for! I never realised carrots could taste so good!

Casa Moro is an enjoyable read, full of easy to follow yummy recipes with nice colour photographs. I look forward to trying many more great dishes.

The only negative I would say, is that the dessert section leaves a lot to be desired. There are not many recipes and most are various ice cream dishes which if like me, you don't have an icecream maker are not much good.

Its a small negative, and overall I am extremely happy with my purchase.

Yum Yum, 04 May 2005
In the first week of owning this book, I cooked 3 meals from it, and now, 6 months later there is barely a week that goes by without a meal either from or influenced by this book.

Most dishes are straightforward to prepare, even easy at times, and little is required outside the ingredients most enthusiastic cooks are likely to have.

I am now very much looking forwards to trying the many light summer dishes after having been on gutsy winter fare so far. Surely a book for all seasons. Prawns and Oyster mushrooms in manzanilla on toast makes for a hard to beat lunch!

Plenty of ideas for delicious meals, 13 Jun 2008
I felt the need to stretch my cookery limbs and have a change from asian-inspired meals, and this book jumped off the shelf at me. There's a range of simple, well-described and beautifully photographed recipes, ranging from quick meals to slow-cooked tagines.

Some of the ingredients used aren't really to my taste (e.g. prunes and apricot in savoury dishes), but the recipes work great and still have plenty of flavour without them. The spiced cous-cous and rice meals are very filling and always go down well.

Fabulous food and an excuse to experiment - a real adventure!, 13 Jan 2008
This book is absolutely FANTASTIC! The recipes, mostly from West Africa, range from very simple side dishes, that you could add to more familar fare, to complex fish, vegetable and meat dishes. All are clearly described and well illustrated (i'm no great chef but like to experiment in the kitchen and, having received this book just 2 weeks ago have already tried 6 or 7 of the recipes. All of them have turned out successfully - as far as I can judge - and all of them I will definately make again). There's also a nice section at the beginning explaining what some of the more unfamiliar basic ingredients you'll need to find are. BUT there is so, so much more to this book . . . you'll need to go out and visit those stalls in the local market that you were never brave enough to approach and find out how to judge the ripeness of a 'Plantain', choose your 'Yam' as well as find some extraordinary new ingredients like 'Egusi', 'Gari' and 'Palm Oil' that'll change your kitchen forever. . . and might just change your life.

Cant cook - Well you can with this book , 24 Dec 2007
Cant cook - well u can with this book . I actually bought this book for my sister- in -law but have now returned to purchase another 2 copies ,one for me and another for another friend who cant cook either . Excellent easy to follow recipes it makes cookery so much more fun !!!!!Highly recommended

'a glorious and magical feast for the senses', 22 Jul 2007
'a glorious and magical feast for the senses' (as Claudia Roden says about this book..) & I really can't say more ~ This is a wonderful book full of inspiration, a myriad feast for the senses, drawing from the rich cultures & flavours of the Mediteranian & Middle East. Just reading through & looking at this book is an evocative experience, which has a much to do with place & culture/experience as it does with flavour & tastes.

A very personal book ~ far more than just a collection of recipes, which conjures up the whole experience of places, tastes, sounds, sights, textures & smells. And reproducing the tastes contained within it's recipes transports you to these places.

A real treasure!

An exploration of the ingredients and dishes of the Mediterranean, The Middle East and North Africa., 10 May 2006
'Crazy Waters, Pickled Lemons is an exploration of the ingredients and dishes of the Mediterranean, The Middle East and North Africa, presenting recipes that combine flavours in ways long forgotten - or never even discovered - in many western kitchens.
Special ingredients - the colourful, the aromatic, and the perfumed - which are all too often overlooked in the modern kitchen, are also featured.'

This book stands out from the average cookery book because of the passion, which really flows from the author's descriptions, so the reader can almost see and taste those flavours and ingredients!

'Places, as well as tastes, are locked up in food. The clear perfumed stillness of a bottle of flower water, the sexy, velvety skin of a fig, the sunburnt blood colour of a jar of cayenne. Our love of foods has as much to do with what they represent as with what they taste like.'

'Fennel, Pomegranate and Feta Salad' combines flavours as a great starter, followed by the different, but interesting combination of ingredients in 'Greek Herb Pilaf with Prawns and Feta'.
'Spiced Quinces with Crema Catalana Ice Cream' is a great pud and to wind up... a coffee served with a 'Violet Liqueur Truffle' , a truly wonderful recipe, making a seemingly complicated sweet relatively easy to achieve, in your own kitchen!


Enchanting Dishes from the Middle East, the Mediterranean & North Africa., 09 May 2006
'Crazy Waters, Pickled Lemons is an exploration of the ingredients and dishes of the Mediterranean, The Middle East and North Africa, presenting recipes that combine flavours in ways long forgotten - or never even discovered - in many western kitchens.
Special ingredients - the colourful, the aromatic, and the perfumed - which are all too often overlooked in the modern kitchen, are also featured.'

This book stands out from the average cookery book because of the passion, which really flows from the author's descriptions, so the reader can almost see and taste those flavours and ingredients!

'Places, as well as tastes, are locked up in food. The clear perfumed stillness of a bottle of flower water, the sexy, velvety skin of a fig, the sunburnt blood colour of a jar of cayenne. Our love of foods has as much to do with what they represent as with what they taste like.'

'Fennel, Pomegranate and Feta Salad' combines flavours as a great starter, followed by the different, but interesting combination of ingredients in 'Greek Herb Pilaf with Prawns and Feta'.
'Spiced Quinces with Crema Catalana Ice Cream' is a great pud and to wind up... a coffee served with a 'Violet Liqueur Truffle' , a truly wonderful recipe, making a seemingly complicated sweet relatively easy to achieve, in your own kitchen!



A cookery book you can read, 06 Dec 2003
What a book.....great recipes, fantastic descriptions .....you just feel as if you are "there" tasting, smelling.
The recipes I've tried so far are tasty and simple.
A book to dip into time and time again.

Sumptious Arabian Nights, 05 May 2003
What a glorious celebratory cookbook this is. I've always like cookbooks that explain the cuisine to you, and describe all the differenct ingredients used. Diana Henry doesn't disappoint here as each section opens with a 2-page description of the food, and the ingredients required. Her description of the different honeys available is just mouth-watering.

Since I bought this book, I've also bought saffron, apricots, lots of honey, and I'm dying to try to make my own pickled lemons(!). So that should give you an idea of just how influential this cookbook is.

This book is actually one of the few cookbooks I take down off the shelf and read when I have a few minutes. It just inspires you.

Very tasty book., 11 Sep 2007
Whilst you'll need a pretty good grasp of kitchen technique to get the most of this book, I unhesitatingly recommend it. The recipes are lucid and easy to use (baring in mind my initial caveat), and they show a real understanding and love for the food described and the culture that produced it. It's also sufficiently well written as to not suffer for the lack of pictures: quite the contrary in fact, pictures would interupt the text.

Well worth the price, or even twice the price........

This is one of the best Moroccan cookery books around, 13 Dec 1999
If you want to cook authentic marrocan cusine this is the book for you . However this book is not for the beginner , Omars couscous is absolutely fantastic as is the Bastilla {Pidgeon and egg pie with ground almonds}

It also has a good dinner party planner at the back to help you plan your meal.

No pictures

My most used cook-book, 21 Jul 2008
Simple, fool-proof recipes from easy to find ingredients: and delicious results. Most recipes are pictured, and many are the single pot dishes that can be prepared in advance.

Easy Moroccan Food, 17 Oct 2007
I found this book a superb insight into Moroccan food. It is fabulous for an introduction to this type of food or for more experienced cooks. There are several delightful recipes which I will always use regurlarly in my kitchen. There are a lot of inticing pictures and it is well written and informative without going off at a tangent. I recommend this book to anyone who has a taste for delicious fragrant tasty food

Very tasty and simple to make, 20 Jan 2006
This book has been well-worth the money. I have now tried around 10 dishes and all have been a resounding success. My husband is Moroccan, and so a book like this has been a life-saver. The dishes are written in a mannor that is easy to understand. You do not have to be an accomplished cook to make these recipies. Most of the dishes come with pictures so you get an idea of what you are striving for, and what the end result should resemble. It is written in relatively large script for a cookery book so I do not find myself squinting over courgettes to find where I am up to in the method. Most importantly however, the dishes are easy to make, and the cooking times are accurate.I especially appreciate the definitions and methods of certain preserves and spices which are, infrequently, part of the dishes. The only quibble I have is that the Harira dish, whilst being easier to make than traditional methods, is not very authentic.

Top Food from Morocco, 10 Aug 2002
I recently read this from my City library. I already have many Middle Eastern cookbooks, but this one tempted me to search out and buy it. The instructions are well spaced and displayed. The recipes include easy to find ingredients, and the large colour photos tempt you to try. I'm a very visual person, and like to see what the food will be like. There are often little notes or paragraphs before many of the recipes that are delightful and instructive. Most of the recipes are very simple in style, and only vary in the types of spices or herbs added, and are very adaptable to individual tastes. Highly recommended.