For that end of the summer or Labor Day party drink look no further than sangria. And look no further than this piece I wrote on preparing Spain’s iconic drink for two sophisticated, naturally sweetened versions of it. Included are two recipes — for red wine sangria and also one for white wine. I guarantee that you will be squeezing the last drops of liquid from the fruit.

Just in time to preempt a whole flood of emails about cousins and bosses’ kids visiting town this summer is a piece I wrote in the new in Virtuoso Life magazine. My picks.

On a high-end note: staying in the new Mandarin Oriental Hotel might be above the budget of most, but dinner at Carme Ruscalleda’s Moment’s Restaurant in the hotel is a worthy splurge. Eat there and you will see why she is the only female chef to have 5 Michelin stars. Well, 5 for now. More to come with Moments. Guaranteed.

Today, February 22nd, I am featured as Author of the Day on Cookstr. Click around the site. You can find a handful of recipes from La Paella plus thousands more from some great chefs from Rick Bayless to Alice Waters.

An excellent and spot-on review in Publishers Weekly, the venerable American trade magazine magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and agents.

Rice, Pasta, Couscous: The Heart of the Mediterranean Kitchen
Jeff Koehler. Chronicle, $29.95 (226p) ISBN 9780811862974
Cookbook author Koehler (La Paella) takes readers on a culinary tour of the Mediterranean in this inspired collection of starchy dishes from Italy, Spain, Algeria, Malta, Morocco, and elsewhere. More than a one-off collection of token recipes, Koehler digs deep, offering insight into the importance of rice, pasta and couscous in regional cuisines through lengthy tales of his years immersed in Mediterranean kitchens and restaurants. Liberally seasoned with photos of local characters as well as finished dishes, the book falls into a comfortable valley between travelogue and cookbook. Koehler’s patient, detailed instructions and color commentary are transporting, whether he’s discussing his favorite cabbage rolls, found in Dubrovnik; the tomato pilaf he discovered during a trip to Istanbul; or a recipe he squired away from Countess Rosetta Clara Cavalli d’Oliviola in Vermicelli, Italy (for Whiskey Risotto with Rosemary). Though classics like Paella and Ravioli are included, the emphasis is on lesser-known but equally satisfying dishes like Pappardelle with Duck Ragu and Tunisian Lamb Couscous with Meatballs. Though far from the definitive work on rice, pasta and couscous, this makes a palate-rousing roundup for hose with a taste for travel. (Nov.)

Rebekah Denn, the 2009 James Beard winner for newspaper reporting with recipes, just published this interview on Al Dente, a blog by Amazon.com editors.

Rice Pasta Couscous (And Don’t Forget Frogs)

by Rebekah Denn on November 16, 2009

After living in Barcelona for 12 years, Jeff Koehler is technically considered a resident. Luckily for us, the American food writer and photographer has retained the curious eye of the outsider, roaming his adopted home for recipes and stories.We talked on the phone about his new book, Rice Pasta Couscous, a cross-cultural journey around the Mediterranean to see the similarities and differences of how people view these staples of family meals. Oh, and along the way, he shared the secrets for making perfect couscous without any special equipment. Here are some highlights from our talk:

On how he wound up living in Barcelona: Her name was Eva. “We were in London. I was studying drama, and she was studying organic chemistry. We shared a kitchen…When she went back to Barcelona to do a PhD, I followed her.” And that meant an introduction to her mother’s weekly family gatherings over paella. “Everything goes through the paella. I met the family over the paella, and eventually we said we were going to get married over the paella. I saw this simple staple become this anchor of the whole family.”

On how the book was born: Through those same weekly dinners, seen through other eyes. “My friends in Morocco, it’s the same for them on Friday, after the mosque, to go to the mother’s house for couscous…In Algeria, one of the guys told me, you can make other dishes, but couscous is obligatory, from birth to death, couscous is at every important milestone. My friends in Naples, the mother told me a meal isn’t a meal without pasta.” It became clear there was a story in the similarities and differences between these traditions.

On keeping it real: It’s possible to find recipes in the book simple enough for a quick dinner, say, orzo with brown butter and cheese. But one of Koehler’s chief goals was authenticity, “traveling around the nooks and crannies,” and replicating what he found in kitchens from Lebanon to Catalonia. That means many more labor-intensive recipes, and some with unlikely ingredients, such as the traditional frog and eel stew he found in Croatia. (”How many frogs do you add?” I asked, taking notes on the recipe. “As many as you can catch.”)

He knows many people won’t be able to cook the more unusual recipes, but some will.

“I definitely didn’t want to avoid stuffed pigeon with liver, it’s one of the great Egyptian dishes…Some people, they can find it. There are a couple people out there who will be very happy to do it.” Even with pastas, he does include well-loved standards, but “there are so many great pasta traditions that have nothing to do with the classic Italian style of boiling and saucing.”

On what “the Mediterannean” really is: A lot bigger than most people realize, and more than Tuscany and Provence. “Tunisia is 87 miles from southern Italy…You can have, in Tunisia, cuttlefish or squid sauteed with garlic, the same as in Italy, but with cumin, a completely different taste.” On researching: “You can say to somebody, I really want to talk about rice. They say, I don’t know the history of rice. I don’t want (to know) that. I want to know, how do you use it in your life? How does your mother make it? Then you get a four-hour answer.” On his next project, Country Cooking of Spain: A highlight will be how no food that can be used or preserved is thrown away. He’ll include vinegars and oils and preserved savory foods and more. “There’s a big chapter on innards and extremities.” On what to do if you don’t own a couscoussiere: Don’t worry about it. Real diehards will say it’s the only way to make couscous, and there are recipes where “the couscous is being steamed in the vapor of the stew, and so it does take, to an extent, some of the flavor”–but, Koehler said, using it all the time “for me is not reality, even though I have one and can get the real stuff and we make it.”Using the boxed instant stuff is fine, he said, so long as you ignore the directions. Instead, he does it this way: Dissolve a teaspoon of salt in 2.5 cups warm (not boiling) water. Pour 1 lb couscous into a very wide, shallow dish and dribble the salty water over it. Mix with a fork. Let it sit for 10 minutes to absorb the water. Drizzle in 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil. Toss with both hands, lifting the grains and letting them fall through your fingers. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, transfer the couscous to an ovenproof baking dish, and bake, turning the grains from time to time, until steamy warm, 10 to 15 minutes. If you like, add a tablespoon of butter or smen (clarified and preserved butter). Fluff with a fork.

– Rebekah Denn

A lovely write up by April Kilcrease about rice puddings (in Rice Pasta Couscous) in Afar magazine’s blog. (If you haven’t seen the recently-launched Afar it’s the hottest travel mag on the newsstand. It’s the vagabonding cousin to dwell magazine.)

The proof is in the (rice) pudding: a Mediterranean treat

By April Kilcrease October 8th, 2009 5:09 pm |

Soft, creamy, sweet, there’s something so comforting about rice pudding. According to Afar writer Jeff Koehler, the milky dessert “is one of the few universal rice dishes around the entire Mediterranean.” In his latest cookbook, Rice Pasta Couscous, Koehler offers three regional variations on the delicious dish.

The oven-baked rice pudding with mastic (sak?zl? f?r?n sütlaç) is inspired by his first trip to Istanbul in 1994. “The weather was cold and wet,” he writes. “Much of my time was spent in cafes and muhallebici, ‘dairy bars’ specializing in milky puddings. Creamy, baked rice pudding was a discovery for me, especially when flavored with mastic. Crushed tears of mastic give a piney flavor to the pudding and a chewier consistency.”

His creamy vanilla-scented rice pudding (rizogalo) is adapted from a Greek family recipe that has been “passed from mother to daughter for generations.”

He also includes a spiced rice-flour pudding (moghli) from Lebanon, where “families prepare this caraway-and-anise-laden rice-flour pudding for guests after the birth of a baby.”

Rice pudding (arroz con leche) is a favorite in Koehler’s Barcelona home. As he shares in his article “Absorbing Rice,” “when the weather cools, my girls start asking for…arroz con leche. These are the days when…the flat fills with the aroma of rice simmering in milk with sugar, cinnamon, and citrus peels. To me that smell announces autumn.” To make the traditional treat, follow the arroz con leche recipe at the bottom of his story.

Tuesday November 3rd at 11:15 EST
Martha Stewart Living Radio
Sirus XM Satellite Radio Channel 112 / XM Channel 157
www.marthastewart.com/radio

Friday November 6th from 6 to 7 pm
Everett, Washington: J. Matheson Gifts, Kitchen and Gourmet.
www.jmatheson.com
I will be signing books and talking. Details here

Friday November 6th from 7 - 8:30 pm
Everett, Washington: J. Matheson Gifts, Kitchen and Gourmet.
Cooking class and talk. $29.50.
On the menu: The Countess’s Whiskey Risotto with Rosemary; Busiate with Trapani Pesto of Tomatoes, Garlic, and Almonds; and Sweet Couscous with Dates and Nuts
Details and registration here
www.jmatheson.com

Saturday November 7th at 7 pm.
Portland: Vino wine store in Sellwood
www.vinobuys.com
Come for a glass of wine… and a book!

Thursday November 12th from 6 to 7 pm
San Francisco: Omnivore Books
www.omnivorebooks.com
after, plan on heading to Incanto a few blocks away for a glass of wine and some nibbles (be prepared: well-known chef Chris Cosentino does amazing stuff with innards)

Saturday November 14th at 2 pm.
Seattle: Elliott Bay Book Co.
www.elliottbaybook.com
Go early for lunch as the cafe will be featuring a dish from the book.

Monday December 21rst at 7 pm
Paris: Shakespeare and Company Bookstore
www.shakespeareandcompany.com
I will be talking and reading selections from the book.

The reviews for Rice Pasta Couscous are beginning to be published. This one was posted on the blog The Knack under seven cookbooks to savor this fall.

Rice Pasta Couscous: The Heart of the Mediterranean Kitchen by Jeff Koehler

Having co-hosted a food book club that takes place around the Mediterranean, I have really enjoying speaking about the cuisines of different cultures and am fascinated by how many of the same ingredients are used in each country.

Jeff Koehler is astoundingly knowledgeable in the different countries, regions and delicacies and gives thorough recipes for really interesting dishes that probably won’t show up in too many of the cookbooks on your shelf.

Having read hundreds and hundreds of cookbooks, I can honestly say I’ve never come across one such as this - heartfelt, rich with history and authentic dishes that you will honestly be able to prepare on your own with ingredients that are probably already in your pantry.

I can’t wait to make the Rice with Monkfish and Artichokes (Ebro Delta, Spain), The Countess’s Whiskey Risotto with Rosemary (Vercelli, Italy), Lentil Chorba (Algers, Algeria), Fresh Nettle Pasta (Malta), Kushary (Egypt), Lamb Couscous with Meatballs (Tunisia) and Braised Chicken Buried in Sweet Couscous (Tangier, Morocco).

Oh my. Just wait until I tell the bookclub about this one!

There is a piece of mine in the new issue of Virtuoso Life magazine on Valencian paella - the original slow food. It’s a dish that’s worth the wait. Or rather, if you don’t have to wait, it’s not worth it.

You can read it here in a digital version. (If the link doesn’t work, try this: http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/virtuosolife/20090708/#/130/OnePage)

In Maputo’s Mercado Municipal. April 2009 © Jeff Koehler.