Crazy Water, Pickled Lemons:

This is the paperback edition of the much acclaimed "Crazy Water, Pickled Lemons", which was shortlisted for The Glenfiddich Food Book of the Year, and features enchanting dishes from the Middle East, Mediterranean and North Africa. Divided into 12 chapters based on ingredients, "Crazy Water, Pickled Lemons" introduces the home cook both to unusual ingredients and to unusual ways to cook with old favourites. Diana Henry is a great new voice in the cookery world, and in this book's recipes - all of which herald from the Mediterranean, North Africa and Middle East - she uses modern classic ingredients such as olive oil, coriander, chilli and dates in such refreshing and delicious ways that the reader will taste them as if for the first time. Each dish has an irresistible charm, either because it uses 'exotic' ingredients such as flower waters, pomegranates and cardamom, or because of its name (consider Ice in Heaven, an Egyptian pudding of rose-scented rice and almonds), or because of its unusual use of ingredients (think of Middle Eastern Orange Cake, made almost entirely of pureed whole cooked oranges).