By Catherine Bell - www.catherinebellnz.blogspot.com


Rick Stein might be one of the greatest food celebrities of the 21st century but you’d never know it to meet him.

Each time I meet him I am struck by the lack of airs and graces and that ’look at me’ behaviour so often associated with celebs. Stein is just a really pleasant man who loves good, simple authentic food and is extremely modest with it.

He is so modest in fact that he doesn’t for a minute think his new book Rick Stein’s Spain could possible win against Jamie Oliver’s British Food book in the Galaxy Awards in which both books are finalists. Why? “Because Jamie is so much more famous and well respected that I am” he explains. Yeah right, I want to say. I for one am not sure that is quite true and I do hope that he is proved wrong.

For one who already has a love affair with Spain, this latest book, companion to the TV series of the same name due to start on Prime on Sunday 30th October, is never-the-less a visual treat and a delight from a recipe perspective. It’s approachable, just like the food Rick loves best of all and there are new and different dishes that I have not seen before.

Are they totally authentic though?

The answer says Rick is in the book’s title – Rick Stein’s Spain. These are his interpretations of the traditional dishes he has been discovering since his first visit to Spain as an eight year old although in those days his parents referred to Spanish food as filthy.

“For instance” he tells me “in one town alone there might be several versions of the same dish – so which one is correct? It’s the one a family has been making for generations, or the one I like best and then interpret in a way people will enjoy and want to cook”.

It’s a book that celebrates Spain’s past but also it’s future as one of the great food cultures of the word.

“Food here is real”, Stein says of Spanish food, “its basic local food without pretence”.

And what of the ‘new’ Spanish cuisine, the molecular gastronomy?

“It doesn’t really push my buttons but at the same time I recognize that it has helped put Spanish food back on the map. And there are some (restaurants) that manage to combine both rather well”.

As we have come to expect with Rick Stein’s books the imagery on the pages is superb – designed to set the scene and champion the people who have shared their recipes and stories with him. Asked how he finds these treasures he is quick to acknowledge the help of many – in particular the Spanish cookery author Maria Jose Sevilla who works for the Spanish Trade Commission in London and ex-pats such as authors Chris Stewart of Driving over Lemons fame and John Barlow who wrote Everything but the Squeal.

We are so lucky here these days that all but a few ingredients are readily available. There is even a list of NZ stockists of Spanish foods in the back of the book. So get ready to cook and eat some great Spanish dishes this summer. Rick’s book and the TV series has all the inspiration you need.