cover image COASTAL COOKING WITH JOHN SHIELDS: 125 of the Best Recipes from the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf Coasts, and Hawaii

COASTAL COOKING WITH JOHN SHIELDS: 125 of the Best Recipes from the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf Coasts, and Hawaii

John Shields, . . Broadway, $32.50 (304pp) ISBN 978-0-7679-1535-9

The food is flavorful but the presentation bland in this companion volume to a PBS cooking series. There's nothing wrong with Sole and Smoked Salmon Mousse with Dill Shallot Butter Sauce or Miss Shirley's Eastern Shore Crab Cakes, but they feel familiar. Shields, a self-proclaimed "Chesapeake Bay boy" who runs the Baltimore restaurant Gertrude's and is the author of Chesapeake Bay Cooking (also companion to a PBS show), offers a tour of the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf Coasts and Hawaii. The ethnic recipes, like Moroccan Pesto Sturgeon with Clam and Chorizo Sauce from Seattle's Brasa restaurant and Mama Lan's Vietnamese Stir-Fried Crab from San Francisco, and regional classics such as Cheese and Garlic Grits with Shrimp and Tasso Gravy, are undoubtedly the most exciting fare. In an odd choice, however, only about half of these dishes from various shores are for seafood, since "The coastal communities of the United States are rich with recipes from the land as well." That may be true, but dishes such as Herb-Roasted Rack of Oregon Lamb or Tropical Hearts of Palm Salad (which uses canned hearts of palm) don't quite work hard enough to earn land food its territory here. Shields writes a tidy recipe, but this volume feels like a rerun. Color photos. (On sale Aug. 3)