The World's Finest Pasta and Grain Dishes

These 110 mostly Asian and Italian recipes are well-served by Phil Wymant's photographs of locations and dishes; the small maps indicating geographic origins of each dish add a nice touch. Some of the recipes, however, are inaccurate. ""Little Hats"" Stuffed with Cheese, calling for cappelletti, squares of stuffed pasta folded to look like tri-cornered hats, gives instructions for preparing tortellini, which also appears in the photograph. A recipe for Mogul Chicken repeats the call for one cup of rice twice in its list of ingredients although only one is referred to in the instructions. Chapter organization suffers from sometimes arbitrary assignment: e.g., Moroccan Sheikh's Couscous (with chickpeas and raisins) is included with Side Dishes, while Couscous with Chickpeas and Vegetables is classified as a Main Course. A few recipes like Quinoa with Red Peppers and Bulghur Meatballs employ unusual grains; rice and noodles appear in many variations. A chapter of breakfast and brunch dishes provides a handy Light Muesli but also includes Blini with Scrambled Eggs and Red Peppers, which contain neither pasta nor whole grains. Marshall, who works as a food consultant in Australia, wrote The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook. (Aug.)