cover image Barcelona: Cult Recipes

Barcelona: Cult Recipes

Stephan Mitsch. Murdoch, $29.99 (272p) ISBN 978-1-76063-428-5

Mitsch, a Barcelona tour guide, teams with photographer Arnold Poschl in this comprehensive, beautifully photographed debut collection. Along with culinary travel tips and a map highlighting 38 eateries, Mitsch offers 120 classic Catalan recipes. Small plates are big business in Spain, reflected here in a useful 80-page chapter of tapas that includes everything from sea urchin flan to creamed cannellini beans to a wild asparagus tortilla. Mushrooms pop up throughout the main dishes—in a ravioli, paired with red mullet fish fillets, and stuffed into pig’s trotters. Other entrees showcase a mix of seafood with vegetables or poultry. A paella is full of prawns, squid, clams and mussels, along with tomatoes, peppers, and onion, while chicken with seafood is seasoned with a picada paste of saffron, almonds, dark chocolate, and a bit of cognac. Poschl’s many full-page photos are studies in rich contrast: a bright yellow lemon is squeezed over orange-red prawns, and cinnamon sticks stand upright in a bowl of plum sorbet. This is an enticing and informative introduction to Barcelonian cuisine. (July)