zarela veracruz

Veracruz, the lush strip of land bordering the Gulf, is home to the most accessible cooking in all of Mexico. There could be no better guide to this exciting region than the joyfully extroverted Zarela Martínez, chef and owner of New York's best Mexican restaurant and author of two widely acclaimed cookbooks. Now, as the tour guide and host of a nationally broadcast public television series filmed on location, she introduces the culture and food of Veracruz to a North American audience for the first time. In this major new cookbook -- the companion to the show -- Zarela provides a mesmerizing travelogue and absorbing portrait of the region, with more than two hundred irresistible recipes.

The cuisine of Veracruz is exceptionally inviting, even to cooks who may think they don't like Mexican food. Complex blends of difficult-to-find chiles and other spices are nearly absent. Thanks to Spanish influences, the dishes often seem almost Mediterranean in character, with lively indigenous and Cuban notes. The recipes are perfect for parties or, in many cases, ordinary suppers:

Crab and Avocado Salad • Spicy Shrimp Soup • Garlicky Pan-Fried Fish • Orange-Flavored Chicken • Wild Mushrooms in Vinaigrette • Table-Stainer Pork • Coconut Layer Cake • Peanut Sand Tarts