Weir Cooking: Recipes from the Wine Country
Northern California lies on the same latitude as Spain, Greece, Turkey, and southern Italy. This, Joanne Weir explains, accounts for its similarities to  these Mediterranean lands. Tied to a U.S. public television show,Weir  Cookinginvites you to enjoy the fruits of California's wine country. Focusing on olives, goat cheese, crunchy crostini  made from artisan baked bread made in wood-fired ovens, wine, and other  ingredients commonly associated with both areas, she provides recipes  marrying the culinary bounty they share.  In this collection of 140 recipes, Weir manages to draw cooks and more  passive recipe readers into the California experience, describing how the  development of small-family farming in northern California contributes to the  soul-lifting experience of shopping at San Francisco's Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, where urban customers become part of a friendly and revolutionary  agricultural community, farmers remember what they like, and conversation  leavens the interchange.Weir's classic white bean soup warmed with rosemary and pizza topped with  pungent arugula and shaved Parmesan cheese are the epitome of California  cooking. She is brilliant, too, at giving familiar dishes a new twist, poaching balls of buffalo mozzarella in warm, fresh tomato sauce perfumed  with basil and frying risotto flavored with olive paste into irresistible,  bite-size croquettes she calls Rice Olives. Any  cook can appreciate the intelligent simplicity of lamb grilled on skewers of  fresh rosemary and will gladly undertake the modest effort required to serve  salmon drizzled with blood orange vinaigrette accompanied by plump  asparagus.  Apart from the TV show,  Weir's way with food and her passion for northern  California lets this book stand alone as a source for convivial meals.--Dana Jacobi