Mina Stone: Cooking for Artists

I bought this book because I'm an artist and couldn't resist a cookbook with that title. Plus Bon Appetit chose it as one of their best cookbooks for 2015. I had no idea it would become one of my favorite cookbooks, and it's like a breath of fresh air. The recipes are simple and light and foods that I like to eat. It's mostly a Mediterranean diet, not drowning in cream and butter since her main ingredients are lemons, olive oil and salt. Perfect for me since the citrus trees in my backyard are bursting with lemons this time of year. I also love the book's beautiful design by artist Urs Fischer and luscious photography which was partially photographed by the author. And I love the way she talks about her Greek grandmother who taught her how to cook. Throughout the book are photographs of her Yiayia and her house and garden in Greece. The whole cookbook is the tender tale of how she learned to cook and became the chef for Gavin Brown and Urs Fischer, and the recipes the prepares for them. Also fabulous are the delightful artist's drawings and paintings throughout the book -- Josh Smith and Elizabeth Peyton's work are among them. As other reviewers have mentioned, it is a slightly larger book, with a binding that lays flat. It's perfect for reading, cooking, and makes a lovely coffee table book. However it will probably never make it out of my kitchen or bedroom as I love to read it before I go to sleep at night -- it's that kind of book.

Fabulous recipes! Mouthwatering photos! Put a taste of the Mediterranean on your table with these recipes -- delicious flavors, clever combinations and recipes that are just not too complicated. Everyone can be a great cook with this cookbook! I've already given it as a gift to several friends -- professional women who appreciate fine food but don't have a lot of time to spend in the kitchen. It's already a hit with them!

No really. No. Really. I have now made half a dozen of the recipes and each one is more delicious than the last. I love simple, rustic food and Mina totally nails it, plus it's one of those aesthetically pleasing books you want lying around for when people come over or you have a spare moment to peruse at your leisure.

This is a large, beautiful cookbook. The recipes are simple and tempting to try. The only reason I rated it a 3 rather than a 5 star is because the book literally fell apart. The pages came lose from the binding, and I used it maybe twice. I was disappointed to discover that the return date on my order had passed with Amazon. Perhaps the book was stored in a hot warehouse? Maybe I just got a lemon, but using the book will not be enjoyable now, and while I want another book, I am not willing to buy another one and take the risk of the same thing happening again..

This is one fabulous cookbook. I have made six recipes and all have been outstanding. These are simple recipes, the way I like to cook. No five thousand ingredients plus flowers. I am crazy about her vegetable section. She should do a whole book on that subject. The book is organized well, and is beautiful. I loaned the book to a neighbor and she went and bought her own copy.

I saw this cookbook in a high end furniture store. Recipes looked creative, delicious, and had few ingredients. Have cooked a bunch of meals based on this cookbook, and they all are excellent.

Extremely poor printing job for a book of this price and pretension. Very disappointed. Unless I received a bad copy, this book needed serious production supervision. The book was supposed to be a gift but I could not give it to the person it was intended due to the bad print production quality, crinkled pages, poor paper quality, and some truly sloppy bent cover binding. It went directly to the paper recycling bin. What a waste of money.

Nice flavors and mostly simple recipes. Flavor bases are lemon, olive oil, salt and lots of herbs. In the past I have not enjoyed olive oil that much, but the proportions of things in the recipes make the olive oil a non-issue for me and the lemon brings in a nice, fresh bright flavor. I've tried a few recipes: the Herb Salad is delicious, eating leftovers now, we've also enjoyed a cabbage apple salad, apple/fennel salsa simple fried eggs, salmon, skirt steak and a strawberry crumble. This book was worth getting for the salads, simple dressings and creative salsas. If you need to be gluten free, there are only a few recipes that have gluten which can be very simply modified. If you like fresh tasting food, you will enjoy this cookbook. The negatives for me are the price of the book, also the book is very large, difficult to store in my cabinet and takes up lots of counter space.

This is a lovely book, hardcover with 2 bookmarks, well bond and with nice thick paper. As for the recipes, you will find one dedicated on how to fry an egg. Seriously? This is a book mostly for beginners and there are some ideas for quick recipes to put together in a pinch and with (mostly) simple ingredients.

When I first go the book, I thought 1) wow it's huge (in surface not in thickness) and 2) so many filler pages: pictures, drawing, blank page (especially for that price). I also noticed two ribbons to use as a bookmark, a nice touch. There is an appendix with all the metric measurements at the end. I'm glad metric is included. I wonder why it was not integrated directly with the recipes. There is no detailed table of contents which is a shame (only the name of the section but not of the recipes).There is also a section missing from that general table of content. Then I really got into reading the recipes. The recipes are simple, straightforward, unfussy yet not boring. I got the same vibe as hanging out with the 'oh-that-its super easy to make-ill give you the recipe` people of the world. I want to try at least 2/3 of the recipes in this book. A few recipes are almost not recipes (eg how to toast nuts, pears with a drizzle of honey and cinnamon, crudites with lemon juice and salt) but more like neat tricks. Then I got to cooking. So far I've made Faki (greek lentil soup) a couple times: simple, delicious, flavorful. Already gave out the recipe twice for this one. I tried her chicken kebabs: good recipe, I'm sure I will make again eventually (a bit more cumin-y than I expected). I also tried the banana bread and liked it much more that I thought. I had mainly made it because of lingering bananas and for the fun of trying out my new book. It was not too sweet and the texture was great: moist, yet light and crumbly in a good way. My bf is not crazy about banana bread but really enjoyed this one and asked me to keep this recipe close by. Overall, I really like this book, despite some short-comings. Yes there are filler pages. But the content in itself is worthwhile.

レシピはいたってシンプルですが、写真が綺麗で写真集のようです^_^

This is more than just a cookbook! Everything is luxurious about this book…the cover, the paper chose for the pages, the pictures and the most important thing is that ALL the recipes seem simple to do but so delicious!! This is the most magnificent cookbook I ever owned. I’m truly amazed by this piece of art❤️