FLAVOURS OF ANDALUCIA - Tapa dura

Winner of the 1992 Glenfiddich Award for Food Book of the Year, this is a cookery book with a strong travel bias, dealing with each of Andalucia's eight provinces in turn to provide a personal, geographical and culinary survey of the area. It shows how the land itself and historical events have influenced the culinary tradition of the region, with its intriguing combination of hearty peasant fare and the delicate seasonings that are a legacy of the Moorish invasions. Each province draws on its own magnificent natural larder, and the recipes reflect this diversity. The author lived in the area for several years. Her personal reminiscences are interwoven with a wealth of cultural and historical information, and the text is accompanied by the author's own watercolours of dishes, places and scenes of Andalucian life. Elisabeth Luard's previous books include "European Festival Food", "The Barricaded Larder" and "European Peasant Cookery".