Across the Mediterranean, from Spain to Morocco, via Italy, Sicily, Greece and Lebanon, one delicious food influence gives way to the next. The whole region is a rich seam of deeply delicious food, and the recipes in this mouth-watering collection are gathered far and wide from anywhere the Mediterranean Sea touches the shore.

They are recipes full of passion, colour and flavour, simple and accessible, and will instantly transport you to the sun-soaked shores of your favourite holiday destinations with minimal effort in the kitchen.

These are dishes inspired by the Mediterranean classics, by how locals eat or by single ingredients – think olive oil, the perfumed zest of lemons and oranges, fresh herbs, ripe seasonal tomatoes, juicy stone fruits, oozy figs, sizzling garlic, crushed, aromatic spices, smoky grilled meats and plenty of flatbreads to mop up the juices.

Recipes include:

Burek with honey-roasted pumpkin, goat's cheese and mint from Croatia

Oven-baked black rice from Spain

Lebanese seven-spice falafel

Cumin-roasted aubergines from Tunisia

Cretan grilled smokey sardines

Sicilian sea bass crudo with blood orange and cumin

Pork belly gyros from Greece

Turkish-style spiced lentils with pumpkin, chicken and aleppo pepper

Moroccan pastilla with slow-cooked pheasant

Quince and honey tart from Syria

and a classic Italian Tiramisu

Travel across continents and delve into these pages to not only cook like a Mediterranean but eat like one too: take time, invite friends and family, pour a glass of wine and lay the table. Bon appétit!