Holiday Entertaining

How to Cook Everything Holiday Cooking
Mark Bittman

Enjoy cooking for the holidays this year! Roast Turkey and Gravy. Baked Ham with Maple Glaze. Traditional Apple Pie. Death-by-Chocolate Torte. Holidays are when you pull out all the stops, and with How to Cook Everything: Holiday Cooking, you can make your special feast or buffet spread without stress. Mark Bittman, the award-winning author of the bestselling kitchen classic How to Cook Everything, shares his favorite simple–and infinitely flexible–holiday recipes. You’ll be able to cook for big feasts and parties from Thanksgiving to New Year’s and for other holiday gatherings all year-round. To inspire you and help you plan your meals, you’ll find Bittman’s straight talk on cooking and special features, including: Creative recipe variations and ideas, Tips for shopping, preparing, and cooking the recipes, Illustrations to demystify trickier techniques, Menu suggestions for a Traditional Thanksgiving Dinner, a Tree-Trimming Party, an Easter Feast, and more, At-a-glance icons highlighting recipes that can be made ahead.
Book Description.

Gourmet Meals in Minutes

Having trained thousands of professional chefs, the Culinary Institute of America addresses home cooks here in an effort to "cultivate a passion for cooking" despite today's hectic pace. With an emphasis on a multiplicity of ethnic flavors, the recipes are largely familiar and manageable. In fact, many of the simpler ones (Vichyssoise, Romaine and Grapefruit Salad with Walnuts and Stilton; Ratatouille; and Tiramisu) may be found in scores of other cookbooks. However, such dishes as Lobster and Roasted Red Pepper Salad, and Pesto-Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Tomato Relish seem rather ambitious when described as "meals in minutes." And suggesting the use of premade phyllo dough as a prime ingredient in Fennel and Chorizo Strudels, or packaged puff pastry dough in Fresh Fruit Galette, undercuts the book's premise. Oddly for home cooking, nearly every recipe serves eight. Still, there are dozens of quick and easy recipes, such as Niçoise-Style Grilled Tuna and Cider-Braised Pork Medallions. Presentation is often a key aspect, as in Haricots Verts with Prosciutto and Gruyère, in which prosciutto slices are twisted into spirals to resemble roses. CIA fans, who include viewers of PBS's Cooking Secrets from the CIA, will turn to this book.
Publishers Weekly Review; August 2004.

Entertaining 101
Linda West Eckhardt

Dinner parties are back. But some things have changed forever. There was a time when celebration meant days of planning, days of cooking, and days of recuperation. But no more! Today, the very thought of preparing one of those sumptuous multicourse extravaganzas has become no more than a fleeting nightmare. For special events, however, there is still nothing quite so welcome as a home-cooked meal. In Entertaining 101, mother and daughter Linda West Eckhardt and Katherine West DeFoyd provide all the information anyone will need to throw a terrific party at home. Each of the recipes has been tested not only by the authors but also by less experienced cooks. Each one has been simplified to eliminate all unnecessary steps. Each menu is accompanied by a carefully worked-out timetable so that every dish will be ready when it should be. And no menu requires more than an hour's preparation time in the kitchen, although some dishes may cook longer unattended--while you set the table or enjoy a cocktail with your guests. The fifty-two seasonal menus--from a Winter Solstice Formal Sage Chicken Dinner to a Summer Supper from the Farmer's Market--will allow anyone to entertain "with style and grace" every week of the year. Each menu includes wine suggestions and useful tips for serving and decorating (although the authors emphasize that there are no absolute rights or wrongs). This may not be the age of Aquarius, but it is certainly the age of liberation--in the kitchen as well as everywhere else.
Book Description.

The Art and Craft of Entertaining
Kimberly Kennedy

Where do I begin?That's the question we start with when thinking about throwing a party -- and for many of us, that's the question we end with, too. We may like the idea of entertaining friends and family in our home, but the details -- those how to's of planning the party, making the food, and playing hostess -- can quickly overwhelm us, prompting us to tuck away the idea, waiting for another, better time. But it doesn't have to be that way. With The Art and Craft of Entertaining, author Kimberly Kennedy provides all the information and inspiration you need to plan, organize, and carry out a successful no-stress event. Marry some of her ideas with your own, and you'll be on the way to developing your style, gaining confidence as a hostess and elsewhere in your life. Whether you're throwing a cocktail party, a baby shower, or an intimate dinner for two, The Art and Craft of Entertaining will take you there, step-by-step. Instructive and encouraging, this essential book lays the groundwork for entertaining with style, demonstrating how to craft a perfect invitation for any occasion, organize your supplies into versatile and efficient arsenals, and plan a satisfying meal without breaking your budget. The Art and Craft of Entertaining shows how to mix passion with planning so that you can throw the party of your dreams.
Book Description.

Semi-Homemade Gatherings
Sandra Lee

Sandra Lee, host of the ever-popular Food Network show Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee, knows how to make meals and menus memorable, whether it’s dinner for two or for ten! Sandra’s combination of 70% ready-made foods and 30% fresh ingredients makes every day a culinary celebration. More than 40 party themes featuring easy to duplicate, beautifully decorated and artfully arranged tabletop settings for every celebratory occasion imaginable. Sandra offers 100 sensational Semi-Homemade recipes for quick and delicious appetizers, desserts, and signature cocktails-perfectly suited for each specific party theme.

The Hassle-free Host
Christopher Lowell

Television's ever upbeat designer and decorator Lowell shows in pictures and text how to throw a memorable party. In this volume, he expands his horizons to include food as well as decoration. He wants to make a party fun, freeing the host from exhausting pre-event preparation but still making the scene one that guests are unlikely to forget. For a simple design concept, Lowell places flowers, vegetables, and fruits around a table, noting, "There are no mistakes in nature." Even apples make good place-card holders. Painted dowels glued to candle holders make elegantly tall rose holders for a more formal look. Lowell's recipes call for ready-made foods and mixes that gain individuality and creativity by addition of a few extra ingredients. Frozen macaroni-and-cheese stirred with some roasted red peppers and added cheeses easily fools guests. Frozen peas whipped with dill and cream make a simple starter. But some dishes require fresh ingredients, so Lowell does a veal stew from fresh meat and then simplifies it with frozen pearl onions and some canned white beans.
Booklist Review; September 2004.

Real Simple Celebrations

If only it were as simple as popping open a bottle of Champagne. But as every hostess knows, life's myriad celebrations - whether they come in the form of a big holiday blow out or a small birthday party - require planning and effort to pull off. And in the midst of all that hors d'oeuvre making and centerpiece arranging, it can be easy to lose sight of what you're actually celebrating (whose birthday is it, anyway?). "Real Simple Celebrations" is filled with smart solutions to take the hassle out of entertaining. Each chapter is dedicated to a different occasion - such as Easter, New Year's Eve, a child's birthday party - and guides you every step of the way, from inviting the guests to cleaning up after they've gone. With its handy checklists, foolproof game plans, practical advice, and truly doable ideas, "Real Simple Celebrations" will make all your parties a lot easier to pull off. So, you can stay focused on what you're celebrating-and, more important, why.
Book Description.

Come for Dinner
Leslie Revsin

Revsin, the former owner and chef of Manhattan's celebrated (but now defunct) Restaurant Leslie, offers a collection of over 150 recipes designed for small get-togethers of friends and family. While Revsin's recipes aren't necessarily innovative-they rely primarily on favorite comfort foods, often borrowing flavors from Italian cooking-her unique twists on classics should make this book very appealing to home cooks seeking "sophistication that doesn't bonk you over the head." Readers will find enticing recipes for every course, including Roasted Mushrooms with Lemon Oil, Chicken Cutlets with Fresh Tomato-Shallot Sauce and Brown Sugar Bananas in Phyllo. Revsin celebrates desserts as much as main courses, and bakers will find quite a few worthwhile recipes. Some of the recipes have quite a few steps, which the experienced Revsin (Great Fish Quick) sometimes shrugs off; for one salad, she writes, "When you've peeled, cut and dressed the beets beforehand...it takes only a few minutes to put together." But she does include "Do-Ahead Options" for each dish, which note the steps in the recipe that can be completed days-or even weeks-ahead. Such planning hints help assure that delicious meals can be made from scratch, and that the cook will get to sit down with guests when it's time to dine. Revsin also includes several dozen helpful menu suggestions, which will help readers put together a dinner party from the grill, a picnic or a perfect meal for cool weather.
Publishers Weekly Review; July 2003.