Fiestas for the Four Seasons or Recipes

Fiestas for the Four Seasons: Southwest Entertaining with Jane Butel

Author: Jane Butel

In her newest book Jane Butel designs festive menus that celebrate the pleasures of southwestern cooking throughout the year. Jane Butel's immensely popular cookbooks have introduced millions of Americans to southwestern cooking, transforming what was once a local culinary tradition into a great national favorite. Readers have come to rely on her creativity, in-depth knowledge of cooking, and her skill in designing brunches, lunches, dinners, and buffet menus for every time of the year. Home chefs will appreciate the comprehensive instructions and the extra help that her fully planned menus provide.

Interesting textbook: Overthrow or Torture Democracy

Recipes: A Collection for the Modern Cook

Author: Susan Spungen

Recipes. Cooking all comes down to the recipes -- those ingredient-by-ingredient, technique-by-technique, step-by-step instructions.

In Recipes, Susan Spungen, founding food editor and editorial director for food at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia for twelve years, presents her own easy, unfettered ideas for cooking simple food rich with freshness and flavors to share with family and friends.

Recipes is organized by technique, explaining why sautéing is great for two or four but when feeding a crowd braising is the better choice. "Prepare" focuses on the basics, from making a vinaigrette to roasting garlic and peppers. "Chop" includes not just salads, but gazpacho and a Provençal sandwich that requires knife skills. "Sauté" explains how to pan-sear fish and make a layered omelet. "Grill" shows proper techniques for cooking scallops, asparagus, and steak over an open fire. "Roast" offers the perfect roast chicken and a roasted squash salad. "Bake" features a variety of pizzas as well as mushrooms baked in parchment paper. "Simmer and Braise" coaxes the most flavors from soups and lamb shanks. Finally, there's "Indulge," a selection of desserts from simple brownies and peach melba to a fruit crisp and a rich chocolate cake.

Susan believes that one of the most pleasurable parts of a meal should be the making of it. Recipes encourages home cooks to become confident cooks.

The New York Times - Korby Kummer

Her chicken rubbed with smoked paprika and roasted with root vegetables on a "rack" of thick onion slices will be good for casual winter entertaining. Come summer, try her warm caprese salad with stacked slices of tomato and mozzarella grilled "until the cheese slumps."

Library Journal

Drawing on her experiences as a founding food editor of Martha Stewart Living, Spungen has compiled a fairly standard cookbook of slightly more than 100 recipes for salads, entr es, side dishes, and desserts arranged by cooking technique rather than food type. Thus, baby back ribs, planked salmon, and grilled asparagus can all be found under "Grill." Thankfully, an index is promised, which should make locating dishes somewhat easier. The recipes-most of which are accompanied by color photographs-are similar to those featured in Martha Stewart Living, sophisticated but usually not terribly complicated, with cooking tips and serving suggestions. Overall, a nice addition for larger cookery collections and especially for fans of Stewart, who wrote the foreword.-Susan Hurst, Miami Univ. Libs., Oxford, OH Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Table of Contents:

	Foreword	ix
	Introduction: The Modern Cook	1
	Prepare	9
	Chop	39
	Saute	59
	Grill	91
	Roast	121
	Bake	149
	Simmer & Braise	174
	Indulge	210
	Sources	254
	Acknowledgments	256
	Index	259