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GIFT GUIDE

Hot Out Of The Oven

New cookbooks for the cook on your list.

citing Well, the Magazine of
Food & Health has finally
come out with its long-
awaited collection of more
than 350 recipes culled from its pub-
lications plus new dishes by the staff.
A hallmark of the hardback cook-
book, The Essential Eating Well
Cookbook: Good Carbs, Good Fats,
Great Flavors edited by Patsy
Jamieson (Countryman Press,
$29.95), is that the recipes are, well,
healthful. Imagine that in this age of

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recipes in Eating Well magazine since
1990. And ... she looks happy and
healthy in her photo on the inside
back cover. —Keri Guten Cohen

All those who love to bake but don't
have the time can turn to The
Weekend Baker by Abigail Johnson
Dodge (Norton, $30). She offers
stress-free dessert, bread and savory
recipes and simple techniques for all
to turn out sumptuous baked goods
in no time at all.

Aheads."
More difficult recipes arrive in
"Productions." Look for hazelnut
ladyfingers, spiced ginger roll, four-
layer carrot cake and slow-baked
brown rice pudding with a sugary
nut topping.
The entire book is printed in over-
sized type to make following the
recipes easier. The book also has 28
full-color illustrations that look good
enough to tempt anyone back into
the kitchen to try baking a few for

f'
Fur everyone, but
the author does seem to know how
to throw an interesting dinner party
and that comes through loud and
clear.
— Keri Guten Cohen

•

Jacques Pepin Fast Food My Way
(Houghton Mifflin, $30) is a beauti-
ful cookbook filled with simple
recipes for cooks in a hurry.
Pepin's introduction gives his phi-
losophy for quick but elegant food
that fits "nicely into today's fast-

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week nd baker

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_orbs

Good Fats

A FAB GUIDE TO
ENTERTAINING WITH STYLE

Great Fia.ov,

abigail Johnson dodge

GIFT
GUIDE

11/26

2004

20

low-carb, low-fat diets.
In a clear way, using icons, each
recipe is labeled as "high fiber," "low
carbs" or "healthy weight," so readers
can tell at a glance what's good for
their lifestyle. Each recipe also
includes nutritional values, including
amount of sodium, plus a "nutrition-
al bonus," which gives fiber counts
and the amount of various vitamins
and minerals.
Tucked in among the recipes, on
lavender-colored paper, are essential
guides for a variety of ingredients,
such as beans, roasted vegetables and
seafood. Helpful hints are given with
many recipes as well. For the most
part, the recipes are presented in an
uncomplicated way with detailed
instructions. About 15 pages feature
four-color photographs of various
dishes. They even look healthful!
Look for such healthful recipes as
multi-grain waffles, Mediterranean
burger, slow-cooker black bean-
mushroom chili, spice-crusted
tofu,lemon-almond polenta torta and
honey-lavender plum gratin.
Author Patsy Jamieson has hosted
popular cooking segments on CNN,
ABC's Good Morning America and the
TV Food Network and overseen the

Dodge has divided her book into
three sections. "Baker's Express"
presents recipes that can be made in
10 minutes to an hour; "Baking in
Stages" offers recipes that can be
done in stages over a day or the
week; "Productions" features more
elaborate recipes that are broken
down into steps that can be spread
over time.
A practical section in the front of
the book discusses the basics: on-
hand ingredients, equipment and
appliances, baking techniques and 10
tips for weekend baking. Dodge's first
tip is to read the recipe; then re-read
it; then re-read it again.
"Baking is a science," she writes.
"Unless you are a very experienced
baker, follow the recipe exactly as
written."
In "Baker's Express," Dodge offers
such interesting recipes as one-pot
chocolate chip cookies, prescription-
strength fudge brownies, emergency
blender cupcakes and 10-minute
mocha pots de creme. Many of the
recipes come with easy variations.
In "Baking in Stages," she suggests
ginger crackles, chocolate-macadamia
biscotti and mocha swirl cheesecake.
Each comes with a section of "Do

NELSON ASPEN

family or friends.
—Keri Guten Cohen
Let's Dish Up A Dinner Party! A
Fab Guide to Entertaining with
Style (Kensington, $12) is a book
with attitude. Up front, author
Nelson Aspen reveals he's gay, then
gives the dictionary definition of the
word: "happily excited, merry; keen-
ly alive and exuberant; having or
inducing high spirits – bright, lively;
brilliant; given to social pleasures.
Now that's the way to party"
Aspen then proceeds to give readers
all they need to know to throw a
successful dinner party — from set-
ting the stage with the right decor to
whom to invite to proper place set-
tings to a menu from appetizers to
spectacular dessert. He goes into
great detail on all topics, and cute
drawings accompany most chapters.
Aspen's guide is practical with a
sense of humor. Sometimes the
humor gets a little annoying. For
example, many of the recipes have
cutesy names, such as "Holy Moley!
Guacamole" or "Olivia DeHave-to-
have-a-Tapenade." If you can over-
look the puns, there are interesting
recipes, often accompanied by practi-
cal tips in a gray box.
This book, written with tongue in

paced lifestyles." He follows with 26
menu ideas, each with appetizer
through dessert, and more easy ideas
for quick dishes, particularly useful
for impromptu entertaining.
Each subsequent chapter begins
with an index listing including page
numbers of all that's included in that
chapter. Pepin's book is filled with
good, but simple easy-to-follow
recipes, informative tips, make-ahead
suggestions and beautiful photo-
graphs.
Look for instant vegetable soup
that uses vegetables left in the refrig-
erator, coleslaw that Pepin learned to
make while working at Howard
Johnson's, Asian eggplant salad,
oven-baked salmon with sun-dried
tomato and salsa mayonnaise, a
number of interesting chicken
recipes, instant beef tenderloin stew;
and don't forget dessert.
Pepin, a culinary icon, is the
author of 22 cookbooks, has taped
many television shows, is dean of
special programs at the French
Culinary Institute in Manhattan and
teaches at Boston University.
Cooking fast food Jacques Pepin's
way is a good thing. —Bobbi Charnas