Martha Stewart's Menus for Entertaining
Author: Martha Stewart
Martha Stewart offers 20 complete menus for gatherings both large and small, casual and sophisticated—all reflecting an elegantly relaxed approach to entertaining in the '90s. With its delicious recipes, inspired styling, useful information, and exquisite photographs, this is the indispensable guide to hospitality. Full-color photographs.
Publishers Weekly
Just when you thought the lavish style of '80s-era entertaining was gone forever, Stewart (Martha Stewart's New Old House) releases another book destined to make party-givers want to blow up balloons and repolish their candelabras. Though she claims in her introduction that she now prefers simpler foods and fixings, Stewart's mashed potatoes still call for a stick of butter, a quarter cup of heavy cream and a cup of softened cream cheese. ``Light'' this isn't, but preparation and menus are indeed more spare than in the author's earlier efforts. In 20 chapters, she gives step-by-step instructions for assembling a theme party-whether a spicy Thai lunch or a fried green tomatoes brunch. Gone are the gilded pumpkins of yore; instead, Stewart's Halloween party calls for pumpkins stuffed with a savory mix of vegetables and chicken, topped with puff pastry and served with a cognac cream sauce on the side. Yet some of the rusticity espoused in the recipes verges on artificial: a country ham is to be baked atop a bed of grass. For the millions of urbanites who love her style, but cannot find an organic tussock, Stewart fails to suggest a substitute-say, a couple of bunches of parsley. But most of her fans will find this book inspiring and unintimidating. Author tour. (Nov.)
Publishers Weekly
Once again, Martha Stewart amazes-and perhaps intimidates-with her picture-perfect collection of menus for entertaining. This volume reveals a "simplified approach," Stewart says. Of course, this comes from a woman who, as a working mother two decades ago, made "pound after pound of sweet butter pate feuilletee, and pressed by hand virtually hundreds of tiny tart shells." Her North Carolina Barbecue, which features Kitty Murphy's Brunswick Stew, a hearty chicken dish, and Roquefort Potato Salad ("I always buy the real French variety," Stewart reveals) stars the daintiest pulled pork imaginable, looking as precious as watercress when piled on soft buns. (Home cooks should not be disappointed when their pork turns out looking a bit less delicate.) The Best Clambake, handsomely photographed on a beach in East Hampton, requires hickory logs and galvanized tubs; Martha also drags to the beach a special grill that "was made especially for me by an Argentinian polo player." But for all the labor-intensive Martha-ness about this volume, the menus she describes are both delicious and inspiring. The events featured are high concept (pasta made to order-for 20 guests), but the dishes themselves are relatively uncomplicated. So while it's unlikely that most cooks will want to organize the entire Surprisingly Simple Chinese feast, with its two whole fishes and 14 accompanying dishes, if they take a recipe here and a recipe there from Martha's varied and easy-to-follow collection, they'll create a meal sure to impress almost anyone-perhaps even Martha herself. (Oct.) Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information.
Library Journal
Since the magazine Martha Stewart Living has a circulation of 750,000 and her weekly television show is carried in 132 markets, you can expect a huge audience for this new work. Stewart offers 22 complete menus for every occasion.
New interesting book: Empire of Pleasures or Home Cooking in the Global Village
Chardonnay (Wine Made Easy Series)
Author: Dave Broom
How did Chardonnay become the most popular white grape variety in the world? Award-winning author Dave Broom—honored as the Glenfiddich Drinks Writer of the Year—charts its evolution, covering where the grape grows and why; who the top winemakers are; how to buy, serve, and store the wine; and what food goes well with it. He provides an international perspective, looking not only at the traditional producing countries in Europe (France, Italy, and Spain), but also at Australia, New Zealand, North and South America, South Africa, and wherever else in the world the wine is found.
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