Everyone wants to host the perfect dinner party. All too often,
that means days of planning, hours of shopping for exotic
ingredients, and a frenzy of last-minute preparation in the
kitchen. Afterwards, the exhausted cook often ends up slumped in a
chair surveying piles of dirty dishes and wondering how and where
the evening went.
In Easy Entertaining Cookbook, Julia Aitken
offers a welcome word of advice to nervous home chefs everywhere,
"Relax!" The most important thing about entertaining is that
everybody - including the cooking hostess or host enjoy themselves.
Here are 125 recipes especially designed to deliver maximum flavor
with minimum effort. Start your guests with a platter full of
succulent Thai-Roasted Shrimp (a few minutes to prepare, then 5
minutes in the oven), followed by a bowl of visually stunning
Neon Beet Soup you can make the day before and reheat a
few minutes before serving. Choose from a wide range of
delicious-but-easy main dishes such as Seafood Pot Pie with
Resti Topping or Braised Chicken and Apples with Grainy
Mustard Sauce or Pot Roast of Beef with Wild
Mushrooms, as well as sides and salads that include North
African Glazed Carrots and Best-Ever Caesar Salad.
For dessert, Julia Aitken says buy something nice. If you really
want to make your own, try the sensational Chocolate Terrine
with Drunken Pineapple.
With helpful tips and kitchen wisdom throughout, she also
provides refreshingly frank advice on how to ensure a successful
dinner party. Rule #1 is "only invite people you like." Put that
together with flavorful dishes that you prepare using everyday
ingredients, and you''ve got the perfect recipe for years of
relaxed, enjoyable entertaining. Julia Aitken is a leading food
writer and cookbook author with more than 20 years of
experience.