August 18, 2010 in Food

Books let you entertain with celebrity style

Pros offer advice to help make your events sizzle

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As much as Americans love their food, they seem to enjoy it best with a dash of celebrity.

Luckily, the celebrity food world loves to keep people well fed. There is a stack of new books by big names to keep you sated through fall.

Super chef Mario Batali’s “Molto Gusto” offers up perfect suppers and ideas for casual entertaining. Fava beans straight from the farmers market pair with zesty lemon and ricotta, and cherry tomatoes meet crème fraîche in elegant antipasti, most of which can be made well ahead of time.

Fresh sardines get a cinnamon-scented marinade and well-toasted bread topped with peppered chickpeas or succulent eggplant makes for crunchy-moist bruschetta.

An entire chapter on pizza will please obsessives with its promises of a crisp yet pliant crust, and cooks who live on pasta will find a quick but satisfying meal in egg-bathed penne alla papalina.

True to Batali’s signature emphasis on fresh, wholesome food, most recipes apply simple techniques to a handful of well-chosen ingredients. Bright, white-background photos of the dishes, redolent in greens and reds and purples, let you eat first with your eyes.

It’s a great book for anyone who likes good food without the fuss.

You know eating local has gone mainstream when Emeril Lagasse is leaning on a garden tool. In “Farm to Fork: Cooking Local, Cooking Fresh,” the king of “BAM!” sniffs herbs and caresses tomatoes.

Recipes for corn fritters and escarole soup with crushed red pepper promise good eating. Meanwhile, pumpkin pie gets extra mystique from a dash of cardamom.

But despite the book’s handwriting font and a few enticing dishes – lemon-crusted halibut? Yum! – nothing really screams fresh-from-the-farm.

In “Sara Moulton’s Everyday Family Dinners” the executive chef of the former Gourmet magazine offers tempting dishes such as eggs and creamed spinach in phyllo cups, tandoori chicken wings, and appetizers like chorizo-stuffed mushrooms and panko-crusted scallops.

But the eggs require more than a half-dozen steps, including buttering phyllo. The chicken wings have to marinate for eight to 10 hours.

And scrumptious as the appetizers sound, I don’t know any working mom or dad who’s going to dish up three or four of them to “dazzle one and all with the variety,” as Moulton suggests.

It’s a lovely collection of recipes, but very few that you’re likely to tackle on a weekday.

Tex-Mex tuna casserole, on the other hand? That could happen on any given Wednesday.

The salsa-and-cilantro-spiked staple joins other simple, out-of-the-box ideas in “Cat Cora’s Classics with a Twist.” The first and only female Iron Chef America puts a fresh spin on old favorites while keeping things simple.

Greek-style nachos feature pita chips, olives and yogurt, while clam chowder gets glammed up with bacon and sweet potatoes. But the book’s crowning achievement? It’s got to be tomato soup with grilled cheese croutons.

In “Steak with Friends,” award-winning Chicago chef and restaurateur Rick Tramonto offers more than 150 recipes from steak tartare to grilled filet mignon. A complete roster of innovative yet classic accompaniments – oysters on the half-shell with pomegranate mignonette, a truffled macaroni and cheese, asparagus vichyssoise – helps bring the steakhouse home.

Beef enthusiasts will appreciate the thorough but accessible guide to every imaginable cut. It’s a great book for steak lovers and anyone looking for simple, elegant food.

And then we’ve got burgers. In “The Good Stuff Cookbook,” “Top Chef” veteran Spike Mendelsohn reveals the secrets of his Washington eatery, where Capitol Hill staffers line up well before noon to score farmhouse burgers made with local beef, rosemary-sprinkled fries and toasted marshmallow milkshakes.

Good Stuff sauce – a twist on Thousand Island dressing – shares the pages with chipotle pesto, Old Bay mayonnaise, and other burger-enhancing accoutrements. There’s a salad chapter, if you care.

And how do you make a burger even better? “Add cheese, add bacon,” says Spike.

A man who understands.

From Mario Batali’s “Molto Gusto” (Ecco, 2010).

3 tablespoons kosher salt

6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided

8 ounces sliced prosciutto, cut into 1-inch squares

1 10-ounce package frozen peas, thawed

1 pound penne rigate

4 large eggs

1 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus extra for serving

Coarsely ground black pepper, to taste

In a large pot over high, bring 6 quarts of water to a boil. Add the salt.

In another large pot over medium-high, heat 3 tablespoons of the oil. Add the prosciutto and cook until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the peas.

Cook the pasta in the boiling water until al dente, about 11 minutes. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking water.

In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs together, then whisk in the remaining 3 tablespoons of oil and 1/4 cup of the reserved pasta water.

Return the pot of prosciutto to medium heat. Add the pasta and toss to mix. Add the egg mixture, remove from heat and toss vigorously to cook the eggs.

Stir in the remaining pasta water as needed to loosen the sauce. Stir in the cheese and season with the pepper.

Yield: 6 servings

Approximate nutrition per serving: 642 calories, 7 grams fat (no saturated fat), 35 grams protein, 65 grams carbohydrate, 163 milligrams cholesterol, 4 grams dietary fiber, 1,817 milligrams sodium.

From “Sara Moulton’s Everyday Family Dinners” (Simon & Schuster 2010).

3/4 pound medium sea scallops

Kosher salt and ground black pepper

1 cup Wondra or all-purpose flour, for dredging

1/2 cup vegetable oil, divided

1/3 cup grapefruit juice

1 small shallot, finely chopped

1 tablespoon unseasoned rice vinegar

1/8 teaspoon sugar

2 small heads butter lettuce, torn into bite-size pieces

1 ripe avocado, pitted and sliced

1 small pink grapefruit, peeled and sectioned, with each section halved

1 medium scallion, green part only, thinly sliced crosswise

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

Season the scallops with salt and pepper. Spread the flour on a plate, then dredge the scallops through it, shaking off any excess.

In a large skillet over medium, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil. Add the scallops to the skillet and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes per side, or until cooked through. Transfer the scallops to a plate and let stand until they are at room temperature.

In a small saucepan, simmer the grapefruit juice until it reduces to 2 tablespoons. Transfer to a small bowl. Add the shallot, rice vinegar, sugar and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Whisk until the sugar and salt have dissolved. Slowly whisk in the remaining vegetable oil, then whisk in the juices that have accumulated on the scallop plate until the dressing reaches the desired consistency.

Toss the lettuce with 1/3 cup of the dressing. Mound the lettuce over 4 plates and top with the scallops, avocado and grapefruit. Sprinkle with the scallions and sunflower seeds, and drizzle with the remaining dressing.

Yield: 4 servings

Approximate nutrition per serving: 604 calories, 41 grams fat (6 grams saturated), 22 grams protein, 41 grams carbohydrate, 28 milligrams cholesterol, 6 grams dietary fiber, 275 milligrams sodium.

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