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What to Have for Dinner

32 Easy Menus for
Every Night of the Week

Clarkson Potter, $20

ISBN 0517886812

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Ascending the peak of culinary chic

Review by Sybil Pratt

If the question is "what are we going to have for dinner?" -- a quandary that plagues even the most creative cooks -- the answer can be found in What to Have for Dinner: 32 Easy Menus for Every Night of the Week, a new volume inÊThe Best of Martha Stewart Living series. Oh, Martha, Martha! What would we do without you and your firm, but gentle guidance to graceful, gracious gastronomy? Sometimes it seems that we would be rooted in a quotidian quagmire of merely passable repasts, but with your help we can make that leap to a higher plane where elegant eating is the order of the day, every day.

This new collection of 129 recipes, accompanied by preparation schedules for the full menu, is a welcome addition to the growing group of Martha Stewart cookbooks. The menus are divided seasonally, emphasizing fresh ingredients used in innovative ways.

High summer is heralded by a dinner that starts off with plump, sweet green beans mixed with ricotta salata in a simple vinaigrette, sauteed Soft-Shell Crabs with Arugula follow, served with Red Pepper and Lemon Confit and an easy dessert of fresh bing cherries macerated in kirsch, spooned over lemon sorbet. Autumn Greens with Cider Vinaigrette or a Warm Pear Salad accentuate the turning of the leaves, as does Carrot and Parsnip Puree, plated with cornish hens on a bed of kasha-orecchiette pilaf. Light, flaky Apple Phyllo Cornucopias and chewy Chocolate Kisses are among the many fitting autumnal endings. Winter's wicked winds will be forgotten when you sit down to Sausage with Stewed Red Onions, a baked Celeriac Gratin, leafy, sharp Sauteed Broccoli Rabe and Baked Vanilla Pears and Figs. And, without doubt, though we sometimes lose faith, spring will return, and when it does Salmon and Leeks Baked in Parchment, pale yellow Saffron Couscous, and tartly sweet Rhubarb Raspberry Crisp will set the culinary stage for the season of beginnings.

The soft focus photos are lovely -- I wish my food and table would look as good and maybe, with Martha's help, some fine day they will.

Sybil Pratt is an avid cook who lives and cooks in New York City.

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