How many American chefs could say that they're "being courted to open a restaurant at the Louvre in Paris"? Alice Waters, chef/owner of Chez Panisse, the celebrated Berkeley restaurant with a halo of celestial chic, may be the only one. With her insistence on fresh, pure ingredients, Waters has altered the way many home cooks approach recipes and menu making, and her six supremely successful cookbooks have made her culinary philosophy widely available. As the title indicates, Chez Panisse Cafe Cooking, the latest addition to the Waters wellspring, leaves the soigne, more formal cuisine served in her elegant downstairs dining room, for the more casual bistro fare served upstairs in the Cafe. The Cafe menus change and evolve, so the over 200 recipes (arranged by ingredients rather than course) include current versions of old favorites as well as new delights created by Ms. Waters and her staff. "Baked Goat Cheese with Garden Lettuces," easy to prepare and great served either as a first course or after the meal, has been on every Cafe menu since opening day. "Grilled Chicken Breasts au Poivre," a new Cafe offering based on a longtime bistro favorite, is an innovative way to prepare low-fat poultry parts. These are among the many truly simple dishes, but others are far more complex; homemade pork and lamb sausages, "Duck Confit," and "Lamb Couscous with Turnips, Carrots and Harissa," take time and some effort, but are well worth it. And, although there's a fine array of sweets, from "Meyer Lemon Eclairs" to "Peach Leaf Creme Brulee," Ms. Waters considers a simple plate of seasonal fruit to be the most satisfying end to a memorable meal.

Part of the fun of perusing and using a cookbook written by a chef/restaurateur is learning to think about and do things with food the way the pros do. Ms. Waters is generous with this kind of inside info and explicit in her directions. She's especially explicit about the importance of purveyors, describing her network of farmers, foragers, and artisans who practice and support the sustainable, ecologically sound harvest of nature's bounty; and urging us, who cook for family and friends, to find and form our own network of similar sources. With farm stands and urban green markets at their end-of-summer peak, this should be an ideal time to follow the Chez Panisse path.

Chez Panisse Cafe Cooking
By Alice Waters
HarperCollins, $35
ISBN 0060175834

Two Legendary Cooks in a Delectable Dialogue . . .

Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home is the big (416 pages), beautiful (full color photographs throughout) companion volume to the new 22-part PBS series airing in October. This is a "companion volume" that can stand alone and stand proud. TV cooking shows can be fun, instructive, and even inspirational but, when the image fades, it's over, even if you've been taking notes madly. A good cookbook lasts for years, taking on the sauce-spotted patina that proves it's well-loved and well-used; Cooking at Home is bound for that exalted, if stained, status. Julia Child, one of our great gastronomic gurus, is a champion of the home cook; as a culinary pioneer on TV and a cookbook author, her disarmingly direct approach to the making of French food forever changed the way we cook. Jacques Pepin, a popular TV chef and cookbook author too, is a professional chef who has cooked in some of the renowned restaurants of France.

Food is not only J and J's business, it's their greatest pleasure, and they want it to be ours as well. Here they take us back to basics and way beyond, from scrambling eggs to a sublime souffle, from simple poached chicken to "Turkey Galantine," boned, stuffed with forcemeat, roasted, and garnished. There's a full range of interesting, intriguing recipes -- appetizers, soups, salads, veggies, fish, poultry, meat, and desserts -- including both classics and new improvisations. But it's Julia and Jacques's collaborative commentaries on ingredients, utensils, and techniques that make this book unique. Their running dialogue, distilled into chatty, informative accompaniments, flank each recipe. These patient, provocative explanations and explications can buoy up a sagging home cook who wonders why it's important to make mayonnaise rather than buy it, or who is faced with off-season, unripe tomatoes (a sprinkling of sugar can do the trick in ten minutes).

As with Ms. Waters's book, there's much here that the home cook can learn from the pros. We don't have to do things at chef-speed, cutting up whole chickens in seconds, but if, as Julia advises, we can absorb some of their restaurant-honed methods into our own repertoire, we can do what we do with more ease and excellence. Julia's and Jacques's joint effort wonderfully integrates the experiences and expertise of a top-of-the-line professional and a serious home cook, properly seasoned with their joy in sharing and their unflagging elan.

Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home
By Julia Child and Jacques Pepin
Alfred A. Knopf, $40
ISBN 0375404317