Aside from a few omissions, like the temperature for baking the terrific chocolate buttercream cake, this is an excellent starter cookbook, to set the novice on the path to successful dinners and parties, especially looking toward summer. Bright photographs, by Melanie Acevedo, show exactly how most of the food should look, and illustrations show the differences between mincing, dicing, julienne and chiffonade. But with few exceptions, like the lobster pot pie, they are not complicated. Whenever possible, Ms. Garten suggests shortcuts, advance preparation and convenient substitutions, including canned and frozen vegetables and prepared mayonnaise. Feel free to use packaged puff pastry, and do not expect to have to bake your own bread to re-create her food.
Little notes accompany the recipes, elaborating on the ingredients and techniques.
The navel orange segments specified in the pretty beet salad, for example, must be cut away from the membrane, not merely separated as when eating an orange. All the dishes are designed for entertaining, whether it's plying weekend guests with staggeringly rich scones for breakfast, assembling an array of tasty dips to be scooped with endive leaves for cocktails, making a big turkey meatloaf for more than one meal or recycling extra grilled lemon chicken breasts into a salad. Most of the recipes serve six or more, and many will feed 10. Try the roasted whole boned salmon with a fennel stuffing. It couldn't be easier, and it most certainly will produce raves when served at a buffet or dinner for 10 to 15.