The $50 Dinner Party: 26 Dinner Parties that Won't Break Your Bank, Your Back, Or Your Schedule
The subtitle of Sally Samson'sThe $50 Dinner Partyastutely sums up the book:Twenty-Six Dinner Parties That Won't  Break Your Bank, Your Back, or Your Schedule. And boy, does she  deliver. This is a no-frills cookbook, as spare as you can go, and is  a sleek beauty as a result. Sampson opens with a chapter of little  bites and dips, then it's right into the main menus, with detailed  discussions on each of the 26 dinners, plus sidebars of information  for clever timesaving ideas. A presumption is made that you are  already comfortable in the kitchen, that you speak the language of  recipes, and that you know how to time a meal to get the food out and  onto the table when your guests are ready to sit down. Sampson leaves  the marching orders to you. Her job--and she's brilliant at it--is  stimulating your planning imagination with a lush array of  possibilities for delicious dinners for six that she feels will come  in under $50, sans wine, coffee, and tea.A couple of wonderful  meal examples: Roasted Chicken Breasts with Dried Figs, Apricots, and  Prunes; French Bread; Mixed Green Salad with Red Onions and Toasted  Pine Nuts; and Rice Pudding. Or, Grilled, Marinated Flank Steak with  Soy, Sherry, and Dijon; Potato Cake with Garlic and Olive Oil; Salad  of Arugula, Avocado, and Mango; and Cheesecake with Raspberry Sauce.Sally Sampson deserves a medal for taking the worry and guesswork out  of dinner entertaining, all while watching the purse  strings.--Schuyler Ingle