Effortless Entertaining Cookbook: 80 Recipes That Will Wow Your Guests Without Stress

In this often innovative volume, Steele shares tips and recipes for 80 fail-safe dishes for dinner parties. Steele serves up four menus per season, ranging from the familiar (“Fiesta Taco Bar,” “Game Day for Food Snobs”) to the creative riffs (“Autumn Beer Dinner,” “Sunset Garden Party”); all of them are accompanied by preparation time lines, giving the hosts freedom to actually enjoy their get-together instead of frantically running to and from the kitchen. In each season, readers are sure to find a few dishes they’ll want to add to their repertoires. The jewels include simple but flavor-packed oven-baked elotes, in which fresh corn is mixed with cotija cheese, mayonnaise, and Mexican crema and spices; vanilla bean and bourbon peaches; a Bee’s Knees Cocktail with thyme honey; and a salad of shredded kale and Brussels sprouts drizzled with a mustard vinaigrette. Even novices will be able to confidently and quickly produce easy dishes such as heirloom tomatoes and burrata cheese, chipotle-roasted peppers, and a seafood boil. Readers looking for wild and unusual dinner party fare should look elsewhere, but those interested in practical, flavorful meals for informal gatherings will find a lot to like here. (Oct.)