Come for Dinner: Memorable Meals to Share with Friends

There used to be a TV commercial of a mom whipping together a yummy treat. It took her about two seconds, but to impress her family with her hard work, she would dust herself with flour and otherwise tousle herself. With this book, you could do that. Leslie Revsin had an absolute gift for reducing recipes to a few well-chosen ingredients and easy-to-understand instructions. Her book allows you to dine well at home without exhausting your energy or your budget: just the thing for entertaining. There's a nice variety of recipes and she helpfully offers suggestions and alternatives. I am not a novice cook, but in order to prepare for making a new recipe, I usually find that it is best for me to read the recipe at least half a dozen times to make sure I catch all the steps and have a clear idea of sequence. The beauty of this book (and Revsin's others) is that the recipes are so clearly written and, in essence, so easy that I read once and commence cooking. It's a beautifully written tutorial for cooking simply and dining well.

My wife and I have recently retired, and in our "new life", cooking at home has become a very important part of our time together. (We were accustomed to eating out at least 4 times a week!). Leslie Revsin's new cookbook has added an incredibly exciting dimension to our "dining in" experience. The recipes are simple, easy to follow...but deliver a rich, complex pay-off. We especially enjoy the way the book is laid out. A brief description at the top of each recipe, ingredients on the left margin, and every step in the preparation and cooking process clearly numbered in the middle. Our only regret is that we never had the privilege of dining at Restaurant Leslie, and we can only hope that our preparation of Leslie's double breast of chicken with two mustards (unbelievable!)comes close to her famous original. We've made 15 recipes already, and every one a winner!

I like Leslie Revsin's books (see also "Great Fish, Quick")but they do not seem to be very easy to find. But I was worried about this one because I usually do not like menu cookbooks - they are fun to read but it can be so hard to find a recipe afterwards. This one is organized into chapters on menus and then separate chapters with the recipes organized by course (dessert, etc.) The menus each have a simple (just right!) version and several "for a bigger feast" ideas. Her approach is low key and she wants to help you have fun at your own dinners. She's very reassuring and the food is robust, not finicky. In addition to all this, she intersperses a stories of her restaurant days which makes it fun for armchair cooks too.