In Daisy's Holiday Cooking, Daisy Martinez leaps into the holiday season with the enthusiasm and verve that has won her legions of fans on the Food Network. Daisy looks forward, not to a single occasion, but to a full season of possible festivities, each an opportunity to share good food and good times. Daisy's Holiday Cooking is packed with recipes for any number of parties and get-together's, all organized by menu with full preparation plans. As Daisy says in the introduction, "Whether you're cooking for six or for six hundred, the secret to a successful party is organization, organization, organization." In Daisy's Holiday Cooking, she has done the organizing for the reader. Daisy is so well organized, so full of exuberance that she even makes plans to have homemade gifts ready to give to her guests as edible mementoes of an occasion.
Daisy knows how to make life easy and stress-free for the holidays. She divides the book into nine chapters, each covering an event that offers possibility for a get-together:
-Cozy Festive Fall Dinner
-
Thanksgiving Buffet
-Thanksgiving Weekend Brunch
-Cocktail Party for a Festive Season
-Open House Decorating Party
-Christmas Eve Dinner for Your Six Best Friends
-'Tis the Season Festive Buffet
-After-the=Gift Giving Breakfast
-Elegant New Year's Eve Dinner
-New Year's Day "linner
...Rosca de Reyes - this is the special sweet bread for Epiphany that Daisy includes, allowing it to stand on its own.
Each chapter includes Daisy's all-important Preparation Schedule so that organization will let the cook glide through the get-together, free to enjoy the party while putting out the tastiest menu. Each menu is complete, the dishes often classic dishes that have added Latin piquancy, but remain within a traditional framework. The more adventurous hostesses can try two, three, four or more menus from this celebratory list, and those with weekend holiday guests will be grateful for suggestions that are easy to prepare after the big feast.
Daisy learned to cook at her mother's and grandmother's sides, and the lessons she learned from them have left the Latin imprint that has become Daisy's trademark. Among the recipes you will find a wide selection. She has offered menus, but playing mix and match is welcome. Among the recipes are dishes such as Ruby Grapefruit Ceviche, Coconut and Winter Squash Soup, Spaghetti with Chipotle-Pork Meatballs, Creamy Chicken-Lime Soup, Flourless Chocolate-Chile Cake.
This is an exuberant book with Daisy's sense of organization leading the way to a festive holiday season. There are photos by Frances Janisch throughout.
©
