Dinner for Eight: 40 Great Dinner Party Menus for Friends and Family [Hardcover]

Denise Landis (Author), Amanda Hesser (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 20, 2005

Longtime recipe tester Denise Landis--who has tested Nigella Lawson's books and more than a decade's worth of recipes at The New York Times--is an accomplished and experienced home entertainer. Landis knows what makes a good dinner party and how to compose a menu that will impress guests while leaving the cook free to enjoy her own party.
Featuring forty complete menus-appetizer, first course, main course, accompaniment and dessert--Dinner for Eight is organized by season, encourages mixing and matching, and guides any cook through a dinner party timeline of advance preparation and last-minute finishes.

A sample of the menus:

For Fall: Hummus with Toasted Pita Triangles/Eggplant with Chopped Tomato Vinaigrette and Spiced Chevre/Bourbon-Marinated Roast Pork/Savory Mashed Potatoes/Florida Apple Pie

For Winter: Parmesan Cheese Crisps/Salmon Tartare/Roasted Rabbit with Polenta/Wild Mushroom Saute/Pears in Red Wine

For Spring: Walnut Spread/Moules Mariniere/Lamp Chops with Mint Butter/Salt-Crusted New Potatoes/Cheesecake with Blueberry Compote

 

For Summer: Deviled Eggs with Avocado/Gazpacho/Seafood and Chicken and Sausage Paella/Rouille/Peppermint Ice Cream

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A must - have collection of recipes for any and all who ant to entertain with style and still enjoy their own dinner parties! Denise Landis knows what makes a good recipe work every time - her book is a great primer for new cooks and will expand the repertoire of any experienced home chefs too." - Nigella Lawson, author of NIGELLA BITES"

From the Inside Flap

Denise Landis—longtime recipe tester for The New York Timesand for a variety of cookbooks and chefs—knows what makes a good dinner party. It’s more than just the food. It’s a relaxed host or hostess, a well-composed menu, the progression of the evening from a drink and a welcoming bite on arrival all the way through to the memorable finish of dessert.

DINNER FOR EIGHT collects four seasons of delightful dinner party recipes for every occasion. It’s a broad and accomplished book that includes the best of simple foods (from the deviled eggs of summer to the Florida apple pie of fall), ethnic favorites that are perfect for entertaining (from Asian bean sprout salad to Moroccan lamb stew), and elegant evening offerings (from smoked trout pate to pears in red wine). Each of the forty complete menus features an appetizer, first course, main course, accompaniment and dessert, as well as a selection of suggested wine or beverage pairings.

DINNER FOR EIGHT is the perfect primer for any newly minted home cook who wants to begin inviting friends over, but it’s also rich with fresh ideas for any seasoned chef. Landis guides readers through a dinner party timeline of advance preparation and last-minute finishes to ensure a fabulous, flawless dinner party.

Landis is the cooks’ cook. She’s also an accomplished home entertainer who has tested the recipes you’re about to enjoy not just in her test kitchen but around her own warm and welcoming dinner table as well.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (October 20, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312325819
• ISBN-13: 978-0312325817
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #981,510 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Fails to deliver, July 14, 2007

By 

C. Swope (McLean, Virginia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dinner for Eight: 40 Great Dinner Party Menus for Friends and Family (Hardcover)

There is so much to like in this cookbook! The concept of entire seasonal menus put together for you, with notes on each recipe about what can be done ahead and when, plus wine suggestions is brilliant, right? Everything is laid out for you, and the recipes are fun and adventuresome. Unfortunately, however, too many of Landis' recipes end up being much more time-consuming than she would have you believe. I cooked three of the full menus for guests, and each time found myself really stressed out--exactly contrary to the main premise of the book! I would add that I am a very experienced home cook; I can't imagine how this would go for a novice. In addition, there are more than a few things that sound good but aren't: take the deviled eggs with guacamole, for instance. The avocado turns grayish-green in this combination. You can imagine how unappetizing this looks. In sum, this is a book that I really wanted to like and which contains some individual "keeper" recipes. It is quite flawed, however, and ultimately disappoints.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Delectably Inspiring, March 29, 2007

By 

Annabelle Robertson "The Southern Girl's Guid... (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dinner for Eight: 40 Great Dinner Party Menus for Friends and Family (Hardcover)

Dinner parties are usually a lot of fun - for the guests. For the cook, however, entertaining can be a non-stop cook-a-thon with little time to socialize. New York Times recipe taster Denise Landis understand this. After all, she once ran into someone and didn't remember that the woman had been a guest in her home.

That's why Landis put together 40 menus, divided by seasons, for dinner parties of eight people. Filled with easy favorites like deviled eggs (made with guacamole) and baked apples (seasoned with Amaretto), "Dinner for Eight" will also tempt the more intrepid cook with dishes like Scotian Lobster Chowder and Lemon Ginger Crepes. Delectably inspiring. I only wish there were more photos.

0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Cookbook, July 7, 2007

By 

Judimom (denver, co) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dinner for Eight: 40 Great Dinner Party Menus for Friends and Family (Hardcover)

There are no pictures in this book but the tips and the make ahead directions make it worth it. Then there's the wine suggestions...