The Minimalist Entertains [Hardcover]

Mark Bittman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 25, 2003

The popular New York Times columnist and award-winning, bestselling cookbook author Mark Bittman now shares his winning strategies for creating elegant, delicious dinner parties with no fuss. Famous as “the Minimalist” for delicious recipes that can be made in a flash, Bittman’s entertaining cookbook is a must-have for hosts and home cooks of all skill levels.

The book features more than 150 recipes in 40 menus organized by season. Bittman’s signature “Keys to Success” offer a wealth of tips, from choosing the best ingredients to improving and streamlining your cooking techniques. Invaluable “Timetables” break down the process of preparing the meal step-by-step, including what can be made ahead of time (the day before or even earlier) and—that most daunting of tasks for home cooks—how to make several recipes at once. The menus, which include recipes for starters, main dishes, side dishes, and desserts, as well as wine suggestions, are tailored for all kinds of parties—barbecues, buffets, picnics, sit-down dinners, cocktail fêtes, and even an indoor or outdoor clambake.

Each menu draws on the peak ingredients of the season as well as foods that are always readily available. Spring encompasses menus like A Tuscan-Style Meal (Pasta with Dark Red Duck Sauce, Cauliflower with Garlic and Anchovy, Olive Oil Cookies with Red Wine and Rosemary) and A Simple Spring Dinner (Pan-Roasted Asparagus Soup with Tarragon, Broiled Salmon with Beurre Noisette, Pan-Crisped Potatoes, Ricotta with Walnuts and Honey). Summer features Grilling, Asian Style (Soy-Dipped Shrimp; Grilled Skirt Steak with Thai-Style Sauce; Grilled Corn; Pineapple Ginger Sorbet) and A Cool Dinner for a Hot Night (Cold Pea Soup; Salted Watermelon, Thai-Style; Grilled Chicken, Sausage, and Vegetable Skewers; Lemon Granita).

For autumn, there’s A Cool-Weather Feast with Asian Flavors (Rich Chicken-Noodle Soup with Ginger; Broiled Bluefish or Mackerel with Green Tea Salt; Spareribs, Korean-Style; Herbed Green Salad with Soy Vinaigrette; Coconut Rice Pudding) and A Crowd-Pleasing Mexican Buffet (Shrimp “Seviche,” Fish Tacos with Fresh Salsa, Chicken Thighs with Mexican Flavors, Lime Granita).

When the weather turns wintry, try A Hearty Midwinter Sit-Down (Mushroom Barley Soup, Breaded Lamb Cutlets, Pilaf with Pine Nuts and Currants, Tender Spinach and Crisp Shallots, Maple Bread Pudding) or A Cocktail Party (Prosciutto, Fig, and Parmesan Rolls; White Bean Dip; Skewered Crisp Shiitakes with Garlic; Miso-Broiled Scallops; Fennel, Orange, and Apple Skewers).

Forget hard-to-find ingredients and hours in the kitchen. With The Minimalist Entertains, you’ll look like a five-star host but feel like a carefree guest.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The prolific New York Times columnist Bittman is now on his eighth edited or co-authored book in as many years. Like many entertaining-based cookbooks, Bittman's is organized by dinner menus: 10 for each season. Charmingly titled ("A Meal for Questionable Weather," "A Cool Dinner for a Hot Night," etc.), the meals rely heavily on simple Asian and Mediterranean techniques like stir-frying and braising. Impressive but eminently do-able entrees like Curried Mussels, Roast Tomato Frittata, and Pasta with Dark Red Duck Sauce are probably his hallmark, but Bittman also shows a flair for assembling succulent, long-cooking dishes like Kale, Sausage and Mushroom Stew and Slow-Cooked Leg of Lamb with Fresh Mint Sauce. For desserts, he shies away from labor-intensive baking projects; more typical are forgiving foods to be prepared ahead of time like Pineapple-Ginger Sorbet and Coconut Rice Pudding. Bittman prefaces each menu with tips, timetables and wine recommendations. The recipes themselves are airily laid out-one page per recipe, rarely more than eight or 10 ingredients-so that although home cooks may be preparing four or five dishes at once, it scarcely seems like a challenge. As for the author, it seems as if he could keep on making life easier for time-pressed gourmands ad infinitum-as long as you keep it simple, you need never run out of inspiration.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

“Minimum ingredients, great techniques, and maximum flavor; that’s what Mark is all about.”
--Jean-Georges Vongerichten


“This book perfectly describes simple and easy entertaining for each season. Mark Bittman’s pared-to-the-essentials style of cooking is the way that professional chefs wish they could cook at home.”
--Daniel Boulud, chef and restaurateur, and author of Chef Daniel Boulud: Cooking in New York City


“Let’s face it: entertaining is a slightly scary business for just about everybody. But in this book, Mark Bittman’s trademark brand of delicious but easy recipes is joined by a ‘let's just have fun’ attitude that makes you actually want to have folks over for dinner. So bring on the guests–you’ll not only be a success, you’ll enjoy yourself, too.”
--John Willoughby and Chris Schlesinger, coauthors of The Thrill of the Grill and License to Grill

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Clarkson Potter; 1ST edition (March 25, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0767911938
• ISBN-13: 978-0767911931
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 1 x 9.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #753,765 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mark Bittman is the author of How to Cook Everything and other cookbooks, and of the weekly New York Times column, The Minimalist. His work has appeared in countless newspapers and magazines, and he is a regular on the Today show. Mr. Bittman has hosted two public television series and is currently appearing in a third.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as his usual, still better than most cookbooks, July 29, 2003

By 

Kathryn A. Goodman "kathryngoodman" (suburb of Boston, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Minimalist Entertains (Hardcover)

Realistically, I wish I could give it three and a half stars. It's better than your average cookbook, but not as good as a *typical* Mark Bittman cookbook.

The strength of MOST of Mark Bittman's cookbooks is that they teach you *how* to cook by giving you tons of variation ideas on every recipe and lots of encouragement. They are good books to *read* and not just cook from. This book doesn't give you any variations at all, and little text. Instead, it gives you forty menus, and each menu consists of a short blurb, a few "keys to success", wine recommendations, a rough timetable, and the recipes.

The menus look pretty good, and are categorized by season. The recipes are pretty typical of his style - a few key ingredients, prepared simply, into a somewhat unusual finished dish. He writes in his intro that he keeps menus at a maximum of 2 complex dishes (and the others more simple or store bought, like good bread). I still find this too much when I entertain, especially for a crowd of 8.

I have to admit I'm not sold on the "menu" concept in general. I tend to enjoy doing this sort of planning myself - based on my own tastes, knowledge of my guests' tastes (vegans/non-spicy/no-fish/whatever) and my ability to juggle several courses in the kitchen while holding a coherent conversation with the guest that won't go mingle. I inevitably burn *something* at each dinner party. ;-)

I typically LOVE Mark Bittman books - I have the "Cooks Dinner" one, the "Cooks at Home" one, and "How to Cook Everything" which is in my opinion the most useful cook-book EVER. But this one isn't as good as the rest. I'm giving it 4 stars because the food still looks good, but I've cooked more from Ina Garten's "The Barefoot Contessa: Parties" more than I've cooked from this.

22 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as his usual, still better than most cookbooks, July 29, 2003

By 

Kathryn A. Goodman "kathryngoodman" (suburb of Boston, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Minimalist Entertains (Hardcover)

Realistically, I wish I could give it three and a half stars. It's better than your average cookbook, but not as good as a *typical* Mark Bittman cookbook.

The strength of MOST of Mark Bittman's cookbooks is that they teach you *how* to cook by giving you tons of variation ideas on every recipe and lots of encouragement. They are good books to *read* and not just cook from. This book doesn't give you any variations at all, and little text. Instead, it gives you forty menus, and each menu consists of a short blurb, a few "keys to success", wine recommendations, a rough timetable, and the recipes.

The menus look pretty good, and are categorized by season. The recipes are pretty typical of his style - a few key ingredients, prepared simply, into a somewhat unusual finished dish. He writes in his intro that he keeps menus at a maximum of 2 complex dishes (and the others more simple or store bought, like good bread). I still find this too much when I entertain, especially for a crowd of 8.

I have to admit I'm not sold on the "menu" concept in general. I tend to enjoy doing this sort of planning myself - based on my own tastes, knowledge of my guests' tastes (vegans/non-spicy/no-fish/whatever) and my ability to juggle several courses in the kitchen while holding a coherent conversation with the guest that won't go mingle. I inevitably burn *something* at each dinner party. ;-)

I typically LOVE Mark Bittman books - I have the "Cooks Dinner" one, the "Cooks at Home" one, and "How to Cook Everything" which is in my opinion the most useful cook-book EVER. But this one isn't as good as the rest. I'm giving it 4 stars because the food still looks good, but I've cooked more from Ina Garten's "The Barefoot Contessa: Parties" more than I've cooked from this.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great menus, delicious food, April 11, 2009

By 

danica21 "Danica" (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Minimalist Entertains (Hardcover)

I have 3 of his books and this one does the best job of pulling together his widely varied tastes into menu ideas that are unconventional, seasonal, easy to prepare, and delicious. This is different from HOW TO COOK EVERYTHING or even DINNER because it actually pulls things together, which his other books don't do. You have recipes for one dish but if you want to throw a menu together, especially as a beginner, it is a lot harder to find what is unique and goes well with the main course. This does it for you. The recipes are terrific and really quite easy, even for the complicated dishes. Try the Cranberry Clafoutis for a simple, rustic, yet totally gourmet dessert.