Cristina Ferrare's Family Entertaining

Cristina Ferrare has been many things at different times--famous model, wife, mother, TV hostess--but she has always been a cook. And not just any kind of cook, but a good Italian girl whose well-used recipes for risotto, osso buco, and tiramisu were handed down from her mother and grandmother. She must have also inherited their great metabolism, as there's no nonsense about low-calorie this or low-fat that; the menus Ferrare feeds her healthy family and lucky friends explode with the kind of rich, old-fashioned flavor that you can't get by poaching instead of sautéing.

Everything about this book is charming: the photographs, the recipes, the brightly colored page edges, the artless sense of party planning, the many tips for decorating the table, and especially Ferrare's gleeful family stories. She's bursting with pride in the beloved people she serves this hearty fare to, and her delight is infectious. This is happy food for happy people. Eat and be well. --Barrie Trinkle