cover image California Heritage Continues

California Heritage Continues

Junior League of Pasadena. Doubleday Books, $22.5 (392pp) ISBN 978-0-385-19873-8

This volunteer organization offers its second cookbook, an enticing sequel to The California Heritage Cookbook. Although the work attempts to showcase the abundance and variety of California cuisine, cooks throughout the country will find most of the ingredients readily available. Brie salad with pecans, Boston lettuce with avocado, hazelnuts and raspberry vinaigrette, and chicken, pimento and linguine salad typify the many festive salads. Thai fish with pickled red ginger, scallops in cream with kiwi, and salmon with tomato-basil beurre blanc make lively use of fresh seafood, while game dishes include grilled lemon rabbit with tarragon and mustard, and roast duckling with black-peppercorn sauce. Meat dishes like skewered lamb with peanut-butter sauce and Pasadena pot roast can be served with the numerous vegetable accompaniments, including shredded carrots with apricots, chili-stuffed pattypan squash and parsnip puree with Madeira. Desserts are amply represented by fanciful disheschocolate pate with pistachio sauce, Palm Springs date-nut cake and strawberry-nectarine cobbler. Illustrations not seen by PW. (September 18)