My Grill: Outdoor Cooking Australian Style

Evans has been a restaurateur in Australia since 1993 as well as a TV host and cookbook author. For this work, his introduction into the American home, or rather, the American backyard, he borrows a page from the Bobby Flay playbook by breaking out the grill and enlivening his dishes with a variety of intense flavorings. Calf's liver is paired with fig salad and sherry vinaigrette. Crayfish bathe in a sauce of thyme, sambucca, and orange butter. Fresh oysters are topped with mint, grapefruit, and chile. Grilling Down Under can apparently refer to any technique that involves an outdoor open flame, so many of these dishes require the use of a cast iron pan, skillets, and in the case of a roasted leg of lamb, a large Dutch oven. There are 100 recipes in all, divided into three rambling and randomly arranged chapters ("Lazy Days," for example, offers options with "a minimum of fuss." Evans's palette is truly international, and he lines up his entrees without attention to their ingredients or border crossings. Spanish mackerel directly precedes the Vietnamese grilled chicken, which comes right before a puttanesca pizza with anchovy. The choices are as sprawling as the great outdoors, which is perhaps the intention after all. (May)