Entertaining 1-2-3: More Than 300 Recipes for Food and Drink Using Only Three Ingredients

This collection is intended to reassure panic-prone cooks that they, too, can feed their guests, be it New Year's Eve, a wedding breakfast or a casual lunch. Continuing her three-ingredient approach, Gold (James Beard Award-winning Recipes 1-2-3: Fabulous Food Using Only Three Ingredients; Recipes 1-2-3 Menu Cookbook) provides 10 chapters on quandaries such as serving morning guests, sit-down dinners (with advice on every season), holiday entertaining and ""spontaneous entertaining."" In her introduction, Gold encourages would-be party planners: ""Whatever it is, put it on a beautiful plate and call a friend, or two."" But often her three-ingredient recipes require at least one ingredient that would stump cooks outside of the biggest cities. For example, Sable with Dill Cream calls for 11/2 pounds of smoked sable; Socca Blini, Olive ""Caviar"" calls for three-quarters of a cup of prepared black olive tapenade or eggplant caviar. Still, the book runs the gamut on entertaining--from how it works in Gold's own home (""I own two 12-cup coffeemakers and use one or both as needed, transferring the contents to an attractive insulated pot"") to ""grapenotes"" on wine selection with menus and simple recipes for practically every occasion, such as Wrinkled Potatoes with Salmon Caviar for Valentine's Day, and Tri-Tip Fillets in American Red Wine for a celebratory Fourth of July. (Oct.)