Tasty gift choices for cooks

Americans are a funny lot. The top bestselling nonfiction books in the country are diet books and cookbooks. Go figure.

The holiday season is a big time for cookbooks. Publishers have been busy printing and promoting new titles since October.

Here are my recommendations for everyone on your holiday list:

The book of the year is Bouchon ($50, Artisan, color photographs) by Thomas Keller, the chef extraordinaire who has been wowing guests at The French Laundry in California and at Per Se in New York City. It’s a hefty, beautifully photographed tome and a must for every serious cook.

Two new Jewish cookbooks have hit the bookstores, and there’s still time to give them for Hanukkah, which ends at sundown Tuesday.

A Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking ($17.95, Broadway Books, paperback) by Marcy Goldman offers easy recipes for savory and sweet treats for every Jewish holiday.

Maggie Glezer’s new book is A Blessing of Bread: Jewish Bread Baking Around the World ($35, Artisan, black-and-white photographs). Glezer offers recipes from the Ashkenazi and Sephardic cultures, breads from North Africa, the Near Eastern traditions and new varieties. Local baker Esther Press McManus, who was born in Morocco, is featured in this glorious, historic cookbook.

Fans of Andreas Viestad must have Kitchen of Light ($35, Artisan, full-color photographs). I am captivated by his cooking show, seen here at 2:30 p.m. Saturdays on WHYY. Viestad, who is from Norway, has developed fresh twists on traditional Scandinavian cooking. The cookbook also serves as a Norwegian cultural tour de force.

From the fjords of Norway, we travel to the American South and discover cooking and family stories from Alexander Smalls, the celebrated operatic baritone who studied voice at the world-renowned Curtis Institute of Music 30 years ago. There are several chapters devoted to his love of Philadelphia in his marvelous book, Grace the Table: Stories and Recipes from My Southern Revival ($17.95, Harlem Moon, paperback, black-and-white photographs, foreword by Wynton Marsalis).

Smalls grew up in the South Carolina Low Country and traveled the world, singing and tasting new foods such as grilled swordfish rolls in Palermo and steak au poivre in Paris. He had his first taste of Chinese takeout in New York’s Chinatown, which continues to enchant him. Smalls now owns and operates a catering company in New York City.

Published in time for the Athens Summer Olympics, The Olive and the Caper ($19.95, Workman, paperback, color and black-and-white photographs) by Susanna Hoffman is one of the finest to feature the cuisine of the Greek Islands in many a year. Hoffman is an anthropologist and good home cook who has lived and worked in Greece on and off for more than 30 years. The Olive and the Caper is a soup-to-nuts 570-page cookbook of contemporary recipes, filled with ancient and modern Greek history.

America’s love affair with Southern fare is evident in Frank Stitt’s Southern Table: Recipes and Gracious Traditions from Highlands Bar and Grill ($40, Artisan, hardbound with full-color photographs by Christopher Hirsheimer, foreword by Pat Conroy).

Stitt owns Highlands Bar and Grill and two other restaurants in Birmingham, Ala. He was named the best chef of the Southeast by the James Beard Foundation and gives more than 150 recipes for classic and new Southern dishes. He often takes a European recipe and tweaks it with a bit of the Old South such as Bourbon panna cotta. Stitt spent much time studying and eating his way through France, and many of his dishes are Proven�al in origin.

There are a number of cookbooks featuring "cooking for two," but what about baking in small amounts? The answer is Small-Batch Baking by Debby Maugans Nakos ($13.95, Workman, paperback). This book is a brilliant idea. Nakos uses mini loaf pans, mini tart pans, mini Bundt pans and ordinary 15- or 16-ounce cans to fashion all sorts of treats. There are more than 225 recipes for everything from spiced sweet potato Bundt cake to Sunday morning sweet rolls.

Finally, Steven Raichlen, the grilling/barbecue maven, has written the book I have been waiting for. It’s Raichlen’s Indoor! Grilling ($18.95, Workman, paperback, color photographs). The book features more than 270 recipes created especially for grilling machines, grill pans, stovetop smokers, rotisseries and fireplaces. I always have wanted to cook in my fireplace. Now I can try it.

Here are recipes from the holiday-season cookbook selections.

Lamb in Creole Sauce
From Grace the Table by Alexander Smalls

Ingredients:

2 pounds leg of lamb, boned and cut into stewing chunks
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 large onion, minced
1 cup red wine
3 cups chicken stock
2 cups turnips, peeled and cubed
6 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
2 large rutabagas, peeled and cut into chunks
3 cups Creole sauce (recipe follows)
Chopped parsley

Directions:

In a Dutch oven, brown the lamb in vegetable oil, seasoning with salt and pepper. Pour off all but 1/2 tablespoon oil. Add minced onion and cook five minutes. Deglaze with red wine, add chicken stock, bring to a boil and simmer a half-hour, skimming often.

Add the turnips, carrots, rutabagas and 3 cups Creole sauce. Simmer another half-hour or until the vegetables are cooked. Garnish with chopped parsley and serve at once.

Serves eight.

Creole Sauce

Ingredients:

1/2 cup minced onion
8 cloves garlic, minced
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 green peppers, chopped
3 ribs celery, chopped
4 bay leaves
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon cayenne
1 teaspoon chili powder
3 cups chopped or stewed tomatoes
2 cups chicken stock
1/4 cup dry sherry
1/4 cup chopped parsley
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

In a large stockpot, saut� the onion and garlic in olive oil until the onion is translucent. Add green peppers and celery and cook five minutes. Add the bay leaves, thyme, cayenne and chili powder. Cook five minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

Note from Phyllis: This is an excellent sauce for meatballs.