Backstage with Julia or Roasting

Backstage with Julia: My Years with Julia Child

Author: Nancy Verde Barr

You’ll love this intimate portrait of the inimitable Julia Child by Nancy Verde Barr, her executive chef and friend for twenty-four years. Brimming with anecdotes, memorabilia, and snapshots, Backstage with Julia conveys Julia’s generosity, her boundless energy, and her love of food and life. This loving memoir celebrates the adventurous, unassuming essence of the chef who seasoned American palates and heightened our appreciation of food.

The New York Times - Dorothy Kalins

Backstage with Julia is packed with endearing anecdotes…

Publishers Weekly

Barr (We Called It Macaroni) worked with culinary icon Julia Child for 24 years, starting in 1980 as an assistant to Child's monthly live segment on Good Morning Americaand remaining until Child's death in 2004. This delightful and sprightly backstage look at life with Child (a "Lucille Ball-with-a-rolling-pin character in the kitchen") describes Barr's work as an integral member of "the Julia team" that supported Child's "mind-boggling" schedule of demonstrations, media appearances and book signings. Barr skillfully illustrates Child's "extraordinary drive" in business, showing how "she never took her success or her audiences' acceptance of her work for granted," and how throughout her many ventures, "she maintained the integrity of what she was doing—teaching cooking." A delightful description of a day when the pair "gobbled down Double-Double burgers at the In-N-Out drive thru" illustrates how Child was "as down-to-earth, unguarded, and unselfconsciously outspoken in the company of friends as she was with the cameras rolling." By concentrating on the "memories of the Julia who was my mentor, my colleague, my friend; my story of what made her so special," Barr provides a sweet addition to Noel Riley Fitch's biography Appetite for Lifeand, recently, Child's autobiography with Alex Prud'Homme, My Life in France. (June)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

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Roasting (The Williams-Sonoma Collection Series)

Author: Barbara Grunes

From a succulent roast chicken or juicy rack of lamb to autumn vegetables roasted until sweetly tender, the time-honored technique of cooking food in the steady heat of the oven brings out the best in meat, poultry, and fish as well as fruits and vegetables.

Williams-Sonoma Collection Roasting offers an array of more than 40 recipes, including updated classics and tempting new ideas. If you are craving the rich and satisfying taste of roasted meat, try filets mignons with shallots and potato wedges or baby back ribs smothered with spicy barbecue sauce. Recipes for roasted sea bass with fennel and Pernod or turkey breast with pears make it easy to prepare a lighter main course. And a selection of vegetable dishes, such as balsamic-dressed greens with roasted beets or roasted prosciutto-wrapped asparagus, plus a couple of delicious roasted-fruit desserts round out this collection of simple recipes.

Vivid photographs make it easy to decide which recipe to choose, and photographic side notes highlight key ingredients and techniques, making this volume an essential sourcebook for the home cook. The informative basics section and glossary include everything you need to know to make an irresistible roasted dish for a weeknight dinner or a weekend celebration.

Publishers Weekly

Part of the attractive and accessible Williams-Sonoma cookbook series, this volume focuses on the transformative powers of roasting. Grunes (Gourmet Fish on the Grill) suggests roasting anything from a pork tenderloin to a piece of bluefish to leaves of raddichio and endive. The elegant Sea Bass With Pernod, which calls for only six ingredients and a minimal amount of kitchen skill, makes a perfect dinner party dish. Even easier are Halibut Steaks Au Poivre, a spicy low-fat dish that requires about 15 minutes of kitchen time. Grunes even incorporates fruits, praising the "contrast of caramelized exteriors with soft interiors" of roasted apples and plums. A simple recipe for Roasted-Apple Brown Betty turns out a crumbly comfort that leaves a kitchen smelling divine (an optional Hard Sauce of sweetened whipping cream tops off the dessert). Best of all, like every Williams-Sonoma cookbook, this guide features beautiful photographs, clear instructions and a useful glossary, enabling even a novice to roast like a pro. (Nov.) Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information.