New Menus From Simca's Cuisine Cookbook

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Description: The inimitable author of Simca's Cuisine and co-author of Mastering the Art of French Cooking brings an abundance of fresh ideas from her kitchen in the South of France to this completely new collection of recipes and menus. 

Continuing to reinvent and simplify regional French cuisine for modern cooks, Simone Beck makes enterprising use of the food processor; finds inspiration in un-Gallic ingredients like avocados, bourbon, maple syrup, and macadamia nuts; and recommends wines from the Napa Valley as well as from France. The result is the special Simca blend of old and new world flavors. 

The twenty-two menus are arranged according to main course dishes: Eggs and Cheese, Fish and Shellfish, Poultry, and Meat, followed by an "Encore" of desserts from Simca's legendary dossier—a superb lemon cake, rich chocolate creations, a delectable brioche with apples and cream. A number of the menus are designed as informal meals for the family or close friends, with main dishes as easy as chicken en persillade, prepared with herbs, garlic, mustard, and cream; and filets of fish steamed with lemon, herbs, and butter on individual plates. There are impressive meals, too, for important guests and festive occasions, featuring dishes such as braised veal shoulder stuffed with zucchini and mushrooms; and a leg of lamb Anglo-Normand, poached and served with a cream sauce. Each menu is accompanied by charming introductory notes on cooking and serving, and throughout there are directions for making dishes partially or entirely in advance. 

New Menus from Simca's Cuisine, like Simone Beck's earlier volume, is marked by her originality and thoroughness, and that utterly French quality of elegance combined with the practical. She will be welcomed back gratefully by her admirers in the English-speaking world, from New York and Toronto to San Francisco and Sydney. 

Simone Beck was born in Normandy in 1904, expressed an early interest in cooking, and has devoted herself to food ever since the 1930s, when she studied with Henri-Paul Pellaprat at the Cordon Bleu. In 1951, she, Julia Child, and Louisette Bertholie formed a cooking school in Paris, l'Ecole des Trois Gourmandes, a collaboration that led to publication, in 1961, of the first volume of Mastering the Art of French Cooking. A second volume, by Julia Child and Simone Beck, was published in 1970, and Simca's Cuisine appeared two years later. Simone Beck continues to give cooking classes at her home in Provence, and she has also given lessons and food demonstrations in the United States, Canada, Italy, and Australia. 

Michael James, a native of Berkeley, California, translated New Menus from Simca's Cuisine and adapted the recipes for American kitchens. He is a food writer and a director of the Great Chefs of France Cooking Course in the Napa Valley, California. His interest in food began with a study of the French language, and he has been associated with Simone Beck for the past seven years. 

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Condition: Good condition. Light pencil erasure on blank first page.