COOKBOOKS & FOOD WRITING

For six months a year, David Tanis is the head chef at Chez Panisse; the other six months, he lives in an apartment in Paris, where he hosts intimate dinners for friends and guests and prepares the food in a small kitchen equipped with nothing more than an old stove, a little counter space, and a handful of well used pots and pans. This, his first cookbook, is for anyone who wants to gather and feed friends around a table, rather than showing off complicated techniques and obscure ingredients. Tanis believes that the most satisfying meals-for both the cook and the guest-are invariably the simplest, so the 24 seasonal, market-driven menus in A Platter of Figs-from spring's Supper of the Lamb to winter's North African Comfort Food-are easy for home cooks to re-create. Tanis' soulful approach to food will make any kitchen, big or small, a warm and compelling place to spend time.

Foard's excellent new book of goat cheese recipes couldn't be more perfect for Santa Cruz cooks, who have the award-winning Harley Farms nearby-indeed, the very goat farm where Foard first fell in love with this versatile ingredient. Simple, elegant, and often healthy recipes for meals, snacks, and desserts will make this the most accessible, local, and loved cookbook of the season. -Jen Toner

Young, sexy, bright-eyed Jamie Oliver

There is a special place in my heart for Jacques P

In Carmellini's first book, his recipes don't come from his acclaimed tenure at either A Voce or Caf