Feasting

'If you can use this book to create a sense of occasion at mealtimes, if it makes entertaining a little easier and allows you to get together more often with your favourite people, then I'll consider my job well done.' Karen Martini welcomes us to her table. Here are 130 new recipes, organised into twenty menus - all easy to prepare and full of flavour. Karen invites us to choose just one delicious dish, put together an entire menu, or create our own unique feasts using recipes from different menus. We learn how to match starters with mains and mains with sides, and how to choose the perfect dessert to finish a meal. We discover the wonders of Mediterranean flavours and the art of serving multiple dishes at the centre of the table. We visit Asia for a banquet and the Middle East for a vegetarian feast, and then come back home for the old-fashioned comfort of roast chook, potatoes and greens. Inspiring, instructive and beautifully photographed, Feasting reminds us that cooking is not just about producing good food, it is about creating a reason to connect and celebrate with family and friends.

Karen Martini began her food career at the age of fifteen at Mietta's in Melbourne. She worked at various restaurants before taking the helm at the Melbourne Wine Room, which has proved a resounding and enduring success. In 2002 she moved to Sydney to take up the position of Executive Chef at Icebergs Dining Room and Bar - a meeting of Melbourne style and Sydney glamour. On her return to Melbourne, Karen and her husband Michael Sapountsis opened Mr Wolf, a chic pizzeria in St Kilda. Karen is food editor of Sunday Life magazine and food presenter on the television show Better Homes and Gardens. Karen Martini's two previous cookbooks, Where the Heart Is and Cooking at Home, were both published by Penguin and have been a huge success.