Food With Friends

The secret to stress-free entertaining is good planning. If you can do as much as possible in advance, you can spend time with your guests rather than in the kitchen. Food With Friends is packed with great menus for casual lunches, dinner parties and more formal get-togethers. From a spring Sunday lunch to a smart dinner for eight, it is full of delicious recipes, as well as lots of advice on shopping lists and details of what to prepare the week/day before and even between courses. Accessible recipes with an interesting twist are what one expects from top TV chef Gary Rhodes, and this handy book, on a winning subject, should have a place on every cook's bookshelf.

Gary Rhodes is one of Britain's best-loved chefs. His success includes three Michelin stars - one at the Castle Hotel in Taunton, Somerset, another at the Greenhouse, and the third at City Rhodes - and the prestigious CATEY Special Award, the catering industry's equivalent to an Oscar, for helping to revive British cookery and for his total dedication to the industry. He has presented six television series, including cookery programmes for children based on Roald Dahl's Revolting recipes, and has written six other cookery books. Gary runs two highly acclaimed restaurants in London, City Rhodes and Rhodes in the Square, and has recently opened two brasseries, Rhodes & Co, in Manchester and Edinburgh.