This accomplished cookbook author puts it all together for us in this hefty cookbook. Based in a love for capturing the best of regional cooking, Mr. Villas has assembled a tome of recipes that preserves some of the best of our cooking heritage while greatly expanding today's possibilities for the casserole by incorporating fresh ingredients and novel combinations. His offering is organized first by course: appetizers, entrées, sides, breads and desserts. Within each category, he surveys the full range of possibilities by primary ingredient, eggs, meats, poultry, fish, pasta, vegetables and fruits. We appreciated his chapter on "Casseroles for a Crowd" where we were tutored through some of the nuances of large quantity cooking. We're grateful to Mr. Villas who in this book, has resurrected and reestablished the casserole as a rich culinary tradition both classic and contemporary.

A James Beard Foundation Book Award Nominee