New cookbooks overflowing with entertaining ideas

I'm willing to bet that at some point over the next six weeks you'll be having people over.

Whether you've got another couple coming for dinner, the PTA coming for cocktails or extended family coming for a holiday buffet, there's a new cookbook out so you don't have to trot out the same cheese ball and stuffed crescents you served last year.

In "Great Gatherings: Star Chefs Entertain at Home," the 16 chefs that make up Macy's Culinary Council share their simple, relatively speaking, recipes for a variety of occasions, many that can be worked into holiday gatherings. Marcus Samuelsson's Mushroom, Goat Cheese and Tomato Tart or Elizabeth Brown's Tortilla Espanola and Tim Scott's Pomegranate Sparkler would be sure things at a cocktail party.

This is one weighty book, chock full of color photos; in fact, there are photos of most of the recipes. You can find the book at Macy's for $29.95; for every copy sold the store will donate $1 to Share Our Strength's childhood hunger programs.

"Seriously Simple Holidays" by Diane Rossen Worthington (Chronicle, $24.95) is worth a look as well. Worthington promises reduced prep time and streamlined cooking techniques, allowing you more time with guests and less time in the kitchen. She outlines essential holiday equipment and ingredients, and shares menus and wine pairing suggestions.

Try her Winter Chopped Salad with apples, dried cranberries and blue cheese, Braised Short Ribs With Guava Barbecue Sauce (made with your favorite sauce and guava nectar) or the make-ahead Chocolate-Toffee Pie.

From British chef/writer Fran Warde comes the U.S. release of her popular 2003 U.K. book "Party!"

This stylish book (Ryland Peters & Small, $12.95) emphasizes finger foods such as Artichoke and Tomato Pastry Boats and Figs Stuffed With Proscuitto, and drinks including the White Wine Fizz and Vodka Cranberry Floaters.

The rice way: If your Thanksgiving feast calls for serious quantities of mashed potatoes, it's time to get serious about how you mash them.

Or rather, how you rice them.

As real mashed potato fans know, the fluffiest, lightest mashed potatoes are produced without any real mashing, and certainly not by using a traditional masher.

For the best mashed potatoes, a potato ricer is called for. These handheld tools extrude the cooked potatoes through tiny holes, forcing air into them and creating fluffy "grains" of potato.

But this can be laborious, in part because most ricers are small and flimsy. Now Williams-Sonoma has a new, oversized, heavy-duty ricer that quickly handles mounds of potatoes ($29.95).

Though folks with tiny kitchens will find the Deluxe Angled Potato Ricer a bit of a space hog (it's 15 inches long), it is space well spent for seriously good mashed potatoes.

Gotta eat: Planning and prepping Thursday's feast takes time, but you still have to feed your family between now and then.

Consider Weeknight Lasagna Toss from Kraft Kitchens for dinner this week.

Brown 1 pound lean ground beef in a large (4-quart) saucepan on medium heat; drain. Add 2 cups chopped green peppers (about 2), 3 cloves finely chopped garlic, 1 jar (26 ounces) spaghetti sauce, 1¿ cups water and ¼ cup Italian dressing; bring to a boil. Stir in 12 oven-ready lasagna noodles broken into quarters; reduce heat to medium-low. Cover.

Cook, stirring occasionally, 10-15 minutes or until noodles are tender. Remove from heat. Sprinkle with 1 cup mozzarella cheese. Cover; let stand 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

-- Deborah Pankey