A Chef’s Relaxed Dinners

By Ratha Tep

As the Take Home Chef on TLC, Curtis Stone makes cooking easy and breezy. He does the same with his terrific new book. Here, a preview.

Rigatoni with Spicy Italian Salami, Cherry Tomatoes, Olives and Capers

Chocolate Soufflés

Chicken-and-Leek Pie

Australian-born Curtis Stone has cooked in Michelin-starred restaurants in Europe. But his charismatic turn in the fun TLC show Take Home Chef is what led to his new book, Relaxed Cooking with Curtis Stone. On the show, the young, good-looking chef flirtily approaches unsuspecting (female) shoppers at supermarkets and offers to help them in their kitchens. In the book, as on TV, he focuses on doable recipes that make good use of pantry staples—like olives and capers, which he tosses into an intensely flavorful rigatoni with spicy salami. “It’s the kind of dish where you don’t say, ‘Oh no, I have to go out and buy some ingredients.’ It’s my fallback dish,” Stone says.

Published April 2009