Narsai David: Two Marvelous Cookbooks Full Of Pleasure

Narsai David is the KCBS Food and Wine Editor. He has been a successful restaurateur, chef, TV host, and columnist in the Bay Area spanning four decades. You can hear him Saturdays at 10:53am, 12:53pm and 4:53pm, and at 2:53am Sunday on KCBS All News 740AM and 106.9FM

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF/KCBS) - Holly Arnold Kinney's Shinin' Times at The Fort offers up delicious recipes from the award winning restaurant in Southwest Denver founded by her father, Sam Arnold, back in the 1960s.

The book illustrated with photographs by Lois Ellen Frank shows why the restaurant, so named because its exterior is patterned on a very ancient, classic fort, has been such a phenomenal success.

There's a chayote squash stir fry that has to be one of the most creative looking thing I've ever seen done with this gourd originally native to Mexico. It actually looks more like a salad, and I just can't wait to get home and harvest some. Fall is the season when it's really, really in full fruit.

KCBS Food And Wine Editor Narsai David:

Kinney's section on breads features American Indian fry bread, quinoa muffins, and a recipe for breads that emulate how they would come out baked in the Horno clay ovens common among the traditional cultures of Native American tribes in the southwest.

Another new book, America's Test Kitchen Menu Cookbook is absolutely wonderful. It includes 51 menus divided into collections for each season. The Fall menu, for example, includes what looks like a delicious recipe for a refined short-rib dinner.

The book presents 250 recipes. As always, the editors at America's Test Kitchen do a very, very thorough job.

(Copyright 2011 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)