David Burke is a new culinary star. And in this, his first cookbook, he presents the innovative and inventive cooking that has made him, in the words of one rival, "the most copied chef in New York". The first non-Frenchman to win France's highest cooking honor, and voted Chef of the Year by his peers in America, David Burke is a true original. Born in America, trained here and in France by such luminaries as Pierre Troisgros and Gaston Lenotre, he has developed a style all his own, emphasizing the twin goals of taste and beauty. The Burke style blends the principles of haute cuisine with French country cooking, American regional specialties, and ethnic touches. He has taken to new heights the originally European technique of building a dish, rather than displaying food flat upon a plate. He uses ingredients the way a child uses blocks, building, creating layers of food, achieving a remarkable melange of tastes, colors, and textures. In presenting this concept here for the home chef, he breaks down seemingly complex dishes into their component parts. He demonstrates that what looks intricate (and fabulous) can be easy to make. His classical training, combined with an artist's eye and a rich imagination, provides the reader with a genuinely new way of looking at and preparing food. This is a soup-to-nuts cookbook, from stunning hors d'oeuvres such as Pastrami Salmon, and Parfait of Artichoke, Goat Cheese, and Marinated Vegetables, to dazzling desserts like Three-Layered Mousse Parfait, Red-Berry Sorbet, and Ginger Ice Cream. The heart of the book, though, lies in Burke's signature main courses, which he builds into delicious dishes wonderful to look at and easily transformable into moreornate delights or simplified into convenient and lighter one-dish meals. Among them: Pan Roasted Monkfish with Green-Onion Sauce and Ziti and Eggplant Bouquet, Roast Cornish Hens with Saffron Potatoes and Chorizo Sausages, Sirloin Steak with Shiitake-Mushroom Hash and Pick