Come dine with me : how to throw the perfect dinner party.

Have you always dreamt of hosting the perfect dinner party but never known where to start? Or watched contestants cock-up the cooking on Come Dine With Me and thought to yourself, 'I could do better'? Or maybe you're simply tired of fussy, over-complicated restaurant-style cooking and you're on the look out for recipes prepared by real people for their friends and family at home?

Well, whether you're a dinner-party connoisseur or an absolute amateur, this is the book for you. We all know that hosting a dinner party can be an intimidating nightmare of an evening.

Who should you invite, what should you cook, how much can you prepare in advance, how do you get the atmosphere right and what can you do to keep the conversation, as well as the wine, flowing?

This book contains answers to all of these questions and more, and then goes on to provide a fantastic selection of winning recipes from the show to help you put together your perfect menu. Maybe you fancy a light Mediterranean evening of tortelloni, mozzarella and tomato in basil leaf followed by seabass baked in salt crust with Greek salad and a refreshing lemon vodka sorbet? Or maybe a traditionally British menu such as smoked trout pate and herb-crusted lamb followed by apple crumble with home-made cinnamon ice cream?Whichever menu you put together, this official companion to Come Dine With Me is packed with hints, tips and facts from the best banquets and worst celebrity disasters of the show to give you the confidence to plan your dinner party to perfection and to succeed where others have so hilariously failed.