Canada's first Iron Chef America Champion shares the best of his family-friendly -- and award-winning -- casual meals.

Rob Feenie has been crafting simple yet special recipes throughout his celebrated career. Now, the longtime leader in the casual fine dining movement reveals his favourite recipes for the best meals in life: everyday cooking with family and friends.

Feenie first wowed diners with his innovative tasting menus at the inventive Lumiere restaurant in Vancouver. Today, he creates delicious family-style recipes for Cactus Club restaurants -- every day, thousands of people of all ages enjoy his satisfying signature dishes.

Rob Feenie's Casual Classics brings together the best of these innovative and approachable meals. From such fundamental recipes as roasted tomato sauce and juicy poached chicken to globally inspired dishes like barbecued duck spring rolls, quinoa jambalaya and braised osso buco, these are real-life recipes -- modern classics that are adaptable to budgets, dietary restrictions and busy schedules.

Every recipe has been tested in Feenie's home kitchen in meals with friends and family, and approved by his own three kids, ages 3, 6 and 7. The result is a beautifully illustrated and inspirational compendium of family classics that is sure to become a staple in any home chef's library.

Rob Feenie was born in Burnaby, BC, and even as a kid loved to spend time in the kitchen. At 20 he attended the Dubrulle French Culinary School in Vancouver, then became a sous-chef at the Rim Rock Café and Oyster Bar in Whistler, followed by Vancouver’s Cherrystone Cove and Crocodile. After stints in Alsace with Chef Emile Jung at Au Crocodile and Antoine Westermann at Buerehiesel, both Michelin three-star-rated restaurants, and in Chicago with Charlie Trotter and in New York with Daniel Boulud and Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Rob Feenie returned home to open his own restaurant.

Rob Feenie's profile page

MARK MCEWAN is a celebrity chef, restaurateur, Food Network Canada TV host of The Heat, and lead judge on Top Chef Canada. His highly acclaimed restaurants include North 44, Bymark, One, Fabbrica and the gourmet food market McEwan. McEwan is the author of Great Food At Home.

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Mark McEwan's profile page

"[Rob Feenie's] book, with a forward by Toronto chef and Food Network Canada star Mark McEwan, celebrates family traditions in an assembly of recipes that brim with colour and flavour -- culinary traditions that speak volumes of the family man this iconic Canadian chef is."

Ottawa Sun

"Rob Feenie is a master of adapting his Iron-Chef-worthy recipes for the home cook. Casual Classics will get you and your family cooking together and enjoying every single bite."

About.com

"Casual Classics, [Rob Feenie's] fourth cookbook, reflects the upscale-to-casual shift that has overtaken Vancouver's food scene. Feenie masterfully elevates comfort food with a confidence evidenced in recipes that call for honey in pizza dough and creamy burrata in a tomato salad."

Vancouver Magazine

"Known internationally for his innovative approach to preparing fine food, Vancouver chef Rob Feenie has turned his considerable talents to dishes that reflect a growing trend toward casual dining...Nothing is more evident of his affection for family life than his latest cookbook, Rob Feenie's Casual Classics: Everyday Recipes for Family and Friends."

Montreal Gazette

"In Casual Classics, Rob Feenie hits the nail on the head: the recipes and the stories are the perfect building blocks to delightful and delicious family meals. Letting the ingredients shine is the best advice of all."

Mario Batali

"What you see in these recipes from Rob Feenie's home are imaginative, brightly flavoured dishes that sensibly integrate lots of great culinary traditions, all explained with personal, anecdotal stories that like the food itself never muddle the point. And the essential point is this: you can always eat very well at home, even without investing too much time in the kitchen."

Mark McEwan