“Burnt Toast and Other Disasters”

Cal Peternell, the former Berkley, Calif., Chez Panisse chef and bestselling author of “Twelve Recipes” and “Almonds, Anchovies and Pancetta,” is back with a clever and useful guide to making messed-up food taste delicious.

“Burnt Toast and Other Disasters” (William Morrow, $26) will make you feel better about overcooking the rice, over-roasting the vegetables or making very well-done meat, because, as Peternell says, “mistakes are the swept-up stardust that success sparkles with.”

In addition to waste-not solutions like mushy rice pancakes; tangy roasted vegetable salad with ginger, lime and sour cream; and Turkey Etcetrazzini, this funny and highly giftable lemonade-out-of-lemons collection also shares Peternell’s tricks for hacking packaged food, including five variations of what he calls Hacaroni and Cheese; making better-than-restaurant versions of pesto, queso and ranch; and jazzing up lackluster dishes with “special sauces for the boring.”

Celebrated TV chef and restaurateur Lidia Bastianich’s forthcoming cookbook, which she dedicates to first responders, is a collection of homey Italian classics and new creations streamlined for cooks who want to make something straightforward and delicious using one piece of cookware — maybe two. Here, dishes are a dirty word.

Bastianich, the author of 16 cookbooks and Emmy Award-winning host of public television’s “Lidia’s Kitchen,” offers 100 one-pot, sheet-pan or Dutch oven solutions to tasty rice and pasta dishes (mezzi rigatoni with raw tomato sauce), egg-baked fare (breakfast risotto), soups (stracciatella with chicken and vegetables) and full-meal salads made the Italian way with a little meat or fish, beans or cheese, as well as cooked and fresh veggies.

Co-authored by Bastianich’s daughter, Tanya Bastianich Manuali, “Lidia’s a Pot, a Pan and a Bowl” (Knopf, $30) offers simple-to-prepare recipes that require minimal steps and easy-to-find ingredients from the doyenne of Italian cooking. It comes out Oct. 19.