As much as Americans love their food, they seem to enjoy it best with a dash of celebrity.

Luckily, the celebrity food world loves to keep people well fed. There is a stack of new books by big names to keep you sated through fall.

Super chef Mario Batali’s “Molto Gusto: Easy Italian Cooking” offers up perfect suppers and ideas for casual entertaining. Fava beans straight from the farmers market pair with zesty lemon and ricotta, and cherry tomatoes meet creme fraiche in elegant antipasti, most of which can be made well ahead of time.

Fresh sardines get a cinnamon-scented marinade, and well-toasted bread topped with peppered chickpeas or succulent eggplant makes for crunchy-moist bruschetta. An entire chapter on pizza will please obsessives with its promises of a crisp-yet-pliant crust, and cooks who live on pasta will find a quick-but-satisfying meal in egg-bathed penne alla papalina.

True to Batali’s signature emphasis on fresh, wholesome food, most recipes apply simple techniques to a handful of well-chosen ingredients. Bright, white-background photos of the dishes, redolent in greens and reds and purples, let you eat first with your eyes. A great book for anyone who likes good food without the fuss.

You know eating local has gone mainstream when Emeril Lagasse is leaning on a garden tool. In “Farm to Fork: Cooking Local, Cooking Fresh,” the king of “Bam!” sniffs herbs and caresses tomatoes. Recipes for corn fritters and escarole soup with crushed red pepper promise good eating. Meanwhile, pumpkin pie gets extra mystique from a dash of cardamom. But despite the book’s handwriting font and a few enticing dishes — lemon-crusted halibut? Yum! — nothing really screams fresh-from-the-farm.

In “Sara Moulton’s Everyday Family Dinners” the executive chef of the former Gourmet magazine offers tempting dishes such as eggs and creamed spinach in phyllo cups and tandoori chicken wings and appetizers such as chorizo-stuffed mushrooms and panko-crusted scallops.

But the eggs require more than a half-dozen steps, including buttering phyllo. The chicken wings have to marinate for eight to 10 hours. As scrumptious as the appetizers sound, I don’t know any working mom or dad who’s going to dish up three or four of them to “dazzle one and all with the variety,” as Moulton writes. A lovely collection of recipes, but you’re likely to tackle very few on a weekday.

But Tex-Mex tuna casserole? That could happen on any given Wednesday. The salsa-and-cilantro-spiked staple joins other simple, out-of-the-box ideas in “Cat Cora’s Classics With a Twist.” The first and only female Iron Chef America puts a fresh spin on old favorites while keeping things simple.