By Celeste Gracey

John Howie fans have cause to throw a dinner party this month, and it has nothing to do with successful weight-loss resolutions.

At least not if you’re a fan of Seastar Restaurant’s lobster mac and cheese.

Howie, Seastar chef and owner of a namesake steakhouse in Bellevue, published his first cookbook this winter, “Passion & Palate” ($42).

A 10-year itch satisfied, the book is a compilation of his eclectic obsession with gourmet food, he says.

It’s also a response to the daily requests he gets for recipes from guests, and it certainly catalogs his most popular creations.

The focus of the book is simple, what John Howie likes to eat best.

Seafood is his specialty, and the book’s gem is found in its fish section. The value isn’t in the ingredients list, which can be long where salsas and relishes are concerned, but it’s in his precise instructions for cooking fish.

His master recipe, Parmigiano-crusted Halibut, guides cooks through the precise methods for breading and frying to perfection. At Seastar, the fish is filleted thin and flash-seared, so it spends little time on the grill.

“The key is don’t overcook your fish,” he says. “You can always go back and add a little more heat.”

At times the ingredient lists, which include black truffles and quail eggs, can be intimidating, but he attempts to set the reader at ease with a glossary of the rarest ingredients and how to find them.

To make sure his recipe translates from a busy restaurant kitchen to a home kitchen, Howie assembled a team of about 350 testers.

Admittedly, most of the recipes in the book, including a whole section on ceviche and a recipe for ancho chili-rubbed salmon with a sweet chili hollandaise, are meant to challenge the average cook. But he also included a few simple recipes aimed to replace Taco Tuesday, including his Texas-style chili, made with pineapple juice.

He also brings readers back to the basics with several pages dedicated to homemade soup stocks and salad dressings.

A short autobiography recalls the tragic death of his father at a young age and how he ended up in foster care for a few weeks while his mother battled an alcohol addiction.

The rest of the story recalls how the self-taught chef learned from experience and succeeded through hard work.