Mark Bittman's Quick and Easy Recipes from the New York Times by Mark Bittman (2007, Paperback)

Over the past 10 years, Mark Bittman has won legions of fans with his "The Minimalist" series in the New York Times. In this 2007 offering, each recipe showcases a handful of fresh ingredients, simply prepared with basic techniques.

Virtually every dish can be completed in 30-45 minutes, with relatively few that expand past an hour. Even for longer cooking times, hands-on time is always kept to a minimum. The numerous tasty variations offered alongside most recipes assure even the beginning chef success without boredom. Ingredients specified are readily available.

Nothing here is complicated, and everything here is delicious. Chicken, seafood, and pasta dishes ... longtime staples of the time-pressed home cook ... achieve particularly spectacular results under the tutelage of Mr. Bittman.

The Deviled Chicken Thighs, served alongside Pan-Crisped Potatoes or Spinach with Crisp Shallots and followed by Sugared Strawberries over vanilla ice cream, is my family's favorite. The Corn Chowder, Panfried Duck and Beef with Carmelized Sugar are also divine. And, if you set aside an hour on the weekend to make the basic Pizza Dough and keep a few basics in the pantry, you'll be serving your choice of a variety of fabulous pies in less time than it takes to receive one of those cardboard delivery versions.

You'll also appreciate that rapidly-prepared, elegant recipes can be presented without the cute names, cooking terms, and ingredient acronynms that authors of similarly prontissimo cookbooks insist upon using to distraction. (No offense meant, but enough is enough!)

For family fare or party fare, this book is an absolute winner!

Enjoy!

Mark Bittman has penned a weekly food column for the New York Times called "The Minimalist" for more than 10 years. The recipes are simple with ingredients that are easy to find and cooking is done in the minimal amount of time. He has about 350 recipes from his column in this, his eight cookbook, that can be thrown together any night of the week with variations. What's particularly nice, is that Bittman knows we usually cook with what we have on hand in our refrigerators rather than making special trips to the store. You won't find elegant recipes here, just quick and easy, but he covers everything from appetizers to desserts.

this is great mark bittman, as usual. it's easy to read and recipes are easy to follow. there is a common link to all of them: limited number of ingredients, one of two of which make the recipe distinctive and welcome for one's everyday recipe rotation. he's the best everyday chef around; never fails.