Mark Bittman's Quick and Easy Recipes from the New York Times: Featuring 350 Recipes from the Author of How to Cook Everything and the Best Recipes in

Much like Pepin's "Fast Food, My Way". Simple, easy, fun. I liked it even better than the "Short Attention Span Diet" , having discovered his "Alzheimer's Cookbook" tried to get away with just having the same recipe on all the pages, thinking nobody would notice.

I received Mark Bittman's Quick and Easy Recipes for Christmas. I am an avid cook, but find that lately I don't have the time or energy to cook a full meal when I get home from work. Mark's book makes cooking a delicious meal easy and accessible. Additionally, the recipes use common ingredients--and a limited number of ingredients per recipe. For example, Chicken Curry in a Hurry calls for 4 ingredients: vidalia onions, curry powder, chicken breasts, and sour cream (excluding cooking oil, salt, and pepper: too ubiquitous to be considered ingredients). Egg Drop Soup calls for 5 ingredients: chicken stock/broth, eggs, soy sauce, sesame oil, and scallions. I recommend this book both to novice and experienced cooks that are looking for a go-to cookbook with reliable recipes.

Featuring 350 recipes from Bittman's "New York Times" column, "The Minimalist," and originally published as three cookbooks - "The Minimalist Cooks at Home, "The Minimalist Cooks Dinner," and "The Minimalist Entertains," this well-organized, no-nonsense paperback caters to the home cook with its emphasis on simple, fast, fresh, and delicious. From Garlic Soup with Shrimp to Pear and Gorgonzola Green Salad with Walnuts, to Herb-Rubbed Salmon, Pot Roast with Cranberries, Fast Potato Gratin, Pasta with Clams and Tomatoes, and Sautéed Bananas, Bittman provides simple directions and numerous variations which inspire the cook to branch out with his or her own ideas. A simple Asian-style Cucumber Salad becomes dinner with the addition of chicken or scallops and maybe some jicama, apples, bean sprouts or watercress. Braises change character with a change of herb, an addition of butter, or a tweak of technique, like caramelizing the onions rather than simply softening. Bittman ranges across the world with dishes like Lemongrass-Ginger Soup with Mushrooms, Grilled Chicken Thighs with Sauce au Chien, Lamb with Peppers and Yogurt Sauce, Cauliflower with Garlic and Anchovy, Curried Tofu with Soy Sauce, Pasta Risotto Style. There's plenty of homey familiar fare too - Creamy Mushroom Soup, Fastest Roast Chicken, Deviled Chicken Thighs, Braised Pork with Turnips, Spaghetti Carbonara, Maple Bread Pudding and more. Time estimates are accurate for the organized cook and although not all dishes can be on the table in 30 minutes or less, few require more than 20 to 30 minutes actual prep time. This is a book for every kitchen, every day.

This book appears to be contain the recipes from two previous NYT recipe compilations by Mark Bittman, "The Minimalist Cooks Dinner" and "The Minimalist Cooks At Home", possibly along with some new material (the cover copy also says it contains "The Minimalist Entertains", which I never got). I no longer have my copies of those Bittman books, so it is hard to certain. Since those collections were $25 hard backs and this is a $19 trade paperback, the savings are obvious, and any Bittman fan who doesn't have the "Minimalist" books will want to pick this up posthaste. The one draw back is that the design for this collection isn't as plush - no food photography, and no shiny pages. I also can't say how much overlap exists between the NYT "Minimalist" columns and "How To Cook Everything", since I don't have the Big Book (I was doing fine with the two "Minimalist" collections I had before they were lost in a move). Readers with a limited budget or minimal shelf space may need to compare this book with HTCE (and possibly "The Greatest Recipes In The World") to see if they really need or want this book. But boy, I sure did like my two "Minimalist Cooks" collections, so I am delighted to have this compilation. Bittman makes even formidable sounding dishes sound approachable and his calm, spare, economical style makes me want to break out the pots and knives and have at the recipes without delay. Some people might bridle at this as another "repackaging" of the Bittman brand name, but this particular collection just makes me happy.