Comments: Do not even open this book unless you intend to buy it – the photos alone are so seductive, most people will not be able to hold themselves back. Who would not want to eat this way?

The recipes are meant to be thrown together quickly and with little fuss. The difference between this and so many other work-night cookbooks is that these recipes look fabulous. Many of them include two or three variations, so no matter what you have in the house, you should be able to come up with something good. So much the better if you stopped at the market on the way home and have a few fresh ingredients to complete a particular recipe.

In addition to the core recipes – featuring chicken, chops, sausages, leg of lamb, fish, pasta, greens and herbs, spring and summer vegetables, autumn and winter vegetables, spring and summer fruit, autumn and winter fruit, and a variety of non-fruit desserts – there are dozens and dozens of quick little recipelets that will allow you to spice up or transform anything you're making. These include 10 stuffing recipes (not at all limited to turkey), 15 sauces, 16 no-cook desserts, a dozen flavored butters, 13 "virtually" no-cook starters, nine "flavored creams," and two dozen ideas for what to do with "a tub of good ice cream."

There are a few lapses that we'll attribute to turning a British book into a book for the American market, mostly having to do with measurements. Who in their right mind would measure 14 tablespoons of milk? Even saying 7/8ths of a cup would be better, but the recipe that requires it is not so fussy that it couldn't have just said 3/4 cup of milk or 1 cup of milk. There are other odd measures, but you should be able to figure most or all out. Likewise, a few ingredients are going to be challenging to track down, but that only affects a few recipes.

Even if the photos did not call out to you, this could easily become one of the most-used books in your kitchen.