Here's how swag works: When we beg for a galley or advance copy of a book, we feel obliged to review it. When publishers send us, unsolicited, a miniature book filled with twee teddybears and mawkish verse that stopped inspiring anyone in 1900, we feel entitled to groan and give it to our great-aunt--who probably groans and wraps it up for the church bazaar.
But cookbooks fall into another category altogether. They're either good or bad. Then, all that's left is the schoolteacher's dilemma: You don't want to play favorites.
Because I'd praised a previous Cooking Light cookbook, I was tempted to ignore thisnew one. And there was another, huge disincentive--my husband hated that previous cookbook. Too light, too frilly, a bit too exquisite and complicated. It took two trips to Sonic, a diner breakfast, and a big pot of chili to pay him back for the recipes I'd tested.
My waistline couldn't handle any more retribution.
Reluctantly, I slit open the cellophane, intrigued that this time, the cookbook was a binder. One recipe to a page, easily removed so you could prop it up by your stove, easily Xerox or scan it, or shred it forever. It lay flat. It had sensible sections and an easy-to-use index (Joy of Cooking's index takes Aristotle's genus-species formula a little too seriously.)
But it was the title that got me: Complete Meals in Minutes. The longest recipe in here, if I could trust the cover, took 30 minutes.
I had to try it.
Without uttering the phrases "Cooking Light," "nutritional," or "only 273 calories," I served Andrew "Creamy Spinach-Mushroom Skillet Enchiladas" (20 minutes). He loved them. Sure he must have just been starving that evening, I tried "Grilled Portobello-Goat Cheese Pitas" (15 minutes). When he loved them, too, I thanked him with two surefire hits: a 15-minute "Shepherd's Pie" and a 20-minute "Country-Fried Steak with Mushroom Gravy"--his kind of food, but far healthier than the usual versions.
This cookbook was not girlie or over-elegant. Nor was it precious; it freely advised me about shortcuts, pre-prepared ingredients, and other conveniences that make chefs wince. Page after page, through 700 recipes, it balances lightness and flavor, elegance and comfort.
It is, in short, a keeper, and I have no problem making this praise public. I just have to hide it from my husband.
