Gordon Ramsay Quick and Delicious

Chef, restaurateur, and TV personality Ramsay (Gordon Ramsay’s Healthy, Lean & Fit) extends a guiding hand to those who need to quickly get dinner on the table in his excellent latest. Ramsay incorporates elements of American, French, Indian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mediterranean, Moroccan, and Thai cuisines, and his pantry contains ingredients that are now widely available in large supermarkets. Dishes are kept at two or four servings, reflecting what is served at Ramsay’s restaurants and cooked for his own family. Zucchini fries, for instance, are made using the same technique as at his Union Street Café in London (they are crispy thanks to a semolina coating), and spicy beef and bean quesadillas disappear quickly at the Ramsay dining table, he reports as a chef dad. Many of his tips are familiar (lining up green beans to trim their edges at once), while some of his methods underscore the chef’s kitchen smarts, such as choosing larger turkey cutlets instead of chicken for a kiev treatment, and enhancing the flavor of hummus with black sesame paste instead of just tahini. A metric conversion chart is provided, as the recipes feature imperial weights and measures. This accessible volume presents many ways for home cooks to expand their weeknight repertoires. (Sept.)