Cook Express: Weekday suppers - Food to impress

This book has proved to be great addition to my collection. It focuses on food that is quick to prepare, so it is excellent for people who are busy. There are many sections including speedy suppers, pasta, chicken, tapas, barbecue, roasts and one-pot meals as well as cakes, desserts, pastries and no-cook food. There are recipes from store cupboard ingredients as well as advice on menu planning and on making batches of food for freezing. Each recipe states the preparation time (which can often be just a few minutes) and the cooking time. The recipes are clear and straightforward and the book is beautifully illustrated. There is also information on basic cooking techniques. Highly recommended.

I seem to remember a negative review that said this book was poorly laid out. I beg to disagree. The Recipe Chooser section (pages 11 to 29) is particularly brilliant. Thumbprint pictures of all the main recipes so that you can choose what to go to with a clear idea of what to expect. The recipes themselves are great - a huge selection of different styles and all clearly set out with pics for each stage - and genuinely quite quick to cook. There are also additional "cheats" and "tips" for each recipe which are very helpful. I bought this book in the first place because I saw the owner of our favourite local pub leafing through it - several dishes on the menu in the pub (who serve wonderful food, incidentally) are taken from this book, and have moved from "dish of the day" to the permanent menu because they have proved so popular with customers. I think that says it all. Certainly nothing I have cooked from this book so far has gone wrong or needed to be adapted - which is not something I can say about a lot of other other cookbooks I have used.

I love books and I love my food so you would expect me to love this book. I don't !! I already own "Cooking Through The Year" (by the same publishers) and I consider that to be a beautifully illustrated and well structured cook book. I therefore took a chance on "Cook Express" even though I hadn't been able to inspect a copy on the High Street or via the "Look Inside" feature on Amazon. No sooner than my copy arrived and I'd had a quick flick through the pages I felt somewhat underwhelmed by this book. In my opinion it is not at all well laid out - I'd prefer to have seen sections on quick lamb; quick beef; quick pork; quick chicken; quick pasta; quick vegetables; quick desserts etc. Instead it mixes this approach with chapters on 10 best ways with... and making the most from your roast. As such it is neither one thing nor the other and therefore fails to succeed at either. Also, several of the recipes and photos were also to be found in the aforementioned "Cooking Through The Year".I have therefore returned this book for a refund. In future I will not be ordering any books online unless I've been able to physically inspect a copy or use the "Look Inside" feature.

This book is great. I owned for a few month, but only really started cooking with it - simple recipes, photo for each, and very well organise. When you come back from work and have a limited time to cook dinner, it is so helpful for inspiration.

This cookbook has a huge range of recipes, and best of all they are simple to make. Pictures of every dish make it easy to see what the end result will be, and recipes cover every aspect of feeding family and friends, including vegetarian, the use of left-overs, dishes for entertaining, etc. I have found all sorts of new and interesting dishes to make which are very popular, and all proved simple to make.  Cook Express

Had some concern knowing that the book have had another owner but, when I open the book there was not a single scratch o pen mark.

a brilliant, modern and fresh book full of great pictures and simple to follow recipes. I use this book pretty much every day and there are even ideas for co-ordinating group gatherings and unusual meals. LOVE IT!!

Excellent book, saw this before I bought it. lots of pictures and easy to follow instructions. Would make a brilliant present.Would recommend it to some one like me who has been attempting to cook for years....

While the cook book is fantastic, I got the British version with the weird, for me, units of measurement, for example measuring butter in grams instead of cups or teaspoon and other things in grams like vanilla. Wish I had the one for North America.

Good book. Hope to use it to cook .... faster!

I have it for some months, and I never ever cooked anything from this book, as all things requiere lots of ingredients. Too complicated, not what I expected.