Quick and Easy 5-Ingredient Cookbook: 30-Minute Recipes to Get Started in the Kitchen

Quick and Easy 5-Ingredient Cookbook is a tutorial cookbook and recipe collection aimed at easy, fast, and good food without lots of ingredients. The recipes included can be prepared in 30 minutes or less with 5 main ingredients (not including seasonings, water, oil, cooking spray, etc). Due out 14th April 2020 from Callisto on their Rockridge Press imprint, it's 108 pages and will be available in paperback and ebook formats (ebook available now). It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

The introduction includes a very good overview over basic kitchen equipment and ingredients.  There's also a subchapter with food safety and handling information.


The recipes have their ingredients listed bullet style in a sidebar. Measurements are given in US standard only. Special tools and ingredients are also listed, along with yields and cooking directions. Most of the ingredients are easily sourced at any moderately well stocked grocery store. Nutritional information is included in the footer at the end of the recipes and includes calories, fat, sodium, carbs, fibre, sugar, protein.Tips and variations on each recipe are included in a text box at the end. Special dietary comments (dairy-free, freezer friendly, gluten-free, nut free, etc).

The book also includes a short author bio, and a metric conversion chart, but lacks any index or general ingredients index.

My main quibble with the book is that the recipes are mostly not photographed. There are some photos, and they're clear and attractive, but they only represent about 5% of the recipes included in the book. It is, however, a very well written book for anyone who needs

Four stars. This would make a superlative selection for busy cooks or a housewarming gift for a newly-fledged first apartment dweller.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.