Product Description

No matter how busy you are, at the end of the day you want fresh, flavorful meals that are easy to prepare. And you want lots of choices and variations—recipes that call for your favorite foods and take advantage of excellent (and readily available) ingredients. In the first book from the award-winning magazine Everyday Food, you’ll find all of that: 250 simple recipes for delicious meals that are quick enough to make any day of the week.

Because a change in weather affects how we cook as much as what we cook, the recipes in Everyday Food are arranged by season. For spring, you’ll find speedy preparations for main-course salads, chicken, and poached salmon that minimize time spent at the stove; summer features quick techniques for grilling the very best burgers and kabobs as well as no-cook pasta sauces; for fall, there are braised meats and hearty main-course soups; and winter provides new takes on rich one-dish meals, roasts and stews, and hearty baked pastas. Finally, a chapter on basics explains how to make year-round staples such as foolproof roast chicken, risotto, couscous, and chocolate sauce.

Designed in a contemporary and easy-to-read format, Everyday Food boasts lush, full-color photography and plenty of suggestions for substitutions and variations. With Everyday Food, even the busiest on-the-go cook can look forward to meals that bring freshness, nutrition, and a range of flavors to dinner all week long.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2274 in Books
• Brand: Martha Stewart
• Published on: 2007-03-13
• Released on: 2007-03-13
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Features

• Features 200 recipes on 384 pages

Amazon.com Review
If you are a fan of Everyday Food magazine (and you should be), you will be wowed by Great Food Fast, a gorgeous full-color cookbook filled to bursting with recipes for fresh, flavorful food that is easy to prepare. Organized by season, Great Food Fast features simple recipes for year-round cooking, including no-cook pasta sauces, main-course soups, one-dish meals, and more. --Daphne Durham

Great Food Fast Recipe Preview

Pan-fried Shrimp with Green Curry Cashew Sauce

Serves 4
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total time: 15 minutes

You can purchase bottled Thai green curry sauce in most supermarkets, but this recipe proves how quick and easy it is to make your own. Refrigerate any leftover sauce, covered, for up to 3 days.

1 slice (1/4 inch thick) peeled fresh ginger
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons roasted unsalted cashews
1/3 cup plain low-fat yogurt
1/4 cup packed cilantro leaves
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon curry powder
Coarse salt and fresh ground pepper
1 1/2 pounds peeled and deveined large shrimp
2 tablespoons olive oil

1 In a food processor, pulse the ginger until finely chopped. Add the 3/4 cup cashews; process until smooth, 2 to 3 minutes.
2 Add the yogurt, cilantro, sugar, and curry powder; season with salt. Process until incorporated, 1 to 2 minutes, scraping down the sides as needed. Transfer to a serving bowl; sprinkle with the remaining cashews.
3 Season the shrimp with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add half the shrimp; cook until opaque throughout, 2 to 3 minutes. Repeat with the remaining tablespoon oil and remaining shrimp. Serve the shrimp with the sauce.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Almond-Apricot Chicken with Mint Pesto
The addition of goat cheese, apricots, and pesto lends a Mediterranean flavor to chicken. The pesto is made with fresh mint and almonds, rather than the usual basil and pine nuts.

Serves 4
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (6 ounces each)
1⁄2 cup sliced almonds
2 ounces goat cheese
4 dried apricots, cut into 1/4-inch pieces (3 tablespoons)
Coarse salt and fresh ground pepper
1/3 cup plain breadcrumbs
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon olive oil
Mint Pesto (recipe below)
To Prepare the Chicken
1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Cut a slit in one side of each chicken breast to create a pocket about 4 inches long.
2. In a small bowl, combine 1/4 cup of the almonds with the goat cheese and apricots. Stuff each breast with one quarter of the mixture. Season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.
3. On a plate, combine the breadcrumbs and the remaining 1/4 cup almonds. Dip each breast into the beaten egg, then dredge in the breadcrumb mixture.
4. Heat the oil in a large ovenproof nonstick skillet over medium heat. Cook the chicken until golden, 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Transfer to the oven; bake until cooked through, about 15 minutes. Serve hot with the mint pesto on the side.
Mint Pesto Ingredients
3 cups lightly packed fresh mint
1⁄4 cup sliced almonds
1⁄2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Coarse salt
To Prepare the Mint Pesto
1. In a food processor, combine the mint and almonds; process until finely chopped.
2. With the motor running, gradually pour the olive oil through the feed tube. Season with salt. Keep at room temperature until ready to serve. Store leftover pesto in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks; let it come to room temperature before serving.

Customer Reviews

I Love This Book!
Having subscribed to the magazine since issue #1, I was sad having to give all my back-issues away due to a move. I was so happy to see this book which is much nicer than the magazine - no advertising! The layout is very smart. Each recipe(except for some side dishes)has it's own page with a full photo on the opposite page and divided into Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter sections which is very practical for cooks who shop seasonal, like myself. One can write their grocery list directly from each seasonal section. I've never seen the TV show, so I can't say if these recipes where ever shown on TV, but they do include the nutritional data for each recipe at the back of the book. Simple basics like how to boil rice etc., is also included at the back for quick review. The Tomato and Olive Penne, on page 244, has become a household favorite.

Beautiful!
I am also a longtime subscriber to 'Everyday Food' magazine and was so happy to learn about the cookbook. The photographs and book layout are just beautiful, and I love how the recipes are organized by season. I have had alot of success with the 'Everyday Food' recipes I've tried from the magazine, and can't wait to try more of the ones listed in the book. I've also found that the prep and cook times stated in the recipes are pretty accurate, so there aren't any surprises. Easy, fresh and delicious food for the whole family!

Beautiful and Practical
This book is so beautiful it actually makes me look forward to planning and preparing dinners. As other reviewers have related, the layout, photography, and organization are all top notch, but the actual recipes are the best part. The Everyday Food people really found a wonderful middle ground for competent, but unpretentious cooks. I was so tired of recipes that either required 25 different ingredients to make a dish or, on the other end of the spectrum, relied on over-processed add-ins (like cream of mushroom soup) to round out the recipe. Great Food Fast does neither, delivering a huge array of recipes which feature around 6-10 ingredients with advertised prep times which are pretty darn-near accurate. Tip: Start with the Sauteed Chicken in Mustard Sauce--delicious!