Nigella Express: 130 Recipes for Good Food, Fast [Hardcover]

Nigella Lawson (Author)

Book Description

Release date: October 30, 2007

The Domestic Goddess is back, and this time it's instant. Nigella and her style of cooking have earned a special place in our lives, symbolizing all that is best, most pleasurable, most hands-on, and least fussy about good food. But that doesn't mean she wants us to spend hours in the kitchen, slaving over a hot stove.

Featuring fabulous fast foods, ingenious shortcuts, terrific time-saving ideas, effortless entertaining tips, and simple, scrumptious meals, Nigella Express is her solution to eating well when time is short. Here are mouthwatering meals, quick to prepare and easy to follow, that you can conjure up after a day in the office or on a busy weekend, for family or unexpected guests. This is food you can make as you hit the kitchen running, with vital advice on how to keep your pantry stocked, and your freezer and fridge stacked. When time is precious, you cant spend hours shopping, so you need to make life easier by being prepared. Not that these recipes are basic, though they are always simple, but it's important to make every ingredient earn its place, minimizing effort by maximizing taste.

Here too is great food that can be prepared quickly but cooked slowly in the oven, leaving you time to have a bath, a drink, talk to friends, or help the children with their homework, minimum stress for maximum enjoyment.

Nigella Express features a new generation of fast food, never basic, never dull, always doable, quick, and delicious.

Featuring recipes seen on Food Networks Nigella Express series.

Praise for Nigella Lawson and her cookbooks:

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Ms. Lawson brings to life the sensual aspects of cooking, helping you understand not only what you are after, but also the pleasure of the journey." -- The New York Times

"Nigella is an icon; a smart, sexy woman who promulgates the idea that it might be fun or even tempting to make time to cook again." -- Gourmet

"This media goddess is refreshingly down-to-earth." -- Newsweek

About the Author

Nigella Lawson is the author of How to Eat, How to Be a Domestic Goddess (for which she won the British Author of the Year Award), Nigella Bites, Forever Summer, and Feast . She has been profiled in the New York Times Magazine, Gourmet, and many other publications. She lives in London with her two children.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion; First Edition edition (October 30, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401322433
• ISBN-13: 978-1401322434
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 1.3 x 10 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (93 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #17,643 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Nigella Lawson is the British bestselling author of Nigella Express: Good Food Fast, Feast: Food to Celebrate Life, Forever Summer, Nigella Bites, How to Be a Domestic Goddess, and How to Eat, which have sold in excess of 5 million copies worldwide. Her 2005 book Feast: Food to Celebrate Life inspired 'Nigella Feasts,' which debuted on Food Network in fall 2006. The Domestic Goddess is back in her second Food Network series, 'Nigella Express,' launched in fall 2007 in conjunction with the release of Nigella Express. American audiences also know Nigella as host of 'Forever Summer with Nigella,' her popular cooking/lifestyle series that aired on style, and 'Nigella Bites,' which aired on E! Entertainment Television and style. In July 2003, Nigella launched Nigella Lawson's Living Kitchen, a range of kitchen items designed in collaboration with Sebastian Conran, to widespread acclaim in the U.S.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

209 of 214 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars It's what she promises: good food, fast October 29, 2007

By Esther Schindler TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

I couldn't wait. I was in London right after Nigella Lawson's newest cookbook was published, so I bought my copy immediately. The only real difference between the UK and American edition, I'm sure, is the measurements (grams versus ounces, etc.) so you get the benefit of the fact I've been cooking from this book for the last several weeks.

This new cookbook, which accompanies Nigella's new series on the FoodTV network (at a really dreadful, inconvenient hour on Sunday), follows in the now-popular "make a decent sit-down dinner in half an hour" theme. Unlike Rachel Ray (to whom I have no objections, but also no particular tropism), Nigella's idea of "in half an hour" is not necessarily in consecutive minutes. That is, if something takes a short time in the kitchen, but bakes for an hour, it's fair game. That works just fine for me -- I telecommute full time, so slow-cooked fast food is compatible with my lifestyle -- but those who rush to the store on the way home from the office and still have a desire to get dinner on the table by 7pm may sometimes be a teensy bit disappointed.

That might, however, be the only real disappointment in this rather exhaustive set of recipes. Because, based on the handful of things I've cooked from this book so far (and a careful reading of the rest of the book), these are just darned good meals. They aren't the special dishes she included in Feast: Food to Celebrate Life -- for holidays when spending all afternoon in the kitchen is part of the pleasure of the meal -- and they take a lot of shortcuts that Nigella admits freely *are* shortcuts. But they're far better than a takeaway meal, and it's good food, fast. (Duh.)

Everything is organized in meals or moods rather than subjects. That is, there's no chapter for appetizers, another for desserts, etc. It works well given the theme of the book -- who has time to construct a whole menu during the week? -- and also because she can tell you that, while the meat is underway, turn your attention to the vegetables. So "quick food slow" collects recipes that can be prepared ahead to save time later; "instant calmer" offers super-fast soul food; "get up and go" is for breakfast at breakneck speed.

So far, as I said, I've made a few things. Orange French toast is pretty simple -- your basic French toast, but with a syrup made with orange marmalade and juice -- but made a special brunch for visiting family. Her prawn and mango curry uses stuff that I mostly have in the house, such as frozen shrimp, a can of coconut milk, cilantro and bottled red curry paste. With some mango, lime juice, and butternut and sweet potato cubes (apparently available in pre-made packets in the UK, though I've never seen such things here)... in about half an hour we had a great dinner. Truly excellent. Her "sausages with sauerkraut" is a much simplified choucroute garnie and... well, that one was okay. It might have been excellent if I had made the trip to the German grocery for better sausages... or maybe some things shouldn't be simplified *too* much.

There's plenty more here to try: chicken in Riesling (looks like under an hour to the table, with half that in chicken-simmer time), Swedish salmon (with dill and mustard, served with a cucumber salad and potato salad). She has lots of quickly-prepared desserts too, but since I generally shy away from refined sugar I don't pay that much attention to them; nothing personal, Nigella.

Great cookbook. Recommended.

41 of 42 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great addition to my recipe book collection November 17, 2007

By Julia Flyte TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

I love Nigella Lawson's recipe books. She writes so well that the books are a pleasure to read as well as being a good source of recipes. She always makes everything sound so delicious that you can't wait to try it. The photography in this book is also excellent and every recipe is illustrated.

The theme for this book is good food fast. The "fast" is somewhat loose (I can't see how her version of coq au vin could be turned around in less than an hour, which rules it out as an after work option in our household). Besides evening meals there are breakfast options, party foods and (as always with Nigella's books) plenty of cakes and sweet things. If you try to follow a low fat diet, this is probably not the cookbook for you. Her instructions are easy to follow and she suggests substitutions for hard to find ingredients.

We have tried and enjoyed the mustard pork chops (though I prefer pasta as an accompaniment rather than the potato gnocchi that she suggests), the mirin glazed salmon (though I already had similar recipes that were similar and equally good) and the quick calamari. They were all very simple to prepare and went down well with the family. I had less success with the croque monsieur bake which emerged burnt at the edges (although that could possibly be the fault of my oven). And while the chocolate peanut butter fudge sauce went down well with my children, it was too sickly sweet for my and my husband's tastebuds.

Overall a beautiful recipe book which I'm happy to add to the collection. I'm sure it will get a good workout over the pre-Christmas period.

37 of 39 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Express way into my tummy May 30, 2008

By - Kasia S. VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I was actually surprised that Nigella came out with this new cooking concept, making her favorites with short cuts, suddenly being impatient and saving time while still having parties and cooking dinners ever night for her family. Honestly I never found her recipes hard, I enjoyed making everything the proper way but I have to say its fun to find way to cheat I guess, making mousses without all the fancy work, creams and cakes and stews with minimal effort, without hours of baking and slow cooking, using less ingredients ( saves tons of money) and still eating something tasty.

Basically this book is filled with recipes one can make for any occasion, best yet for dinner after a hectic day of work, using 4-5 ingredients, simple and still having something to put on the table that is not the same old saver we turn to. Too often it's easy to fall into a comfortable rut and cook the same thing; with this book it is really easy to gently shake things up. Sometimes I read it at work, photocopy pages, stop at the store on my way home and make something new that's different and doesn't require me to spend 2 hours cooking and then washing lots of pots and pans. I think to write this book requires more effort, it's easy to make a complex dish using thirty ingredients, but hard to make something simple that takes the least amounts of effort but is edible. I often pick one recipe, and then make a side of my choice even if it's steamed veggies and dinner is on the table in no time.

I have been using this book since last November and some of the my favorites are;

Mustard Pork Chops page 11- any meat can be used but pair it with white cannolini beans, simplicity ( 5 ingredients! ) at its highest, actually writing about it now made me decide to make it for dinner tonight, yet again.

Steak Slick with Lemon and Thyme - great on some toasted ciabatta bread the next day or as an elegant supper, lemon and thyme seems to be a classic combination, not I make all my steaks this way.

Cheese Fondue - Gruyere, Brie, Emmental and Camembert melt into a spectacular and easy dip for anything you can find in the fridge. Some white wine in the sauce and then in the glass to drink with completes this fun dinner.

Chocolate Croissants - more fun then I thought to make, sometimes I just make four, with this book there is no need to make thirty servings of something, I often make enough for just one day.

Moonblush tomatoes page 126- sour, tangy, roasted and great side to savory dishes, my new favorite. I find it goes great with eggs for breakfast!

Irish Cream Tiramisu - wow, interesting and make sure to reserve a nap after, packs a punch!

There are stir-fries, galettes, cakes, burgers, all sorts of meats and pastas, each page has a tiny recipe with a gorgeous picture, and this book is actually very useful and makes cooking fun especially to see how the short cuts turn out. I mean if the short list of ingredients doesn't make one want to cook out of it then the pictures will, and it's nice to have a cookbook that is always used versus having one recipe in it that I have to turn to. Nigella throws things together in a beautiful way, after reading and cooking her recipes to me they are as natural as breathing and they pretty much always turn out perfect! Now that is a feat, I haven't had to apologize for making something new to anyone and it's easy to see that her ingredient pairing choices are well through out and put together.

- Kasia S.