Many cookbook writing chefs (Rocco DiSpirito, Jacques Pepin, Charlie Palmer, to name a few) have penned books filled with recipes for the time-challenged. Quick, fast, speedy - with plenty of short-cuts for busy people who still want to cook after work for their families. Underlying these books is the fact that these chefs assume their readers are also going to enjoy more leisurely and expertly prepared meals by good cooks and chefs (like the authors themselves).Rachael Ray has built her Food Network career on 30-Minute Meals. Her latest book, Just in Time (Clarkson Potter 2007) is something like a Cooking for Dummies book. There is a little bit of practically every ethnic cuisine, simplified and American-ified. The recipes are easy to follow, and fairly fool-proof. You don't need much of a culinary background to cook them. The question is: If you use Rachael Ray's cookbook are you going to eventually step up to learning to cook authentic ethnic dishes? Though, if these are plainly everyday dinner ideas for busy people with kids – does it matter? The book's organizational principal is time: dishes that take 15, 30 or 60 minutes – following Rachael's 30-minute meals. You can search through the book either by duration or by chapter - these have amusing titles like - Chapter 3 - Using Your Noodle: Pasta, Noodle Bowls, Couscous, and Baked Pastas or Chapter 6 - Who You Callin' Chicken? You get the idea.
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