Gourmet Meals in Minutes Hardcover – June 29, 2004

Tenderloin of Beef with Blue Cheese and Herb Crust. This is one of many delicious recipes in this book. The recipe was super easy to make and turned out fantastic. It looked like I had cooked all day. I served it over polenta and served it with a side of roasted asparagus. My husband was impressed and thought he had forgotten a special date such as our anniversary. Tomorrow night we are having the Satay of Beef with Peanut Sauce. I made the Baked Goat Cheese with Mesclun, Pears, and Toasted Almonds for lunch. It was so simple yet elegant and very tasty. Five stars for this book. I purchased the book used because I could not get a new copy from Amazon. The book arrived on time and the condition of the book is good. So many recipes so little time.

A deceptively simple set of directions that resulted in enjoyable family meals with abundant opportunities to trade ingredients. The basic steps guide any level of cook to prepare meals quickly without compromising presentation or quality.

It's scarcely worth reviewing this book, because I believe it's out of print. Mine is a used copy. I bought it because I remember liking it about 15 years. I still like it. The recipes are short and mostly delicious. It's a bit dated, though. We use different ingredients now. Like arugula, etc. But you can put together a nice meal in a very short time using this book.

Great book for ideas with lots of pictures. Very inspiring!

The recipes are so simple but lead to delicious gourmet results. CIA is one of the most respected culinary institutes in the country. Easy to see why with this book. Recommend to anyone looking to mix things up in the kitchen.

.... item as described, great service, what more can you ask?

I have to weigh in with a dissenting vote on this book. I had great expectations for this beautiful book from the Culinary Institute of America. I am a personal chef who is continually seeking quick and easy recipes with the wow factor, but to date none of the recipes I've tried in this book have delivered.The Chicken with Artichokes and Mustard Sauce, Walnut Chicken,and Stir Fried Garden Vegetables with Marinated Tofu were all incredibly bland; I found myself acting as a physician of mercy, desperately trying to revive these dishes. Ditto for the Fruit Salad with Orange Blossom Syrup. The Manhattan Clam Chowder was good, but not memorable.I was expecting a lot more from the CIA, which turns out so many great chefs. If you're looking for a book that has some great quickie recipes, I would spend my money on The Gourmet Cookbook, which has over 1,000 recipes. I've yet to make a bad one out of that book, and each recipe lists how long it will take. There are a great many recipes in the book which take under 30 minutes. The CIA should take a lesson from Gourmet Magazine before they put out another mediocre cookbook.

Book is Ok. This is one of the least interesting books of the CIA that I own. My dissapointing comes from many of the recipies. Yes....they can look gourmet, but cooking them in minutes...give me a break!!. Many of them take 45 minutes to prepare(not taking into account the mise in place or soaking chickpease for example) Many recipes also rely on items that need 30 to 45 minutes to cook and also refer to a sauce or dressing that has to be cooked also in advance.ie: there is a picture of a Rice puding (40min to cook) that is shown with oatmeal cookies (a recipe also shown in the book and that takes 40 min to cook) and a cider and raisin Sauce sauce(45 min to cook). Another example? in page 185. Pesto stuffed chicken breasts, 45 min to cook and accompaignment is rice pilaf (45 min) and grilled vegetables (45 min)Anything in life can be cooked in minutes, ranging from 1 minute to more than a million of minutes. But the title of the book misleads you if you are expecting to find recipes and instructions to plate and cook gourmet food in less than 30 minutes. This is just another recipe book from the crowd to me, with many of the recipes of little interest.