Almost every recipe I've made from this book is a keeper, and some are "make this for guests". One, with haricot verts and tofu, was merely good, but I didn't sear the tofu properly, so that might have been my fault.

Things I've made:

* Roast cabbage with tarragon and pecorino (we roast a lot of veg, but this never would have occurred to me)
* Pasta alla norma
* Roasted asparagus with almonds, capers, and dill (easy)
* Quick okra with sweet-and-sour dressing (very easy)
* Chickpeas and Swiss chard with yogurt
* Gigli with chickpeas and za'atar
* Tofu and haricots verts with chraimeh sauce

Two weaknesses, though. The SIMPLE acronym for recipe attributes is precious and a complete failure. It is too much work to memorize. Is "M" for minutes, like 30 minutes or less? No, "S" is for "short on time". He should have called the book "Simple", then used icons, like a clock face with a 30 next to it.

Also, the recipes are occasionally too UK-specific. Asking for "dried red peppers" in the US is just not specific enough. Do you want ancho, New Mexico, chili de arbol, negro, pequin, or what? Another example is specifying barberries without a substitute. I can look up workarounds for these, like finding other recipes for pasta alla norma that use red pepper flakes. But I shouldn't have fix up recipes like that.

With those caveats, still five stars. ( )

First Collins Cooks! I made the jalepeno cilantro cornbread. ( )

I wish there weren't so many recipes in here that I would like to try. I read the German translation from the library, but I might just have to buy it in English. ( )

I really wanted to enjoy the recipes in this book but there were so many that one or two ingredients just weren't things I cooked with. Doesn't make it a bad cookbook just not for me. ( )