Just Five Ingredients: Over 120 Fast, Fuss-Free Recipes

Because a long list of ingredients is enough to repel some home cooks from a recipe, Harriott’s appealing new cookbook seeks to address this issue by boiling down some 120 dishes into five simple ingredients. Harriott, presenter of the BBC’s Ready Steady Cook and author of Meals in Minutes and Ainsley’s Ultimate Barbecue Bible, applies a flavor-conscious economy to his surprisingly complex-tasting fare. Though salt, pepper, and oil don’t count toward the total number of ingredients, Harriott still manages to keep the tallies low. A chapter on tapas and small bites covers such sophisticated eats as manchego cheese fritters and brandade with griddled sourdough, while his take on vegetarian cuisine—which is notoriously ingredient-heavy—includes paprika halloumi with roasted lemon peppers and pitta and creamed corn and parmesan risotto. There’s a Brit-centric point of view that may make sourcing some of the ingredients (King Edward’s potatoes; cashel blue cheese; golden syrup) a challenge. Still, his dishes, like harissa-rubbed lamb and sweet potatoes, and Jamaican sticky toffee pudding are intriguingly spiced yet wholesome and satisfying enough to be put into the everyday rotation. Photos. (July)