Cool Kitchen: No Oven, No Stove, No Sweat! 125 Delicious, No-Work Recipes for Summertime or Anytime

Chattman, formerly pastry chef at Nick and Toni's restaurant in East Hampton, Long Island, does what she promises in this sunny book, delivering 150 recipes that don't require a stove or oven. She sometimes gets by, however, on a technicality, as when she tells you how to make Perfect Scrambled Eggs and How to Poach Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts by enclosing those instructions in boxes rather than setting them up as recipes. The recipes themselves are reliable and full of fresh ingredients, most giving their ingredients in their titles. Five-Spice Nuts are nuts tossed with five-spice powder, and Vodka-Spiked Cherry Tomatoes with Cumin-Cilantro Dipping Salt says it all. Some offerings may seem hardly recipes, e.g., Herbed Goat Cheese and Sun-Dried Tomatoes on a Bagel, but succeed by their reminding readers of new, unexpected combinations. Fresh Tuna Ni oise Salad cleverly incorporates uncooked, sushi-quality tuna; Fresh Figs, Walnuts, and Mascarpone is certainly a tasty combination. Meal prep without cooking has a necessarily limited scope, but Chattman, offering upbeat headers and a useful glossary, brings welcome fresh air to the prospect of summer in the kitchen. (May)