20 Minute Menus

Marian Burros presents a collection of one hundred menu plans designed for rapid preparation. Each entry features dishes that can be cooked entirely without a microwave, relying instead on efficient time-saving strategies to deliver fresh meals in twenty minutes. The book targets home cooks seeking to eliminate the planning burden from their daily routine by providing precise shopping lists and detailed game plans for every recipe. The content spans various culinary traditions, including American comfort food with meatloaf hamburgers and mashed potatoes, Asian-inspired curried shrimp with toasted pitas, and North African flavors in Tunisian chicken with couscous. Other options feature Italian influences like scrod provencal and veal with lemon and black olives alongside pasta sauces. Burros structures the work to ensure all components of a meal finish simultaneously, offering practical advice on stocking a pantry for speed and organizing ingredients for smooth execution. This volume suits busy individuals who wish to prepare healthy, from-scratch dinners without the delay of delivery services. It does not cater to those seeking elaborate multi-day projects or slow-cooked stews. The approach emphasizes using good-tasting, fresh, natural ingredients to create special meals quickly. Alice Waters notes that starting with quality produce makes such rapid cooking possible, validating the book’s core premise of accessible, everyday elegance.