This is one of the handiest cookery books on my shelf, simply because it deals with my favourite kind of cooking - the simple, one-pot kind. The recipes and ingredients are varied enough to give me something new to try, while being a useful reminder of some of the classic one-pot meals. Includes soups, stews, meat and fish dishes, some vegetarian dishes, and desserts. Lovely illustrations that show you what your meal is supposed to look like, rather than shots of arty details. It's also really cheap on Amazon, so if your cookery shelf has a one-pot gap in it, I'd recommend this unhesitatingly.

One thing - it's a very small volume, with a stiff paperback cover; keeping it open to the page means using a recipe book stand or laying something heavy across the pages, and moving it to read the text. But try the Turkish Lamb Pilau, (page 70), and you won't care. ( )