Cooking to Beat the Clock : Inspired Meals in 15 Minutes

Busy professionals and harried parents don't have time after a long day to spend an hour preparing dinner, but no one wants to settle for cold pizza or cheese sandwiches everyday either. How does Provencal Mushroom Ragout over Polenta sound? Or Pork Medallions with Cider and Mashed Sweet Potatoes? In 15 minutes? Including the time it takes to chop the vegetables! James Beard Award-winning food journalist Sam Gugino has devised a host of secret strategies for getting organized so cooking dinner is quick and painless. He approaches the overall kitchen scene with four key principles in mind: flavor, organization, focus, and creativity. To this he adds clever time-saving techniques that drastically cut the preparation time for a meal-sized entrZe serving two or four. In all, Cooking to Beat the Clock offers an entirely new way of thinking about any recipe, and just may change the way you cook. It's amazing but truea delicious dinner can be ready in 15 minutes, start to finish!

Sam Gugino is a columnist for Wine Spectator and a frequent contributor to the New York Times. He lives in New York city. Visit Sam's Web site at: www.samcooks.com.

Dawn Smith is an avid cookbook collector and a still life photographer who specializes in food. She lives in New York City.