RACHAEL RAY COOKING LESSONS WITH PHOTOS

Review by Barb & Ron Kroll

Rachael Ray's Look + Cook - 100 can't-miss main courses in pictures
(Clarkson Potter) ISBN 978-0307590503 030759050X

Anyone can make the easy main courses in Rachael Ray's cookbook by following her step-by-step cooking lessons and meal preparation photos.

The front of her book features 100 simple main course recipes, with food photos, for comfort food, homemade takeout food and fancy dishes that are quick to make. The back of the cookbook contains 125 more easy recipes for appetizers, side dishes, sauces and desserts that you can serve with the main courses.

How to make takeout food

Rachael Ray introduces each chapter of her 320-page cookbook. For example, she says that you can make your own takeout meals faster than you can call, wait for delivery and serve the takeout food. Because you can control the amounts of salt and fat, your homemade takeout meals are better for you.

Each main course recipe is a cooking lesson with step-by-step cooking instruction, illustrated with photos. Red print highlights each food ingredient.

Encircled cooking tips suggest side dishes or desserts to serve with main courses. For example, Rachael Ray suggests serving lentil potato salad as a side dish with her crispy curry fried chicken.

Photos of culinary techniques

Some recipes end with notes. In one, she recommends garnishing her rellenos dish with pomegranate seeds.

More than 600 food photos by Stephen Murello depict recipes. Cooking lesson photos show recipe ingredients and culinary techniques.

Cooking for kids

One chapter of Rachael Ray's Look + Cook features recipes for main courses that kids love, such as sticky orange chicken, vegetable soup with dumplings and open-face turkey burgers.

Another chapter has sauce recipes that you can make with leftover mustard, salsa and orange marmalade in the bottom of jars, so the condiments are not wasted.

Even amateur cooks can make Rachael Ray's fake banana ice cream with frozen bananas whipped with milk in the food processor.

Sample Rachael Ray recipes

Lemon risotto. Sausage and onion kebabs on roasted pepper salad. French onion and wild mushroom soup. Beef noodle bowls. Chinese orange barbecue cashew chicken. Stuffed hot sausage meatball subs. Gazpacho pasta. Margarita fish tacos. Fondue with apple brandy. French onion dip pizza. Marsala burgers. Double bacon beer braised cheeseburgers. Salmon and sweet potato cakes. Chili meatball bites with cheesy dipper. Orange maple sauce. Limoncello and lemon cream fruit tart.