If ever a book title called my name, that title was Gourmet Meals in Crappy Little Kitchens (CLK). I love to cook. I agree with the author that gourmet is about pairing the best possible ingredients with some expertise and respect for the food rather than making everything fancy. And I’m not altogether joking when I refer to the square foot of counter space in my small kitchen.

The cutesiness in the recipe titles and overuse of crappy throughout the book may be a bit overdone but please don’t let that put you off, because otherwise I loved this cookbook. Real gourmet cooking designed for home cooks like you and me, using real food augmented by only a few convenience food staples—such as canned tomatoes—to get fabulous results. As the author promises, she has turned the restrictions of a CLK into a virtue rather than a problem, resulting in a book full of chef quality recipes without the usual problems I, as a home cook, have with most chef-written cookbooks—the apparent assumption that you have worlds of time and space, all sorts of equipment, access to (and budget for) a world of gourmet ingredients and a sous chef or two to help with the extra work.

The book begins with an overview of what Chef Schaertl means by gourmet food, followed by an overview of CLK that includes some really helpful discussion of how to make the best use of yours (such as what equipment and pantry staples you do and don’t need and why), before moving on to an explanation of some of the gourmet cooking terms. The recipes themselves range from appetizers through desserts. I’m still working my way through them, but so far I’ve got to say that I particularly loved the broccoli and cheese soup and the grilled cheese and tomato soup (see, I said gourmet doesn’t have to mean fancy), the salad dressings—several of which I’ve tried, if not yet on her original salad recipes, and the jerk chicken. All of them were loaded with flavor and very easy to make, even with the long ingredient list for the chicken. Chef Schaertl writes very clear recipes and isn’t a slave to authenticity just for the sake of authenticity—her Pad Thai doesn’t include tamarind, while I never saw a salad in Greece whose dressing included mustard or anchovies. That should reassure those who have limited access to ingredients, while you can’t argue with the very tasty results.

The title says this is about gourmet food for those with CLK, but honestly this is a cookbook for anyone who’d like to serve up some gourmet food without sending their kitchen and life into total upheaval to do it. And the best part is that once you’ve processed the information in the introduction and worked enough with the recipes to get comfortable with the techniques, you will have learned some essentials for gourmet cooking for the home cook that you can go on to apply to other recipes on your own.

Highly recommended.