For the Kitchen Bookshelf : ...

Eating Well in a Busy World by Francine Allen (Ten Speed Press: $8.95, 128 pp., illustrated).

Francine Allen, a professional cook and writer for a health magazine, practiced what she now preaches and the result is a book of manageable recipes for the working man or woman who comes home after a hard day and cooks.

The book also portends a trend in recipe book-writing today of spelling out every comma and period for the public, who apparently is having a tough time with basic techniques of food preparation. There is a game plan for planning and organizing the meal so detailed and often so simplistic you’d think a child was following it. “Prepare the Moroccan Chicken Wings and Garbanzo Beans. During its last 5 minutes of simmering, prepare the cucumber salad.” Now that’s simple.

However, the menus and recipes are au courant and easy to follow. Sauteed broccoli with pasta is served with fennel and red radish salad; grilled fish brushed with hot sesame oil is served with buckwheat noodles and a mung bean sprout and cherry tomato salad; a roasted chicken with chili and garlic is served with hashed brown potatoes and sauteed cabbage. Nice things. However, the menus require planning and that is a dose of medicine some people may find hard to take in this busy world, but it’s the only way eating well will work.