Nigella Lawson and her style of cookery have earned a special place in our lives, symbolizing all that is best, most pleasurable, most hands-on and least fussy about good food. But that doesn't mean she wants us to spend hours in the kitchen slaving over a hot stove.

Featuring fabulous fast foods, ingenious short cuts, terrific time-saving ideas and easy, delicious meals, Nigella Express is her solution to eating well when time is short. Here are mouthwatering recipes, quick to prepare and easy to follow, that you can conjure up after a long day in the office or on a busy weekend. When time is precious, you can't spend hours shopping or cooking, so you need to make life easier by being prepared. This is food you can make as you hit the kitchen running, with vital tips on how to keep your store cupboard stocked, and your fridge and freezer stacked. Not that the recipes are basic-though they are always simple-but it's important to make every ingredient earn its place in a recipe. Minimize effort by maximizing taste. And here, too, is great food that can be prepared quickly but cooked slowly in the oven, leaving you time to have a bath or a drink, talk to friends or do homework with your children. It's minimum stress for maximum enjoyment.

This is a new generation of fast food-never basic, never dull, always do-able, quick and delicious. The Domestic Goddess is back and this time it's instant.