For those of us with at least one other mouth to feed and not enough time, fret not. According to Nigella Lawson, everyday cooking doesn’t have to be such a big deal.

Pretty easy for a famous TV chef to say, you might think, but then again, here’s a woman who films television segments, writes cookbooks (best-sellers and award-winning, no less), designs a cookware line, spends time with her husband, and still manages to pick up the kids after school. So she really does know what it’s like to, as she puts it, “cook within the constraints of the world.”

Low-prep and minimal effort are key in her recipes, but she also wants people to re-member what cooking and eating should be about. “What you eat, just the two of you, is about taking pleasure together,” she says. “If you exhaust yourself doing something enormously complicated, chances are it’s not going to be very pleasurable for you, and the tension is going to be felt by the person eating it.”

Ever aware of the connection between intimacy and food, Lawson looks at special occasions and the food that marks them in her latest book, Feast. And for 2 readers, she recommends trying her roast chicken with peas on the side (recipes at right).

“Roast chicken is very basic, yet I think it says an awful lot. It’s almost like you wouldn’t roast chicken for someone you didn’t feel seriously about, because you know it takes no effort,” she explains. “It’s like elemental family food. So you have to feel quite safe and intimate with someone. And the fact that you’re sharing this one bird together, I think, is very, very significant and important.”
—Naomi Kim