Chef Michael Midgley has emerged from his kitchen with another tasty creation.

Only this one isn’t served on a hot plate, but a tablet.

The Executive Chef at Ernie’s Food & Spirits has released his first cookbook, “Mike Midgley 20 Easy Recipes: Awesome Food Anyone Can Make.” The eBook is available in Kindle format and can be purchased for $2.99 on Amazon.com. 

The cookbook promises to be easy, fun and chock-full of interesting recipes. Would you expect anything less from a man who once won thousands of dollars with a dessert cooked on an Easy Bake oven, or whose work shoes are engulfed in flames?

Midgley said he selected the recipes with first-time cooks, young couples and bachelors in mind. “You can find all the ingredients listed in the recipes here from any regular store,” he wrote. “Nothing is secret and nothing should be too hard to find.”

That’s the problem with most cookbooks, he says. 

Most turn cooking into a science experiment.

“There are so many (expletive) out there selling their cookbooks, telling you to eat this and not that. So many chefs have cookbooks that are so difficult to even find the ingredients that it’s impossible to cook any of the recipes,” Midgley said.

“The idea behind this book is simple. Cook some awesome meals that look and taste great, but that are easy to make. That is why you buy from me.”

The eBook is 49 pages long and published by Publish Green on Minneapolis.

Inside, there’s a recipe for all occasions, including the how-tos to create his signature grilled Caesar salad, a honey mustard-crusted rack of lamb and a banana foster parfait. 

Hungry for more?

Other recipes include: onion soup, asparagus rangoon, S’mores in a bucket, ranch fried chicken, Philly sliders, honey brie chicken bacon sandwich, homemade ranch dressing, fried calamari, “Trailer Park crème brulee,” Mike’s seafood cake, BBQ turkey legs, bacon BLT dog, bacon gruyere burger, baby back root beer ribs, poached apple salad, vegan wings, and Texas red fillet chili.

The book also includes a short biography about the fast-rising chef, a Stockton native whose brushes with Hollywood have been memorable.

Midgley, whose passion for cooking was ignited by his father and stoked by family get-togethers, was a contestant on Top Chef, Season Two, served as a judge on Knife Fight (Esquire Network) and Top Chef Masters (Bravo TV), and won his episode of Cutthroat Kitchen (Food Network).

Through it all, though, he has stayed true to his roots. With each trip to Los Angeles or some far-off location, Midgley returns to the Central Valley with a renewed sense of home. 

His passion for Ernie’s Food and Spirits, as well as his hometowns – Manteca and Stockton – remind the rest of the world that there is good food outside of its major metropolitans and vacation towns. 

To prove it, he’s invited you inside his kitchen with “Mike Midgley 20 Easy Recipes: Awesome Food Anyone Can Make.”