IT’S already in your kitchen, right under the stove or hanging on the pot rack. It doesn’t require assembly or plugging in.

And it’s all you need – besides a good chopping knife – to whip up fabulous meals in 30 minutes with minimal cleanup.

What is this miracle tool?

It’s your trusty old skillet, “the perfect piece of equipment,” according to Melanie Barnard.

She would know. For the past 14 years, Barnard and Brooke Dojny have collaborated on Bon Appétit’s “Every-Night Cooking” column, creating simple entrees for Monday-to-Friday cooks.

They noticed the single kitchen tool they used most often was a skillet, so they’ve gathered 100 of their favorite, made-in-the-skillet recipes in “A Flash in the Pan” (Chronicle, $22.95).

The possibilities go way beyond omelets to entrees you’d never dream of cooking in record time, like coq au vin, and others you’d never suspect could be cooked on the stovetop – believe it or not, skillet spinach pesto lasagne.

In fact, they came up with about three times as many dishes as they could fit in the book, figures Barnard, who finds it “so freeing and exhilarating you can just take out that skillet and know you’ve got the whole main course done” – whether it’s a quick Monday-night supper of Thai-style beef and lettuce wraps or an elegant “quick little dinner on a Saturday night” of company-worthy Tuscan chicken rolls stuffed with mozzarella, prosciutto and basil.

The average cook can whip up these dishes in about half an hour from start to finish, using just a handful of ingredients easily found in any good supermarket, “because if you’re going to be wanting to cook quick and easy,” Barnard reasons, “you certainly don’t want to spend more time shopping.”

She and Dojny get diversity by raiding the ethnic pantry for condiments and herbs like lemongrass that are readily available now, but would’ve made this kind of book impractical not so long ago.

As for that all-important skillet: A 10-inch one will feed two, a 12-incher feeds four, and it must be a good, heavy pan made of a combination of metals (try All-Clad).

Barnard doesn’t care for the non-stick kind because they don’t always give a brown crust needed to caramelize meat or vegetables for a pan sauce.

“You’re going to stick some liquid into the pan and scrape it up,” she says. It’s called deglazing and has the bonus of essentially cleaning the skillet.

Cooks should be flexible. If a recipe calls for rosemary and you’re out, use tarragon or whatever you’ve got. And practically anything that can be done with veal can be done with chicken.

Start with the freshest ingredients. You’ll find the best by cooking what’s in season. “This isn’t really the time to make pork and apples,” she warns.

That said, one-pan cooking is ideal for families on the go, city dwellers with small kitchens – “for everybody,” Barnard says.

“It can be the star of your kitchen and you don’t need anything else.”

Well, except the book.

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Thai-style Beef and Lettuce Wraps

Serves 4

1 1/4pounds lean ground beef

1 large onion, chopped

½ cup Asian peanut sauce

1 Tbsp. soy sauce

1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped (about 1 cups)

½ cup torn mint leaves, plus sprigs for garnish

Salt and freshly ground pepper

12 large Boston lettuce leaves

In a large skillet set over medium-high heat, cook the beef and onion, breaking up the meat into small clumps with the side of a spoon, until the meat browns and the onion softens, about 8 minutes.

Spoon off any excess fat, and stir in peanut sauce, soy sauce, cucumber and mint. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Spoon some of the beef mixture into a lettuce leaf, fold in the sides, roll up and garnish each wrap with a mint sprig.