Endorsing @gulfporter
I believe the best cookbook to start with is one that emphasizes menus rather than recipes.
I started many years ago with Pierre franey’s “60 minute gourmet” series that taught you how to get a two course balanced meal suitable for company on the table in the epononymous 60 minutes and that was exactly what I was looking for. I seriously dislike the fetishization of a single dish, meals are about harmony and learning that (and time management in the kitchen) is, perhaps, even more important than finding out when to squeeze a little lemon into a dish.
