Cooking For Two by Jessica Strand Book Review 2009

Title & Publisher: Cooking For Two: Perfect Meals for Pairs, by Jessica Strand. Published by Chronicle Books, 2009.

First impressions: Small square hardback book with a mouthwatering photo on the front. Dustjacket. You have to crack the spine, though, or lay something heavy on the pages to keep the book open.

Number of recipes: About 50.

The angle: Strand organizes her books around the type of meal you're serving: simple suppers, one-pot dishes, romantic meals, and duo desserts. Each section has a well-edited selection of recipes that caters to the couple (or solo diner). She hits the normal individual-portion meals hard: individual pork chops, potpies, burgers, scallops and fish. These are all easy to make in individual sizes and portions. But she also offers scaled-down recipes for other dishes: vegetable curry, for instance. She also does a good job of creating desserts that are easy, special, and yet portioned for two. (Individual fruit crisps, for instance. Perfect.)

The other stuff: Tips for cooking together (i.e. "Give each other enough space to do your jobs."). Wine pairing tips and suggested drinks for each section.

Strengths: This book is not ultimate resource for dining alone or as a couple. But really, who needs hundreds of recipes scaled for two? This isn't necessary. If you're cooking for two, you just need some inspiration to get you going, and some basic recipes. Strand does this and she does it well. She demonstrates how to cook for two with basic recipes that have some flair, and once you master a few of these you probably won't need a cookbook at all to show you how to cook for a small amount of people.

Recipes for right now: Grilled Garlic Shrimp with Mache, Avocado, Fennel, and Red Onion Salad, Antipasti Dinner, Gratin of Eggplant Layered with Plum Tomatoes, Fresh Mozzarella, and Lemon-Basil Pesto, Meyer Lemon Pot-au-Creme.

Recommended? Yes, if you are cooking for one or two.

• Buy the book: Cooking for Two: Perfect Meals for Pairs, $14 at Amazon

2009 Book Reviews (So Far)

• A Homemade Life, by Molly Wizenberg
• Fresh Food From Small Places, by R. J. Ruppenthal
• Picture Yourself Cooking with Your Kids, by Beth Sheresh
• Eat Feed Autumn Winter, by Anne Bramley
• The Complete 15-Minute Gourmet, by Paulette Mitchell
• Heirloom Beans, by Steve Sando of Rancho Gordo

(Image: Chronicle Books)

I'd also highly recommend "The Urban Peasant: Cooking for Two", by James Barber. Easy-to-make recipes with uncomplicated ingredient lists and amusing texts about the love and affection expressed when you cook as two. A great starter cookbook.

posted by Michelle of Montreal on March 5th 2009 at 4:11pm
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i don't understand why this is such a big deal. i cook often and creatively for two, usually off recipes intended for 4 - 6. i DO live in a small city apartment and don't have TONS of room for food storage, but cooking for 4 - 6 means i can freeze half, or eat leftovers for a few days, or make another dish for 4 - 6, freeze half of that, alternate the leftovers, etc. to me, a busy, working person who often gets home at 8 or 9... that's perfectly ok. cook once, eat thrice. i would NOT be happy to put a lot of effort into a dish for 2 and get NO leftovers - unless its something that would be ruined leftover.

posted by vhsdr on March 5th 2009 at 4:12pm
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A second vote for James Barber's Cooking for Two!

posted by angorian on March 5th 2009 at 6:55pm
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I agree with vhsdr, I almost always make enough for leftovers/lunches.

However, with how much my boyfriend eats (and he's slim too, aaarghhh), I often make a 4-6 serving meal, and there's only a small bit left at the end and he takes it in his lunch. I often cook up 8-12 servings of something so there is enough to last us a few days (or throw some in the freezer if it will freeze well)

posted by Jennybeen on March 5th 2009 at 9:50pm
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I'm in the same boat, jennybeen. no matter how much I cook, he asks if there's more. no matter how certain I was that I wouldn't have to cook the next night, I almost always end up with no leftovers.

but cooking for two really isn't that bad. it's really, very simple math to reduce a recipe (though really, most 'recipes' I use aren't that precise, anyway). and my culinary creativity is much more challenged that when I lived alone. I've created more recipes in a couple months than I did in a year alone.

posted by foodefafa on March 6th 2009 at 12:00am
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Same here -- I make large batches so we can eat it again the next night, my skinny husband can have seconds, and I can bring some to work as well.

posted by heather77 on March 6th 2009 at 10:11am
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Especially with a recession going on. It's better for me the stretch the soup or curry a little bit more by adding in a few more ingredients and have lunch for the week!

posted by CarrieCooks on March 6th 2009 at 10:33am
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