Recipes for one cook book

[Pickaxe]

Wouldn't recommend a dry rub though.

 

[Forever Wort]

Made by Maggie

Nah mate, too expensive.

 

[punkin]

Chinese noodle soup is usually my cooking for one for me. I make a big pot of chicken stock when i start getting low on it (16-20 chinese containers), but bought stock in a carton would work.
Use the 4 minute egg noodles.

Heat stock throw in some free flow frozen cooked chicken, some peas and whatever veg you have, add some charsui and soy and ginger then chuck in the noodles. Pour over diced chives and parsley from the garden.

Meal for one for her is steamed greens and salmon (i hate pink fish).

Salt and cracked pepper on the skin, a little brown sugar on the flesh side, in a small pan with a little butter and oil, cook skin side down with a lid on for a couple of minutes.

Serve with steamed veg.

 

[Mardoo]

Wouldn't recommend a dry rub though.

Most dry rubs have chili and salt in them. How's that sound?

 

[vykuza]

How about a simple cabonara? If you can chop pancetta, squish some garlic, boil pasta and stir, you have a meal fit for a king.

Boil water for 1 serve fettucini
If using dried pasta, start cooking it now.
Slice 50-60g pancetta (or guanciale!) or bacon and fry on medium heat in butter until crispy. If using fresh pasta, start cooking it now. Lower heat on pancetta then add crushed or minced garlic for 1-2 minutes. Remove 1/4 of the pasta cooking water and set aside to cool a little.
Crack one egg into a bowl, plus salt and cracked black pepper, while whisking with a fork add about 1/4c of the pasta cooking water.
Drain pasta, add back in to the hot pasta pot, stir through the egg mixture until it cooks/sets, then stir through 1/2c grated pecorino or parmesan and the pancetta.

Hardest part would be convincing a solo bloke to make a salad to go with it.

 

[Mercs Own]

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

Mercs....
I bought a book at the recyclers last week it was a cooking for one.....
By DELIA SMITH....About 40 yrs old the book..Cost me 20 cents...
PJ

Mmmmm would love to have a look at that! But maybe after I have done my book dont want to be accused of borrowing!

Maybe an added section on cooking for your kids for the divorced Dads?

Mate, if you can come up with a simple lasagna-for-one you'll be the god of cookbooks.

The chapter on cooking for the family is aimed at Dad;s cooking for their kids.

I regularly cook for one as I'm a curry freak and SWMBO hates chilli of any description, so I do his and hers dinners every night, being the chef of the family. I find that when cooking something for myself like a curry or osso bucco or Moroccan tagine it's far less work on a weekly basis to cook for four and save three portions in takeaway containers, freeze and end up with a "library" of dinners I can pick and choose from.

Hope the book does ok but for a lot of single guys the prospect of going through a cooking session to end up with just one serve is a bit of a chore and before you know it they are back to the drive throughs and the takeaways.

Edit: obviously you and I love cooking, as do a lot of brewers. Is the book intended to be a more basic "how to cook" for single people, with the focus on that, rather than a pure cook book - how to boil an egg, chop onions, etc. The level of culinary knowledge is often abysmal, particularly among young guys who have come from uni into a job, and are maybe living by themselves for the first time in their lives away from Mum as is the trend with gen Ys nowadays, or living alone after a divorce when SWMBO used to look after the kitchen.

I guess because you already love to cook and know how to cook and have a handle on what you want this book wont be for you. It is aimed at people that dont know how to cook and need guidlines and help on firstly how to cook for themselves and then when comortable with that then for others. A lot of people I have spoken with dont want to eat the same meal for the next four days and also dont want to have to do big shopping trips they just want to know to make a curry or a stew or a salad for themselves with no waste or big messes to clean up. As for me personally I eat fresh all the time, love having leftovers and do have have options in the freezer although mainly chicken carcasses and pasta sauces and the occassional curry.

As for teaching people how to boil an egg or chop an onion there are so many videos on you tube that cover that and I am planning to add my own cooking channel to cover those things so when the book comes out I will have those things up on line. But I wont put them in the book.

I think as well as the time factor and diminishing returns cooking for one, I'd also guess you will end up using strange denominations of ingredients, like 1/8th if an onion. I'd like to see recipes that you can cook side by side sharing common ingredients, or base recipes with pimped leftovers (eg lamb roast, then curry, then shepherds pie).

I am working on doing this. Most recipes for one using onion call for half of a small onion. The left over half will be used in a dish in the next day or so it will not go to waste. This works the same with any left ove veg or ingredient.

Not a recipe suggestion, but something that bugs me a little bit about the Cooking With Beer book is that not every dish has a corresponding photo of the end result. I think some of the brewery porn pics could have been sacrificed, or even better, had the missing dishes incorporated in them. Anyway, that's just my 2c.

One word for this - BUDGET The publisher decides on the budget for the book, this dictates how many pages will be in the book, how many recipes will fit in the book and how many pictures they can afford to put in the book also. In todays world of diminishing returns they are wanting to put less in so as to break even, I am wanting to put more in because it looks good and people want pics. I have this battle ahead of me with my publisher for this book - please wish me well!

How about a simple cabonara? If you can chop pancetta, squish some garlic, boil pasta and stir, you have a meal fit for a king.

Boil water for 1 serve fettucini
If using dried pasta, start cooking it now.
Slice 50-60g pancetta (or guanciale!) or bacon and fry on medium heat in butter until crispy. If using fresh pasta, start cooking it now. Lower heat on pancetta then add crushed or minced garlic for 1-2 minutes. Remove 1/4 of the pasta cooking water and set aside to cool a little.
Crack one egg into a bowl, plus salt and cracked black pepper, while whisking with a fork add about 1/4c of the pasta cooking water.
Drain pasta, add back in to the hot pasta pot, stir through the egg mixture until it cooks/sets, then stir through 1/2c grated pecorino or parmesan and the pancetta.

Hardest part would be convincing a solo bloke to make a salad to go with it.

Yep I wrote my carbanara recipe for one for the book a couple of weeks ago I cheated a little and added cream and mushrooms as well as broadbeans. That is the other things about writing a cook book you have your publisher (and your wife) asking where the vegies are and keeping an eye on the balance and nutrional aspects of the book.

I also agree there are some recipes that are probably ridiculous to try and do as a serve for one - lasagna being a good example as there is a fair amount of work involved etc Some would say a souffle would be the same but then after making quite a few and getting the portion and ingredient weights right it is not so hard and every one deserve a sweet treat every now and then.

 

[poppa joe]

Merc..
The Delia Smith Book is called " One is fun " Printed in 1985..
Cant see an ISBN number but there is a "CN 2426" number on the back.
Maybe you can identify or find by that number.
Printed by St Edmundsbury Press In Association with Book Club Associates and Hodder and Stoughton...
Cheers
PJ

 

[poppa joe]

Merc
I googled " delia smith one is fun" And got a hit
The book can still be bought ISBN 9780340389591
PJ

 

[hellbent]

When I got divorced I would make a huge pot of stew, then one day I'd have stew... next day add dumplings for variety ... next day add a can of Guinness into it - pastry lid over a bowl full of it - and voila a quick Guinness pie. Take note all foods were usually eaten after a large amount of Amber Soup had been consumed previously.... worked for me !
Also a 2-3 kg hunk of Corned beef is also a good recipe for one, provided you eat it over a week. Cook it in a slow cooker and then you just cut off slices when hungry, slop a bit of pre-cooked mustard sauce or onion sauce over the top, then give it a 2-3 min blast in microwave, accompany with a serve of pre-cooked Deb Instant Mash spuds, and there you have it....!
Good luck with the book mate.

 

[Liam_snorkel]

Reading through this thread, all I've had in my head is this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMuOvE940KE

 

[JDW81]

Pretty sure a single guy can..rub his meat without an.instruction manual.

Is this where the cooking for romance comes in?

 

[capretta]

haha i do think its a good idea for a book but like liam i couldnt help but think of something i had seen before..
http://www.amazon.com/Microwave-One-Sonia-Allison/dp/1852250437/ref=cm_rdp_product

the leading review.. "

Buy this book, or don't, I don't care anymore, January 10, 2011


By
Michael Pemulis


This review is from: Microwave for One (Hardcover)
It used to be that I got home from work and the only thing I'd want to put in my mouth was the cold barrel of my grandfather's shotgun. Then I discovered Sonia Allison's Chicken Tetrazzini, and now there are two things."

 

[Liam_snorkel]

haha. I think it's a good idea, just couldn't help but be reminded of that show. I like pickaxe's suggestion of a series.

 

[Crumpet]

the leading review.. "

Buy this book, or don't, I don't care anymore, January 10, 2011


By
Michael Pemulis


This review is from: Microwave for One (Hardcover)
It used to be that I got home from work and the only thing I'd want to put in my mouth was the cold barrel of my grandfather's shotgun. Then I discovered Sonia Allison's Chicken Tetrazzini, and now there are two things."

And to think you can have this book brand new for the affordable price of $282, plus shipping of course. Think it would be worth every dollar by the look of some of those reviews

 

[Mercs Own]

Finished my book and sent it off to the publisher yesterday. Sadly I have already rewritten a recipe and amended another!! There are about 145 recipes so I wait with some eagerness and concern at how many the publisher will want to keep (for cost reasons) more recipes more pages more photos more expensive! I don't think it will retail for $282 although if anyone wants to pay me that now more than happy to accept offer and send you first book off press later

Next process is testing the recipes, editing the book, getting the layout, taking the pics and then sometime around March it goes off to the printers (China I think) comes back in July and on the shelves in August for fathers day 2014! Then hopefully the book will sell some copies and come March 2015 I may get a pay check!!!!

It truly is a labour of love!

 

[DU99]

will await for the new book..

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

In 2015 merc gets a paycheck for $282.........

 

[TSMill]

I clicked on microwave for one on amazon and got "customers who viewed this item also viewed"....

Microwave cooking for one
A man, a can, and a microwave.......and

Putrescent Clitoral Fermentation......a CD by Italian band Vulvectomy.

So I clicked on that link and that's when things got really weird. CD cover and track list are a great appetite suppressant.