When I was asked to look at Washington Post Food Editor Joe Yonan’s book a few months back, I was initially impressed. I gave it gave it a quick look and a thumbs up. Serve Yourself
I got a real copy of Yonan’s book a few weeks ago. Once I picked it up and started reading, I was hooked. His style is at once friendly and sophisticated, self-revealing, and entertaining. There’s little fluff in his chapter and recipe introductions. Instead the book is filled with useful information and informative stories. Did you know, for example, you can heat corn tortillas directly on a gas burner, or that you can substitute lower-fat coconut water for milk to make coconut rice? There are also tips for storing unused ingredients and shopping for one.
His inverted cast-iron skillet and a broiler technique for making pizza is brilliant as is his pineapple can-roasted Cornish hens (a la beer can chicken). Many of his great tips come from colleagues to whom he generously gives credit.
Yonan’s sophisticated, yet friendly style extends to his recipes as well. Knowing what specialty ingredients bring to a dish, he doesn’t shy away from them—crumbled pasilla or ancho chiles, for example. But there’s usually a readily available alternative—hot red pepper flakes, in this case. He also defines potentially mysterious ingredients. After “mirin” he’s quick to add “Japanese cooking wine.” “Pimenton.” he reminds us is “Spanish smoked paprika.”
I was enlightened by Yonan’s information-packed book and lively recipes, but he also charmed me with his stories of looking for love, disastrous dates, dining alone, shopping for one, and his lovely, complicated family.
It’s always brought me joy and satisfaction to bring people together with food. But as my nest has emptied, I find myself cooking more often for one or two these days. Joe’s book has enlivened my weeknight repertoire. Imagine my husband’s delight when I walked into his office with two of Joe’ Pastoral Tacos and a beer!
In the last few years I’ve started to see food as a pleasurable way of taking care of myself, and I’m mostly pretty good at it… except when it comes to cooking just for me. So thanks for the inspiration, Joe. Now instead of opening a bag of potato chips on my solo nights, I’m making Shrimp and Potato Chip Tortilla. I’m learning how to “Serve Yourself.”
We’re giving away a copy of Joe Yonan’s Serve Yourself. Just tell us what dinner looks like when you’re cooking for yourself. I’ve already admitted that I tend to grab a bag of something salt and crunchy, so we’re looking for honesty here!
Deadline for entering is midnight Monday, May 23rd.
A very pretty bowl with whatevet cold cereal I have on hand.
If I have the ingredients, I throw together a quick salad. If I’m ravenous and tired – I grab a box of cereal!
One of two extremes ….. Cereal, or a more elaborate new recipe that I want to try out on myself before serving it to my picky husband!
If it is just me for dinner, I have a bowl of cereal.
A mashed avocado (elevated to guacamole if ingredients permit) on/with anything handy (toast, tortilla, lettuce)- I eat it all myself, all by myself, with pleasure.
Breakfast for dinner! Easy and comforting. Omelets are the best.
Either a gypsy meal– many parts, like cereal and then later fruit and then later cheese and later still peanut butter– all eaten over the sink, or something really really spicy my husband wouldn’t eat if he were around.
a bowl of pinto beans with a fried egg on top
Solo dinners are usually one of two things, mostly out of convenience rather than because my husband doesn’t like them: either a quick bean and cheese burrito or eggs of some sort – scrambled, over easy on a sandwich or an omelet.
On a busy day, my meal-for-one consists of box mac & cheese, cooked and then eaten out of a Gladware container (so I can devour half and save the other half for later without dirtying a bowl or plate).
When I can take my time, my favorite meal for one is a baby-greens salad with goat cheese, dried cranberries, walnuts, and homemade vinaigrette. Chicken can be added to the salad—and white wine to the vinaigrette—for a little indulgence!
Scrambled eggs, or cereal. If I’m feeling really frisky, I’ll stop at the grocery store on the way home and get some good crackers,cheeses, mabye even some hame salad and have that with a nice glass of wine. As my teens get busier, it seem like my husband and I are eating solo more and more often.
If I have to eat alone, it;s usually a bowl of cereal with fruit or an omulet, or a P&J sandwich.
Honest?? Hubby is vegetarian, so lately when on my own I’ve been having a hamburg patty(just found a local, small farm source). Cottage cheese or salad on the side is good for me. Or :)….bowl of potato chips and canned nacho cheese dip and a big glass of milk!
usually a salad. or a quick veggie stir fry.
Leftovers if there are any or peanut butter on graham crackers!
Meal on my own in my house is a fresh, steamed artichoke with both garlic butter and pesto mayo to dip the leaves into. Neither my husband or my daughter like artichokes so they are a rare treat for me when I’m eating alone.
Cheese and crackers, or if I’m feeling virtuous, a plate of grilled vegetables with a dipping sauce. Last night was asparagus with a dab of mustard mayo.
a simple pasta dish. or cereal, like everyone else : )
What a great giveaway! Small-portion baking and cooking is kinda my thing 😉
Since I cook for one or two most nights, I make everything, just scaled down. I love to scale down lasagna and make it in a loaf pan. I also love to make dumplings and freeze the rest to enjoy on another night.
Always an egg sandwich!!! 🙂
Tonight it’s a Spicy Thai Venison Salad thanks to a gift of a small venison flank steak from a hunter neighbor and this morning’s bounty from the Farmers Market. But no matter how tired I am, or how bare my cupboard is, I always have stuff to make Risotto, or Pasta Carbonara: Pasta, eggs, bacon, cheese, and I like toss in some frozen green peas. If all else fails, soft scrambled eggs with Siracha sauce and toast.
fried egg sandwich. . .in the summer, a tomato sandwich (though not exactly cooking). . .All of my adult cooking life has centered around cooking for my (by modern day standards) big family. My 5th and last child leaves for college in Aug. Then it’s just me and my husband, who often works late, and is fed dinner at evening meetings. Cooking for 1 or 2 people in their 50s is waaayyyyy different than cooking for a small army of teenage boys (their friends eat, too!). . .so I need to re-orient my ways. Suggestions welcome. This book sounds like it could help!
A BLT with the best tomatoes I can find!
Just wanted to voice my enthusiasm for Serve Yourself! I recently met Joe at a reading in Milwaukee, and he was just as charming and personable as could be. I hope the winner enjoys the cookbook as much I have! As for dinner? When it’s just me, it’s always an omelet. Fancy or plain, it makes no difference. Tonight, there’ll be last night’s morels and chard spooned down the center. Perfect.
Pasta,often with veggies,olive oil and parma cheese as the sauce.In the winter slow cooker stews,in the summer salads. Tonight – smoked mussels, ziti with broccoli and cheese, fresh pineapple for dessert.
Um, do pop tarts count? I do toast them!
A better question is what DON’T I eat when I dine alone? 🙂 I make fish and chicken a lot because I can buy what I need at the store — but that also means I spend a lot of time at the grocery store. Salads are also a great way to get creative and only use what you need.
Popcorn or a bowl of cereal and if it is cold out I may have a bowl of soup.
Macaroni and cheese! lol
If I am alone, which these days is unusual, I will fix Ramen the Oriental flavored is my standby, add some leftover chicken or pork and that’s a meal, quick and easy!
Either a pasta dish or an omelet.
I confess I make Bertolli pasta with some Classico Alfredo.
Popcorn and a bottle of wine. Total honesty!
Hah! Love it!
Not sure if I count because technically I never eat alone. My husband is gone a lot for his job & when he’s not here the kids & I eat drastically different. Like tonight it’s mac & cheese with chicken nuggets. None of which is of the homemade kind. At least once a week it’s breakfast for dinner (cereal or pancakes… not fancy omelets). None of that would really fly when hubby is home. I could use some new ideas/recipes because I am lucky to have kids who will try/eat just about anything.
anything simple, a sandwich, bowl of cereal, Ramen…I hate cooking for one. I think this book would be awesome, I am still in college mode.
My dinners look hap-hazard and thrown together. It’s usually some crazy concoction that sounds weird, but is absolutely delicious. Ha!
Yesterday, I sliced up some cucumbers & tomatoes and ate them with some salmon, for today I just fried some smoked sausage & plan to add some Zararains red beans & rice to them
So great to meet you, Pam, at Eat, Write, Retreat! If I’ve got a jar of good tuna, Salade Nicoise it is when I’m alone. Glass of wine and some bread alongside.
Maybe tuna salad sandwich and chips. Sometimes I treat myself and have a steak and baked potato. Vegetable kind of go the wayside until I have someone to share them with. It’s mostly meat sandwiches. I’d love to win this book. Maybe it would help me out with my thinking which I know needs to be expanded.
Frozen burrito, cereal, or egg sandwich!
If I have them on hand, a bowl of cottage cheese with sunflower seeds stirred in. Otherwise I’m like you, a bag of salty chips, a bowl of microwave popcorn or whatever else is fast and easy!
I try to have something healthy in the freezer. Bean burritoes, stuffed shells, homemade soup. I make them on a quiet afternoon, and I am never more than 15 min from dinner!
Mac & cheese!
A sausage and cider casserole, really is quite simple to cook. Leave to simmer while you’re having a shower. Check my blog for the recipe
I used to tell people I could live on a diet of “white” food – butter, cream cheese, pasta, chicken, white fish etc. I have since learned how unhealthy that can be and so my eating habits have become more “colorful”, with colorful vegetables and whole grains leading the way. Having said that, old habits die hard and on the off night that I am eating by myself, I “treat” myself to a simple meal of spaghetti with butter sauce (a ladleful of the salted pasta water added to the pasta)with salt/pepper and grated parmagiano reggiano cheese on top.
Often I am satisfied with a latte and some popcorn. I am trying to train myself that salad is a better option, even if I am making it for one… sheesh!
If I happen to have homemade soup in the freezer, I eat that. If not… cold cereal.
Chicken tacos: canned chicken meat, onions, some cumin and chili powder. Cheese and sour cream, make two extra to take to work the next day.
Sign me up for your give away…it would be the perfect book for Sam who enjoys cooking and is one of those few people I know who doesn’t mind cooking for just herself! This book could help her expand her culinary possibilities!
Tonight it will be eggplant lasagna…I try to prepare something interesting and healthy most of the time. Occasionally I’ll go for a PBJ sandwich, but it’s always on homemade bread. Just bought two copies of this book but would love a third to gift to someone else!