Joe Yonan is a master at cooking for one. In Eat Your Vegetables:Bold Recipes for the Single Cook (Ten Speed 2013), he turns to vegetable cookery:
My impetus to write Eat Your Vegetables is simple: I want to help single cooks find as much inspiration in the garden, produce aisle and farmer’s market as I do.
He writes about gradually reducing the amount of meat in his diet without missing it ¬– not choosing to be a vegetarian, but preferring to be one because that is what taste good and makes you feel good.
If you are cooking for one because you are the only one at home (as oppose to every one else wants something else) there is a clever chapter on what to do with extra ingredients. Have leftover fresh mint? Then make Asparagus with Romenesco Blanco (p. 76) or seven other recipes. Have part of a can of beans? Then what about Curried Mushrooms Bean Burgers (p. 42) or seven other beany recipes.
Chances are you’ll be making lunch for just one often enough to try some of Joe’s Sandwiches and Soups in Chapter 2. There are half-dozen fun grilled sandwiches like Grilled Mushroom, Poblano, and Cheese Sandwich (p. 48) with meaty King Oyster Mushrooms and Gruyere or Grilled Greens, Chickpea and Peppadew Sandwich (p. 50) full of Fontina and South African pickles. If you are trying to eat more dark, leafy greens, then what about Kale and Caramelized Onion Quesadilla (p. 54) – but if you want bought a lot of kale at the Farmer’s Market then try Kale and Mango Nicoise Salad (p. 22) or Sweet Potato Galette with Mushrooms and Kale (pp. 88-90) or Sweet Potato, Kimchi and Green Hash (p. 108).
Joe Yonan celebrates eating alone with thoughtful, delicious dishes. Why wait for company? Why buy take out when cooking for one is so rewarding? Eat Your Vegetables will create the kind of meals that will tempt you to double or quadruple the recipe for guests.