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Solo Suppers: Simple Delicious Meals to Cook for Yourself | 
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| Author: Joyce Goldstein
Creator: Judi Swinks
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
Buy New: $13.57
You Save: $6.38 (32%)
New (34) Used (28) from $1.38
Avg. Customer Rating:  12 reviews
Sales Rank: 138235
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 156
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 8.7 x 8.1 x 0.6
ISBN: 0811836207
Dewey Decimal Number: 641.561
EAN: 9780811836203
ASIN: 0811836207
Publication Date: July 1, 2003
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
Most recipes serve four to six people, leaving the solo cook in a predicament. Enter acclaimed cookbook author Joyce Goldstein and her stellar repertoire of meals that are fun for one. From hearty recipes like Spicy Tortilla and Lime Soup and Tuscan Style Rib-Eye Steak with Rosemary and Garlic, to dressed-up salads and seasonal fruit gratins, each dish is designed to serve one in style. Essential tips and techniques offer valuable advice on smart shopping for one and stocking the pantry. Numerous recipe variations take advantage of seasonal ingredients, while an array of sauces can turn that salmon fillet or lamb steak into a gourmet feast. When the good company is your own, Solo Suppers is the way to go.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 7 more reviews...
 Perfect for its intended audience! September 12, 2008
I was very much surprised by the critical reviews of this cookbook. This is probably the best cookbook I've seen for people like myself, who want to eat well and enjoy cooking really good food, but live alone. It isn't intended to be a "30-Minute Meals," but most aren't super-labor intensive, either. My favorite so far has been the hearty Chicken and Bread Soup. I can see why some would find the author's style and discussion of her cooking habits to be a bit pretentious, but really, this woman is a renowned professional chef; do the reviewers expect her to be microwaving Easy Mac for dinner? The only reason I'm not giving Solo Suppers 5 stars is due to the fact that many of the recipes are really, really heavy on the calories. If there were more choices for those of us watching our weight, I'd definitely use recipes from this cookbook on a more regular basis.
 Cook book for those that LOVE to cook. January 21, 2007
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
I bought this book hoping that it would broaden my meals when I come home from work. However I am not the intended reader. This is a book for lonely chefs, not lonely engineers. Most recipes are complicated and require stocking up on all kinds of ingredients that would rarely get used otherwise. You may want to make each meal 2 weeks in a row since you'll have plenty of ingredients left over. It was not the simple solution I was looking for.
Delicious, maybe; Simple, no. August 2, 2005
19 out of 19 found this review helpful
This cookbook features elegant recipes with long lists of exotic ingredients. Everything looks delicious, but I've only made a couple of recipes because they are not practical for my busy life. To cook from this cookbook, you have to plan ahead, buy unusual ingredients that are sometimes hard to find and are unlikely to be called for in other recipes, and be prepared to put some real time in to prepare the meal. If you enjoy cooking this way as a hobby, you may well enjoy this cookbook. However, if when you cook for yourself, you want flavorful, healthy food without a lot of effort, this is not the cookbook for you. I like the book for browsing through, looking at the pretty pictures, and imagining the recipes all made up. I rarely cook from it.
Good for those with a whole lot of time July 11, 2005
18 out of 18 found this review helpful
So... I don't pretend to be Julia Childs in the kitchen and yes, often I create items which include the suffix n'cheese. I bought this book, expecting to find recipes for those like myself who can't figure out how to reduce ingredients down to a "solo supper," really how do you reduce one egg? Anyhow, I found this book to be out of touch with those who would be most likely to use it. Yes I love a great meal as much as the next person but honestly I will not be cooking duck for myself anytime soon. If you are looking for a cookbook for everyday use for those of us who live alone, I don't recommend this book. If you are someone who likes a multi-course multi-hour preparation meal for you and your lonesome than buy this book immediately.
I like it, but it's NOT for everyone December 24, 2004
103 out of 107 found this review helpful
I'm sort of baffled as to how to review this cookbook, because I think it's great for her intended audience, but the marketing is a bit misleading. Someone who is looking for truly SIMPLE meals to make for one person may be a bit dissappointed. So I'll just sum up my impressions of it so far.
First of all, it's a beautiful book. Nicely laid out, gorgeous photographs, personal antecdotes - it's just the sort of book I love browsing through when I'm feeling excited about cooking. I like the stylistic layout of the recipes, with the ingredients in a separate column on the side, and it's printed on thick, quality paper. It's a high quality paperback, perfect for laying flat on the counter.
Her attitude throughout is kind of gratingly pretentious at times. It's as if she expects the readers to look at her as some kind of culinary snob, so she deliberately makes comments to diffuse it, but the comments are sort of more pretentious than just snobbiness. For example, discussing eating polenta straight from the pot with a spoon: "... I make no apologies for my childish eating habits." Or, discussing microwave cooking - "... I will confess I have reheated coffee a few times. I am no longer a total culinary snob." Besides blatent examples like that, her tone and choice of words throughout are sort of exclusionary. I find it amusing and charming, but I'm sure other people will be put off by it.
In her introduction, she plainly says that this is not another book of quick meals for singles. Alot of the dishes in this book are rather lengthy and complicated. Her persian meatball soup, for example, requires mixing and rolling 30 tiny meatballs, soaking and precooking 2 different dried grains, and has 20 ingredients - all for 1-2 servings. On top of that, it's a yogurt based soup, which I found very difficult to not curdle and ruin. Is it good? I'm not sure, because I've tried it twice, investing hours each time, and haven't been successful. My mom saw the recipe and laughed - she's started calling this my "snooty single person cookbook."
Alot of the flavors she likes are strange. Lots of exotic herbs and ethnic spices, (cinnamon in the meatballs was a little strange). The recipes also seem pretty high in fat and cholesterol. Here's my favorite quote of the whole book (about spaghetti alla carbonara): "Yes, I realize that this is a high cholesterol special, but I don't care. I only eat this pasta twice a year. The rest of the time I am a model of Mediterranean dietary restraint." Haha. I guess she doesn't eat the other recipes in the book that call for several eggs, butter, cheese and heavy cream.
But if you can get past the pretentiousness, the apparent unhealthiness, and the complicated nature of some recipes, - most of them are REALLY good. The poached salmon is SO delicious that it's my new favorite way to eat salmon. All of the egg dishes are great, so are some of the soups.
I consider myself somewhat of an amatuer gourmet. I enjoy grocery shopping and reading cookbooks and trying new recipes, and most nights it is just me for dinner. I like this book because the food is good, and reading it makes me want to become a true gourmet. I think that I'm probably close to her target audience.
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