Cooking for Two: 120 Recipes for Every Day - and Those Special Nights by Bruce Weinstein, Mark Scarbrough

From the Publisher

Tea for two. That's what it's all about, right? So how come every recipe you pick up says "serves 4 to 6"? Or more! What do you do when you want macaroni and cheese, but don't want to be reheating it for three nights? Or a couple of cookies, but don't want to be tempted by two dozen sitting on the counter all week?

Creative cookbook authors and cooks Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough have all the answers in Cooking for Two.

Brimming with 120 smaller-serving, big-taste recipes,Cooking for Two offers cooks familiar favorites such as PastaBolognese, Chicken Pot Pie, and Mushroom Barley Soup, as well as new dishes for today's tastes like Pork Satay Salad and Snapper Fillets Sautéed with Orange and Pecans.

Simply cutting down larger recipes leads to wasted ingredients. But Bruce and Mark have developed each recipe so you buy only what you need, and use all of what you buy. Instead of opening a can of vegetable stock only to use three tablespoons, use the liquid the dried mushrooms have soaked in. If an onion is too large for a recipe, chop a shallot instead.

The dessert chapters are filled with cookies, puddings, and cakes, all designed for two servings. Small-batch baking requires strict attention to detail. A regular egg can be too big for a small batch of six cookies, so they suggest quail eggs or the easy-to-find pasteurized egg substitutes, which you can measure out in tablespoons.

Truly a cookbook for everyday use, each recipe is labeled as quick (ready in minutes with minimal cooking), moderate (requires a bit more preparation or cooking), or leisurely (perfect for quiet celebrations or weekend meals) to help you decide whichdish best fits into your day.

With ingredient and equipment guides, as well as tips on how to stock your pantry to avoid those there's-nothing-in-the-house-so-let's-go-out moments, Cooking for Two will surely become the cookbook you reach for every night of the week.

It's just two perfect.

Library Journal

Authors of the best-selling "Ultimate" series (Ultimate Ice Cream; Ultimate Potatoes), Weinstein and Scarbrough now offer recipes from soup to desserts for intimate dinners, whether a casual weekday supper or a festive special occasion. Part of their goal is to avoid leftovers so that one night's dinner doesn't have to be endlessly recycled and the refrigerator filled with wilting produce or half-empty cans of stock. Although this is a sensible aim, it works better with some courses than others. For example, while soups and stews can be somewhat time-consuming to prepare (no matter what the quantity), they are often better on the second day, and many of them freeze well, making leftovers a bonus. And in order to adhere to their guidelines, the desserts here yield, for example, only six Chocolate Chip Espresso Cookies or two Brownies-and the quantities of eggs called for are likely to be "1 tablespoon egg substitute or 2 quail eggs"! A good idea, but most cooks will find the main-course chapters the most useful ones. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Product Details

• Read a Sample Chapter

Read a Sample Chapter

Mayonnaise makes an easy but decadent glaze for salmon fillets -- much like hollandaise sauce, but without the work. Here, it's spiked with lime and chili powder. Serve this easy entrée with a fresh salad of baby spinach leaves, walnuts, and soft goat cheese, dressed with a light vinaigrette.

Ingredients

Two 6-ounce salmon fillets
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro, or 2 teaspoons dried cilantro
¼ cup mayonnaise (regular or low-fat, but not nonfat)
1 ½ teaspoons lime juice
1 small garlic clove, crushed
½ teaspoon chili powder
¼ teaspoon salt

Instructions

1. Position the rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 500°F. Rub the flesh and skin of the salmon fillets with the olive oil. (Doing this will also allow you to check for bones, so rub carefully but thoroughly. If you find any bones, pull them out with your fingers or a pair of tweezers.) Coat the flesh of the fillets with the chopped cilantro.
   
   
2. Mix the mayonnaise, lime juice, garlic, chili powder, and salt in a small bowl until uniform. Spoon this mixture on top of the fillets, spreading it out to cover the flesh.
   
   
3. Heat a large, oven-safe skillet, preferably cast-iron, over high heat. Add the fillets, skin side down. Shake once to make sure they don't stick; if they do, loosen gently with a spatula. Cook for just 1 minute, then place the skillet in the oven and bake for 5 minutes, or until the glaze is set and the salmon is cooked but still pink in the center. You can also check for doneness by inserting a knife into the flesh, then touching the side of the blade gently to your lips; it should feel warm. Serve at once.

These chocolate chip cookies are spiked with instant espresso powder, available in most supermarkets alongside the other instant beverages, or with the teas and coffees. Look for instant espresso powder, a freeze-dried coffee, not just espresso powder (which is simply finely-ground espresso beans). The instant powder dissolves in the batter and gives the cookies a mild, mocha taste. Store instant espresso powder in the freezer, tightly sealed, for up to a year.

Ingredients

Instructions

1. Position the rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Use a nonstick cookie sheet, or a regular one lined with either parchment paper or a silicon baking sheet.
   
   
2. Cream the brown sugar and butter in a small bowl with a wooden spoon or an electric mixer at low speed, until pale brown and fluffy, about 2 minutes by hand or 3 minutes with the mixer (see Note). Beat in the pasteurized egg substitute or the quail eggs and the vanilla for about 1 additional minute, until creamy. Using a wooden spoon, mix in the flour, espresso powder, baking soda, and salt all at once but just until incorporated; then gently stir in the chocolate chips. Do not use an electric mixer at this stage or the cookies will be tough.
   
   
3. Drop by six heaping tablespoonfuls onto the baking sheet. Gently press the cookies with the back of a stainless steel tablespoon, just until they flatten slightly -- but do not press hard enough to turn them into disks. Bake for 10 minutes, or until brown and set. Transfer from the baking sheet to a wire rack and cool. Store them in a sealed container at room temperature for up to 2 days.

Note: If the butter is very soft, the dough can easily be beaten with a wooden spoon. First, use the back of the spoon to mash the sugar into the butter, then turn the spoon around and begin beating the mixture until light and fluffy. This method produces dense cookies, since the batter is not whipped with air, as it is with a mixer. In any event, do not use a whisk -- too much batter adheres to its wire whips, and small amounts of batter are precious when you're baking in small batches.

Hold the Espresso, Please.
For a small batch of standard chocolate chip cookies, without the mocha taste, simply omit the instant espresso powder from the recipe.