The Pleasures of Cooking for One by Judith Jones

My latest find in cookbooks is Judith Jones' The Pleasure of Cooking for One.  I picked it up at Rabelais in Portland this past Wednesday on my food and art tour day there.  Rabelais is a must on my Portland excursions.  They have the best selection of food, wine, and cookbooks I've seen anywhere and the folks who own it couldn't be nicer.  Contact Rabelais via their website, or you can order it from clicking the Amazon link to the left.

If you've seen the hit movie Julie and Julia, you probably already know who Judith Jones is.  She is often credited with discovering Julia Child being the first to recognize what a tremendous pioneer she was for the American culinary world.  She has also published a collection of memoirs/recipes called The Tenth Muse, which has just found its way onto my reading list.  She references a few of the recipes from The Tenth Muse in Cooking for One.

Since I usually cook for just Dan and I, this is refreshing book to read with scaled back portions and lots of thought put into making things easy and time effective.  She even gives advice about what sorts of pots and pans to use for the recipes which are smaller than those commonly found in kitchens.  There is also a sense of practicality that many cookbook authors today are too often unconcerned with.  This book is not about photography and flashy techniques.  It is about honest, simple, good food that is nourishing and uses readily obtainable ingredients.