Hobson - Everyday cooking for one: imaginative, delicious and healthy recipes that make it fun to cook for one

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Published by Spring Hill, an imprint of How To Books Ltd.
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First published 2012

How To Books greatly reduce the carbon footprint of their books by sourcing their typesetting and printing in the UK.

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or stored in an information retrieval system (other than for purposes of review) without the express permission of the publisher in writing.

The right of Wendy Hobson to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Text 2012 Wendy Hobson

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN: 978 1 905862 94 8

Produced for How To Books by Deer Park Productions,Tavistock, Devon
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ISBN: 978-1-78102-143-9 (mobi) 978-1-84803-591-1 (epub)

NOTE:The material contained in this book is set out in good faith for general guidance and no liability can be accepted for loss or expense incurred as a result of relying in particular circumstances on statements made in the book. Laws and regulations are complex and liable to change, and readers should check the current position with relevant authorities before making personal arrangements.

For Chris and Melissa

Contents

Cooking for One

If you are one of the many people cooking just for yourself, youll know all about the pros and cons. On the plus side, you can have what you want when you want it, and you can sit down and relax with a glass of wine and a tasty meal a scenario that many people in busy households can only dream about.

But there are quite a few downsides to balance that scenario:

Lets assume you enjoy sitting down to a tasty meal at the end of the day to relax and just for its own sake.You like to experiment with new things but you have your own old favourites that perhaps could do with refreshing. Time is critical; healthy is important; and your watchwords are simple but delicious.

These recipes offer you the chance to fulfil all those criteria, and to overcome the major hassles we identified too, by showing you how to create a storecupboard of ingredients to act as a backdrop for your cooking.

There are recipes designed just for one, using convenient ingredients chicken pieces, single vegetables, small packs or tins and not just quartered versions of family meals. Plus, if you cant avoid a leftover item, there will be a partner recipe to use it up, or a simple suggestion so nothing goes to waste.

Then there are those dishes that really need to be cooked in larger quantities because you cannot make them just for one: cakes, casseroles and the like. But if you make these when you fancy doing a bit of cooking, then divide up the spoils into individual portions for freezing you can serve these remaining portions in different ways to create new dishes. Plus, all through the book, there are quick ideas, hints and tips.

So this book is really about bringing the fun back into everyday cooking for one. It doesnt use obscure ingredients, it uses short-cuts when it wants to, it blends flavours from one continent with ingredients from another without the slightest worry about authenticity, and all it aims to do is to help you put a delicious and nutritious meal on your plate at the end of a busy day.

And because some people cooking for themselves are new to it, Ive included plenty of information to help you find your way round a recipe and gain the confidence to really enjoy yourself in the kitchen.

So, set the table, pour yourself a glass of some frivolous little number you picked up on special offer (arent screw-caps brilliant?), sit down to your simply prepared but quite delicious supper, relax and enjoy.

CHAPTER 1

Tasty, Healthy Food for One

Eating a healthy, balanced and enjoyable diet is not rocket science. Its a case of:

If we believed the media every time they home in on one ingredient or another, wed get a constantly changing picture because they tend to shed a blinding light on just one thing, throwing everything else into shadow. Take butter, for example. One minute it is a silent killer loading your arteries with saturated animal fats. The next minute, it is the most natural food in the world. The fact is that neither extreme is true. Butter is a natural food, free of additives and free of the results of over-processing. It is also a saturated fat, which means we should not include too much in our diet. Its a case of a little of what you fancy.

Consult a nutritionist and they would be able to break down this simplistic view and give you the full, complex picture of our dietary needs. But at its most basic, your plate should be half vegetables or fruit, just over a quarter protein foods, such as meat or fish, and the rest made up of foods containing fats and natural sugars.

When you are cooking for yourself, it can be more difficult to maintain these principles because you have to maintain your own motivation theres no one to compliment, support or criticise. The best way to counter that is to work on a routine that makes planning, cooking and eating an enjoyable part of your day. Get yourself into generally good habits they are much harder to break than principles but always be flexible. Let common sense rule.