The Art of Cooking for One (or Two)

Even when you’re cooking for yourself, healthy, simple, and delicious meals are within reach. 

Ronald Johnson was a self-taught professional chef and caterer whose many cookbooks are among the best for home cooks with busy lives who need simple recipes that always work.

Even if you have always disliked cooking for yourself, in THE ART OF COOKING FOR ONE, Johnson’s helpful approach will allow you to discover the true joy of cooking for one. 

Why not treat yourself to a feast? Who better to serve than yourself? “Make culinary hay while the sun still shines down each day,” as Ron advises in the Introduction.

This delightful and insightful cookbook is full of wit and often playful opinions about cooking, eating, and living. Known as an extraordinary experimental poet as well as an accomplished chef, RJ’s personality seeps through every page and will keep you entertained as you dine by candlelight with just your shadow for company.

Each part of THE ART OF COOKING FOR ONE presents simple, wholesome, and delicious dishes, using readily available, affordable ingredients and reducing unnecessary waste. And he encourages us to cut corners as needed; if the season is wrong for fresh vegetables, for instance, the author suggests workarounds that will be equally satisfying. Johnson’s generosity and spirit shines through every page, reassuring us that we are capable of making great things to eat, and deserving of the bounty. 

“Go ahead and use a package stuffing mix,” he gently consoles us. “No one is perfect.” But the meals you cook from this collection will be.