Customer Reviews

The 15-Minute Single Gourmet: 100 Deliciously Simple Recipes for One

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True story: My first two years of law school I hated cooking. I ate out even thought I couldn't really afford it, lived off yogurt and fruit, microwaved, ANYTHING to get out of actually preparing food. Then this book caught my eye and I decided to give it a try.

The results were just spectacular! These were the first actual dishes I'd ever prepared, and they really are that simple to make. This book boosted my kitchen confidence so much I even dared to try making the spring rolls. While it's not "The Joy of Cooking," it is a great education nonetheless. Fresh herbs, exotic ingredients, and quick techniques are all incorporated here, with very detailed instructions so that total beginners can follow along. Your first time may take a half hour instead of 15 minutes, but stick with it!

And to all you bachelors out there: making "Girlfriend Chicken" isn't going to impress her any more. Try making double portions of any of these recipes instead. NOTE: Larger guys like me may want to adjust some of the recipes, making half again or twice as much as the directions call for.

I recently graduated from college and started my career in a field that requires sixty hour work weeks on a regular basis. While I was in school, I lived at home and ate Mom's wonderful cooking. I must say, I didn't realize just how wonderful her food was until I moved out of the family homestead and had to cook for myself. I became ill at the mere sight of ramen, but ate it anyway because it was fast and easy. Finally I found this book! It rescued me from a diet of fast food. Every recipe turns out as promised: fifteen minute gourmet food for singles.

This is one of the best cookbooks I've ever bought. While not gourmet, the recipies are healthy and taste good, which is more than most healthy cookbooks on the market today.

While not really gourmet, the recipes are interesting, don't generally require that many ingredients, fairly quick, and are healthy. I've found very few cookbooks that meet these varied requirements.

I've had this cookbook since before I was married (many, many years). When I purged my cookbook collection a few years ago I held on to this one because the recipes are so simple and healthy.

Today, I reach for it often when my husband travels. (I just don't have the motivation to stand in the kitchen for more than 15 minutes if it's just me to appreciate the results.)

On Sunday, I had scallops with chutney, apples and pears. Last night I had chicken parmesan with chunky tomato sauce. This morning I whipped up a chicken-mango salad for lunch today. And tonight I'll use up the leftover tomato sauce from yesterday (mixed with a little orange zest and chevre) over steamed potatoes. The best part is, none of these took longer than 15 minutes to make! Really!

As others have mentioned, the fare isn't "gourmet" but it's certainly delicious, especially since you don't have to slave away for very long to prepare it. It tastes way better than anything you might pick up from a fast food joint or make from a box, too.

I'd highly recommend the cookbook for anyone who is single or living with one person (the recipes can be easily doubled). It would also be perfect for a college student just striking out on their own in their first apartment.

As a single, male graduate student in engineering living alone in a studio apartment, "Thou shalt not cook" used to be one of my Ten Commmandments. After almost a year, I finally got tired of all the hamburgers, pizza, and Subway sandwiches. The cost of eating out all the time was also hurting me financially. I bought this book after reading the recommendations on Amazon, and I must say it has been very satisfying. The recipes are really fast and easy to put together, and the dishes are delicious. I was at first a little disappointed at the lack of pictures, but soon found out there wasn't really a great need for them because the recipes are simple enough to manage with the instructions only. I didn't like a few of the dishes, but then there could never be a cook book with a hundred recipes where every single one of them appeal to everyone. I can't believe I'm actually enjoying cooking now, and having different, tasty meals every day at such low cost and effort. Yummy! Be gone all you junk food!

this is an amazing book!

Shortly its advantages:
+ the recepies take truly 15 minutes to prepare (sometime much less, like 7 or something)
+ you don't need to think...just follow the book, and the result will be perfect
+ the receipes are not mediocre at all! be prepared, that your food will taste fantastically and originally!
To also say some negatives:
- Could contain more receipes with chicken and pasta
- It will take some time and initial investment to get the (unique) ingredients (like red wine vinegar, ginger, chutney etc..)

Based on these reviews I bought this book (cost me 40$, with shipping to Europe, so I took a big risk).
When I opened it, I thought that was a bad deal, since all the ingredients looked too exotic for me, most of them I even never heard of, I never noticed them at the stores, so I just tossed the book aside...
I didn't pick it up until two months later... I thought, okay, I'll try to prepare at least one receipe (since I moved to my own flat, and decided to cut costs on food (especially fastfood), sice I had no work).
So I chose two receipes and took the time (and money) to get the ingredients. I must say I'm an absolute idiot on cooking. I sometimes had troubles preparing eggs. I rather went to KFC or MCDonalds all the time, or eat some other fastfood

So today I prepared my second receipe, Chicken ...on peach youghurt, with mango chutney, ginger and garlic.
And it was phenomnal! really, there were only a few moments in my life, when I ate such a complex food! it tasted like a symphony...like a quality wine...it was truly astouning, first I felt the chutney and chicken, then the garlic and lastly the ginger...
I can't still believe it, I made it, and that it was so superb!

I can't say more, than I'll invest time to learn some more receipes from it.

I wanted to like this one more, but several things... the small binding made it a pain to keep open (while cooking). The recipes were ok...just well... I have several others I will use more. This was one of those cases of I wish I had seen it in the bookstore before buying... not a "bad" cookbook, just not a "great" one either....was expecting so much more potential to this topic...

I have read the 1994 edition, and I find it useful because of the single-size ingredient lists, and attention to advance preparation and storage of leftovers. The recipes are interesting, but some of them require more than 15 minutes to make. Pasta, for example, can easily take 13-14 minutes (depending on your altitude) to cook, plus the time to bring the water to a boil, and various prep time, plus, of course, the time to clean, store leftovers, etc. So, I would say that 30 minutes is a more realistic time from start to finish, if you want to take your time and not stress over the process. In the introduction the author says that to add salt to the pasta water is not necessary. In my opinion in makes an enormous difference; the true tradition of italian cooking requires salt for flavour. The meat recipes are limited to chicken and fish, only, so they may be frustrating if your dietary needs require something different. I am looking for beef and pork recipes, so I will have to look elsewhere.

This makes cooking for one so much easier!! How many times do you have to throw away food because you made enough for an army? No more, you can now make great meals for one. Happy cooking.