One Pot One Portion: 100 Simple Recipes Just for You

Table for One newsletter creator Wilkinson debuts with a practical if slight collection that reads like a chirpy blog. The recipes tend to fall into one of two categories: gussied-up convenience foods (for example, a fish stick sandwich on a baguette, and frozen dumplings served with vegetables) or ersatz takes on international favorites (including a shrimp pil pil with no trace of the namesake sauce, risotto carbonara, and the contents of a meatball banh mi transformed into a salad). The organization occasionally feels arbitrary: penne with broccoli in a cream sauce appears in a chapter on comfort foods, while linguine with broccoli in a cheese and egg sauce (the author’s first recipe to go viral) appears in a chapter on simple foods. The “Special” chapter, for solo celebrations, features recipes that require a bit of extra effort, such as a mozzarella, mortadella, and pesto sandwich on a single-serving homemade focaccia. Desserts round things out, including a sticky toffee pudding assembled by mixing the ingredients in the pan in which it bakes and a chocolate mug cake made in the microwave. Though little here is innovative, it’s sure to prove a helpful resource for those living and cooking on their own for the first time. (Feb.)