If I were permitted only one word to describe Washington Post Food Editor Joe Yonan’s first book, Serve Yourself: Nightly Adventures in Cooking for One, what instantly comes to mind is “juicy”. Juicy, as a book which is chock aburst with vivid mouthwatering explosions of freshness and crunch. Juicy, as a book filled with vibrant recipes that are creative and intelligent, with consideration given to both the flavor and textures captured within every mouthful. Juicy, as I need a drool bib tied in place as I flip through the contents of recipes, soak in the words of Joe’s fine and friendly prose, and gaze upon the beckoning food photography.

Stock-thinned sweet potato soup base with a swirl of creme fraiche

Although cooking is a huge part of what I do for a living, I occasionally slide into slouchy neglect when preparing just for myself. Serve Yourself is the reveille call to wake up and treat just yourself well and kindly in the kitchen, as you would for company. I welcomed employing the smart strategies Joe offers in the book and have adopted many of them now as my own.

I was honored and delighted to be a part of the recipe testing of Serve Yourself, coming in towards the end to help Joe tweak and master a few last niggling recipes, (his spicy-sweet cabbage and pear kimchi has become a household constant),  and several of those recipes were devised in making soup for many into soup for one.

I love making large pots of soup (is there any other way?), and ultimately freeze much uneaten soup for a later thawing and reheating. Whole-pieced ingredients in the soup base don’t always emerge from the thaw tasting as bright as they did initially, and Joe provides such a smart idea for preparing  master concentrated and pureed soup bases to be frozen in individual portion sizes, later to be thinned and customized to personal preference as needed to become  a full meal in a bowl

Black bean soup base

The  base of the savory sweet potato soup (owing it’s deep flavor to first roasting of the potatoes), appears with a recipe which first thins the base with water or stock, then tops with a quick saute of chorizo, chickpeas and kale – a craveable combination (recipe HERE).  Another soup with the same  sweet potato base is thinned with both fresh orange juice, water or stock and topped with chipotle-kissed toasted pecans and cooling creme fraiche – see how clever soup making for one becomes?

Stock-thinned black bean soup base with swirl of creme fraiche

A spicy black bean soup base becomes Black Bean Tortilla Soup with Shrimp and Corn, playing up the corn by thinning the soup with corn broth. No corn broth? Use water, chicken or vegetable stock and have  soup that’s been personalized by you, and just as delicious.

Black Bean Soup with Seared Scallops and Green Salsa

Thinned with water or stock, the silken and spicy black bean soup becomes an exciting meal with the tangy  piquant flavors of  a chunky green salsa paired with the sweet succulence of seared sea scallops.

Pick up a copy of Serve Yourself and grab a couple of napkins. You’ll want something handy to dab up all of the juices rolling down your chin as you tuck into the books luscious pages.

The Serve Yourself project magically appeared while I was caring for my father during his last weeks of life. I was grateful to be busy with my hands and head in the kitchen,and  thankful to  have  nutritious and delicious recipes to test and share with my father and friends.

The last meal I was able to feed my father was the Fall Vegetable Soup with White Beans, an extension of the recipe for Stewed Cauliflower, Butternut Squash and Tomatoes, along with perfect deeply sweet ruby strawberries from  a local farm. Dad wasn’t verbally communicating, but he squeezed my hand tightly, a tear fell from his eye, and a smile emerged from his cracked lips.

This post is dedicated to the memory of my father, Dr. Robert L. Tannenbaum. RIP, daddy.