THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 12, 1995 TAG: 9501100050
SECTION: FLAVOR PAGE: F1 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Morsels
SOURCE: Ruth Fantasia
LENGTH: Short : 48 lines
DINNER FOR TWO doesn't have to mean Chinese take-out every night.
``Cooking for two is intimate. It's a time for sharing, for exchanging ideas. . . and for enjoying the results together,'' says Bev Bennett in her latest cookbook, ``Dinner for Two'' (Barron's, 1994).
Bennett is food editor of the Chicago Sun-Times and writer of the syndicated column ``Two's Company,'' which appears in Flavor. She has made cooking in lesser quantities an art.
Her introduction to ``Dinner'' gives several tips for small-scale cooking. For example, she says:
``Wonton wrappers double as ravioli skins. . . . ''
``Tomato paste in a tube keeps longer than a can when opened.''
And, she suggests, always buy butter in a pound box of four sticks. Keep one in the refrigerator and freeze the rest.
``Mother Nature is very sympathetic to the needs of the single,'' Bennett says. ``It's easier to get fresh than canned or frozen produce in small portions.''
``Dinner for Two'' is organized by month instead of by course, so the reader can shop for seasonal ingredients.
Bennett also lists essential and nonessential utensils for setting up a kitchen.
Singles can use Bennett's recipes, too. ``In the hour it takes to make one meal, a single will have two,'' she says.
And, there's another advantage to being a single cook, Bennett says: ``Cooking for one means never having to say you're sorry for the garlicky aroma in the kitchen.'' Fruitcake wanted
It wouldn't be nice to call food editor John Lehndorff a fruitcake, but it might be accurate.
Lehndorff, of the Daily Camera in Boulder, Colo., says he likes fruitcake - So much so, that he'll take everyone's unwanted Christmas fruitcake and give it a good home.
Just mail your unwanted fruitcake to: John Lehndorff, c/o Daily Camera, Box 591, Boulder, Colo. 80306. by CNB