I'm generally not a fan of chick lit or chick flicks (never seen nor read Bridget Jones' Diary or anything by Jennifer Weiner), but sometimes I cave a little (loved Time Traveler's Wife -- the book, not the movie -- and who can resist Sleepless in Seattle?). So I was a little skeptical when I got a copy of Giulia Melucci's I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti. It's a single girl's memoirs of dating and cooking in New York City, described by Mario Batali on the book jacket as a "foodie's dream version of Sex and the City." Interesting.

To be honest, I didn't really want to like this book -- but I admit, I did. It was an enjoyable, yummy read that's fast, easy and fluffy, and was probably made even more interesting to me since I also live in New York City and can identify the places where Giulia shops, eats and plays. There are lots of recipes scattered throughout that are also fast, easy and sometimes fluffy (Frugal Frittata). They're always tied very specifically to a story she's told, which makes them all the more intriguing. In fact, I photocopied a ton of recipes from this book with plans to try them out sometime (In a side note, why don't memoirs with recipes have a website where you can download and print all the recipes from the book at once? You're not buying the book for the recipes, so why not make it easy for the reader to get them all?). Most are prettty simple and many involve pasta, and I actually did manage to try one of the recipes for dinner one night, with pretty good results:

Salmon with Lemon-Tarragon Butter

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• Juice and zest of 1 large lemon
• Freshly ground pepper
• 2 salmon fillets
• Salt
• 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh tarragon, minced

In a small saucepan over low heat, melt butter with lemon juice and zest, remove from heat.

Place salmon skin side down on a broiler pan. Brush with half the butter mixture, season with salt and pepper. Broil until just cooked through, about 20 minutes (there is no need to turn).

Transfer to plates. (Salmon skin will stick to the broiler pan. I always think I should save it to make sushi from this delicacy, but I never do.) Add tarragon to remaining leamon butter. Spoon over salmon and serve over lentils.

Serves 2.

Recipe from I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti by Guilia Melucci  

I actually made this with rosemary, since that's what I had on hand. And I served it with some sauteed Swiss chard instead of lentils. It was fast and incredibly easy, and I suspect I'll be making variations on this in the future.

--Maggie