Cooking for one

Hubby having traveled a lot lately, I am grumpily getting even more practised at this ignored art - and art it is. It takes a certain kind of courage to eat well alone, and sometimes far more energy than cooking for a full table. While in my teens and forced to feed myself, I subsisted on oreo cookies and canned corn. (yes, I'm gagging too!) And while my sweet tooth is firmly impacted, I am actually quite good at eating balanced, good tasting meals, even when alone. What's more, I cook them, too! despite all my dining for one stories.

Perhaps it's the remaking of myself that I've walked through over the last 5 years that has asserted my better state of mind when it comes to cooking for myself. To commandeer L'Oreal's phrase: "I'm worth it." It's good for me, good to me, and just plain good to enjoy real food, even solo. I'd prefer someone to share it with and planning for their pleasure is a deep part of my satisfaction as a cook, but that person can be me.

So in defense of my claim of not only eating chocolate when lonely - although I'm long past oreos, the drawer in my fridge dedicated to chocolate will prove that point - here is a selection of recent solo meals.
Leftovers, especially of meals that were good to begin with, are a tried and true favourite, of course. I package them up in serving sized portions and stick them in the freezer. Homemade Italian style meatballs with tomato sauce - I use Scarpone's canned 'Fire Roasted Tomatoes' for the smoky tomato goodness. I'm even trying whole wheat pasta and finding it not the cardboard I had had a few years ago. With a grating of aged pecorino on top, this was true comfort food for when comforts are gustatory, not relational. Meatball recipe to follow at the end of the post.

Grilled cheese. Say it slowly. Doesn't it just sound like oozy happiness? I made this sandwich with a rustic sourdough bread, sundried tomato pesto and a gently smoked Spanish cheese called San Simon. Crusty, with oozing cheese counterpointing the savoury tartness of the pesto, alongside a salad with favourite things like avocado and mushrooms, this was a champion lunch for one. But really, with great ingredients like these, it would be hard to make a bad sandwich.

A real meal. Yes, a sit down, knife and fork, meat/starch/veggie entree. I sauteed a chicken breast, seasoned with salt and pepper, until browned on both sides and moist inside. I deglazed the pan with a little wine, checked for seasoning, added a bit of milk, reduced it to sauce consistency and poured it over the chicken. I sauteed some chopped vegetables in a little lemon avocado oil. Meanwhile, I nuked a red, waxy potato, and when it was done, cut it open, topped it with butter and salt and pepper. Nothing fancy schmancy, but a solid, respectable meal. For one.

Okay, so I do still resort to chocolate on occasion. But this is health food! - the Nutella people insist that their chocolate hazelnut spread is not just delicious, it's good for you. And when slicked onto a baguette from Manuel Latruwe bakery - well, it becomes positively gourmet health food. (roses from Hubby; maximizing their beautification potential by sharing them visually)

I wrote this down long before I realized attributions were appropriate, so I don't know who developed the recipe. I love these meatballs because they're tender, flavourful and baked, and I usually double the quantities and have a meditative afternoon rolling small balls. The base recipe is delicious as is, in a cream or sweet bbq sauce over rice or noodles. To Italianize them, I kept the taste of Sploumbo's spicy Italian sausage in my mind when composing the spices. Those ingredients are listed separately at the end.

Swedish Meat Patties

I large onion, chopped
1 small green pepper, chopped
1 clove garlic
2 Tbsp fresh dill
2 Tbsp fresh parsley

Cook the onion, pepper and garlic in a tsp of oil until tender. I usually do this in the microwave. Add herbs, cool slightly. Blend in food processor with 1/2 cup beef broth.

In a large bowl, add the above to:
1 lb ground beef
1/2 pound ground pork
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
1 egg
1 tsp nutmeg
salt and pepper

Optional Italian seasoning: (adjust to suit your taste, of course!)
2 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1 Tbsp fennel
1 tsp chili flakes

Mix with hands until smooth. Shape mixture into 1" balls and for 'Swedish Meat Patties', flatten slightly. Italian meatballs should be, well, balls. Bake on a foil-lined, ungreased cookie sheet 10 minutes at 475 degrees, or until browned and cooked through. If you place them closely on the cookie sheet, they will take longer to brown. Drain and let cool. They keep in the fridge for 2 - 3 days or in the freezer up to 2 months.

French toast the way I like it

I was introduced to French toast at summer camp, where the church ladies who volunteered to cook were limited by the lean pantry of the - affordable, shall we say - camping scenario.

It was day old sandwich bread moistened by a miserly spit of mostly milk, was flabby and, not uncommon with food for the masses, cold. I always liked things that were served with syrup but this - this was seriously bleh.

When I had my own kitchen I got to thinking - there has got to be a better way. These days, when I make French toast it is with leftover bread, which I pre-slice about an inch thick and stick in the freezer until wanted.

Then on the lazy morning requiring late breakfast, I will beat up one less egg than I have bread slices, so in the case of the frying pan above, 3 eggs. I will add twice the volume of egg in milk and a healthy slosh of flavour - vanilla (I'm still using some deliciously spicy stuff from the Dominican Republic), or your favourite liqueur - Kahlua, Grand Marnier, rum. When the mix is smooth, I pour some in a plate or pan big enough to hold all the bread (whole wheat baguette in this case), nestle the slices into the mix and pour the rest over top.

Yes, there is a lot of liquid, but if you want bread transmorgified into something beyond it's present humble state, that slice of day-old blehness must become infused with the egg and milk, so that when you flip it in 10 minutes to ensure equal soaking time on each side, it is already hard to handle.

Heat your frying pan to medium hot, put in some cooking oil - not olive, something mild, like canola - and a bit of butter: just enough fat to thoroughly coat the bottom of the pan. When the oil is hot, gently lower the saturated bread slices into the pan with a spatula. Turn the heat down to medium, put a lid over half the pan, and sizzle until the bottom of each slice is gorgeously brown. Flip and keep the magic going.

When both sides are toasty brown, serve up with maple syrup, bacon and fruit. What's lip smacking about French toast this way is that while the exterior has a nutty crust, the interior is fluffy, creamy and altogether almost unrecognizable as bread.