Menu for One

When an Egg Becomes a Chicken

via www.seriouseats.com

I thought this was funny. Natalie Dee's comic shows what happens between egg friends when one them becomes a chicken. As Serious Eats put it, behold the trauma.

Spinach Frittata

As I see it, there are two avenues of success, if you will, in this cooking for one business: improvisation and/or careful planning.  I gave improvisation a shot in my last soup post.  As we all know, practice makes perfect, so here I go again.  Breakfast.  I figured if I got some proportions down (appealing to the side of me that loves to plan), it would facilitate my efforts in improvisation.  So, Kathryn-the-Planner pulled out a whole bunch of cookbooks to gather as many different frittata recipes as she could find, in hopes that she could determine the egg to filler ratio.  Well, low and behold, Mark Bittman already did the work for me: 1-2 cups of filling for every 4-5 eggs (See How to Make Everything).  

In a small, oven-safe omelet pan cook most of the way through (or reheat, if you're working with leftovers) the frittata fillings.  Meanwhile, whisk together the eggs, salt and pepper, and a handful of grated cheese.  Lower the heat to medium-low and add the egg mixture.  Let it hang out until the bottom starts to firm up, then transfer the omelet pan to a 350F oven to finish cooking in there (roughly 10 minutes, but check frequently).

In this version, I think I added spinach, onions, and parmesan cheese.  Since the onions take a little longer to cook than spinach, I started cooking them first. When they were nearly soft, I added some frozen spinach I had defrosted and squeezed dry.  As Bittman instructed, I added the egg/cheese mixture, let it set up a little bit in the pan and then transferred to the oven.  Here's where I went wrong: I let it cook too long in the oven.  Still edible, but not a masterpiece.  So be careful!  Check often! 

As you can see, I ate it with fruit and a glass of milk.  Looking at it now, if only I had added a bowl of cereal and a glass of orange juice in the photo, you would hear a voiceover at the end of this post saying, "Part of this complete breakfast," just like they did during the commercial breaks of Saturday morning cartoons.

Pearl Couscous Gratin with Pesto and Goat Cheese

Confession: I like costume dramas.  Jane Austen films in particular, and I'll watch them over and over again (although I promise I won't make you watch them).  And the funny thing is, that after I've seen one, I notice that my sentences become more drawn out, and are peppered with words like "quite" and "whilst."

Even if Jane Austen films aren't your thing, I'm sure there's been a moment when you've been talking to someone on the phone who's trying to be quiet on their end, and then all of a sudden you say to yourself, "wait - why am I whispering?"

Well, I've been working a lot lately, and my day job of writing in formal legal-ese is bleeding into my thoughts about this blog.  In starting this post, I had to fight the urge to write "Pursuant to page 554 in the How to Cook Everything Vegetarian Cookbook by Mark Bittman...."  So bear with me.  I'll snap out of it.

That being said, we had a few days of heavy rain in Atlanta last week (desperately needed) and it seemed like one of the last opportunities to make some hot-out-of-the-oven comfort food before the weather gets too hot for comfort down here.  I turned to a recipe I had made once before, but that can be easily manipulated to feature whatever veggies you've got in your fridge, and in my case, green beans.  

In a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, sauté a finely chopped shallot or a small handful of chopped red onion.  Add to the pan 8 ounces of asparagus or green beans cut into one-inch pieces and cook until softened, but still underdone.  In a 2-quart casserole, combine the veggie mixture with 2 cups cooked pearl couscous (aka israeli couscous, a toasted couscous that is larger than the traditional couscous; it's about the size of a pencil eraser).  This time around, I substituted orzo for the couscous, and it worked out okay, but pearl couscous may still be the better way to go.

In a separate measuring cup or bowl, combine 1/2 cup of pesto, an egg, and 1/2 cup of cream, milk, or stock, whatever you have on hand, and pour over the casserole.  While it settles into all the nooks and crannies, pull out 4 ounces of goat cheese.  Using your fingers,break the cheese into small pieces and distribute over the top of the casserole.  Bake at 350F for 30-40 minutes, until the top is golden brown and bubbling.  I was a little impatient here and didn't quite get to the golden brown stage, but it was still tasty.

I think the trick is not cooking the veggies all the way through before putting them in the casserole.  Frankly, depending on the size of the veggies, I may not sauté them at all.  Otherwise, the veggies get cooked once in the sauté pan and then again in the oven, resulting in a color I refer to as "potluck green" (if you know what I mean).  Mark Bittman does a nice job showing several variations that can be made depending on your taste, the occasion, or the vegetables in season.  His book is straightforward and comprehensive, and I recommend that you take a look at it (or its brother, How to Cook Everything).  

Unintentionally, I ended up enjoying a completely green meal the weekend of St. Patrick's day.  But I did not enjoy it under a rainbow.  Or beside a pot o' gold.  Better luck to ye.

Not Just On Top of Spaghetti

I think I may be on to something (or at least I hope I am).  For Christmas, I received both Ina Garten's new cookbook, Back to Basics,and Giada De Laurentiis's New Italian Favorites.  I love reading a cookbook for the first time, and I read it cover to cover like a novel, marking anything that looks interesting.  [note: I am sure this may sound weird to some, a college friend used to do this and I imagined it was about as exciting as watching paint dry.  This is one of those happy instances where I am wrong.]

But I have learned the hard way that I have to pace myself when it comes to making these new dishes- after all, I'm making a menu for one.  Logistically, I can only make two, maybe three in a week...and that's if I take my lunch to work and eat in every night.  So I've tried to be better about planning the meals that I'll make - and it's more fun than it sounds.  Usually, the three dishes feature different flavors and textures, but in order to make the most of what I take home from the grocery store, feature some common ingredients.

And to this end, last week I came up with a plan that would not only enable me to try two new dishes, but also to have some go-to meals ready for the future.  The key to my master plan was...wait for it...

MEATBALLS.

(disappointed?  not rocket science, I know, but baby steps toward what I am going to call "spontaneity in the kitchen"). 

First of all, meatballs are really unsung heroes.  At least I wasn't singing their praises.  Everyone knows that they can be in pastas, soups, and sandwiches, but let's just take a second to marvel at that!  I mean, it practically rivals chicken in that regard.  Plus, it's a great vehicle for using up odds and ends in your refrigerator (sort of like the taco).

Giada De Laurentiis's book featured a recipe for orechiette with grape tomatoes, bocconcini, and mini chicken meatballs (where everything is about the same size - isn't her food always good looking?).  Then I also decided to make Ina Garten's recipe for Italian wedding soup - I'm crazy about soup (you may as well know that now).  Some people don't consider it a mean, but (a) it's CHEAP, (b) it's easy to adjust the recipe to serve 1 or 100, (c) it's perfect at this time of year, and (d) did I mention it's easy to make? 

I decided to double Ina's meatball recipe and use them in both recipes because hers were based on a combo of ground chicken and chicken sausage (which I though would be more flavorful than using ground chicken alone) and because her recipe called for the meatballs to be baked instead of cooked on the stove-top (read: less labor intensive).

My master plan worked!  I had enough for both recipes, plus some left over that Im keeping at the ready in the freezer for spaghetti or a quick meatball sub.  I can't find my pictures for the soup or the pasta (argh), but see here how this freezer gold was put to use!

 

   

Add some pureed tomatoes, et voila!