Some Tips on Cooking for One

Most of the recipes I've shared on this blog are meant for one person. I moved here to Cincinnati by myself back in August, and even though I live in a house full of roommates we mostly cook for ourselves. But, on Sunday we'll have a new roommate: Paul. Which means I'll be doing a lot more cooking for two!

But, I don't want to forget all the helpful things I learned while cooking just for myself. One of the reasons I really started to focus this blog on recipes is because I found a serious lack of "cooking for one" resources. Like a lot of solo diners, I cooked too much at first. And then I tried to hack four- and six-serving recipes down to one serving.

Finally, I realized I had to change the way I was thinking about food and cooking. "Serves one" doesn't have to mean "frozen" or "take-out" or "boring" or "complicated ingredient divisions" or even "eat-the-same-thing-five-days-in-a-row-because-you-made-too-much." You can still cook and eat fresh, delicious food--it just may take some adjustments if you're used to cooking for a bigger crowd. So, here are some tips and thoughts.

1.  Cook what you really want. One of the greatest parts of cooking just for yourself is that you can eat exactly what appeals to you. No joke, one night my dinner consisted of two scrambled eggs, a piece of toast, and a side of peas. Because that's exactly what I felt like eating--so I did. The flip side of this is that you have to/get to learn how to make what you really want!

Exactly how and why the sweet potato fry recipe came to be.

2.  Try new things. Being on my own has allowed me to try new foods and test out recipes without worrying if other people will like what I buy or make. Some things are duds, while others--pomegranates, Swiss chard, chicken and bread soup--become staples of my pantry and repertoire. Other examples:

Savory oatmeal: culinary fail.

Ricotta gnocchi: culinary epic win!

3.  Cook just enough. Cooking for one can be a great way to cut down on how much you eat. If you tend to overeat a certain food (ahem, pasta) just measure out one serving, cook that one serving, and eat it. You're less likely to go back for seconds if it's not sitting on the stove already made!

4.  Or, cook more than enough. It's hard to cut a recipe for four down to a recipe for one. It's a bit easier to cut it in half to a recipe for two, though. I often make two servings of whatever I'm having for dinner, then box up half of it right away and save it for lunch the next day.

5.  Re-imagine leftovers. Let's say you took the advice in Number 4 and made extra food, but now that food just doesn't look so exciting. Come up with ways of eating it differently. Leftover risotto can be mixed with an egg and fried in olive oil as a risotto cake. Cooked pasta, rice, couscous, or quinoa can bulk up a soup or become the basis for a cold salad. Cooled polenta can be fried or baked. Cooked veggies can become an omelet filling, pasta mix-in, sandwich topping, quesadilla filling...you get the picture.

Risotto cake: mix leftover risotto with beaten egg and pan fry in olive oil.

Another one of my best re-imaginings (sadly photo-less) was mixing leftover shredded chicken with mashed avocado, garlic, lemon juice, salt, and pepper to create a "chicken salad" which I wrapped in a wheat tortilla and packed for lunch. The possibilities are endless.

6.  Use your freezer. Sometimes you just need to make more than one or two servings--and that's ok. Stick it in a freezer bag or container, label it, and pop it in. Personally I'm a lot more likely to reach for a homemade calzone or cup of chili than a Lean Cuisine when I'm digging around in the freezer. Plus, the homemade meal is usually cheaper than stocking up on frozen entrees.

 The freezer is also great for baked goods like cookies and muffins; bake up a batch, eat one straight from the oven, and save the rest for later. For muffins and breads, I recommend a 30-second zap in the microwave followed by a visit to the toaster oven--your food will warm through, and you'll revive the crispy-crusty-toasty exterior.

I ate one of these fresh ciabatta rolls and stashed the rest in the
freezer. Now, whenever I have a craving for crusty, delicious bread,
I can have some!

7.  Along with Number 6, portion your food. You don't have to use up a whole pound of ground beef in two days just because you were dying for a hamburger. Instead, open the package when you get home from the store, divide it into an appropriate number of portions, wrap it, bag it, and freeze it. I do this with ground beef, bacon, breads, and just about anything else that's freeze-able. Also works for things you don't need to freeze, like snack foods and other things that come in large packages.

8.  Think about your nutrition every once in a while. It might be tempting to eat Ramen noodles or mac and cheese or whatever for every meal, but eventually a one-note diet will catch up with you. I try to combine a couple of food groups at each meal. Breakfast is usually a grain (oatmeal or cereal), fruit, and dairy (yogurt or milk). Lunch is vegetables, some form of protein, a grain and/or dairy. And dinner is where I try to round it all out.

All five food groups: toast (grain), asparagus (veggies),
banana (fruit), egg (protein), and Parmesan cheese (dairy).

There are many days when I decide what to make for dinner based on what I've eaten for breakfast and lunch. If I had a muffin and pizza, I'll probably compensate with a salad or veggie soup for dinner. But if I've been good all day, I might go for that mac and cheese.

9.  Decide what to splurge on, and where you can compromise. I don't have a problem buying generic cereal or store-brand pasta, and I buy my produce based on what's in season and therefore cheapest. However, there are some items I let myself spend a little more on.

An example: milk. I like to have it around for coffee and cereal, and for a while I was buying the store brand. The problem was that a quart of milk wasn't quite enough for a whole week, and a half-gallon ALWAYS went bad before I could finish it. One of my housemates tipped me off to a solution: buy organic. A half-gallon of organic milk is twice as much as the store brand, but it lasts twice as long after it's opened--so I can finish my milk every time instead of always throwing away the last cup or so.

10.  Find resources by people who think--and cook--like you do. Maybe you're a vegetarian. Maybe you're trying to eat low carb. Maybe you never want to spend more than 30 minutes in the kitchen preparing a meal. Whatever it is, seek out websites, blogs, cookbooks, cooking shows, etc. that have what you're looking for. Even if the resources you find aren't for single chefs, they can still be great places to look for ideas when you're stuck.

I love cooking from scratch and occasionally like to challenge myself with a complex dish, so I like chefs who use classic techniques that I can learn from. So I can chiffonade basil and know what it means to deglaze a pan. Look around, experiment, and see what works for you.

I don't know how many readers of this blog are single cooks--but if you are, I hope some of these tips are helpful.

Last call for chicken soup! Or, going vegetarian for Lent

Chicken and bread soup.

Lent is coming up and I've been putting some thought into what I'd like to do for it. Most people think of Lent as a period of deprivation--fasting on holy days, avoiding meat on Fridays and Ash Wednesday, and denying yourself something you enjoy like chocolate or Facebook. It is those things, or it can be, but it's more than that too.

I won't pretend to be an expert on my faith because I'm certainly not, but I think of Lent as a growing experience rather than a period of denial. Giving things up  can be part of it, but if that's all you focus on you're missing the best part: that by denying yourself a bad habit or an indulgence, you're growing and learning to be a better person. I think it's all too easy to forget that little piece, so for the past several years I've taken a new strategy: I give something up, but also try to add something--meditation, prayer, reading, or something else that helps me focus on the growth part of Lent, and not just the denial.

That said, as you can probably guess from the post title, I'm going vegetarian for Lent. (That is my task of denial; I haven't settled on a "growth" task just yet.) In preparation, I'm giving you my last meat-based recipe for the next couple of weeks.

This chicken and bread soup comes from the Solo Suppers book (with slight modifications). It is supposed to serve one, but I've never been able to finish it in one sitting so I recommend saving half for leftovers. It's deceptively simple, but incredibly delicious. I am sure going to miss this soup.

Chicken and Bread Soup

I estimate the size of a small carrot by lining up the
baby ones with the celery.

Ingredients

1 small onion, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
1 small carrot (or a handful of baby ones), peeled and diced
1 boneless, skinless chicken breast or 2 tenders, cut into bite-sized pieces
3 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup dry white wine (I used Sauvignon Blanc)
2 cups chicken broth (or bouillon and water)
Salt and pepper
Pinch of ground cinnamon
2 slices good bread (I used the Lifehacker ciabatta)
2 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

Steps

1.  In a wide saucepan melt 2 tablespoons of butter with the olive oil over medium heat. When it's bubbly, add the vegetables and saute about 10 minutes until soft. Add the chicken and saute about five minutes until cooked.

Before...

And after.

Add the chicken after the vegetables are cooked. You can also
make this with cooked chicken--add it during the last ten
minutes of simmer time.

2.  Add the wine and cook until it evaporates.

Use the wine to pick up any burned or
caramelized bits stuck to the pan.

3. Add the chicken broth, salt (if needed), pepper, and cinnamon. You might think the cinnamon sounds strange, but trust me--I was skeptical too, but it really makes this dish! Cover the pan and simmer 20-30 minutes, until the chicken is tender.

Add the broth...

...then pour yourself a glass of wine, because
it'll be a while...

 

...before it looks like this!

4. While the soup is simmering, melt the remaining butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the bread and cook until toasted and pale gold on both sides. Add one slice of bread to the bottom of a ramekin or other oven-safe dish.

I used three pieces because they were small: two for the bottom
and one for the top.

5. When the soup is ready, pour half of it into the ramekin over the bread. Top with the remaining bread and Parmesan cheese. Bake at 300 degrees for 30-60 minutes, depending on how deep your dish is.

Before...

...and after.

6. Alternatively, cut your toasted bread into croutons and place them in the bottom of a bowl. Pour the soup over the croutons, top with cheese, and enjoy immediately.

As I've told several people, this soup is life-changing. For something with such simple ingredients, and very little seasoning, it's so full of flavor. The key is definitely the cinnamon--even though it's just a little bit, it adds warmth and accentuates the flavor of the chicken and the vegetables. The bread is the other all-star; it adds texture and bulk, making this a very filling soup.

Farewell, chicken soup. I will miss you.

Bread and Soup

Italian wedding soup and ciabatta bread

It's finally feeling like fall to me down here in Cincinnati. We had our first real frost this week and the scarves and sweaters and UGGs are starting to come out of the woodwork. I'm a little nervous about winter because I live in a drafty old house, but the radiators kicked on this week and I've discovered that pointing a fan at mine really does wonders for heating up the room. I'm comforted by that and the thought that the city only gets a couple of inches of snow at a time--huzzah!

But, as we're moving towards cooler weather my culinary adventures are started to tend toward winter-y foods. Like bread. And soup. Both of which you can see in the above picture. This was my second time making Italian wedding soup, and my very first time making ciabatta!

If you have ever felt intimidated by breadmaking, let me suggest this recipe from Lifehack: http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifehack/kitchen-hack-one-minute-ciabatta-bread.html. It sounds almost too good to be true, but it works and you get tasty, tasty bread out of it. I made a mistake with mine and added 1tsp of yeast instead of 1/4 tsp so it was ready to bake in about two hours instead of eight. The resulting bread doesn't have the big airy pockets like you usually see in ciabatta, but it was extremely easy and still very delicious. Especially hot out of the oven with some butter... mmmmmm.

But of course, the bread was just one side of the equation. Soup was the other. I've been thinking about this Italian wedding soup for a while, and I finally gathered all of the ingredients. Contrary to popular belief, the soup has nothing to do with weddings; the name supposedly refers to the "marriage" of meat and vegetables. And I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that it isn't from Italy either. Oh well. Meatballs and pasta = close enough?

Here is the recipe that I use. It makes A TON of soup, so I'd suggest making a half batch like I did this week.

Ingredients:

2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
1 lb ground beef
1 lb Italian sausage (Bob Evans is good!)
3 medium carrots, sliced (I'm not a huge fan of cooked carrots so I never use this much)
3 celery ribs, diced
1 large onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
4 cans reduced-sodium chicken broth
2 cans beef broth (I go reduced-sodium here too)
1 10-oz package frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1/4 cup fresh minced basil or 2 tbsp dry
1 envelope onion soup mix
1 1/2 tbsp ketchup
1/2 tsp dried thyme
3 bay leaves
1 1/2 cups uncooked pasta (like macaroni or penne)

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Combine eggs and breadcrumbs in a large bowl. Crumble beef and sausage over mixture and combine. Form into 3/4" meatballs.
2. Place meatballs on a foil-lined cookie sheet (with sides) and bake for 15-18 minutes until no longer pink. Drain on paper towels.
3. Meanwhile, saute carrots, celery, onion, and garlic in olive oil in a Dutch oven or soup kettle until tender. Add broth, spinach, basil, soup mix, ketchup, thyme, and bay leaves.
4. Bring the soup to a boil and add the meatballs. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes.
5. Add the pasta and cook for 13-15 minutes longer, until tender, stirring occasionally. Discard bay leaves before serving.

Makes 10 servings or 2 1/2 quarts.

And there you have it! The perfect autumn / winter meal: bread and soup.