Conquering the meal for one
I went to a wedding this past weekend. It was a blast, I danced like a fool. But there is nothing like a wedding to remind me of my singledom. Other than having to cook for myself.
Trying to make meals for one has been an ongoing dilemma for me. Actually it's more like a game. How many different meals can I use [insert perishable ingredient like cilantro] before it goes bad, and before I get sick of it? This is a game that I think I might be winning--as you can see from the first posts, I managed to eat a lot of kale, in what I consider to be several distinct ways.
The next challenge is, can I make a single serving dish from a recipe that should feed a family? To help me with this, I recently purchased a Le Creuset baking dish set--a 9" square and a smaller 5" one--and set out to find recipes that I might be able to halve (or quarter). These baking dishes are meant for casseroles so I was thinking along the lines of a gratin, but I'd been meaning to try this recipe for a baked macaroni that caught my eye a while ago.
While I was able to divide the recipe by four, I did make the entire batch of tomato sauce, because I can use tomato sauce in other dishes. Also, instead of the method described in the original recipe, I made Marcella Hazan's simple tomato sauce of a can of Italian tomatoes, an onion cut in half, and 5 tablespoons of butter.
A trick I learned from watching a video is to use kitchen shears to chop up canned whole tomatoes right in the can or in the pot. When I saw this, it seemed so obvious and yet I had never considered it.
Five tablespoons of butter... seems like a lot. Oh, I also added couple of cloves of garlic which I smashed.
As it cooked, I broke down the tomatoes a little further, just using a spoon. After simmering for a bit then fishing out the onions and garlic, the sauce looks smooth and creamy. I added sugar, which I always do to tomato sauce at the very end because 1) it counters the acidity, and 2) I like savory sweet foods, and 3) it seems to be best when added at the very end.
With Hazan's tomato sauce, you're supposed to throw out the onion, but I couldn't do it so I chopped it up a bit and put it back into the sauce. I thought it would add a little extra texture to the final dish. This is about 1 cup of the sauce with 1 oz of goat cheese stirred in.
I added some parsley, some freshly grated parmigiano, and slightly cooked macaroni (1/2 cup uncooked).
Mmm... here is my little 5" casserole dish.
For the breadcrumb topping, I took about half a cup of panko (whenever a recipe calls for breadcrumbs, I like to use panko, I like how flaky it is) and added a little olive oil and black pepper, then sprinkled on top of the casserole.
This went into the oven for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees.
Meanwhile, in the big casserole, I decided to roast some asparagus which I had just bought that day (it was on sale). Just a single serving, of course (I know, it looks a little sad and lonely in such a large pan), with a little olive oil and salt and pepper. I stuck it in the oven when there was about 10 minutes left for the macaroni. I think it's best to roast vegetables at a higher temperature but these were pretty thin and turned out great anyways.
It made a lot more than I expected, so I thought I might have leftovers but it was too delicious. I ate the whole thing. And I'm glad I didn't have leftovers because now I can try another version, maybe with a little red pepper for spicyness or some chicken sausage.
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