Two For The Road, Cooking For One

I recently explored The Pleasures of Cooking for One by Judith Jones. I understand now why she was recognized by the James Beard Foundation with a Lifetime Achievement Award, and I sure wish I would have had this book earlier in my life. 


I had a small pork tenderloin in the freezer, so decided to try the recipe for same on page 42. It's a simple enough recipe, yet, when push came to shove, I didn't bother with the marinade. I hadn't thought about it early enough - like in the  morning before work - and wasn't interested in waiting around for the marination. 


I seasoned the meat with a little salt, pepper, garlic powder, and placed the meat in a pan for roasting along side parsnips, turnip, and a itty bitty winter squash. 

Small Squash

Small Roasted Pork Tenderloin

The result was one boring dinner. The pork tenderloin was perfect, but the vegetables could have roasted longer. 


The next night I moved on to one of two "recipe two" choices that Jones offers: Pork Stir-Fry With Vegetables. I confess I didn't add as much ginger as the recipe called for. I don't think I added the full amount of freshly minced garlic either. I also confess that that's probably why the sauce wasn't so flavorful.


Even with my personal failings, by adding sugar-snap peas, bell pepper, mushrooms, cashews, and a few shakes of sesame oil, this was a winning recipe. 

And it was the perfect amount for one person (who wanted leftovers for tomorrow.)


The chapter on cheese is indispensable. The advice on nine ways to use turkey is fabulous advice for the holiday season; Jones suggests soup, tettrazini, pilaf, strata, salad, croquette, sandwich, crepe, and finally hash - all with suggested accompaniments and spices. The book is packed with little nuggets of information to savor.

Opening pages of the cheese chapter

Honestly, none of recipes that I tried blew me away. What they did, though, was give me confidence, and a certain sense of home. A comfort zone. 


It's as if you're in the kitchen with Jones, and she's passing on her knowledge to you - and only you. About her Vermont garden's never-ending supply of zucchini, Jones writes...

'Anyone who has a garden knows about the pressure to eat up the zucchini you've planted. You hate to see it go to waste. But the advantage to growing your own is that you can harvest the zucchini while they are still very young and have a more intense flavor (and you can use the male blossoms, too.)"

While I was reading and cooking from the book, more than once I thought to myself (or said aloud to the cats,)  "wish I would have known this when I was..."  


So if you've got to buy a gift for someone just learning to cook, consider The Pleasures of Cooking for One. It's the type of gift that will certainly reverberate through the years. It will definitely not be leaving my crowded cookbook shelves. 

Green Hairball & Egg, No Ham

I'm exploring a few recipes from The Pleasures of Cooking for One by Judith Jones.

Looking for something simple a cozy dinner in tonight? Try the Baked Eggs recipe on page 98-99. Don't be daunted by the fact that the recipe stretches between two pages. This is a 6"x8" book, and the recipe is short.

Plus, this is cooking for one person, so the list of ingredients is very small: one zucchini, a little butter, 3 mushrooms, one scallion, a tablespoon or so of heavy cream, and an egg. Salt, pepper, and parmesan cheese are optional.

First, I grated the zucchini, mixed in a little salt, and let it set over a bowl to drain.

I'd forgotten to get scallions, so opted for chopped onion. The mushrooms followed next and seriously - it was perhaps 1/4 cup onion and a small (by comparison) mountain of mushrooms.

When you're cooking for one person, the hardest thing to get used to has to be the smaller amounts. Cooking for four - no problem. Many recipes are writen for four or more people. But cooking for one? Humph and bah humbug..unless you're a leftover lover.

Can't think of anyone who'd like to eat the same thing for six days straight. Not by choice anyway.

The onion and mushroom were sauteed with butter and then I added the zucchini hairball.

Seriously.

The drained and squeezed zucchini shreddings looked suspiciously like a cat's hairball - except green. I stirred the mixture around, but was still quite concerned. Green hairballs with chunks, so NOT appetizing. I was worried.

The recipe suggests using heavy cream; I had none and used just a wee bit of chicken broth to add flavor. I mushed the green hairball mixture into into a small gratin dish,and made a dent...

then added a sprinkling of that parmesan cheese from a green bottle. I cracked an egg into the center and placed the dish into a 350 oven.

I checked back in 15 minutes and the egg had not settled, so let it go just a bit longer and removed. I sprinkled on some salt and pepper, then added a couple strips of Grand Pandama cheese.

Sous Chef (err, Meow Chef?) Ivan volunteered to look glamorous while I snapped a picture.

And then I ate the green hairballs and egg.

And you know what? I liked it. I more than liked it: it was yummy. Adding the heavy cream would make this scintillating, a private decadance.

Here's the thing: if you nuked this in your microwave, it would be ready in minutes. Fast, sexy, satisfying. What could be wrong with that?

Oh.

Perhaps the image of green hairballs?

At the end of the recipe, Jones suggests trying other items to create a cushion for the egg: cooked greens, broccoli, or mashed root vegetables. I'll have to try at least one of those some day.