quickie meals for one, continued

when i approach the project of cooking for myself alone, i have a couple parameters in mind:

1. use what’s in the fridge. i generally don’t buy many groceries when i’m alone.

2. try something new

3. don’t use a recipe

i’ve never reflected on these rules, i’ve just obeyed them as if it were always this way with solo cooking. the past few days have seen some creativity:

BREAKFAST:

poached egg atop sauteed green tomatoes

not much to report on how this worked. i sliced some green tomatoes and cooked them in olive oil and some spices (used Tomitillo from spain–just about anything is nice, though) so that the toms cooked down a bit. while those were heating up, i poached an egg in lightly boiling water. it all finished up in about the same amount of time–approximately 2 minutes. if i had a toaster, i woulda toasted the bread during all of this, too.

OPEN-FACE ZUCCHINI SQUASH SAMMIE

i bought a short, stout, and round squash, which was perfect for a one-person meal. i sliced it up tossed it in a pan with some olive oil and fresh ground pepper. when it was done, i put some sliced cheese on a piece of bread and topped it with the squash to melt in the pan with the cover on for a few minutes. again, this meal probably took all of 5 minutes or so, and it was delish.

BABYSITTIN’ SUPPER

when you’re at someone else’s house, sometimes figuring out 1) what to cook; 2) how to cook it; can be a challenge. for me, one of the easiest meals to prepare in an empty or unfamiliar larder situation is peanut sauce. you can pretty much toss anything into peanut sauce and noodles, so i did.

i sauteed carrot and a red bell pepper, and got the noodles cooking. my version of peanut sauce is never the same, as i just keep adding ingredients until it seems just right. i sauté some garlic and ginger quickly, add peanut butter and some water to coax the chunky stuff into a sauce, and add differing levels of the following:

hot sauce (usually sriracha sauce)

soy sauce

vinegar (if asian is handy, great)

fish sauce (not necessary)

sesame oil

from this point, it’s all, “a little more of this, a little more of that” and constantly adding more water so that it isn’t too thick. when ready, pile the sauteed veggies or meat or whatever on top of the noodles and add the sauce. if you have some cilantro or basil, add one of ‘em (had the latter last night) after the food is on the plate.