Dinner For One
The other day my husband and daughter had one of their traditional father/daughter outings to see the Indians (her team) play the White Sox, (his team).
Although I was invited to attend, I jumped at the opportunity to come home to a quiet house and an evening of blissful solitude. I had one simple request of my husband, to stop at our favorite little market and pick me up a small filet mignon. They were perfectly content to leave me with my steak and head out for dollar dog night. It was a fabulous night for baseball in Cleveland; blue sky, puffy white clouds and a nice breeze.
Cooking for one can be a daunting task but I had formulated a plan somewhere around my lunchtime that day at work. (I did tell you I spend a lot of time thinking about food). I knew exactly what I wanted and exactly what I was going to put into it; things that no one else in my family were crazy about. I got to work as soon as they pulled out of the drive.
I did my mise en place first, that is prepared all of my vegetables, cut and seasoned my meat well with salt and pepper. This is an important step, to season the meat ahead of time.
I also like to have it at room temperature for a more even cooking. When I stir fry I adhere to two important rules of thumb, the first being a hot wok and cold oil, the second, have everything ready (including the rice) because this is going to go fast! If you don’t own a rice steamer, I highly suggest you make the investment, then throw away that quick cooking instant crap and learn how easy and tasty real rice can be. My cooker cost all of $12 at the local DrugMart store and I use it for lots of different things.
I cooked the vegetables first adding each one at a time, cooking and removing to a bowl, then the meat for just a few minutes. (good steak doesn’t need much) Here’s the end result. I even had enough to take for lunch the next day, what a treat! The next time you find yourself cooking for one, I hope you’ll take the time to use fabulous ingredients and take your time with the preparation. Do no less for yourself than you’d do for a houseful of guests. I was fast asleep by the time my two fans came in and Joe said I was smiling.
