Single Servings: June 2003 Archives
This includes two things Todd won't eat, mushrooms and crepes (only because crepes "aren't real food"), so it was perfect for last night, and the leftovers tasted even better today.
I made half a crepe recipe, which was enough for last night and lunch today, with 1/2 cup milk, an egg, 6 tablespoons flour, 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil and salt. I whisked it up and left it to sit while I made the ragout.
Sauteed half a small onion in a little butter, added about 10 medium quartered crimini mushrooms and cooked that for 5 minutes, until the mushrooms started to brown. Then I added a couple good squirts of tomato paste, poured in about 1/2 cup water and stirred to dissolve the paste. Boiled that down until the sauce was thick, then stirred in some dried rubbed sage. It all tasted good right then, but the flavor of the sage really fully developed by the time I ate this for lunch today.
I used a 1/4 cup measure to scoop out the crepe batter and only filled it about 3/4 full. Brushed the hot pan with oil, then poured the batter in and swirled. Ended up with something not really round. I need to work on my crepe technique. When the edges started to get dry and browned I flipped it and cooked it for a little bit, then made the next one.
I folded 4 crepes in quarters and overlapped them in a row on a plate, then topped them with the mushroom ragout. Good. I just wrapped the leftover crepes in a paper towel (they didn't even stick).
This isn't really a single-serving recipe (they rarely are), but the leftover pancakes are pretty good warmed up, so consider this lunch the next day, too. The recipe is from Mollie Katzen's Sunlight Cafe, her newest cookbook, which is all "breakfast" foods (although these don't seem like breakfast to me). They have wild rice, scallions, mushrooms and goat cheese, so were the perfect candidate for a night when Todd was at class.
I cooked the wild rice in the microwave following directions on the box, except that I had to keep adding water because it kept boiling away mid-cooking: 1/4 cup wild rice and probably about a cup of water in the microwave on high for about 20 minutes, stirring it every 5 minutes and adding more water if it needs it. The times probably vary depending on the microwave, too, but since this isn't really rice, and doesn't get sticky and gross if you mess with it, it's easier to play it by ear (or by taste and touch).
While that was going on, I salted and sauteed the mushrooms for about 10 minutes, then added a minced garlic clove and a squeeze of juice from half a lemon. Then I beat 2 eggs until mixed and added 2 generous tablespoons flour and some salt. Mixed that until uniform, then added the cooked wild rice, a large sliced scallion, goat cheese crumbles, pepper and the mushroom mixture. Heated oil in the same skillet I cooked the mushrooms and used 1/4 cup of batter per pancake. Flipped 'em after 2 or 3 minutes and finished cooking on the other side.
This isn't really a single-serving recipe (they rarely are), but the leftover pancakes are pretty good warmed up, so consider this lunch the next day, too. The recipe is from Mollie Katzen's Sunlight Cafe, her newest cookbook, which is all "breakfast" foods (although these don't seem like breakfast to me). They have wild rice, scallions, mushrooms and goat cheese, so were the perfect candidate for a night when Todd was at class.
I cooked the wild rice in the microwave following directions on the box, except that I had to keep adding water because it kept boiling away mid-cooking: 1/4 cup wild rice and probably about a cup of water in the microwave on high for about 20 minutes, stirring it every 5 minutes and adding more water if it needs it. The times probably vary depending on the microwave, too, but since this isn't really rice, and doesn't get sticky and gross if you mess with it, it's easier to play it by ear (or by taste and touch).
While that was going on, I salted and sauteed the mushrooms for about 10 minutes, then added a minced garlic clove and a squeeze of juice from half a lemon. Then I beat 2 eggs until mixed and added 2 generous tablespoons flour and some salt. Mixed that until uniform, then added the cooked wild rice, a large sliced scallion, goat cheese crumbles, pepper and the mushroom mixture. Heated oil in the same skillet I cooked the mushrooms and used 1/4 cup of batter per pancake. Flipped 'em after 2 or 3 minutes and finished cooking on the other side.
