Single Servings: July 2003 Archives

Well, Todd was in North Carolina for a couple of days, so I had Three Whole Days of eating whatever I wanted and I blew it, sort of. Actually, Tuesday night I toasted a pita in the oven, then spread goat cheese on it and topped it with peppers I had roasted the night before, and that was pretty good with a lettuce salad and homemade vinaigrette. Last night I had Amy's Bread sourdough toasted with goat cheese, cranberry chutney and smoked turkey (my new favorite combo), like a crostini or open-face sandwich. Also good with some salad and a glass of wine. Basically the same thing I had on Tuesday, with different bread and some different toppings.

Tonight we're going to Dos Caminos to celebrate some good news at Todd's work, so I'll report back on that.

Some friends came over for lunch yesterday with their new baby, Sofia, who is just shy of 1 month old. She mostly slept through the afternoon, only waking for dinner around 3 or 4. While she was asleep, we had our own meal.

I had roasted some zucchini, squash, eggplant, green beans, onion and a variety of bell peppers the day before, then tossed the beans and onion together. The other veggies were topped with balsamic vinegar and capers. We also had mozzarella balls with garlic and parsley, pickled veggies, cornishons, proscuitto and cheese, a baguette, and two "salads" that I prepared: gingery marinated garbanzos and a vegetable couscous salad. The garbanzos were made the day before and marinated in a mixture of red wine vinegar and oil with minced garlic, red onion and ginger and seasoned with salt and pepper.

The couscous salad was a recipe from The Naked Chef, and it used an interesting technique for the couscous. Make a lemon vinaigrette: 5 tablespoons olive oil, 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, salt and pepper. Mix in 9 ounces of plain couscous, then add 1 cup cold water and let it sit for 10 mintues. Meanwhile assemble the other ingredients: chopped bell peppers (the recipe called for roasted, but I used fresh since we were already having a platter of roasted veggies), 2 chopped tomatoes, half a small red onion, diced, half a diced jalapeno, seeds removed, torn-up basil leaves, the juice of a lemon, a couple tablespoons of red wine vinegar, salt and pepper. You have to let this mixture sit for about 15 minutes, and then you add the couscous and mix it all together.

I also made a buttermilk panna cotta, which I'll write up separately.

It's one of the first things I make when the weather gets too hot to turn on the stove: a salad of white beans, canned tuna packed in oil and diced red onion. Using some of the oil from the tuna, I make a vinaigrette in the bottom of a big bowl, then add the above ingredients and some rubbed sage. Had it over lettuce Monday night, in a pita for lunch yesterday and on crackers for lunch today. Obviously not single serving, but a small enough amount that it's gone and I'm not utterly sick of it yet.