Table for One

Spider’s Trick Bag: Grilled Vegetables

2010-09-14T13:40:00.002-05:00

Actually, since this happens on the grill (Spider doesn’t grill!) this is from Sandy’s trick bag, but you could just as easily do this in the broiler.

This is bright and tasty on its own, as a side dish, or in lots of other ways (ideas after the jump.) Also a good home for leftover fresh veggies past their peak.

Heat the grill (I have a Weber Q grill--small, handy, good choice for every day and smaller scale cooking) to medium-high.

Cut up some vegetables into like-size strips. I usually start with a base of bell peppers, (red, yellow and/or orange are sweeter than green) red onions and a few smashed garlic cloves. Then I add whatever looks good or I have around: zucchini, yellow squash, parsnips, a few grape tomatoes.

Toss it all in a bowl with some olive oil, salt and pepper. I like to throw in a few fresh herbs, too. Usually some thyme but rosemary’s good too.

Here’s what makes it really easy: throw it all onto a grilling platter. This is basically a perforated metal pan you can set right on the grill. The vegetables won’t fall through, and you don’t have to bother with stringing a lot of veggies on a skewer.

Grill on high-ish heat until vegetables are soft. Generally, the longer you grill, the sweeter the veggies.

Sprinkle with balsamic vinegar after you take them off the grill.

Depending on how big a batch you make, these can serve you for days. Ideas:

• as a main dish all on their own or sprinkled with fresh goat cheese and some french bread on the side.

• as a side dish with grilled meat or vegetables

• tossed with some pasta

• in a sandwich, on their own, or with sliced fresh mozzarella or roast beef

• steak salad: put veggies on a bed of greens with sliced grilled steak and crumbled bleu cheese

Lawless Breakfasts

2010-08-24T18:37:00.002-05:00

So who says that breakfast has to be cereal, pancakes, or eggs and toast? I do like breakfast. Don’t get me wrong on that. I love to go out on Sunday morning to diner and have a ham and cheese omelet with hash browns! (By the way, the best omelets in Chicago are at the La Saber Diner at Montrose and Damen. YUM!!!)

But as a single person, completely in charge of my dining destiny, I have broken the rules and created what I call “Lawless Breakfast”.

It started one morning as I was enjoying my usual cup of dark roast coffee; I was not sure what I wanted to eat. Now also keep in mind that I don’t normally have breakfast at the crack of dawn as some people do. With my uneven schedule it could be anywhere from 8 to 11:30. Sometimes I just go right to lunch.

So I was looking in the fridge at about 9:30am and I saw some eggs, some black olives, and some rice from the night before and some parmesan cheese. So I heated up a pan with some cooking oil, beat the rice and cheese into the eggs and added the olives. It was so fluffy and delicious, I was surprised. It was some sort of a brunch item.

Another unusual thing that I love when I need to eat and am in a hurry is a piece of rye toast with Dijon mustard and sardines. It is so tasty and good protein. I know that one may not appeal to non sardine fans, but I like it. You could also do that one with some smoked salmon if you prefer.

Or another quick one is sliced fresh tomatoes on a piece of toast with a little parmesan cheese and black pepper. Light and delicious!

One of the stranger ones I did was some left over Italian sausage that I cut up in small pieces with onion and mixed it up with some left over potatoes. Then I heated it in a frying pan in a little olive oil and served it with an egg on top, sunny side up!

I have made use of everything from a piece of a pork chop to white beans, to left over cous cous in scrambled eggs with herbs!

So that is how the lawless breakfast can be. I just hope this segment did not put you off your lunch……..so to speak!

Summer Inspiration

2010-07-28T22:35:00.003-05:00

Cool. Crisp. Colorful. Easy, but satisfying. That's what I had in mind when I created this summer meal.

I started with the salad; pale, watery crunch of green and vivid deep summer red. Cucumbers, beets, onions. Then thought of an easy counterpoint whose friends could stand by in the fridge to be chowed down on whenever summer appetite calls.

Spider's Cool Salad

Thinly slice half a fresh cucumber.

Layer it on a plate with

half a can of sliced beets

and

a few thin slices of sweet white onion.

Drizzle it with

about a tablespoon of rice vinegar

and sprinkle it with coarse sea salt.

Rosemary Roasted Chicken Thighs

I roast a number of these at once and keep them in the fridge. Nothing like cold roasted chicken on a hot summer night.

Take chicken thighs, bone-in, with skin--as many as will fit in your little roasting pan and you think you can eat for the week.

Place evenly in the roasting pan, giving them room to breathe.

Rub with a tablespoon of oil per thigh (I use canola, but grapeseed's good too) and top with one crushed, chopped garlic clove and one sprig of rosemary per thigh, salt and pepper.

Roast for about an hour at 35oº, until skin is crispy.

Omelette Du Jour

2010-07-12T21:43:00.003-05:00

This is an omelette I made the other night. I looked in the fridge and came up with this filling. What’s in your fridge that would make a good omelette?

(I like this with the summer salad on the side (see below))

Beat two eggs with a tablespoon of water, some salt and pepper.

Prep a pan with vegetable spray, a light coating of olive oil or a little butter. Heat the pan.

Pour in the eggs. Slosh them around so they’re spread nice and thin and leave them there for a minute or two. Once the edges start to set a little, take a spatula and scoot it around the perimeter. Scoot scoot. Slosh slosh. While the eggs are still runny add

1 teaspoon of capers

and 2 slices of fresh mozzarella cheese to the center

when the eggs are just about set but still moist, add

4 fresh basil leaves

to the center, flip up the sides and serve.

You can always count on eggs.

Spidie’s Summer Salad

2010-06-29T21:36:00.003-05:00

This salad just tastes like summer to me. I use it as a side dish or spoon it on top of additional greens to make it a main dish. If I really want to make a meal of it, I just throw a few grilled shrimp on top.

Toss this all in a bowl:

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

1 ripe avocado, cubed

1/2 pint grape tomatoes, halved

4 thin slices white onion, separated

Top with:

1 Tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil

the juice of one lime

salt & freshly ground pepper

Meow. Summer.

Spider's Trick Bag: Sautéed greens

2010-06-09T08:32:00.001-05:00

One of the challenges of cooking for one is managing fresh produce. You want fresh food, but the single person uses them in such smaller quantities it's easy for them to go bad before you use it all. Discouraging. So I look for ways around this.

Arugula is one of my favorites. It's versatile, and I like its strong peppery flavor. But I rarely get through a bag before it starts to wilt. As soon as it does, I do this:

Get out a sauté pan and put it over medium heat. Sauté some minced garlic until golden. Add the greens. They'll cook down pretty quickly to a small amount. Add salt and pepper as they cook. You'll know when they're done.

Eat it right away as a side dish (as I did here with the sole) or put it in the fridge to heat up and eat later.

Take a peek in Spider's Pantry (just leave the medicine cabinet alone, thank you)

2010-06-07T16:46:00.003-05:00

It really doesn't take much to make something more elegant, more flavorful and feel a little more special. It's worth the effort to keep a few things on hand to plus any meal. From time to time I'll give you a peek inside my pantry. This is the stuff I almost always have on hand. Bonus: when the rest of the cupboards are bare, I can always whip something up from the pantry.

• Olives. I like Kalamata. Adds a little pungent saltiness to any dish. Also great as a snack for yourself or something you can put out with crackers and cheese if someone pops by.

• Parsley. Fresh herbs are WORTH IT. They make anythig taste brighter and fresher. I almost always have flat-leaf Italian parsley on hand, and then a rotating selection of herbs depending on what I'm making.

I used to worry about using them up before they go bad, but no more. If I have extras that are about to go funky, I chop them up, put them in a plastic zippy bag (smoosh out all the air and seal) and throw them in the freezer. I use them later in soups or other cooked dishes. They're not as bright as fresh, but in terms of flavor, they're still miles ahead of dried.

Don't forget to label--a Sharpie will do it and keep you from wondering what that bag of mysterious green stuff is. Also, if I want to add more later it keeps from from putting the parsley in with the tarragon.

• Lemons. Ah, lemons. Also freezable if perishing. Just squeeze the juice in a little jar or other small food container. Also label. Don't want to confuse it with the leftover frozen wine (good for sauces!)--not that I ever have any. Bonus points: grate the peel with a zester and also freeze. A sprinkle of sunshine in just about any dish.

Effortless Filet of Sole

2010-06-07T14:50:00.002-05:00

Effort. That's what a lot of people associate with cooking in general and just don't think it's worth it for "lil' ole me..." But often something really nourishing, delicious and even kind of special takes little more effort than slapping some Spam on a piece of bread. I give you Effortless Filet of Sole:

Take a filet of Sole. Sprinkle it with salt & pepper.
Take a small baking pan. Spray it with vegetable oil.
Take a tablespoon of butter. Break it into a few pieces and put it on top of the fish.
Stick it all in a 350º oven for 15 minutes.
Serve with some lemon, a few olives, a little parsley, and something green on the side.

Now that wasn't so hard.

Spider’s Trick Bag: Blanched Asparagus

2010-06-03T09:27:00.002-05:00

Dining well on your own takes a little strategizing. To make it happen, I have many tricks in my bag. Here’s a good one:

For a light snack or a side dish, keep some blanched asparagus on hand. It can be served slightly warm, at room temperature or straight out of the fridge.

I get a bunch of fresh asparagus. Rinse them. Trim the bottoms (just hold them end to end and bend--the tough part will snap off at just the right spot). Take a wide sauté pan, place all the spears in the bottom and add about an inch of water. Cover, bring to boil, then turn the water down to a simmer. When the asparagus turns a bright green color and the bottoms are just barely tender, strain immediately and rinse in very cold water to stop them from cooking.

As soon as they are cooled and drained, toss with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Eat some immediately, put the rest away for later!
A few ideas for “later”:

* chop and throw into an omelet with a little fresh goat cheese and some herbs. Tarragon, parsley or chives would be good.

* wrap spears in prosciutto or any thin-cut ham for an elegant appetizer

* snack on as is with your favorite dip or sauce (I like mayonnaise mixed w/an extra squeeze of lemon and a little dijon)

If you’ve got any other ideas, I’d love to hear them--leave a comment!

Fast and Light, Late Night

2010-05-23T22:07:00.002-05:00

You’ve just gotten home from a long day at work. My long days at work are usually long nights at work. I get home from a gig, it’s close to midnight or past, I’m hungry, exhausted, a little revved up. This is a situation where taking the time to cook for yourself may seem counterintuitive, but it’s more important than ever--I wind down, nourish myself, and get a really good night’s sleep after.

The key is to be prepared. I have a couple tricks in my bag, and a bag of frozen shrimp in my freezer is one of them.

It’s good to have a couple of easy quick dishes you can make with what you have on hand to turn to when you’re too exhausted to think. This is one of my favorites:

Angel Hair Pasta with Garlic Shrimp and Red Peppers

Angel hair pasta

4 Tbs olive oil

1/2 chopped red pepper (in 1 inch pieces)

Splash of white wine

1 clove garlic, crushed

6 frozen shrimp

Romano cheese

Take the frozen shrimp out of the freezer and sit them in a bowl of water to thaw while you put a pot of water on for the pasta. In the meantime, put the olive oil and a splash of white wine in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and red peppers and sauté until the peppers are tender.

Once the water boils, cook the pasta along with a generous pinch of salt. See if the shrimp are thawed. If not, hurry them along by draining and adding some warm water. When they are thawed, strain and toss into the olive oil mixture until they are just heated through.

When the pasta is ready, toss it all together and top with some grated Romano cheese. For bonus points, add a few stalks of the blanched asparagus that’s been lounging in the fridge.

Don’t forget to pour yourself a nice glass of wine.

Welcome to Table for One

2010-05-23T17:32:00.001-05:00

I could never understand why someone wouldn’t want to treat themselves as well as they would their guests.

Table for One is about the real glories of living alone. The way you honor your life. What better place to begin than how you nourish yourself every day? When you give some attention to feeding yourself well, you’re laying the foundation for living life to the fullest. You deserve something better than a sandwich over the sink!

I discovered the importance of this unexpectedly. About a year ago, my husband of 19 years died suddenly of a heart attack. We were both creative people who had no children and a very social (and well-fed!) lifestyle. I am a professional singer, actress and playwright who also loves to cook and give dinner parties. When Bob died, I found myself in a new place in my life. Living alone. I decided it was more important than ever to embrace the life that I have, and do the things that I love. I wasn’t about to put away the china and the Cole Porter champagne glasses.

So I’ve made some adjustments. New recipes, new strategies. And I’ve paid attention--to my surroundings, to my friendships, to the little things that make up a day. I believe it’s made a difference, and it’s helped me move forward, with joy. This blog is a place to share those ideas. And I hope it can make a little difference for you too.

Meow,

Spider