Janneke Vreugdenhil - Solo Food

Although my little survey may have been totally random and unscientific, the findings are consistent with bona-fide research. On the whole, the meals of people who eat alone are less nutritious than those eaten by people who share their table with others. Singles generally have a more limited diet and eat less fruit, vegetables and fish. These facts are quite disheartening. Statistics also show that singles throw away more food than families. This isn’t so strange when you consider that supermarkets still focus mainly on families, with most pre-packaged products intended to serve two to four. So, many of those who eat alone are often obliged to eat the same thing two days in a row. Which is, of course, fine now and then, but does not exactly contribute to the enjoyment of a meal. At the same time, there are hardly any one-person recipes in cookbooks, magazines and newspapers or on cooking blogs and websites.

Cooking for one really does require a different approach from cooking for a family or an entire army and is not simply a matter of quartering a recipe meant for four. Solo cooking requires an approach that is both smarter and simpler. The challenge is to make a proper meal using just a few ingredients (because you want to throw away as little as possible) and not spend too much time doing it (because you don’t want to spend an hour in the kitchen every day making something that will take 10 minutes to eat).

Now that solo seems to be the new togetherness, I feel it’s high time to finally take the single cook a bit more seriously. Whether you’re alone by choice or by chance, whether you eat alone every night or just now and then, I hope this book will help you discover that cooking for yourself can be very satisfying. Perhaps precisely because it’s just you. You’re essentially your own ideal guest – you know exactly what this person likes to eat.

7 TIPS FOR THE SOLO CHEF

1. DISCOVER WHAT YOU LIKE TO EAT AND AIM TO PLEASE YOUR OWN PALATE. One of the most wonderful things about cooking for yourself is that you don’t have to take anyone else into account. It doesn’t matter what you make as long as it sounds good to you.

2. EXPERIMENT! See cooking for yourself as a chance to try new things. Even if what you come up with turns out to be inedible, there’s no harm done. That’s why they deliver pizzas.

3. STOCK YOUR VERY OWN GOLDEN PANTRY. Cooking for yourself also means you have to do your own shopping, and it’s nice if you don’t have to leap that hurdle on busy days. Hereyou’ll find a list of food items that are good to always have on hand.

4. CUT YOURSELF SOME SLACK. There’s nothing wrong with beans from a tin, mayo from a jar, lettuce from a bag or hummus from the refrigerator section of the supermarket. You really don’t need to make everything from scratch.

5. EMBRACE THE ONE-POT MEAL. Cooking for yourself also means you have to do your own washing up …

6. CHERISH THE EGG. Fried, boiled or scrambled, you can whip up something nourishing in less than 10 minutes. You never have to go hungry if you have eggs in the house.

7. DON’T GO TOO SOLO! Invite friends over for dinner as often as you can. Cooking for yourself is good, and pleasurable, and cool, but I still don’t believe that we were meant to eat alone.

YOUR VERY OWN GOLDEN PANTRY

coarse + fine sea salt

black peppercorns

dried herbs + ground spices (in particular thyme, oregano, bay leaves, cumin, coriander, chilli flakes + curry powders)

olive oil + rice or peanut oil

red wine vinegar, white wine vinegar + balsamic vinegar

Dijon mustard

harissa or sambal (Indonesian chilli sauce)

soy sauce

fish sauce

stock cubes and/or stock pots

Thai and/or Indian curry paste

pasta

basmati or jasmine rice + risotto rice

tins or jars of beans, chickpeas and/or lentils

tinned coconut milk

instant couscous and/or bulgur and/or quinoa

instant polenta (if you like polenta – some people hate it)

tins of peeled tomatoes

tinned tuna + anchovies (+ sardines, if you like)

olives in jars or tins

capers, packed in salt or vinegar

nuts (if you freeze them, they’ll stay fresh longer)

peanut butter (so you can always make a peanut butter and sambal sandwich)

onions + garlic

eggs

lemons and/or limes

fresh root ginger (you can also cut this into pieces and freeze)

fresh chilli pepper (at least, if you’re a chilli-head like me)

butter

yoghurt

Parmesan cheese (can also be frozen, grated or otherwise)

bread

pitta bread and/or tortillas and/or naan (all three can also be used as a base for pizza)

frozen peas and/or spinach

at least 1 portion of meat, chicken or fish

QUICK FIX

Say you come home hungry and tired after a long day at work – cooking yourself anything more than a simple meal would be a challenge, right? To put it mildly. On a night like that all you want to do is kick off your shoes, pour yourself a glass of something and get a plate of food in front of you as quickly as you can. Enter the refrigerated supermarket ready meal. Enter the takeaway.

But the thing with those meals is that they get awfully boring after a while. And do you know why? Because they’re prepared by someone who doesn’t know you. Someone who doesn’t know how hot you like your curry, how salty you like your soup, how velvety you like your mash or how al dente you like your pasta. They’re made for the average palate. They haven’t been created with unique little you in mind. Which is why a home-cooked meal, no matter how simple, is always more satisfying than an anonymous one. The good news is that it’s not that hard to throw something together in 15 minutes – 20 minutes tops. Something that tastes much better and is far more enjoyable …

Cooking for yourself is a chance to figure out what pleases your palate. Or, to paraphrase Nicolas Cage in Wild at Heart, see it as a symbol of your individuality and your belief in personal freedom.

A kind of pisto Manchego

Preparation Time

15 minutes

olive oil, for frying

1 small (or 1/ 2large) onion, sliced into half rings

1/ 2long red pepper, deseeded and sliced into strips

4 slices of Serrano ham or chorizo, chopped

1/ 2courgette or 1 baby courgette, cut in half lengthways and sliced into half moons

10 cherry tomatoes, halved

2 eggs

a few fresh basil or flat-leaf parsley leaves (or a pinch of dried oregano)

salt and freshly ground pepper, to season

bread, to serve

Heat a small splash of olive oil in a frying pan, add the onion and a pinch of salt, and fry for 2 minutes over a high heat until the onion begins to brown. Add the pepper and fry for 2 minutes more. Add the ham or chorizo and fry for another minute. Add the courgette and fry for 2 more minutes. Add the tomatoes and fry for another 2 minutes.

Make two depressions in the vegetable mixture and break in the eggs, then cook for 2–3 minutes until the eggs are set, covering the pan for the last 30 seconds. Sprinkle over a little more salt, if necessary, and in any case with a generous amount of freshly ground pepper and finish with basil or flat-leaf parsley.