Mark Bittman's Egg Noodles in Soy Broth

Some nights, you walk home in the unseasonable sixty degree weather, completely in the dark at 6:15. After you get home and pet the cat, you hang up your (unneccessary) wool coat and stand in front of the refrigerator....until you realize you can't stand to make yourself dinner. This is a recipe for those nights. When you are home alone and not feeling particularly inspired, (despite the impending holiday and the two pies to be made,) simple fast meals that scratch a particular culinary itch call to you over the internet

Salty, with a kick of heat and just the right balance of toasty sesame oil and sweet ketchup (yeah, you read that right), this recipe was just what I yearned for. Is it authentic Asian? No. Truth be told, its not even that pretty...But if its good enough for Mark Bittman and one of my favorite food bloggers, I don't feel the least bit strange sharing it with you here. My variation calls for you to use rice noodles, because those are my favorite, then stir in mung bean sprouts, and sprinkle it liberally with the cilantro that will most assuredly wilt in the next few days if you don't use it up. I paired down the servings to serve 2 (because I never can seem to cook just for just one serving...) I suggest you give it a try, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Rice Noodles with Soy Broth
Serves 2
2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons soy sauce, more to taste
2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoon ketchup
1 1/2 teaspoon sherry vinegar
A drizzle of toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon sriracha, more to taste
1/3 of a pack of Maifun Rice Noodles
1/2 cup mung bean sprouts
3 tablespoons of cilantro, chopped

boil approx 2 1/2 cups water in the kettle, when its boiled, cover the rice noodles in boiling water and cover for 30 minutes. In a small saucepan add the soy sauce, ketchup, vinegar, sesame oil, and sriracha, stir to combine and simmer until little bubbles form at the edges, but do not boil. Check your noodles after 15 minutes, if they feel firm, but not undercooked, add them to your broth and simmer for another 5-ish minutes (if not let them sit for up to another 15 minutes, then pour the broth over the noodles ) Quickly stir in the bean sprouts. Divide into two bowls (ahem, or leave the remaining noodles in the pan) and top with the cilantro. Eat them on the couch with a big book in front of you, because no one is home to miss your dinner conversation. More...

French Lentils

Every once and a while, the man goes out alone to see friends. Even more rarely, this coincides with having nothing planned for the evening myself. Its times like this that I like to treat myself to some quiet time. Enter the 'single girl for a night' dinner.
Admittedly, when I was a single girl, I consumed mostly a group of foods that come with a 'tm' after the name: Nerd Rope, Red Bull, and Miller Lite. Not exactly the most nutritious, but you'll find it quite slimming for whatever reason. I'm quite sure it had to do with hours of indigestion.
I imagine that if I were single today, I would manage something a bit more graceful than that. Something vegetarian, elegant, and yet satisfying. Comfort food that would at the same time be reasonably healthy and incredibly chic. I would eat it at a bistro set in my Parisian studio apartment, while I looked out over the city of lights. I'm giving myself too much credit here, I know. Instead, I come home, pour wine, wear yoga pants, and clean the pantry while I let little French lentils simmer away in a pot on the stove. I rinse spinach while humming along to the boom box, even though I have a movie on in the next room. (I know its terribly wasteful to run the TV when no one watches, but I come from a big family, when my house is empty I like background noise). I poach an egg, I stir mustard into lentils, dress spinach in acidic champagne vinaigrette, and top the little tower with a poached egg (soft boiled works lovely too). Grasp a hunk of leftover baguette from the fridge, refill your wine, and sit in front of that movie. May I suggest something French?

 

Single Girl French Lentils
Serves one, with a small amount of lentils leftover, for lunch maybe?

1 shallot chopped

1 carrot, chopped

1/2 bulb of fennel, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp herbs de Provence

1 teaspoon ground mustard

1/2 cup French green lentils

1/2 cup white wine (I never use this)

1 1/2 cups vegetable stock

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons of olive oil



Add olive oil to a hot pan over medium flame, add onion, carrots and fennel; sweat the veggies until they are softened. Add garlic and spices, stir for another minute or two or until the garlic is fragrant. Taste and season with pepper, you may want to hold the salt, because you still have to add stock, mustard, and wine (if you are using it) which will add more flavor and salt. Add the lentils and stir to combine. If you are using the white wine, add it to the pan and cook off until almost totally reduced / absorbed. Add the broth to the lentils. You should have at least an inch of broth covering the lentil mixture, if not, add additional water.
Cook until all liquid is absorbed and your lentils yield (remember, they were dry, so they were rocks), It should take about about 30 minutes. When they are softened to your liking, stir in some Dijon mustard and season with pepper and salt.
 About 20 minutes into the lentil's simmer, prepare a poached egg, and dress some spinach with lemon and oil and vinegar. Sometimes I cheat and use some bottled champagne vinaigrette. Top the spinach with the hot lentils (this will wilt the spinach ever so slightly,) and then top the lentils with your poached egg. For the really decadent (in so far as dining alone) I like to pour some wine, grab a heel of bread, and maybe some small hunks of a hard cheese and cozy up to my plate.
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Quick Bite Dinners

Or, how to make dinner in 20 minutes.

The other night I got home late, and had to be out the door again in 40 minutes for an appointment. I was (characteristically) ready to eat my own arm off, and in need of something filling and delicious (and maybe just a bit spicy?) but most more importantly I needed it fast. I threw a 'take and bake' frozen baguette in the oven and opened the fridge. Enter spicy pork sausages, conveniently thawed in my fridge (and intended for a different meal).

In our pantry, there are about ten different varieties of canned or dried beans, french lentils, rice noodles, wheat pasta and enough vinegars and sauce bottles to make your brain explode. Come over and look in our fridge, nine times out of ten, its very nearly empty (except for the crisper drawers) but the door is completely fulll of condiments, we have a mustard addiction. On this particular evening I reached for some cannellini beans, remembering some sort of stew recipe I had read from about thirty different sources. In fact, you see incarnations of this stew all over the internet, mostly with chicken sausage and escarole to make it 'South Beach Diet' friendly, but the only chicken sausages that our grocery store sells are heavily processed, par-boiled and give off a slightly chemical aroma. I'll take the pork fat over that any day, thankyouverymuch.  So this is my short-cut version of the same idea, I got it on the table in 20 minutes, from fridge door to plate, including chopping a shallot and half a bell pepper. These veggies cook down, so if its not your most beautiful, regular dice, noone will notice...and if they do, and have the audacity to say anythng, then why are you feeding them?

This was delicious with a hunk of bread, a big salad (extra points if you can get the man to chop the salad while you make the stew,) and a grating of Romano. In the end I was full, and I had time to spare. We don't really have a rotation of regular meals in our house, (except of course for Melissa Clark's shrimp with broccoli, making a regular appearance), but I'm sure this is a dinner that we'll build on or return to a few times this winter.

Super Fast Spicy Sausage & Cannelini 'Stew'

Serves four, or two for dinner with lunches left over

3 hot sausages, removed from their casing

1 can of cannellini beans

1 pint jar of tomato sauce (i used some leftover sauce in our fridge,)

1 medium shallot, diced

1/2 bell pepper, diced

2 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced

1 Tablespoon dried Italian herbs

2 Tablespoons of olive oil

fresh basil and grated Romano cheese to taste

Heat a medium skillet over medium heat and add oil. Add the sausage and stir to break up to a medium 'crumble' brown the pieces ligtly and remove from the pan. Add the shallot and pepper and cook, stirring frequently until the onion is softened. add the tomato and return the sausage to the pan, add the tomato sauce, and dried herbs, check for seasoning and add salt and pepper if desired. If you find it gets too sticky, reduce the heat slightly and add some chicken stock, veggie broth, or water.

Serve with a genrous garnish of basil and Romano, alongside a green salad and some warm
bread.

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