How many of us (me included, let’s be honest) when cooking just for ourselves don’t make a lot of effort, because ‘it’s not worth it just for me’? What an enormous fallacy! Whether through choice or circumstance, for a prolonged or brief period of time, cooking for number one is the most important, rewarding and enjoyable of all cooking activities – at least so it should be.
First of all, you can cook what you like. No consideration for the fussy, the allergic or the ones on a special diet. Secondly, if you experiment and ruin it, you won’t feel guilty, just hungry (cheese on toast in that case justified). And thirdly, a wagyu beef steak, a halibut fillet, organic salmon or expensive blue cheese might be an affordable treat, as you only will buy one of them.
Still, my recipe suggestions are for minimum effort, minimum hands-on cooking time because that’s the usual single requirement, but also maximum enjoyment. Some of the recipes indicate they serve more than one, because I have to mind those herd punters who are more numerous, but the recipes are all suited to scale down to one. And to be enjoyed!
Omelette is the quintessential dish for one; in fact it is nigh impossible to produce several at the same time. And it’s versatile – well suited for breakfast, lunch or dinner alike. Plus, it’s ready in minutes. Fresh spinach, Cheddar or Gruyere, and nobody will mind that it’s not perfectly shaped and folded.
Spinach and cheese omelette
RECIPE
The same principle as above, slightly modified ingredients. Mushrooms are my favourite, but if you want to swap them for chopped courgettes, diced pepper, slivered fennel and/or some bacon, ham or chorizo, you’re the boss.
Cheese and mushroom omelette
RECIPE
Spinach and cheese bake, again completely universal in terms of the meal type, though I prefer it for dinner/supper/tea as it’s takes a tinier bit longer to cook than an omelette or frittata. Use fresh spinach if you can; cheese on the other hand can totally be the result of a fridge dive.
Time for some self-love, and what’s better to pamper your inner carnivore than an exquisite, perfectly medium rare fillet steak? Don’t skip the anchovy butter for garnish!
Corn ribs with dukkah topping might just be the best side to that steak. Dukkah topping will last for ever and can be sprinkled on hummus, avocado toast, scrambled eggs, yoghurt and any green salad.
Baked potato as a meal for one is a bit sad. But if it’s a sweet potato topped with tahini butter, it’s a feast. Tahini butter will last for days in the fridge, except it won’t because you’ll want to put it on everything: pasta, rice, toast and cooked cauliflower. For the same reason don’t scale it down!
Sweet potato with tahini
RECIPE
What good is a recipe if it won’t make a full meal? Ah, but it will if you have a portion of any buttered grain you like alongside these delicious courgettes.
Roasted courgettes with maple syrup
RECIPE
It couldn’t be easier, and can hardly be tastier. Two or more chicken thighs, depending on your appetite, marinated the night before or in the morning, will need less than half an hour of roasting before they are stuffed into a warm pita with pickles and shredded cabbage.
This is a wonderful autumnal dish, even more wonderful for being easily scalable up or down. It will feed a crowd or just you, depending on how many sausages, pears and parsnips you use. And cold leftovers make a delicious sarnie.
Sausage, pear and parsnip tray bake
RECIPE
Lamb neck is the perfect one-person cut of meat. Best with new season lamb, otherwise a bit of a luck of the draw in terms of fattiness. Still, when nicely seasoned like in this recipe and cooked medium pink, it makes a delicious meal.
Serve with the lamb neck from above – the best flavour combo which the Greeks have known and enjoyed for ages. Chunky cucumber slices with crumbled feta and lashings of good honey – with or without a few small olives – a delicious salad or side, especially good made with mini or ridge cucumbers.
Cucumbers with feta and honey
RECIPE
Frittata, like omelette, is a quick and rewarding, filling dish that will help you clear the fridge of slightly sad bits of vegetable too good to bin. Broccoli, or cauliflower, cabbage or mushrooms, any chunks of veg that cook reasonably quickly, with eggs and cheese mixed in because everything is better with cheese.
Mix your own Creole seasoning or buy a jar of Cajun. Literally a spoonful of minced pork (for one) is enough to flavour the rice, so it’s a budget as well as a solitary dish. You can swap pork for beef or lamb and use brown rice, in which case cook it all for about 40 minutes.
This classic Filipino dish is traditionally served for breakfast, with fried egg and steamed rice, but for the western palate it’s probably better suited to be served for dinner. Either way, these strips of an inexpensive cut of beef marinated in a sweet, salty, pungent mixture are simply fantastic.
Treat yourself to a halibut fillet and cook it in a failproof way, with a minimum effort. The halibut (or any other chunky white fish fillet) steams delicately on top of braising leeks and carrots. One pan to wash up and what a delightful feast!
Halibut with braised leeks
RECIPE
Duck breast fillet is another cut of meat meant for a single diner, especially that it’s not cheap either. It should be cooked pink, so it’s enough to cook it 5 minutes on the skin side and 3 one the other, in a roaring hot oven. Just make sure you temper it before cooking!
Duck breast with pineapple
RECIPE
Is it just me or do supermarkets portion salmon in a very stingy manner? 2 fillets on a tray, but so tiny that if you feed them to 2 people, they will go hungry. So grab that tray for your dinner for one and grill it simply.
Halloumi, the squeaky cheese, is the salvation for a vegetarian at a BBQ party. But it can be cooked at home in oven grill, skewered with tomatoes, mushrooms, onion and maybe even grapes for delicious meat-free kebabs.
Halloumi and vegetable skewers
RECIPE
Dessert for one doesn’t have to be a single éclair from the supermarket cake section. Anything baked at home is a million times better for you than shop-bought sweets. These mini Breton cakes are absolutely delightful, and will keep for up to a week.
Or make it a baked fruit dessert, sweet savoury, with salty blue cheese melting over spiced pear halves. Apple will work too, or a peach, or figs. Be good to yourself!
Spiced pear with blue cheese
RECIPE