Cooking for One

It is high time I posted some food photos, I do believe. Juan is overseas where I will join him in a couple of weeks, so I have been indulging in some cooking-for-one. I love being back in civilization, where you can actually find any and everything at the grocery store. (I love little Winona, but sometimes the culinary deprivation is frustrating. Out East here, whether I'm in Maine or Boston, there's just more selection) The other night I made a corn/bulgur wheat salad. I know the picture isn't great, but do not get me started on this #$%@ing camera. Just don't. I took two ears of corn and cooked them, then cut the kernels and added to them cooked bulgur wheat, some thinly slices of red onion, halved cherry tomatoes, fresh basil, half an orange pepper, about 3 tablespoons each of apple cider vinegar and virgin olive oil, salt and pepper. I got the basic idea from the Contessa's corn salad in her first cookbook, though improved with more veggies and the bulgur wheat to make it a substantial entree. That gave me enough for dinner and two lunches.

Tonight I cooked portobello mushroom raviolis and didn't want a long-cooking, heavy sauce. So I checked out Giada's suggestions and made a variation of her Checca sauce. I cut up the rest of my cherry tomatoes and a couple romas, too, threw in more of that red onion, lots of fresh basil and olive oil, some garlic and Parmesan cheese. Nothing is cooked- it just gets chopped up in the food processor. I had purchased buffalo mozzarella earlier in the week, but it was gone in two days between caprese pizza and a chicken salad, so I had to do without.
Now that I am in decent driving distance of a Trader Joes, I can also get a bountiful supply of decent $3.99 Pinot Grigio. (I don't care what the label is, as long as it tastes good)

For dessert, I've been alternating between lemon and coconut sorbet. I really wanted to make a raspberry sauce, so I just smashed a 1/2 pint of fresh raspberries with a fork, added some sugar and a little lemon flavored vodka, cooked it over the stove for about 15 minutes max- maybe it was more like 10- just get that alcohol taste out of there and a good looking texture in. There are two bowls, not because I am a glutton, but because I shared with Michael, my old roomie and Meridith's still. He's letting me stay here, he can have some dessert, darn it! He even got the larger portion, in case you were wondering.