What We Eat When We Eat Alone - Deborah Madison [60]
Put 4 or 5 tablespoons crème fraîche or cream in a small skillet and crumble in about the same amount of blue cheese. Your cheese might be Gorgonzola, Roquefort, Maytag, or a chunk of Point Reyes Blue. All will work. Heat the cream—add a sliver of garlic if you wish—and mash the cheese with the back of a spoon until it melts into the cream. Season with freshly ground pepper. It probably won’t need salt. That’s it.
If you made more than you can eat in a sitting, refrigerate the leftover. It will congeal but will return to its sauce-like consistency when reheated. As for appearances, the more blue veining in the cheese, the dingier the sauce will look, turning bluish-grey. If it matters to you, chopped parsley can brighten its appearance.
Polenta with Blue Cheese Sauce
Make soft polenta. Scoop a portion onto your plate or into a bowl, then use the back of a spoon to make a little depression. Pour the blue cheese sauce into the depression, then sprinkle on a few pinches of finely chopped parsley and plenty of freshly ground black pepper. Crown it all with crisp and crunchy golden breadcrumbs, the same ones that go into the omelet with crunchy buttered breadcrumbs.
Exotic Rice Pudding on Demand
Imagine that you feel like something soothing for dinner, but something that’s on the sweet side. You’re not going to make a cake, but you might make a rice pudding. And if you have leftover white rice, you can make this pretty and unusual dessert. It’s flavored (and stained) with saffron, spiced with cardamom, and dusted with green pistachio nuts.
1 CUP COOKED RICE
3⁄4 CUP MILK
A SMALL HANDFUL OF GOLDEN RAISINS OR OTHER DRIED FRUIT, SUCH AS CHERRIES
A PINCH OF SAFFRON THREADS
2 PINCHES OF GROUND CARDAMOM
HONEY TO TASTE
TINY PINCH OF SALT
CHOPPED PISTACHIO NUTS
1. Put the rice in a small pan with the milk and raisins or other dried fruit. Bring just to a boil, then lower the heat. While the rice is gently simmering, add the saffron threads, cardamom, honey, and salt. Cook until most of the milk has been absorbed, 10 to 15 minutes.
2. Transfer the rice to a pretty bowl, drizzle on a little more honey, and garnish it with the chopped pistachio nuts. If your rice absorbed all the milk and you want more liquid, add more milk or consider adding a few spoonfuls of yogurt.
Celery and Olive Salad
This crisp, crunchy dish can go from a salad to supper if you added some flaked tuna or salmon, a hard-boiled egg, a boiled potato, or all three. The pale inner stalks of the celery are most delicate. If using the larger outer stalks, run a peeler over them before chopping to eliminate the strings. For olives, use green ones. If you buy them unpitted, make sure they’re large enough that you can easily slice off their flesh.
1 CUP SLICED CELERY
2 TEASPOONS FINELY CHOPPED CELERY LEAVES
5 LARGE GREEN OLIVES, CHOPPED
1 TEASPOON OLIVE OIL
SALT AND PEPPER
Toss the sliced celery with the celery leaves, olives, and olive oil. Add just a pinch of salt, especially if the olives were packed in brine, and a little pepper. Toss again and serve.
A Glass of Zabaglione
A warm, boozy concoction, zabaglione is usually served as a voluptuous sauce spooned over fruit. But some view it as an afternoon tonic. Regardless as to where it fits into your day, it takes about 3 minutes to make and is indeed delicious over strawberries and other fruits. You can, however, just eat it plain.
For one person you’ll want to halve the usual 4-yolk recipe, which is possible to do. If you want less than that, you might eat half and have the other half the next day, chilled. You can use any alcohol, but Marsala is classic.
You’ll need a small pot for simmering water and a bowl that will fit over, but not in, the water or else you’ll end up with scrambled eggs. You’ll also need a whisk. Have a potholder handy should the bowl get hot.
2 EGG YOLKS
2 TABLESPOONS SUGAR
1⁄4 CUP MARSALA
Get your water simmering. Put the eggs, sugar, and Marsala in the bowl, set