Cooking for one

The other day, I decided to fix some pork stir-fry.  I’ve always enjoyed cooking, but sometimes cooking for one presents me with some problems.  I’m probably best at cooking for five or six.  At least that’s what seems to happen when I make soup, or casseroles, or stir-fry. 

I like to put my stir-fry on top of a bed of fried rice noodles.  Of course, since I’m a crunchy salty type of person, I can’t just make one handful.  I make these in the wok before I start the thin strips of pork shoulder steak, and I use peanut oil.  After removing most of the oil, I dredge the pork strips in corn starch and toss a few at a time into the wok.  When they’re all nicely browned, I add a dash of sesame oil and a cup or two of water and cook the pork for about fifteen minutes.

Then I add the rest of my ingredients.  This time it was celery, onion, four gloves of minced garlic, a can of water chestnuts, a can of bean sprouts, and a cup each of sliced fresh shitake and baby portabella mushrooms.  I heat that until the celery and mushrooms are done.

I find it very tasty, but as you can see there is enough there for five or six people.  I’ve had it two nights in a row now, and I’ve still got quite a few servings left.  I suppose I could freeze some of it, but you can’t freeze the fried rice noodles.  I keep the left over rice noodles in a zip-lock bag, but their crunchy saltiness calls to me each afternoon around snack time. 

If I can ignore that calling, I suppose I can have the stir-fry for another two nights in a row.  That’s about as long as the noodles will stay fresh.  Anyway, I have the same problem when I make chicken noodle soup or pulled pork.  There’s just no way I seem to be able to make those dishes in a one serving size.  Have you ever tried making corned beef and cabbage for one?  They say variety is the spice of life, but sometimes when cooking for one you have to live through times that are the same for four days in a row.    Bon appetite!

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy