I’ve been asked a number of times over the years about scaling down recipes to serve one person. I’ve recently uncovered notes on recipes I used when I was single and lived alone, and I’ll post them here from time to time.

I’ve spent my weekend reflecting on the very busy (and long) week that just ended. All of that introspection has left me craving comfort foods. Part of that crazy week involved pulling something in my neck doing yard work, so my normal comfort foods that involve actual cooking are out of the question. Fortunately, I have a recipe that requires very little work, and the only cooking required involves a microwave, which is about my speed right now.

This cake is certainly unconventional, and it doesn’t look entirely edible at first, but it is definitely delicious. The cake itself is not very sweet – you can adjust the overall sweetness to taste by altering the amount of brown sugar.

Microwave Comfort Cake

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup flour
• 3 tablespoons granulated white sugar
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder, divided
• pinch salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 heaping teaspoon powdered milk
• 2 tablespoons brewed coffee, cooled
• 5 tablespoons granulated brown sugar
• 1/4 cup hot tap water

In a microwave-safe bowl, stir together flour, white sugar, 1 tablespoon cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, butter, vanilla, powdered milk, and coffee. Sprinkle brown sugar evenly over top and follow with remaining cocoa. Gently pour hot water over top. Microwave, uncovered, for 4 minutes on high. Let stand for 1 minute before removing from microwave.

The cake will have puffed up around the sauce that forms from the brown sugar, cocoa, and water glaze. Serve warm – but be careful not to burn your mouth!

Serves 1.

I enjoy collecting old cookbooks, and pick them up at yard sales and flea markets whenever I can. Each Saturday, I post excerpts from my collection. Today’s post comes from the Sergeantsville Methodist Episcopal Church 1922 Cook Book.

I’m not sure what’s “puffed” about this – it sounds like standard fried chicken to me!

Puffed Chicken

Cut chicken in pieces and cook the same as for when stewing.  When tender take the chicken from the kettle and place on a plate, using the liquor for a cream sauce or gravy.  Have ready another pot with hot lard.  Make a thin batter, using 1 egg, 1 cup of milk, 1 cup of flour, 1 level teaspoonful of Royal Baking powder.  Dip each piece of chicken separately in the batter, then in the hot fat, and brown as you would crullers.  Serve on a meat platter, and the sauce or gravy in a bowl.  Sauce — mix 2 tablspoons of butter, 1 of flour and 2 of milk.  Add to the liquor and cook until thick, or make just the plain gravy as when you serve a fricasseed chicken.

Image by Cathy G

It seems only natural to end “Drunk Week” with a bevy of cocktails – screwdrivers, to be exact. There are endless variations on the standard screwdriver cocktail; I’ve listed the most common ones below. I hope you all enjoyed this week as much as I have – I’m off to find the orange juice!

The CTS Ultimate Screwdriver Compendium

To your basic screwdriver (whatever ratio of orange juice to vodka suits your fancy), add:

• 1 ounce Southern Comfort for a Comfortable Screw
• 1 ounce peach schnapps for a Fuzzy Screw
• 1 ounce sloe gin for a Slow Screw
• A splash of galliano for a Screw Against the Wall
• A splash of amaretto for a Screw with a Kiss
• Ice for a Cold, Hard Screw
• Lemon-lime soda for a Screw Up

Combine any of the above to make “compound screws”. For example:

• Slow Comfortable Screw with a Kiss (sloe gin, Southern Comfort, amaretto)
• Cold, Hard Screw Up Against the Wall ( ice, lemon-lime soda, galliano)

You could, of course, combine them all into a Slow, Comfortable, Fuzzy, Cold, Hard Screw Up Against a Wall with a Kiss, but I can’t imagine it would taste very good.
If you have a favorite variant that I missed, let me know in the comments, and I’ll add it to the list!

For the sleekest of swanky cocktail parties, try these stainless steel martini glasses. Might I also suggest using these toward the end of the night? (They’re unbreakable.)

Set of two, from Home Wet Bar.

UPDATE: Check out the update to this post, posted in January 2008.

Image by Herrner

In keeping with the “drunk food” theme of this week’s Carnival of the Recipes, this week’s CTS recipes will all include (or feature) alcohol – yum.

Coq au vin is a dish that inspires incredible awe and fear in people. “You made coq au vin?” “I can’t believe you can make coq au vin as part of a catered buffet!” “It’s too fancy!” “Wow, you must be an incredible cook!” …and so on.

I know that traditional coq au vin involves a rooster and 12 gazillion hours of cooking and stewing and prepping, but I have never had that kind of patience. I am of the opinion that coq au vin is quite simply coq au vin: that is, “chicken with wine”. (And vegetables, of course.) My original recipe, presented below, requires neither roosters nor a lot of patience, is based on the recipe included in “From Julia Child’s Kitchen” (she notes that it differs from other coq au vin recipes she’s published, although it is not clear how).

A slow cooker adaptation of this recipe is available here.

Coq au Vin

Ingredients:

• 4 chicken leg quarters, divided into thighs and drumsticks
• 8 ounces frozen pearl onions
• 32 ounces mixed button and baby bella mushrooms, cleaned and quartered
• 1/4 cup brandy
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 bottle (750 ml) red wine
• 4 cups beef stock
• 4 whole cloves garlic, smashed but not chopped
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sun-dried tomato paste
• 4 tablespoons flour
• 2 tablespoons butter
• bacon fat (or oil) for browning
• salt and pepper to taste

In a large, heavy-bottomed pan (a dutch oven is preferable), melt the bacon fat over medium heat. Add the chicken and brown lightly on all sides. Add the brandy (off the heat, please!) and cook for 3-5 minutes. Add bay leaf, thyme, and onions to pan and cook for an additional 10 minutes, turning chicken halfway through.

Using a fine mesh strainer or old-fashioned flour sifter, sift flour over chicken, stirring as you sift so that the flour coats the chicken and the onions. Cook for an additional 5 minutes. Stir in all remaining ingredients except the butter. Cover and cook on low for 1-2 hours, or until onions are tender and chicken is falling off the bone. Stir in butter just before serving to enrich the sauce.

Serves 4-6.

Image by MrJoro.

In keeping with the “drunk food” theme of this week’s Carnival of the Recipes, this week’s CTS recipes will all include (or feature) alcohol – yum.

Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie

Ingredients:

• 1 pie crust, blind-baked and cooled
• 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• 1 cup dark corn syrup
• 1/2 cup bourbon
• 2/3 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup whole pecans
• Chocolate syrup for garnish

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Whisk together eggs, sugar, butter, syrup, and bourbon. Stir in pecans and chips until ingredients are thoroughly distributed. Bake 40-45 minutes; rest for 1 hour before serving. Garnish with chocolate sauce.

Serves 6-8.

It’s the link love edition of the weekly roundup. For more goodness, check out this week’s Carnival of the Recipes, hosted here at Catch the Spoon! In keeping with the “drunk food” theme, this week’s CTS recipes will all include (or feature) alcohol – yum.

* Cheesesteak Eggrolls * Make-Ahead Lunch Tips * A Study on Cinematic Garlic * Yet Another Food Recall * Anthony Bourdain Busts on Trendy Food * The Pretty Way to Slice an Apple * Bacon Chocolate * Spiced Cookies (Really!) * Hazlenut Gelato * Bacon Salt?! * Chai Ice Cream * Gelatin Filtration Experiment * Cauliflower Cube *

That’s all for this week. If you find yummy news or other foodie info online, let me know, and I’ll include it in next week’s roundup.

It seems like everyone had a party in this building last night. It was loud, and parking was crazy, but a good time seems to have been had by all.

On the first floor, Pat had a the girls over for a poker game. Kathee brought potato skins, and Amanda contributed spicy wings. Annette brought pasta to go with her spicy tomato sauce, but by the end of the night they smeared it on every edible item they could find. I dropped by for a minute with my barbecue chicken pizza, but they were all too distracted by Tom’s wide selection of jello shots and Jennie’s watermelon tonic to notice.

On the second floor, Shannon threw another of his fabulous dinner parties. Suzanne started off the meal with her cream of tomato soup. Shannon offered not one, but two main courses; Natalie enjoyed the lamb shank, while Mer had the beef bourguignon. Everyone enjoyed Marsha’s apple beet medley. Joel went a little overboard and brought his three cabbage side dishes, but nobody really minded. Shawn was in charge of the cocktails, but she couldn’t decide what to make, so she brought the whole bar (which Hillbilly Willy took immediate advantage of and made a vat of hillbilly punch).

Downstairs in the coffee bar, the local sorority held their annual all-night Sugar Rush, where they binged on desserts instead of alcohol. Amanda stunned everyone with her chocolate peanut butter pie, Melanie brought a “to die for” black forest gateaux, and Bonnie arrived with her famous pecan clusters. The beverages were donated by two local businesses: Slow Cooker Recipes provided the mulled cider, and Diabetic Recipes threw in some sugar-free berry lemonade to counteract all those sweets. The surprise of the night came when Matt crashed the party, but he made up for it by baking some fresh chewy chocolate chip cookies, and they made him an honorary Delta Chi sister.

Me? I sat at home and had the perfect drink with Triticale. Before I turned in for the night, I perused some of the fine things this ol’ series of tubes has to offer, like the Extreme Makeover: Leftovers Edition and the new Kosher Cooking Carnival, which reminded me that I need to make Horsewoman’s sweet dairy kugel soon.

This morning’s community brunch in our courtyard was noticeably quieter than usual, but no less crowded. Fortunately, there were enough potato pancakes and breakfast scramble to go around, and Maureen threw together some breakfast pizza for good measure. Delta Chi Sucrose filtered in a little later and celebrated the end of their Sugar Rush with some trendy cocktails (and an insulin chaser). The resident Fit Buff dropped by during his morning jog to remind us of 13 steps to a heart-healthy diet; we made note of #11, and handed him just one glass of Bill’s sangria.

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Thanks to everyone for participating in this week’s carnival! The next edition will be hosted by Wee Wifey on October 13th. Be sure to submit your recipe for the Cereal Killers edition and check out the full list of upcoming editions.

UPDATE: Samantha showed up a little late to the party, but her beer dog looks well worth the wait!

I enjoy collecting old cookbooks, and pick them up at yard sales and flea markets whenever I can. Each Saturday, I post excerpts from my collection. Today’s post comes from the Sergeantsville Methodist Episcopal Church 1922 Cook Book.

Rhubarb and Pineapple Marmalade

7 lbs. rhubarb cut small, 7 lbs. sugar, 1 large pineapple or two small ones, cut fine, juice of one lemon. Let stand over night, next day cook until thick.

Image by Greynine

As a humble apology for missing yesterday’s post, I present you, my dear readers, with my favorite dessert recipe ever. It’s not quite a traditional tiramisu, but in my opinions, that’s what makes it so yummy. If you can’t find Margherites, you can use the traditional ladyfingers.

Tiramisu

Ingredients:

• 6 large eggs
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 5 tablespoons brandy
• 24 ounces mascarpone cheese
• 2 cups brewed espresso, cooled
• 1/4 cup kahlua
• 1 package Margherites
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder

Whisk eggs and sugar together in bain marie for about 10 minutes, or until custard forms ribbons and probe thermometer inserted in mixture reached 160 degrees. Set custard bowl over ice water and whisk another 10 minutes, or until mixture is room-temperature.

In a separate bowl, combine cheese and brandy; fold into custard.

Combine coffee and kahlua. Line the bottom of a 13 x 9″ baking dish with cookies and brush with coffee. Top layer with 1/2 of cheese/custard mixture. Repeat.

Refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving. Garnish with a dusting of cocoa powder.

Serves 8-10.