Cooking for one - please share recipes and tip

[Metro]

Originally Posted by CherylNYC

This is one of my favourite 5 minute meals for one:

Ingredients-
angel hair pasta
frozen peeled shrimp
frozen or fresh broccoli
frozen pesto (or pesto-like sauce for those of us who can't eat cheese)

Boil water with a little salt and olive oil in a small to medium pot. Add only enough pasta for one person! (That means a round handful about an inch in diameter.)

If you're using fresh broccoli, cut it up.

Defrost or just soften the pesto in the microwave.

As soon as the pasta is ready, (should be only a few minutes if it's angel hair), turn off the stove.

Add the shrimp and the broccoli, then cover the pot. Wait a minute or less. The shrimp should have turned red, but not rubbery. Drain everything in a colander, then dump it on your plate. Put a few spoonful of the softened pesto on top and mix it in. If the sauce isn't melting, 20 seconds in the microwave should take care of business.

Grind some pepper over the top, and you'll have the tastiest 5 minute meal you ever ate.

I do something similar on a regular basis...

Here's my go to quick-and-easy pasta dish -- btw, I credit a long ago ex for this recipe:

Vegetarian "Greek" Pasta

Ingedients
Pasta (or blanched summer squash, as gluten-free alternative)
1-2 Cups of ready-to-eat Baby Spinach leaves
1 small yellow or Spanish onion, diced
1 clove garlic, crushed
1Tbsp olive oil
1 pat butter
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Couple Pinches of kosher or sea salt

Method
Boil any pasta 'til al dente, I like veggie rotini or farfalle (or make "pasta" from juilliened summer squash, blanched).
Heat butter and oil in large skillet.
Add diced onion and salt to skillet; sautee 'til carmelized.
Add fresh crushed garlic.
Add spinach and cook just a few minutes 'til it begins to wilt.
Stir in drained/cooked pasta (or blanched squash) to saucepan.
Spritz w/ juice of 1/2 lemon.
Finish w/ pinch of salt and toss in skillet to fully coat pasta.
Serve immediately.