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Ask Eric: Solo dining with taste and style

Dear Eric: Can you please publish some recipes for one? I’m on my own. Trudi Westermann, Duncan Dear Trudi: Below are three recipes that I hope will ring your dinner bell.

akis.jpgDear Eric: Can you please publish some recipes for one? I’m on my own. Trudi Westermann, Duncan

Dear Trudi: Below are three recipes that I hope will ring your dinner bell.

One is a vibrant yet uncomplicated pasta dish for one, strewn with bright green zucchini and ripe tomato. Adding fine Italian-style flavour to this creation are garlic, olives, basil and Parmesan cheese. It calls for just two cooking vessels — a pot to boil the pasta and a skillet in which to toss everything together.

My second recipe is honey-mustard crusted chicken legs. Like the pasta above, it’s not difficult to make but it sure is tasty.

To prepare it, two whole chicken legs — with skin on or off, depending on your preference — are flavoured with Dijon mustard before being coated in a seasoned breadcrumb-cornmeal mixture. The chicken is baked for 35 minutes and then drizzled with a little honey. The chicken is baked another 10 minutes until cooked through and richly coloured. As it cooks, the mustard loses its pungence and is nicely balanced by the sweetness of the honey.

Cook two legs because this dish tastes just as good cold. For one meal you could have one piece hot from the oven with, perhaps, some boiled potatoes and a green vegetable. The second leg could be cooled, refrigerated and served in another meal a day or two later, perhaps with summer side dishes such as coleslaw or corn on the cob.

My last recipe is a West Coast-style chef’s salad. I call it West Coast-style because flaked nuggets of smoked salmon and soft goat cheese replace the deli ham and hard cheese usually set on this salad. This cool meal also features lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber and hard-boiled egg and can be dressed as you like, with a dollop of mayonnaise or your favourite dressing.

Feel free to top the salad with other raw vegetables, such as radish, celery or carrot. The smoked salmon used in the recipe is sold by the piece at seafood stores and in many grocery stores with a seafood counter.

Pasta with Zucchini, Tomatoes and Olives

This colourful summer pasta dish is a pleasure to look at, and to eat.

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: About 10 minutes

Makes: 1 serving

3/4 cup penne or other bite-sized pasta

1 tsp olive oil

5 (1/2-inch thick) zucchini slices, each halved

1 small garlic clove, minced

1 ripe, small to medium tomato, diced

3 to 4 pitted black olives, each halved

2 Tbsp chopped fresh basil

• salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

• grated parmesan cheese, to taste

Bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until tender, about eight to 10 minutes.

While the pasta cooks, set a skillet over medium heat and add the oil. Add the zucchini and garlic and cook three minutes. Add the tomatoes and cook three to four minutes more, or until softened. Stir in the olives, basil, salt and pepper.

When the pasta is cooked, reserve 1/4 cup of its cooking liquid, and then drain the pasta. Add the pasta and reserved cooking liquid to the skillet and toss to combine them with the other ingredients. Spoon the pasta into a serving bowl and top with parmesan cheese to taste.

Honey Mustard Crusted Chicken Legs

This mustard-spiced, honey-sweetened chicken tastes great served hot or cold.

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 45 minutes

Makes: 2 chicken legs

1/4 cup dried breadcrumbs

2 Tbsp cornmeal

• a few pinches ground sage and paprika

• salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

2 small- to medium-sized chicken legs (see Note)

2 Tbsp Dijon mustard

2 tsp honey

Preheat your oven or toaster oven to 375 F. Line a baking pan with parchment paper.

Combine breadcrumbs, cornmeal, sage, paprika, salt and pepper in a wide, shallow dish (a pie plate works well).

Place the mustard in a second shallow dish. Coat chicken legs thoroughly with the mustard.

Set one of the mustard coated legs in the breadcrumb mixture, packing it on to help it adhere, and then set in the baking pan. Coat the second chicken leg in this fashion.

Bake the chicken 35 minutes, and then drizzle each leg with 1 tsp of honey. Bake 10 minutes more, or until the chicken is cooked through and the juices run clear. Serve the chicken hot, or cool to room temperature, refrigerate and serve cold.

Note: If desired, you could remove the skin from the chicken legs before coating and baking them.

West Coast-style Chef’s Salad

This main-course salad for one will be most appealing on a warm summer day.

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 9 to 10 minutes (to cook the egg)

Makes: 1 serving

2 cups chopped or torn leaf, head or romaine lettuce

4 cherry tomatoes, each halved

3 (1/2-inch thick) slices English cucumber, each halved

2 to 3 smoked salmon nuggets, each flaked into smaller pieces

30 to 50 grams soft goat cheese, pulled into small nuggets

1 chilled, hard-boiled egg, quartered

Mound the lettuce on a dinner plate. Arrange the remaining ingredients on top of the lettuce. Dress with a dollop of mayonnaise or your favourite salad dressing.

Eric Akis is the author of the hardcover book Everyone Can Cook Everything. His columns appear in the Life section Wednesday and Sunday.

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