Cooking for One is a weekly newsletter that lands in your inbox every Thursday (except for this week because I have potentially been crowned with Miss Rona and have been in bed the last two days!). I share my love of food, recipes and all of the must haves to kit out your kitchen to cook up delicious foods for one.
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Hello and welcome to the Cooking for One newsletter! My name is Nicole (hopefully you know that by now) and I am here to teach you how to cook for one. If you didn’t read Monday’s newsletter from I’ll Start on Monday, you might be confused as to why you’re receiving this. I have decided to add more work to my plate (who, me?) and write a second newsletter that is dedicated to my new cooking Instagram called Cooking for One.
For a long time, I didn’t know how to cook. I tried to pick up tips from my mum and dad, watching the way they heated up oil in a pan and cooked onions and garlic without burning them. I took note of how my dad threw together a few sauces to create the most flavoursome meals. I watched as my mum would make sandwiches as though they were from a Michelin star restaurant and no matter how hard I tried, even to this day, I can just never get them quite the same.
I grew up eating recipes from the likes of Jamie Oliver and Nigella, to magazine cut outs and hand written recipes from my Grandma and Nannie. My mum still has a folder with these recipes, edges tattered and pages stained from years of use. I often see the folder out on the kitchen table when I go over for dinner, and love to read her edits and notes tweaking the recipes to our liking over the years.
The art of sharing recipes brings me so much nostalgia. Food allows us to connect with others through culture and experience. When I was younger and went to my friends houses for tea, I was amazed at the incredible foods their parents cooked up and served for us. From curry to stir fries to homemade passata from Nonna, I learnt about the flavours and ingredients that my friends grew up on. My best friend in high school used to be thrilled when she came to my house because she got to eat “meat and three vege” which was not on rotation in her Sri Lankan/Polish household!
When my Dad passed away, I regretted not asking him about the secrets to the meals he used to cook for us. We called him “the weekend chef” because he only cooked weekends. He used to make us ‘Daddy’s Sgetty’ which was what my sister and I named this meal when we were too young to tackle pronouncing the word ‘spaghetti’. Daddy’s Sgetty consisted of angel hair pasta, tomato sauce and grated cheese. It sounds, well, not very appetising, and it was certainly far from fancy, but don’t knock it until you try it. I haven’t made that meal since he died, but I do want to cook it again this year and perhaps recreate a more refined version to share here with you all.
I am always open to feedback, so if you have anything you want to see more or less of, please let me know. For ease, I am using the same mailing list as I’ll Start on Monday for this newsletter, but I can also create an entire new newsletter and mailing list, for those of you who don’t want to receive a second newsletter in your inbox. Your wish is my command.
Next week we are talking pantry staples - and how to cook when you have very little to cook with. Much love!