Practical January ideas for cooking for one from Chung, Cloake and Freeman

Writers and chefs have suggested simple, warming dishes for cooking for one in January, including Bonnie Chung, author of Miso: From Japanese Classics to Everyday Umami, the Guardian’s Felicity Cloake and James Freeman, head chef at Thomas Straker’s new Acre restaurant in west London.

Chung says “there’s an art to the perfect solo meal,” recommending good-quality storecupboard ingredients, one-pan cooking and eating from a bowl with a single piece of cutlery. Her pick is miso udon carbonara, which she says “has all the rich and creamy nirvana of a cheesy pasta” and can be made in less than 10 minutes: “Melt cheese, milk and miso in a pan to make the sauce base, then add frozen udon that have been soaked in hot water,” coat the noodles, add crisp bacon or anchovies and crown with a broken golden egg yolk.

Cloake suggests “fresh, bright flavours” for January, for example pasta con le sarde made with tinned fish, fennel seeds and lots of lemon juice, or purple sprouting broccoli with garlic and chilli. She also points to jarred chickpeas mixed with harissa, herbs and feta as a quick stew and to braising beans as a cook-once, eat-all-week approach.

Freeman recommends roasting delica pumpkin with aleppo chilli, garlic and ginger to eat with braised white beans and a salsa verde, and says you can blend leftovers into other dishes; he adds that similar waste‑saving tactics apply to roast chicken, including saving bones for broth.

Key Topics

Culture, Bonnie Chung, Miso Udon Carbonara, Felicity Cloake, James Freeman, Acre