The Pleasures of Dining Alone

Occasionally people ask me if I can be bothered to cook if I'm home alone for the evening.  The honest answer is "sometimes".  If Spud is away during the week, I'll often sit in front of the TV with a bowl of cereal or a cheese sandwich.  However, if she's away at the weekend, it's a different story.

For the first time in a year, I was alone this Saturday evening - my first whole weekend of being Sole Carer - and made the most of my culinary opportunity.  Eating alone means you really can please yourself - and for me, that means making a meal out of things Spud doesn't really like. 

Top of that list is liver.  I love liver - particularly calves liver - but Spud can't stand it.  She also has an aversion to using fruit in savoury dishes - she just doesn't get the whole sweet-with-savoury thing.  To my mind, liver has a robust enough flavour to be able to take on something quite sweet - balsamic vinegar was all the rage a couple of years ago.  And one other classic with liver is sage - Spud's least favourite herb.

First though, a few rules on dining alone:

• Don't let your standards drop - eating alone and cooking for one still require the best ingredients
• Use good china - we have every day plates and nice plates - use the nice ones - you don't need to go the whole hog and lay the table or cut fresh flowers from the garden... but it helps (even though you'll end-up in front of the TV watching the cricket - or is that just me?)
• Open a good bottle of wine (not necessarily the best in the rack, but not cheap plonk either - I went for a good Aussie shiraz)
• Use a good wine glass - this isn't the time for your bistro-style tumblers here - good and big are the keys.

Liver and bacon with sage and fig sauce

2 rashers good quality smoked bacon
6-7oz calves liver, in as thick a piece/pieces as you can get, trimmed
Sea salt, black pepper
Flour (a couple of tablespoons should be enough)
1oz butter
2oz dry sherry
2oz water or stock
1 good sprig of sage, sliced finely
1 ripe fig
1 knob butter
1/2 teaspoon sherry vinegar

Fry the bacon until crisp and remove from the pan - keep warm.  Add the butter to the pan and allow to foam.  Season the liver and dredge in the flour - pat off any excess.  Quickly fry the liver for 1-2 minutes on each side (depending on the thickness).  Remove and keep warm. 
Deglaze the pan with the sherry, scraping off any residue from the bottom.  Add the water/stock and the sage.  Allow to bubble and reduce for a minute or two and mash the fig into the sauce with a seive.  Stir well - your sauce should be thickening well now.
Pour in any juices that have come out of the liver and stir in the vinegar.  If it's going a bit cold, put the liver back in with the sauce over a gentle heat for a minute.

Serve - I had a bed of delicious shredded spring greens, some buttered jersey royals and some more fig on the side. 

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