Dinner for Two
Recipes written for two, so there is nothing to divide and nothing left over unless you want it.
Halving a recipe for four works for some dishes and not others: eggs do not halve neatly, small amounts of sauce burn in a big pan, and a whole fish is a whole fish. Every recipe here is written for two people, with quantities and pan sizes to match.
How these were chosen
- Written for 2 servings, so no quantity needs scaling.
- A main course.
- Where a recipe needs rice or bread that it does not include, the entry says so.
Chosen by reading each recipe's ingredients and method, and checked against the recipe again every time the site is built. Times are the recipes' own figures. None of these recipes has been cooked for this collection yet; how recipes are checked.
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Oyakodon
Chicken and onion simmered in a 20 cm pan of dashi, with the egg added in two pours so it sets in soft ribbons.
Serve over 600 g of hot cooked short-grain rice, which the recipe's times do not include: start it first.
- Time
- Prep 10 min, cook 15 min; 25 min start to finish
- Serves
- 2
- Equipment
- Frying pan or skillet
- Difficulty
- Easy
-
Pad Kra Pao (Thai Basil Chicken)
Minced pork, chilli and holy basil cooked in about 5 minutes, with a crisp fried egg on top.
Uses 300 g of cooked jasmine rice; cook it before you start the wok.
- Time
- Prep 10 min, cook 10 min; 20 min start to finish
- Serves
- 2
- Equipment
- Wok
- Difficulty
- Easy
-
Salmon Teriyaki
Two fillets, one frying pan and a sauce that reduces in 3 minutes around the fish.
Serve with rice or greens; neither is in the recipe.
- Time
- Prep 5 min, cook 12 min; 17 min start to finish
- Serves
- 2
- Equipment
- Frying pan or skillet
- Difficulty
- Easy
-
Sole Meunière
Two whole sole in one large frying pan, then a brown-butter sauce made in the same pan in about 90 seconds.
- Time
- Prep 10 min, cook 10 min; 20 min start to finish
- Serves
- 2
- Equipment
- Frying pan or skillet
- Difficulty
- Easy
-
Sea Bream with Fennel
Two whole bream roast on a bed of fennel and tomatoes with white wine in one roasting tin.
- Time
- Prep 10 min, cook 25 min; 35 min start to finish
- Serves
- 2
- Equipment
- Oven, Roasting tin
- Difficulty
- Easy
-
Moules à la Crème
A kilo of mussels for two, steamed open in 5 minutes and finished with cream; the bread for the sauce is in the ingredient list.
- Time
- Prep 10 min, cook 15 min; 25 min start to finish
- Serves
- 2
- Equipment
- Large pot or casserole
- Difficulty
- Easy
-
Huevos Rotos
Potatoes slowly fried in olive oil, topped with serrano ham and four fried eggs broken at the table.
- Time
- Prep 10 min, cook 25 min; 35 min start to finish
- Serves
- 2
- Equipment
- Frying pan or skillet
- Difficulty
- Easy
-
Steak Salad
One 300 g sirloin, seared and rested, sliced over a mustard-dressed salad.
The method takes the steak out of the fridge 20 minutes before cooking.
- Time
- Prep 15 min, cook 10 min; 25 min start to finish
- Serves
- 2
- Equipment
- Frying pan or skillet
- Difficulty
- Easy
-
Eggs in Purgatory
Eggs poached in a garlic and chilli tomato sauce in one wide pan, with crusty bread in the ingredient list. Vegetarian as written.
- Time
- Prep 5 min, cook 20 min; 25 min start to finish
- Serves
- 2
- Equipment
- Frying pan or skillet
- Difficulty
- Easy
-
Char Kway Teow
Fresh rice noodles with prawns, Chinese sausage and egg; every ingredient is set out before the wok goes on, because the cooking takes about 5 minutes.
- Time
- Prep 20 min, cook 12 min; 32 min start to finish
- Serves
- 2
- Equipment
- Wok, Microwave
- Difficulty
- Medium
-
Pasta Burro e Salvia
200 g of pasta, brown butter and sage: about the shortest recipe on the site that still makes a dinner.
- Time
- Prep 3 min, cook 12 min; 15 min start to finish
- Serves
- 2
- Equipment
- Frying pan or skillet
- Difficulty
- Easy
