the pleasures of cooking for one.

last night, one of my favorite people in the entire world--my friend m.--came over for a girly night of shopping, gossip, movie-watching and food. she brought the movie (casablanca--neither of us had ever seen it. i know), and i picked up the ingredients for one of my favorite new dishes: judith jones' sauteed shrimp with asparagus. after seeing the recipe and a quick write-up about jones' new book, the pleasures of cooking for one, in a recent issue of glamour magazine, i decided to make the dish a few weeks ago--and wound up making and eating it for about five nights in a row (i fixate like that). it's incredibly easy, healthy and it only has, like, five ingredients--three of which (salt, pepper and olive oil) you probably already own. plus, it can easily be doubled. m. and i ate ours atop some orzo, with a simple salad of lettuce and tomatoes, some garlic bread to sop up the oil/garlic/shrimp sauce, and a couple of glasses of white wine. yum.

m. and i are both huge garlic lovers, so when i made this for the two of us, i quadrupled the amount of garlic, but if you're making it for just yourself, one clove will suffice. also, i used frozen shrimp (again, i know, but financially it makes more sense for me) and a liberal amount of olive oil, because why not?, but 2 tbsp. would be plenty.

p.s. yes, i ordered jones' book, and i can't wait for it to get here. i'm sure i'll be sharing many more recipes!

sauteed shrimp with asparagus and orzo

adapted from the pleasures of cooking for one, by judith jones

about 9 shrimp, fresh or frozen

as many stalks of asparagus as you like (i like a lot), cut into thirds

2 cloves garlic (or less or more, to taste), sliced

salt

freshly ground black pepper

2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, or more to taste

1 green onion, finely chopped

splash of white wine (optional)

1/3 cup orzo

cook orzo according to package instructions; set aside but keep warm.

heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. add garlic and cook for one minute. add shrimp and asparagus and season with salt and pepper, then cook 2-3 minutes, or until shrimp are opaque. add a splash of white wine and cook down for another minute or two. just before plating, add green onions and toss. serve atop orzo, with a simple salad and some crusty bread.