10 Loaf Pan Mexican Dinners for Women Living Alone (3 Ingredients, No Leftovers)

#cookingforone #mexicanfood #loafpan 📖 Get La Cocina de Bertha, every recipe in this kitchen written down (372 pages): https://berthascookbook.com Mija, every recipe you own and every dish in your cabinet was written for a table of six. You are one woman, eating the same pan for four days or throwing half away on Friday. It was never you. It was the pan. My mother fed eight for forty years, and when the house went quiet it took her two years to learn the small pot. The pan she found is already in your cabinet: the loaf pan, the one the banana bread lives in. Tall, narrow, one woman's supper, with the sauce standing deep. Every amount below is for ONE plate. Two of you: double it, same pan, add 10 minutes. Salt, oil and water are free. A handful of cheese on top is a habit, not an ingredient. Standard 9x5 metal loaf pan (glass: add 5 minutes). Lay a long strip of foil down the pan with the ends hanging over as handles, and lift supper out clean. ⭐ THE 10, COUNTING DOWN (temperature, time, cost per plate at my Walmart this month) 10. PASTEL AZTECA FOR ONE: 4 corn tortillas cut in half, 1 cup shredded rotisserie chicken, 1 jar salsa verde (use about 1 cup). Salsa in the bottom, tortilla halves, a third of the chicken mixed with ¼ cup salsa, a little cheese, repeat for 3 layers, cheese on top. Foil on, 375°F 20 min, foil off 10 min. ~$2.50. (Page 149: the rotisserie bird is a shortcut, and I use it in busy weeks.) 9. ARROZ CON POLLO, THE CHICKEN IS THE LID: ½ cup long grain rice, 1 bone-in skin-on thigh, 2 spoons salsa roja, 1 cup HOT caldo (or water + ½ tsp bouillon, page 133). Rice in raw, hot liquid and salsa over, stir once, salted thigh skin-up on top, not pushed in. Foil TIGHT, 375°F 45 min, foil off 10. 165°F at the bone. Never stir, never peek. ~$1.80. 8. PAPAS CON CHORIZO, THE OVEN FRIES: 1 link raw Mexican chorizo (about 4 oz), 2 medium potatoes in chunks, ½ white onion in wedges. Chorizo crumbled on the bottom of the COLD pan, potatoes and onion packed on top, NO salt. Foil on, 400°F 35 min, foil off 15 min until the edges go dark. Salt only at the end, after tasting (page 158). ~$2. 7. FIDEO SECO, THE DRY SOUP: 1 cup fideo (or thin spaghetti broken small), ½ cup salsa roja, 1 cup hot caldo or bouillon water. First toast the dry fideo in the pan with 1 tsp oil, 400°F 8 min uncovered, until toast colored. Then salsa and hot caldo over, stir once, foil on, 375°F 18 min. Cheese and crema on top, rest 5 min. ~$1.20. 6. CALABACITAS CON ELOTE Y QUESO, NO FOIL: 2 small zucchini in coins, 1 cup frozen corn, ¾ cup crumbled queso fresco (or Oaxaca). 1 spoon oil, pinch of salt, cheese folded through. 400°F 25 min UNCOVERED until the edges brown. Foil on = soup. ~$2.20. 5. PASTEL DE CARNE A LA MEXICANA: ½ lb 80/20 ground beef, ½ cup crushed tortilla chips, ½ cup salsa roja. ¼ cup of the salsa into the meat with the chips, pinch of salt and pepper, mixed only until it holds. Pressed into the pan, the other ¼ cup salsa over the top. No foil, 375°F 35 min, 160°F in the middle (page 313). Rest 5 min. ~$3. 4. PESCADO EN SALSA VERDE, FROM FROZEN: 1 frozen tilapia fillet (do not thaw), ½ cup salsa verde, ½ lime. ¼ cup salsa under, fillet on it, rest of the salsa over, onion rings if you have them. Foil on, 400°F 22 min, flakes at the thick end, 145°F. Lime squeezed over AFTER, never in the oven. ~$2. 3. COSTILLAS EN SALSA VERDE FOR ONE: ¾ lb pork ribs (2 country style or 3 spare rib pieces), 1 cup salsa verde, 1 potato in 4. Salt the ribs, pack them in with the potato, salsa over. Foil pressed HARD around the rim, 300°F 2½ hours. Foil off, 400°F 15 min to brown. Done when the meat leaves the bone without an argument; fork, not clock (page 308). ~$3.50. 2. TAMAL DE CAZUELA (the one you never steam): 1 cup Maseca, 3 spoons manteca (or butter), 1 cup salsa verde chicken (the bird from #10 mixed with the jar). From the cupboard: pinch of salt, ½ tsp baking powder, 1 cup warm caldo or bouillon water. Beat the manteca with a fork a full minute until pale (page 172), mix in Maseca, salt, baking powder and warm broth to a soft batter. Half the masa in the pan, all the chicken, the rest of the masa. Foil on, 375°F 45 min, foil off 10. Knife clean, edges pulled from the sides. Rest 10 min. Honest: this is the baked cousin, denser than a real steamed tamal. ~$1.50. #mexicancooking #dinnerforone #3ingredients