What I eat when I’m alone

Last week Serious Eats asked a good question: What do you eat when you’re alone?

I have to say that my eating habits totally changed when I stopped eating by myself. BB (Before Boyfriend), I regularly ate potato chips, mozzarella cheese, and diet coke for dinner . . . or just a microwave-baked potato with butter and salt and pepper. Now AB (After Boyfriend, which really should be AH for After Husband now), it’s rare that I have such an incredibly unbalanced meal anymore, because Adam likes to eat a “real dinner” every night.

In general I think I eat better now than I did when I was single, but I do sometimes miss my completely-illogical dinners. Last week when Adam had an evening appointment, I took advantage to eat the “dinner” you see above: Tomato and onion salad with capers, plus a lemonade. This would have been OK as a side dish if Adam had been home, but on a night when I was eating alone? This was my entire dinner! (but don’t worry, there was more of it than you see in this picture!)

This incredibly simple salad is the type of salad I grew up on. I can’t have tomatoes, onions, and lemon without thinking fondly of my father — we had this salad more often than any other! Is it weird to have fond memories of a salad? If it is, well, then I’m weird (huge shock, I’m sure). I’ve always loved the tangy liquid that collects at the bottom of tomato-based salads. And even though I rarely have these salads anymore, eating this last week reminded me of just how good it is! I literally drank the liquid from the bottom of the bowl after I’d eaten all the tomatoes and onions. And no, I’m not ashamed to admit it! Besides, we already established two sentences ago that I’m weird . . .

I think what makes the liquid so tart-delicious is that it still tastes like tomato in addition to the lemon/onion/salt/pepper. The salt makes the tomatoes release their juices, so if you let this salad sit for a few minutes before you start eating, there’ll be even more “juice” to savor once you get to the bottom. And please, do like I do: throw all dignity out the window and drink that stuff up! You’ll be glad you did.

Tomato and Onion Salad with Capers

• 4 medium tomatoes, cut into bite-sized pieces (don’t chop them too small!)
• 1 red onion, chopped
• The juice from 1 lemon
• 2 tablespoons un-rinsed capers, plus a dash of the brine
• Spash of extra virgin olive oil

Assembly couldn’t be easier: Mix everything up and add salt & pepper to taste. Then stick the salad in the fridge for about 5 minutes before you dig in.

Note to onion-haters:

The onion is critical in this and shouldn’t be substituted, but I understand that some people really don’t like them raw. Have you tried soaking raw onions in a bit of water for 15 minutes and then trying them? Soaking them takes a lot of the bite out but leaves a nice flavor behind. Especially in the case of red onions, whose flavor is milder than white onions, I definitely think it’s at least worth trying before you dismiss it with an instinctive “Yuck! Onions!” reaction.

I’m really curious to find out what onion-haters think if they try it, so please leave a comment if you decide to give it a shot!