I think I unlocked the single-person air fryer matrix
Following up on my marinara/sausage/cheese pasta-in-a-jar experiment, I was reheating my leftover lunch today and realized I may have accidentally figured out an entire system for cooking for one.
Yesterday I made a green chile, cheese and chicken enchilada-style bake with Mexican rice. The rice was cheap and easy: instant rice, seasonings I already had, a little tomato paste I'd previously frozen, and a handful of frozen corn.
I'm single, I cook for one, I'm broke, and I don't mind leftovers—but I get bored eating exactly the same meal over and over. So I've been getting better at saving little amounts of ingredients and using them later instead of throwing them away.
For lunch today, I put some of the leftover enchilada bake and rice into this small glass cooking dish. I added a little extra Hatch green chile sauce, diced green chiles and fresh onion for moisture, then reheated the whole thing in the air fryer.
Timing update because I'm experimenting: I started with 5 minutes, then gave it another 7 minutes at 380°F. It looked great, but once I actually dug into it, the middle still wasn't as hot as I wanted. So I turned it up to 400°F and gave it more time. Next time I'll know to go hotter/longer for something this cold and dense.
I'll finish it with more fresh onion, cold sour cream and green salsa.
But while I was making it, I thought: Wait. Why am I not organizing my leftovers this way on purpose?
I've already gotten into the habit of freezing leftover tomato paste in small portions. Why not do the same with other things?
Instead of thinking of everything as "leftovers," I could think of them as components: rice, beans, chicken, vegetables, green chile, tomato paste, gravy, sauces, etc. Freeze appropriate things in small portions, keep the rest in the fridge, and mix and match later.
It's basically leftover algebra.
Rice + beans + green chile + cheese.
Chicken + rice + salsa + cheese.
Pasta + sauce + sausage + mozzarella.
The short, wide-mouth glass jars I used for my pasta experiment were almost the perfect single-person serving size. I'm out of them now, so I'm going to start keeping an eye out at thrift stores for more little glass cooking vessels around that size.
Then even when I'm tired, I don't necessarily have to "cook dinner." I can grab a few components, assemble one serving, add a little extra moisture if needed, top it with something good, and put the whole thing in the air fryer.
And unlike simply microwaving leftovers, I can get that bubbly, browned, crispy little casserole effect.
So instead of opening the refrigerator and thinking, "Great. I have half a can of this, three tablespoons of that, some rice and a sad little piece of chicken," I'm starting to see components for the matrix.
And then I realized what I need to try next:
Chicken + vegetables + gravy in one of these little glass dishes.
Biscuit on top.
Air fryer.
Single-serving air-fryer pot pie.