Darina Allen: Three one-pot recipes perfect for single-portion cooking

Recipes from One Pot One Portion by Eleanor Wilkinson published by Ebury Press.

The Sunday Times bestseller, One Pot One Portion, arrived on my desk last week. 

The quote from Nigella on the front cover ‘A brilliant, beyond brilliant idea’ made me curious. 

It’s written by Eleanor Wilkinson, a viral social media sensation, @eleanorgwilkinson on Instagram.

When Eleanor Wilkinson’s long-term relationship ended, she quit her job and began to live alone once more. 

Eleanor loved to cook but found it difficult to gather the enthusiasm to cook yummy food just for herself. 

It took a while to adjust but gradually she ventured back into the kitchen and started sharing the recipes online. 

The response was truly overwhelming, she suddenly realised how many others were in the same predicament and everyone yearned to eat really well.

People of all ages, in a variety of situations, young and old, eagerly tuned in awaiting the next creation.

From 20-somethings to parents whose children had flown the nest, single parents, older people, widows and widowers. 

All craving delicious food and wanting to find the joy in cooking something comforting for themselves.

Eleanor spent hours poring over cookbooks for added inspiration, She developed her own recipes. 

Some are made in minutes, others take several hours and many ingredients to make. 

She had already started her book when she joined us in Ballymaloe Cookery School for the 12-week course in 2023. 

One Pot One Portion was published by Ebury Press in 2024, to immediate acclaim.

Eleanor divided the chapters of the cookbook into:

• Comfort: Recipes to bring you ultimate warmth, for days when you need to feel cosy and homely.
• Fresh: Food packed with colour and vibrancy, for times when you want your food to energise you and bring a little zing to your day.
• Simple: For when you have enough on your plate, and you’d like your food to require little time or fresh ingredients. Satisfaction without stress.
• Special: When you want to show yourself a little extra love. Recipes that take more time or money but bring another level of joy.
• Sweet: For when you need extra sweetness in your day, food that is impossible not to enjoy, and not just for dessert.

In Eleanor’s words, ‘hopefully, across the capers in this book, you’ll find everything you need to fulfil all requirements. So have fun, eat well, and enjoy it as much as possible’.

There’s also an emphasis on zero waste, lots of recipes have partner recipes to use up one or more of the same ingredients and suggestions for using the freezer cleverly.

Here are a few recipes for you to try — so many delectable recipes, it was difficult to choose just a few to tempt you… 

• All recipes are from One Pot One Portion by Eleanor Wilkinson published by Ebury Press.

Eleanor Wilkinson's Spiced Lamb and Aubergine with Pitta

This recipe is based on the Middle Eastern dish, fatteh, which is made for sharing but this version is a feast for one. A plate piled high with the most delicious flavours.

Servings

1

Preparation Time

 15 mins

Cooking Time

 20 mins

Total Time

 35 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• ½ large aubergine (approx. 125g), sliced into 1cm batons

• 5 tbsp natural yoghurt

• 1 garlic clove, grated

• 125g lamb mince

• 1 tsp paprika

• 1 tsp ground cumin

• ½ tsp ground coriander

• ½ tsp ground cinnamon

• 5g fresh coriander, finely chopped

• knob of butter

• 1½ tbsp pine nuts

• 3 tbsp pomegranate seeds

• Salt and black pepper

• To serve:

• pitta bread

Method

1. Heat the olive oil in a pan over a medium-high heat, add the aubergine, season with salt and fry for 8-10 minutes until golden and mostly soft.

2. While that’s frying, spoon the yoghurt onto your serving plate and add the garlic. Mix together and spread over the bottom of the plate.

3. Once the aubergine batons are golden, add in the lamb mince and fry for 4-5 minutes until brown and starting to crisp slightly. Add the spices and season with salt and pepper, then fry for 2-3 minutes. Toast the pitta bread while this is cooking. Add in the fresh coriander and mix everything together, then spoon the lamb and aubergine mixture over the yoghurt.

4. Place the pan back on the heat and add a knob of butter and the pine nuts. Let the nuts toast in the butter for 3-4 minutes until golden, then spoon them over the lamb/aubergine layer.

5. Sprinkle over the pomegranate seeds, then cut the pitta into triangles to serve alongside.

Eleanor Wilkinson's Ginger Chicken Rice Bowl

I love the fiery freshness of ginger and it’s the predominant flavour in this rich chicken broth. The finished dish isn’t a soup as such, but there is just enough broth to make every mouthful deliciously juicy.

Servings

1

Preparation Time

 10 mins

Cooking Time

 20 mins

Total Time

 30 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp sesame oil, plus extra to serve

• 2 garlic cloves, finely sliced

• 10g fresh ginger, chopped into matchsticks

• 300ml water

• ½ chicken stock pot

• 1 tsp soy sauce

• 1 tsp rice wine vinegar

• 55g basmati rice

• 1 chicken breast, cut into 2cm thick slices

• 55g broccoli (regular or tenderstem), chopped into small pieces

• 5g fresh coriander, finely chopped

• 1 spring onion, thinly sliced at an angle

• Salt (optional)

Method

1. In a pan, heat the sesame oil over a medium heat. Fry the garlic and ginger until they have softened slightly and smell fragrant but haven’t coloured too much.

2. Add in the water, stock pot, soy sauce and rice wine vinegar. Bring to a simmer and taste - if needed, add a little salt. Bring to the boil, then add in the basmati rice and cook for 5 minutes.

3. After 5 minutes, turn the heat down to a gentle simmer and add in the chicken and broccoli (tenderstem broccoli will take slightly less time, so add this in when you only have 4-5 minutes left). Put a lid on and cook for 8 minutes. You want it to stay at a gentle simmer, so the chicken poaches but doesn’t toughen.

4. Place the coriander and spring onion slices in your serving bowl. Once the chicken and rice are cooked, spoon into the bowl with the coriander and spring onion and mix together. Finish with a final drizzle of sesame oil to serve.

Eleanor Wilkinson's Cinnamon Bun

This is the easiest cinnamon bun recipe you may ever find, relying on no dough, no yeast, no kneading and no proving time.

Servings

1

Preparation Time

 15 mins

Cooking Time

 30 mins

Total Time

 45 mins

Course

 Baking

Ingredients

• 80-85g ready-rolled puff pastry

• 10g softened butter, plus extra for greasing

• 3 tsp soft light brown sugar

• ½ tsp ground cinnamon

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan)/gas 4.

2. Unroll the puff pastry and cut off a long strip that is 5cm in width. Spread the butter on top of the pastry, then sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon over the top Fold the pastry over so it halves in length, then press together to seal slightly. Cut into three strips. At one end, press the three strips together, then plait the strips, taking one outside strip and bringing it into the middle, then bring the other outside strip into the middle, repeating until the end.

3. Lightly butter one hole of a muffin tin, or a small ovenproof ramekin, then roll the plait up and place it in the tin/ramekin with the loose end at the bottom of the tin/ramekin.

4. Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden.

March at Ballymaloe

How to Graft Apple Trees on Friday, March 28

Part of our 2025 series on orchards, this practical half-day course takes place at Ballymaloe Organic Farm School in Shanagarry. Chris Troy will teach you how to graft a new - or old - apple variety for your home, school or commercial orchard.

This half-day course is for anyone looking to introduce new apple varieties without purchasing new trees and those keen to save old apple trees that may have been damaged or have sentimental value. 

Or maybe you're moving house and want to bring your favourite apple tree with you. 

The easiest way to do all of these is through the skill of grafting and Chris will show you the best methods by practical demonstration.

Our teacher is Christopher Troy, a member of Future Orchards in Upper Glanmire, and a commercial horticulturist with 40 years of experience. 

Having worked in a great number of orchards around the country, both commercial and private orchards, Christopher has a diverse and varied knowledge of orchards.

Nowadays Christopher grows all of his fruit organically at home and is a great advocate for organic farming, encouraging all those he works with to practice organic methods.

Rearing and Curing Heritage Pigs, April 1

Slow Food farmers Martin and Noreen Conroy are renowned for their free-range pork, bacon and sausages. 

Their wonderful pork is the meat of pure traditional Saddleback and Gloucester Old Spot pigs which they breed, rear, butcher and process themselves. 

They feed their pigs only on locally grown rolled wheat and their own vegetables, to produce a slow-maturing, flavoursome meat - and the difference is clearly in the taste. 

The pigs travel just six miles to Midleton to be slaughtered by a local butcher and the same trip to be sold at market, which combined with the use of local feedstuffs, means their produce has virtually no carbon footprint. A real nose to tail operation.

This boots-on-the-ground day course at Ballymaloe Organic Farm School in Shanagarry will focus primarily on raising heritage pigs and is suitable for small-scale to commercial-scale production.

• ballymaloecookeryschool.ie