My girlfriend has gone. My dream would be to have all of my girlfriends living on my block, so that we could all just sit on the shore of the East River together and look out onto the water and the world, and think about things. I don’t know what I want to eat. I could either open up the fridge, stand in front of it, and eat some jelly, maybe some peanutbutter, some milk, there is some soup in there, a piece of turkey meatloaf with rosemary, and I could take a bite of some pretty good carrots I have in there. In the silverware drawer I have some m&m’s.
The thing is, I can’t get my family to stand in front of the fridge with me, so I might have to cook something. Cook something little when you’re lonely; that way you can take a bite, and be done with it if you can’t face eating. Just in case you are hungry though, make something really satisfying in every way to go along side it to fill you up. Lamb chops with a potato gratin made with fried sage.

In a pan, add a little extra virgin olive oil and three thinly sliced cloves of garlic. Drop in about ten thin fresh sage leaves, and cook everything over low heat until the sage is crispy, but not brown. Thinly slice eight yukon potatoes. In a baking pan, drizzle a little heavy cream, and then layer the potatoes, sprinkling with a little salt, a drizzle of cream, a drizzle of olive oil, and some of the fried sage and garlic for each layer. Cover with foil, and bake at 350 degrees until soft. Sprinkle with a little parmesan, and run it for a few seconds under the broiler.

Fire up the grill if you have one, otherwise, you can just sear the chops in a pan glazed with your best olive oil. Season the chops first with a little salt and pepper, and either way, it’s just three minutes per side, and be sure you have all of the fat trimmed from the bones so that it doesn’t create a fire.

Have a little arugula salad on the side with lemon and olive oil, and fresh strawberries for dessert. If you need to, pass the chocolates around, and get the good stuff.