cooking for one ....

... just me this Sunday so I'm roasting half a duck marinated in the Hugh F-W's Ginger & soy marinade that was in yesterday's Guardian - it's the second recipe down on this page.
It should go nicely with some charlotte potatoes i've boiled and then squashed a bit and then put in the roasting tin with the bird along with some par-boiled parsnips.
There was a lonely little gem lettuce in the salad drawer in the fridge so that's going to get braised to have with it -

1 Little gem lettuce per person
1 shallot per lettuce finely chopped
Olive oil
About 20g of Butter per lettuce
Half a glass of white wine (more if you're doing more lettuces) and/or 1 rounded teaspoon Marigold bouillon powder

Half the lettuce length wise and wash carefully, fanning the leaves slightly but making sure it doesn't come apart. Dry on kitchen paper and then leave, cut side down, on a double layer of kitchen paper to dry some more.
Heat the olive in a saute pan big enough to hold the lettuces and gently fry the shallot until it starts to go transparent but not brown. Add the lettuce halves cut side down and turn the heat up a bit. Fry for 2 or 3 minutes until they start to soften round the edges. Add the butter a bit at time and keep gently moving the contents of the pan about making sure the lettuce doesn't break up. When the butter is melted and starting to foam chuck in the glass of wine or a wine glass of water and the bouillon powder. Taste the liquid and season with salt if necessary and freshly ground black pepper. Bring to the boil then turn the heat down to its lowest and cover the pan. Leave to cook very gently for about 5 minutes. Take the lid off the pan and reduce the liquid if it needs it until it is thick and glossy.