The Single-Portion Cook

Asunción Rivas

Asunción taught home economics for thirty-one years in a Valencia secondary school before retiring to a small flat in Barcelona's Eixample. When her husband Tomás died, every recipe she knew by heart still made four portions, and the leftovers shamed her in the bin each week. So she relearned to cook for one — gentle on the teeth, kind to a smaller appetite, easy on tired hands — and now spends her mornings teaching the widows and widowers on her landing to feed themselves with dignity and almost no waste.

Spanish-MediterraneanHome CookingGlobal Comfort

Voice · warm, patient, dignified, practical, unhurried

Signature Dishes

The essential curation of Asunción's favorites.

45 MIN

Buckwheat and Spinach Savory Cakes with Lemon and Herbs

Soft, golden cakes made with tender buckwheat and wilted spinach, brightened with lemon zest and fresh herbs. Gentle enough for a quiet dinner, satisfying enough to stand alone.

35 MIN

Almond Flour Cod and Leek Bites with Fennel

Tender cod pieces folded with softly sautéed leek and fennel, bound in egg and coated in golden almond flour. Pan-fried until crisp outside, flaky within, and brightened with a squeeze of lemon at the end.

75 MIN

Mediterranean Pinto Bean and Cod Tapas

Warm pinto beans simmered with tomato and thyme, crowned with a golden seared cod fillet, finished with lemon and fresh parsley. A gentle, brothy tapas for one.

50 MIN

Soft Pinto Bean and Butternut Stew Bites

A gentle, slow-simmered stew of soft pinto beans and tender butternut squash in a savory broth, perfect for easy one-bite portions that melt on the tongue.

35 MIN

Chickpea and Roasted Carrot Dip with Yogurt and Mint

A velvety, gently savory dip that blends sweet roasted carrots with creamy chickpeas, finished with cool yogurt and bright mint. Perfect for a quiet afternoon with bread or crackers.

45 MIN

Roasted Butternut Squash with Smoked Paprika and Fresh Thyme

Golden roasted butternut squash cubes seasoned with smoky paprika and fragrant thyme, finished with a squeeze of lemon — soft, gently savory, and soothing.

40 MIN

Gentle Rice Pudding with Carrot and Warm Spices

A soft, soothing rice pudding studded with sweet carrot and fragrant warm spices. Asunción would approve of the gentle textures and mild, comforting flavors — perfect for a quiet afternoon.

15 MIN

Chia Seed and Yogurt Parfait with Honeyed Cantaloupe

A soft, soothing layered breakfast of creamy yogurt and chia pudding crowned with gently honeyed cantaloupe. Gentle on the teeth and kind to a single appetite.

43 MIN

Lentil and rice pilaf with tender carrots

A gentle, golden pilaf of soft lentils and white rice studded with tender carrot pieces, cooked slowly with turmeric-scented broth and finished with a squeeze of lemon.

40 MIN

Creamy yogurt with roasted carrot and mint

A gentle, soothing bowl of silky yogurt topped with sweet roasted carrots and fresh mint. Soft enough for a quiet morning, bright enough to feel nourishing.

20 MIN

Zucchini ribbons with soft egg and chives

Delicate zucchini ribbons draped over a soft-poached egg, finished with a scatter of fresh chives and a gentle drizzle of olive oil. A quiet, nourishing dish for one.

30 MIN

Potato and leek broth with a drizzle of lemon

A gentle, velvety broth made with soft-cooked leeks and potatoes, finished with a bright squeeze of lemon. Perfect for soothing a small appetite.

65 MIN

Chickpea and roasted pepper stew

A warm, gently spiced stew of chickpeas and roasted bell pepper, slow-simmered with onion and carrot for a soft, comforting bowl that is easy on the teeth and kind to a smaller appetite.

41 MIN

Cod poached in herby tomato broth

A gentle cod fillet poached in a soft, fragrant tomato broth with tender potato and carrot, finished with fresh herbs and a squeeze of lemon. Perfect for a quiet, nourishing meal for one.

45 MIN

Cod and potato hash with a coddled egg

A gentle, homey hash of soft flaked cod and tender potato, crowned with a silky coddled egg. Asunción would approve of the soft textures, mild savory notes, and the way a single egg transforms humble ingredients into something dignified and satisfying.

130 MIN

White beans slow-cooked with chard and rosemary

Tender white beans slow-simmered with chard and a sprig of rosemary until silky and brothy — a gentle, nourishing dish for one.

45 MIN

Gentle lentils simmered with spinach and lemon

A comforting bowl of tender green lentils slow-cooked with wilted spinach and a bright squeeze of lemon, perfect for easing into a quiet afternoon. Asunción keeps this brothy and mild — nothing sharp, nothing heavy.

45 MIN

Soft potato and carrot stew with cumin

A gentle, brothy stew where potatoes and carrots are cooked until they yield softly under the spoon. Asunción's version is mildly spiced with cumin and finished with a poached egg that melts into the quiet broth. Perfect for a quiet morning or a light evening meal.

70 MIN

Grandmother's Cod and Potato Stew

A gentle, brothy Spanish stew of tender cod and soft potatoes, simmered slowly with aromatics until everything melts on the tongue. Asunción's version is kind and soothing, perfect for quiet suppers.

13 MIN

Silky Yogurt Bowl with Soft Egg and Herbs

A gentle morning bowl of strained yogurt draped with a soft, barely-set egg and fragrant herbs. Asunción would call this the kind of breakfast that asks nothing difficult of your teeth — just warmth, a little brightness, and the comfort of something made just for you.

55 MIN

Slow-Stewed Lentils with Zucchini and Herbs

Tender brown lentils slowly simmered with soft zucchini coins and carrot until silky and brothy, finished with a generous pour of olive oil and fresh herbs. Gentle, satisfying, and kind to the appetite.

40 MIN

Soothing chicken and rice caldo

A single chicken breast simmers with carrot until the broth turns pale amber and fragrant, then the breast is lifted, shredded into soft strips, and returned to the pot with white rice to finish cooking in that same liquid. Parsley stirred in at the end brightens everything just so — a caldo that steadies rather than excites, which is precisely the point.

35 MIN

Garlic shrimp over soft potatoes

Potato rounds are boiled until a fork goes through them with no resistance, then laid out as a warm bed in the bowl. Shrimp cook quickly in olive oil with sliced garlic — barely two minutes, so they stay tender rather than tough — and the garlicky oil pools down over the potato, doing the work of any sauce.

50 MIN

Brothy white beans with tender chard

Garlic softened in olive oil is all the flavor base this dish needs — white beans already carry a creaminess that thickens the broth on their own as they warm through. Chard is added in ribbons and cooks just until the stems yield and the leaves darken, giving color and a faint mineral note to something that is otherwise all gentleness.

45 MIN

Velvety potato and carrot soup

Potato and carrot are coaxed together in a light olive-oil sofrito of yellow onion until everything is tender enough to pass through a sieve without effort. The result is a bowl of quiet gold — gently sweet from the carrot, earthy from the potato — warm enough to take the chill from a Barcelona morning without once feeling heavy.

45 MIN

Lemony lentil soup with soft carrots

Carrot and celery give the broth a quiet sweetness as the lentils cook down into them, the whole pot turning thick and warming by the time everything is tender. Lemon squeezed in at the end cuts through that richness without overwhelming it — a small adjustment that makes the soup taste finished rather than flat, bright without becoming sharp.

30 MIN

Trout poached with lemon and dill

Potato slices cook first in lightly salted water with a few slices of lemon, and when they are tender the trout is lowered in for only a few minutes — just enough for the flesh to lose its translucency and flake at the touch of a fork. Dill goes over the top at the very end, its fragrance cool and clean against the warmth of the fish and potato underneath.

45 MIN

Cod simmered with creamy white beans

White beans are already yielding and mild before the cod arrives — the fish is laid over them and the heat dropped so it steams rather than fries, taking on the flavor of the garlic-and-tomato base without firming up. Everything softens toward the same gentle register, the beans almost dissolving at the edges into the tomato to form a sauce that needs no thickening.

60 MIN

Slow lentejas with carrot and cumin

Cumin goes into the warm olive oil first, releasing its earthiness before the onion and carrot join it and everything softens together into a fragrant base. Lentils need no soaking — they simply enter the pot and absorb the broth slowly until they are tender through and through, their skins barely perceptible against the tongue.

45 MIN

Poached chicken in clear lemon broth

Chicken breast, carrot, and celery are set in cold water and brought up together very slowly so the broth stays crystalline rather than cloudy. A squeeze of lemon is added at the end, not to sour the broth but to lift it — and the chicken, carved at the table, is as tender and pale as anything you would give someone who needed feeding back to health.

From the Pantry

Signature staples

eggcodlentilspotatoolive-oilcarrotyogurt

Favorite tools

SaucepanChefKnifeSteamerLadle

Reaches for

eggcodlentilspotatozucchinicarrotyogurt

Steers clear of

beef-steakcayennebaconpork-belly

Flavor Profile

The Loves

soft texturesgently savorybrothymild and soothingeasy to chew

The Defaults

a small drizzle of olive oila poached or coddled egga squeeze of lemonthings stewed soft and slow

The Avoids

tough chewy cutsaggressive chili heatgreasy heavy platesa fridge full of leftovers