Minimal Labor Dinner

An herb omelette for One is the easiest quick fix we know. Cafe Drake uses two eggs only and here we filled ours with contents lingering in the fridge - coarsely grated Parmesan cheese scraped from a drying rind, a withering minced scallion and chopped mint and cilantro leaves.

A well seasoned cast iron skillet is just as effective as any non-stick pan when making omelettes.

Roughly cut oven "fries" make a great alternative to deep-frying.

Finally add a garnish of oil-cured olives and enkoi mushroom salad. These mushrooms are best appreciated raw in our opinion. Cafe Drake makes a 1-Minute Salad by separating them at the base and tossing quickly with equal parts - 1 T. each to a packaged cluster of enoki mushrooms - sesame oil and soy sauce. Season to taste with salt and white pepper if you have it on hand.