Spinster in the Kitchen: Sweet Potato Rice (Gogumabap)

This is what I made for dinner this evening.   I had sweet potatoes that I needed to use up and left over rice from making curry a few days ago; this recipe uses fresh rice. A neighbor of mine shared the dish with me years ago but I always forget how to make the sauce which is why I ended up looking it up online and came across this fabulous video.

The recipe is very simple: sweet potatoes, rice and very basic sauce.  It is easily made gluten free (use gluten free soy sauce) or vegan (use sugar instead of honey in the sauce).  It is also quite delicious and very inexpensive to make plus if you have leftovers it actually reheats beautifully. It makes only two to three servings making it quite manageable for one person to eat over a couple of days.  It is so tasty I don't mind eating it for lunch the next day.

Enjoy!

PS - Yes I know this isn't a full Spinster in the Kitchen post.  I'm pressed for time and have a final I need to study for but I still want to make sure my blog is updated (28 days to go).

The Big Announcement!!! (drum roll please.....)

I have some big news to announce.  It is more than just big news; it’s actually a pretty substantial lifestyle change.  In fact it is a change I didn’t think I’d be making anytime soon, if ever.  No worries, this change does not involve diamond rings or diapers.  It does however involve boxes, packing tape and the possibility of a truck rental. 

I’m moving. 

In less than three weeks I’m leaving my cozy little spinster nest to take up residence across town in much larger apartment with two roommates.  You read that correctly, this champion of living alone is going to be sharing space with other living and breathing mammals that are not cats.   Why am I making such a move?

Like many folks in this country getting by has become increasingly difficult for me.  I am a full time student, I work part-time and I also earn some extra money through performing and my crochet work.  I make enough to cover my expenses but each month it has become more and more of a struggle to make ends meet.  It became obvious I had to do something to either cut expenses or increase my income. 

Option number one, taking a second job, would mean I could continue to live alone but it would be at the expense of my evening and weekend hours which would leave very little time left to write, dance or create.  What few hours I would have left would be given over to school work.  Option number two, taking a fulltime job, left me making an even more drastic sacrifice.  I’d be giving up a part-time job that I dearly love to make a return to the 9 to 5 grind and I’d still be faced with choosing to give up either my creative pursuits or school. 

Sacrificing those things that feed my spirit for the sake of keeping these particular four walls, which I’d not likely be home often enough to enjoy anyway, was not something I was willing to do.   So I was left with the option of cutting expenses which translated into looking for a more affordable living arrangement…which meant living with other people.  Thankfully a situation came along that will work quite nicely.  The space is large enough for the three humans and five (yes, you read that right) felines who will live there; the bedroom that will be mine is nearly the same size as half my current apartment, and I’ll be cutting my expenses by nearly a third.  Oh, and yes, I actually like the people I’ll be living with.

I love new adventure and find myself looking forward to this one too though after three years of solitary living it will be a bit of an adjustment.  I’ll have to remember to keep a supply of clean pants on hand and naked coffee isn’t likely going to be an option anymore but I will now have people to inflict my Spinster in the Kitchen experiments on share my Spinster in the Kitchen test recipes with and I can finally have another body to shove in front of me for protection when someone is hiding behind the shower curtain waiting to come at me with a butcher knife. 

Yes, I can make all sorts of adjustments and sacrifices (like wearing pants) to “get by”, but there are certain things I won’t give up.  Writing, dancing, learning and creating are the things that make my life something I live, not just survive. I'm not willing to give up living...

My love...

You are so good to me.

You are never cold or unwelcoming, instead your warmth and bubbliness pull me ever closer to you.

You never leave me wanting.  Yes,  I mean it when I say that you satisfy me in a way no one else ever has.

You take care of me.  When I walk in the door from a long day of work and school, the apartment is filled with the aroma of the dinner that awaits me.

I'm sorry that we don't spend as much time together as we should, I know I take you for granted and sometimes I might forget all about you...

It never matters how long it's been.  You won't rush or hurry.  No, you take your time...sometime hours.

And I know that when I once again feel that deep hunger you will be there, tucked away beneath the cupboard, sitting patiently in the corner.

Oh how I adore you....

...my crockpot.*

*I had a very tasty beef stew this evening thanks to my favorite kitchen appliance.  I <3 you crockpot. 

Happy Blogversary to Me!

One year ago I decided to start writing a blog.  When Spinster Jane began it was completely anonymous.   I chose a generic female name to write under, Jane, and a fairly general topic…me and my experiences with living alone.  My main reason for keeping things anonymous was to allow Spinster Jane the freedom to find her voice (yep…I just third personed my blog pen name).  While I knew I wanted to write about living alone and choosing to remain single, I wasn’t 100% sure how to go about doing that. 

In the beginning all I did was write and I did very little in the way of promoting the blog.  Over the next two months I shared the blog with close friends whose editorial opinions I trusted.  I also began to discover that there was a lot of information out there about single living and was pleased to find that much of it was positive.   Blogs like Bella de Paulo’s Living Single and Eleanore Wells’ The Spinsterlicious Life, were informative and inspiring to read.  After another month or so of regular writing I finally started sharing the blog far and wide, where ever I could think of posting it and I slowly started making it a little less anonymous, even posting a picture of my very own face! 

I am sure that during those first few months 90% of my readers were friends and family but over time other folks began to take notice.  I was asked by Simone Grant of Sex, Lies& Dating in the City to write a guest blog post.  I was approached in the grocery store by a woman who recognized my photograph from the blog.  Most recently this blog was nominated for Best Blog in the Portland Phoenix Best of Portland Awards (and yes, if you want to vote for me you can do so here).  As my audience grew the blog developed too with regular features such as Spinster Nesting and Spinster in the Kitchen posts about ways that one can make living alone easier and more comfortable.

And so here I am, one year, 128 posts (well 129 if you count this one) and a domain name later, still writing, mostly about single living, frequently about my cats and occasionally about post apocalypse survival strategies.  Through this blog I’ve connected with some other amazing single living women around the world and I’ve rediscovered my own love of writing. 

So thank you to everyone who offered advice and support when I began this blog a year ago, and a giant thank you to those who visit and read the blog regularly.  While I do write because I enjoy the process (struggle?) of creating, I think every writer hopes that someone will read  the words they have written.  The fact that there is an audience out there for what I write is the butter crème frosting that tops off the creative cake.

Thank you.

Spinster in the Kitchen Guest Post: One Mother of a Sweet Potato Bread

This month's Spinster in the Kitchen post is a guest post by one of my favorite solo living ladies, my mother!  That's right folks, I did not burst forth onto this earth fully formed in all my spinsterific glory nor was I raised in the wild by a secret tribe of spinster wolves...I had parents. 

Though my mother may have insisted that my brother and I both learned how to cook before we left home to find our way out into the wide and wild world for practical reasons (everyone should know how to feed themselves), her kitchen lessons planted in me the seeds of what became a life long love of cooking.  The knowledge she shared has served me, and those who have shared my table, quite well over the years and I am grateful for it. 

Today she shares her Sweet Potato Bread with you...

One Mother of a Sweet Potato Bread

"How can a nation be great if its bread tastes like Kleenex?"  --Julia Child

According to the website Foodies.com  http://www.foodies.com/ “On the curriculum vitae of a foodie, ‘eating’ is listed as a hobby.”  I would add “cooking” to that definition.  So, when someone asks me “Why do something as complicated and time consuming as baking bread when you live alone?” the answer is simple – cooking and eating are my hobbies.  Making bread is one of my favorite creative activities and  eating a slice of my homemade bread still hot from the oven slathered with butter is one of my greatest gastronomic pleasures  (it has to be butter – no margarine allowed – yes, I can tell the difference and it is really easy for me to “believe it’s not butter.”)    With that rationale out of the way, let me tell you about my most recent bread endeavor.

I discovered a recipe for Potato Bread in Deborah Madison’s, Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone (p. 664 if you’re interested).   I made it twice, loved it and received rave reviews from folks with whom I shared it.  While discussing the merits of this bread with my sister, we agreed that the mashed potato could be replaced by mashed sweet potato (or squash or pumpkin).   I had already substituted whole wheat flour for part of the white flour in the recipe and this new possibility sounded too good to not try.   So let me show you how I make Sweet Potato Bread.

Sweet Potato Bread the Basic Recipe

¼ cup warm water
2 ¼ tsp active dry yeast (1 package)
½ tsp maple syrup or molasses
1 ½ cups hot water
1 ½ cups buttermilk
3 tbl softened butter
2 tsp salt
1 cup mashed sweet potato*
4 cups white flour
3 cups whole wheat flour

*Mashed Sweet Potato – You have a couple of options here.  You can buy a can of sweet potatoes and puree them.  Make sure they are bare naked sweet potatoes – not sweetened or flavored with anything.  I prefer baking couple of sweet potatoes, peeling them and pureeing them.  I use my nifty Braun stick and the end result appears in the photo to the right.




I also like to have everything “mise en place” (French for “everything in its place) before I start to cook.

The butter & ¼ cup water are in the microwave
softening and warming respectively.

 A brief caveat:  For those of you who have never made bread before, this is not a primer on how to do so – I’m just telling a story here. Get someone to teach you the basics before trying this recipe.   Now on to the yeast.

Yeast is just plain amazing!  I mean really, anything that gives you beer, wine, bread and blue cheese has to be great!  For purposes of bread baking mix the maple syrup or molasses in the ¼ cup warm water in a small bowl/cup and add the yeast.  Cover the bowl with a towel to give it privacy and the yeast will procreate like crazy – don’t get too excited there is no sex involved, just mitosis.

While the yeast is growing mix the liquid ingredients (hot water, buttermilk & butter) and sweet potato in a big bowl and mix well.  Stir in the yeast mixture. 

How much flour?

How much flour to use when making bread is often dependent on temperature, humidity, air pressure and the kind of flour you’re using.  I usually start with the amount listed in the recipe and make adjustments as I go – it’s an intuitive thing.  The whole wheat flour goes in first along with the salt and I whisk it until it’s smooth. 

It looks muddy and smells yeasty - like this:

Muddy...yeasty

Then I mix in white flour until the dough stiff enough to be dumped on the lightly floured counter and kneaded.  Kneading is my second favorite part of making bread – eating the finished product is my first.

Kneading is an art and a science.  You can find videos on Youtube that will demonstrate how to do it but it is the feel of the bread that is the best indicator of when you are done kneading  - it should be smooth and silky.  This particular bread is heavier and moister than bread without potato so it is a bit denser and wetter after kneading – a tad sticky.

Before kneading

During kneading

After kneading

So when all the criteria mentioned above (density, wetness, etc) have been met it’s time for the yeast to earn its keep.

The ball of dough goes into a large slightly oiled bowl, is covered by plastic and towels (remember, the yeast likes its privacy) and put in a warm place – a warm closet, near a warm stove, on the hot water heater (I warm a rice bag in the microwave, put it under the bowl and cover the whole affair with towels ((see below))).

Let the yeasties grow until the ball of dough is twice its original size – about one hour.

It’s not magic, it’s just biology.

I use this time to watch an episode of something mindless on Netflix, sync  my phone, read, take a shower, play 60 games of Bejeweld Blitz (not really)  and oil two bread pans.

When the ball of dough has doubled its size punch it down and take it out of the bowl.  Cut it into two pieces and squish the air out of them by flattening them into a rectangle (I use a marble rolling pin) - one edge should be about the length of your bread pan.   This particular dough will not flatten completely.   It’s dense and has lots of potato sugar for the yeast to feast on - the little guys just don’t want to stop growing.  I don’t worry about it.  I flatten a reasonable amount, roll the dough into a loaf shape and put it in the oiled pans.  Repeat the “put in a warm place…” process described above and let it rise until the dough is about even with the tops of the pans – 30 to 40 minutes.

                                                 

Killing the Yeast.

It’s sad I know but, in order for bread to be edible, the yeast has to die.   It’s quick and, I hope, painless – I’ve never heard them scream so it must be.  They die in a pre-heated 375 degree oven.

A couple of slashes across the top of the loaves before they go into the oven it may prevent them from splitting their sides.  I have had mixed success with this and I honestly don’t care if my bread is a little lopsided so I sometimes slash and sometimes don’t.   If it makes you feel powerful slash away.

Put the bread in the oven and wait patiently……….DON’T OPEN THE OVEN DOOR FOR AT LEAST 30 MINUTES!!!!!  After all that work you don’t want your loaves to collapse and they might if you do.

Cookbooks say that you can tell when bread is done by tapping the bottom of the loaf and listening for a hollow sound rather than a thud.  Clearly, these directions were meant for Yo-Yo Ma or Jerry Garcia and not for those of us with tin ears and no musical talent because I am never sure what I am hearing when I tap the bottom of a loaf of bread.  So, I use my other senses and I check the smell, heft and look of the bread.  This particular bread is done in about 45 minutes.  I check it after 35 minutes and every five minutes until it looks a lovely brown, feels solid but not heavy and smells a little nutty (must be the sweet potato).   Once removed from the oven and pans I coat the tops with butter and cover the loaves with a towel to cool.

When it’s done, it looks like this!

Yes, it is a process that can take half a day and dirty a ton of dishes but the end result, at least for me, is well worth it.

New Additions and Exciting Changes at Spinster Jane!!

It’s Saturday morning and I awoke with wholehearted intentions to make coffee and then sit down to write for a solid hour.  I was successful on the coffee front.  The writing however was delayed due the talent that the authors of the blogs on my blogroll have for writing well about interesting things.  I’m now looking at the clock thinking that I have somewhere to be in an hour and though I am now well caffeinated, I am still sitting here in my jammies. 

I do think I have just enough time to share some ideas I have for changes I plan to make to the blog.  Spinster Jane, while it does have a lot of personal flavor, is about women living single.  I want it to not only be entertaining but also useful.  I’ll still be writing posts about my cats and my battles with the dirty laundry pile, but over the next couple of months you can also expect the following:

More Spinster in the Kitchen posts!  Cooking for one can at times be a royal pain in the spinster ass.  Most recipes make servings for four or more, and they not always easily dividable.  Just how do you calculate one fourth of an egg?  Frozen dinners are not only expensive and depressing but also generally terribly bad for you.  I’ll be upping the number of Spinster in the Kitchen posts to two a month, and will also start to include some guest posts from other fabulous single living cooks I know.

Spinster Spotlight!  I’m not the only woman in the world who is happily living the spinster life.  I am acquainted with many women who, due to choice or circumstance, have found themselves embracing solo living.  While you can read about my single living stories here any time you like, I want to share the perspectives of others.  I’ll be doing Spinster Spotlight interviews with single living women and bringing  their stories to you.  The plan is to bring you the first of these in January, 2012 so we can all start the new year with a bit of inspiration.

Spinster Nesting!  Beginning in December I’ll be including a monthly feature on living alone in a small space.  Living alone not only often means compromising on square footage, it can also mean finding creative ways to save money so you can actually afford to keep your nest for one.  I plan to share my ideas and experience with small space living including how to keep organized, how to decorate on a budget, how to entertain in a tiny space and more.

I’m very excited about all of these upcoming additions to the blog.  I hope you will be too…

Now, it’s time to put on pants. 

Spinster in the Kitchen: Pizza - sometimes size matters

I love pizza.  If I had to pick a perfect food I think pizza comes pretty close.  It comes in an infinite variety of flavors, it can be paired with nearly any adult beverage, for the cost of a tip, it will be delivered to your door nearly any time of day or night and it is completely acceptable to answer the door in your pajamas! What isn’t there to like about pizza?

The fact is that sometimes, there is such a thing as too big.  Even a 12 inch pizza can leave me facing the prospect of eating pepperoni pie for more than two breakfasts, and while I do let my spinster flag fly high, eating cold pizza after three days brings me just that much closer to changing the name of this blog to Jane the Dude, My Transformation from Spinster to Maiden-Bachelor.

So where does this leave a solo living pizza loving woman?  You could buy those pizzas for one in the grocery store with their skimpy amounts of cheese and pea sized bits of vegetables or you can be a self sufficient super spinster and make your own. 

Breathe now.  Really homemade pizza is not difficult.  The only thing you are making from scratch is the crust and not only that but you won’t just be making one pizza crust, you will be making enough dough for FOUR spinster sized pizzas.  And better yet, you get to top them with whatever you like....pepperoni, hot peppers, extra-extra cheese, artichoke hearts, cat food (just making sure you are paying attention). So get ready!

This recipe is my favorite pizza dough recipe.  I have been using it for years and it is loosely based on a recipe originally meant to make two twelve inch crusts.  You will be quartering the dough, likely cooking one pizza right away and saving the rest for later.  It will result in four 8 – 9 inch pizzas. To store the dough in the freezer you will need quart size and/or gallon sized zipper storage bags depending upon if you will be freezing the dough or preparing and freezing mini-pizzas.

Optional: Cyndi Lauper’s “12 Deadly Cyns…and Then Some,” a bottle of your favorite wine and an approximately 90 minute spinster appropriate flick (i.e. lots of things get blown up or it’s black and white and stars Humphrey Bogart).

Spinster Jane’s Favorite Pizza Dough

Mix together:

2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast

1 1/3 cup warm milk

1 tablespoon honey

Allow this mixture to sit until the yeast is dissolved.  Depending up on the temperature of the milk and your kitchen this will be about 5 – 10 minutes.

Add:

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 ½ cups unbleached all purpose flour

1 tablespoon sea salt

(If you’d like to make an herbed crust you can add 1 tablespoon of your preferred dried herb – oregano, garlic powder or basil all make great additions)

Mix by hand until the ingredients are blended.  If the dough is too wet you can add a bit more flour (about ¼ cup).  The dough should be well blended after just a few minutes.  When the dough becomes smooth and elastic turn it out of the bowl onto a floured surface. 

With floured hands knead the dough for approximately 10 minutes (this is the about as long as the first three songs of Cyndi Lauper’s “12 Deadly Cyns…and Then Some”). 

When the kneading (and kitchen booty shaking) is done, find a large bowl and pour in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil.  Plop in your beautiful ball of dough, flip it once to make sure it is well coated with olive oil, cover the bowl with a towel and then leave for about 1 ½ hours.  That’s about enough time for your average action movie so pour a glass of wine and relax. 

By the time the end credits begin to roll across the screen the dough should be about doubled in size.  Remove the towel covering the bowl, make a fist and punch the dough down a few times.  Turn it back out onto a floured surface and give a bit of kneading love.  Then with a sharp knife cut the dough into four equal pieces.

At this point you have the following options. 

A) After all of this dough making, the glass of wine and the adrenaline rush from my favorite explosion filled, aliens attacking action film, I’m generally in need of food so I roll out one quarter of the dough into about an 8 – 9 inch approximation of a circle, top it with my favorite pizza toppings and bake it in 425 degree oven for about 12 – 15 minutes until the crust is golden brown. 

B) Now as for the remainder of the dough I usually take at least one of the quarters, shape it into a ball, spray the inside of a zipper storage baggie with a bit of olive oil and freeze it as is.  When I want pizza I take it out, let it thaw and proceed with option A.

C) The rest I roll out into 8-9 inch pizza crusts which I then carefully slide them into a one gallon zipper baggie.  While in the baggie I top it with sauce, cheese and whatever else I might like on a future pizza (yes, you will have plenty of room to do this in the bag).  Then I zip it shut and place it on a plate (this helps it keep its shape in the freezer), put it in the freezer and wait an hour or so after which I remove the plate.  When, on some night after a day of classes or a Saturday morning when I’m just too tired to cook, I put my frozen pizza delight on a cookie sheet, put it into a cold oven, turn the temp to 425 and cook for about 15 – 20 minutes until the crust is golden brown.  The crust will rise while cooking. 

And there you have it folks.  Pizza, the perfect spinster food.  Yes, I know it comes minus the possibility of flirting with the cute pizza delivery driver while wearing your best flannel PJs, but hey, with this you don't even need to wear pants!!

Enjoy!

Spinster in the Kitchen: Scones and sweet, sweet butter

I’ve been promising another Spinster in the Kitchen post for months now.   Well, hoot, holler and hurrah I’m finally getting around to actually posting it.

Anyone who has been reading my blog of late knows that right now I am in the midst of an extremely busy time.  My evenings have been particularly busy with school, work and rehearsals and so my social life has been nearly nonexistent.  What does this have to do with food?  Well the only time I seem to have free at all is in the early mornings and so I’ve been having friends over for breakfast with some amount of regularity. 

I love my friends dearly but one of the problems has been finding foods to cook that, if any is leftover, will not only keep but I’ll actually want to eat it.  This recipe proved a great solution for the problem.  Not only is this is just about the easiest scone recipe you will ever make, any leftovers will keep very well.  I put a couple in the freezer and ate the rest over the next few days.  I also made a very simple honey and herb butter to go with them.

Unlike a lot of scone recipes this one uses melted instead of chilled butter so one doesn’t need a pastry cutter (though being the prepared spinster that I am I have one) and it can be easily modified by changing out the raisins for other dried fruit and you could also use nuts or other seeds in place of the flax seed. 

Spinster Jane’s Golden Raisin Oatmeal Scones

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and have ready a large ungreased cookie sheet.

Wisk together:

1 ½ cups all purpose unbleached white flour

¼ cup brown sugar

½ tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon sea salt

Stir in:

1 ¼ rolled oats

¾ cup golden raisins

½ cup flax seed

 In a separate bowl whisk together:

1 egg

10 (yup TEN) warm melted butter

1/3 cup milk (I used low fat to make me feel better about the butter)

Finally, add this to the dry ingredients and mix only until everything is just blended.   It should stick together quite well. 

Next flour your hands and form the dough into a large ball.  Set it on a floured surface and using your hands (no rolling pins allowed and you shouldn’t need it anyway) flatten the dough into in an 8 inch round.  It should be about ¾ of an inch thick.  With a sharp knife cut the dough into 8 wedges. 

Transfer to the cookie sheet (if they stick use a spatula) and bake until just turning golden brown, about 12 minutes.

Allow to cool on a rack or serve warm.  

Honey Thyme Butter

This should be done the night before to give the flavor of the herb time (oh ha ha) to blend with the honey and butter. 

Blend until smooth:

1 stick of butter at room temperature

3 table spoons of honey

Add:

One tablespoon chopped fresh thyme or herb of choice (if using dried use about ¾ of a tablespoon)

Mix until well blended that put into a butter mold or small dish and chill in the fridge over night.  Allow about 15 minutes for it to sit out to soften before serving.  This will keep for a long time in the fridge so if you have some left over, you can eat on toast, or English muffins or well, on just about anything. 

And that is it.  The scones could be made fresh or, as I did, the night before.  I warmed them for about five minutes in the preheated oven at 350 degrees before serving.   They were a hit with my friends and with me over the next few days.  I’m planning to make them again this weekend!

Enjoy!

Spinster in the Kitchen: Fish rockin' out in the pan (one pan)

I love living by myself, except when it comes to cooking.  It isn’t the process that I mind (I actually love to cook) or the dining alone (I love to eat too), it’s the half a dozen dirty pots and pans and the eight days of leftovers.  I like cooking from scratch and I like the end result to be a well balanced and enjoyable meal even if I am only cooking for me.  Unfortunately, I have a habit of cooking as though there is a table of seven waiting in my dining room (you know, if I had a dining room).

Cookbooks are not always helpful in solving this dilemma.  Open any cookbook and you will quickly see that nearly every recipe makes four – six servings.  Now, leftovers do have their uses.  I don’t mind eating for lunch the next day what I had for dinner the previous evening, or maybe even dinner the following night but by  day three I’m just sick of looking at it let alone eating it.  I can pack it up and freeze it of course, but I already have a freezer full of servings for one. 

The following recipe does not have this problem.  It not only is enough to serve just two (or one with leftovers for lunch the next day) but it is made to be cooked in one pan.   Ideally this is a soup or pasta pan with a steamer basket that will rest a few inches above the liquid simmering below (mine came as part of a pasta pot set) but you can also use a large covered skillet or soup pot.  As long as it has a cover, you can rock this.

Fish in White Wine Broth and Garlic Steamed Chard

First a couple of tips.  In order to ensure that you don’t end up with over cooked fish or under cooked greens, it is best to buy one large filet of a fish such as haddock or cod.  Smaller fish like tilapia tend to be thin and cook rather quickly and you will end up with under cooked greens.  Also, make sure you prep your chard so it is ready to be added to the pot immediately (or almost immediately) following the fish.  Timing is a key part of this recipe. 

Garlic Chard

1 bunch chard

1 tsp salt

2 cloves of garlic pressed or chopped fine

¼ cup water

1.  Cut the stems off the chard and wash thoroughly.  Drain. 
2.  In a small bowl mix the garlic, salt and water.  Set aside.

Fish in White Wine Broth

1lb of white fish (cod, haddock, etc)

1 ½ cups of white wine

½ cup water

2 tbsp olive oil

Cup of cherry or plum tomatoes sliced in half

4 green onions chopped

Juice of ½ lemon

½ lemon sliced

½ tsp salt

1. In a large skillet or soup pan mix the white wine, olive oil, salt and water.  Bring to a simmer.
2. Add the green onions, lemon juice and sliced tomatoes.  Allow to simmer uncovered until the skins just begin to peel from the tomatoes (this will be about 7 – 10 minutes).
3. Add your fish to the skillet or pan.  You will likely find that you need to cut the fillet in half.  This is perfectly okay and makes it easier to serve.  Lay the remaining sliced lemon on top of the fish. Bring the liquid back to a simmer.
4. (a) If you are using a steamer basket.  Shred the chard by hand or with a knife and fill the basket.  Cover.  Now this will be a large mound of chard so your cover may sort of float on top of the chard until it begins to wilt.  After the chard begins to wilt a bit, remove the cover and pour the garlic, salt and water mixture over the top.  Replace the cover and cook until the chard is tender but not mushy (about 8-10 minutes). (b)If you do not have a steamer basket.  Shred the chard by hand or with a knife.  Allow the fish to simmer for a few minutes.  Add the chard directly on top of the fish.  Pour the garlic, salt and water mixture over the top of the chard.  Replace the cover and cook until chard is tender but not mushy (about 5 – 7 minutes).  You will need to remove the chard with a pair of tongs to another bowl to serve.
5. The fish is done when it begins to flake when poked with a fork.  You should be able to remove it from the pan with a slotted spatula.  Place it on a plate and dress it with a bit of broth.  The broth is also very tasty poured over the chard. 

I often find when I am done with dinner and I’ve packed up the remaining serving for lunch, I have a couple of cups of broth left over.  You can freeze this and if you want a quick and tasty dinner: thaw, add some cooked frozen cooked shrimp,  a few mushrooms, some green onion and red pepper flakes and you have a rather yummy spiced shrimp soup. 

And there you have it.  A tasty dinner for one, with leftovers you will want to eat and only one pot, one plate, one fork, one knife and you wine glass to sit in your sink for a day…or two…or…

Enjoy!

Spinster in the Kitchen (Bacon)

One of the great things about living alone is that I am queen of my domain, and that domain includes the kitchen. I've done many a kitchen experiment before some of which didn't seem doable but worked out (buffalo brussel sprout chicken nachos) and some that should have been okay, but didn't quite make it (broccoli rab quiche).  The wins far out number the fails and tonight, tonight well...

It was more than just a win.  It was a triumph of dessert! It was a conquest of the final course!  And it had bacon.

Wait! What?  You did say dessert right?

Yes, yes my kitchen delight was blend of sweet, creamy, crunchy and savory.  Smooth melting richness, a firm but delicate sweetness, topped with a crisp and smoky finish.  Ladies and Gentlemen.  Spinsters and dudes, I give you...

The Pineapple Bacon Maple Sundae

(or as I like to call it....the Mouth-gasm)

Ingredients:

Coconut milk vanilla ice 'cream'*
Unsweetened pineapple chunks**
Maple syrup (well chilled)
Bacon (several slices - though I always seem to end up cooking the entire package)

Directions:

Cook the bacon until crispy.  There are folks who like squishy bacon (yeah, crazy people) but now is not the time to go tender on the smoky pork.  You want to be able to crumble this over the top of your mound of sweet, sweet love this tasty dessert.  This is the finishing touch and it is what balances the sweetness of all the other ingredients.  So fry it up, make it CRUNCH!  Then let it cool.  Not only does sizzling hot bacon not feel good when being crumbled by your bare hands, it will turn your ice-cream into a puddle of goo.

Okay, once the bacon is cooled it is time for assembly.

1. Find a bowl of appropriate size (appropriate as determined by you or your inner ten year old)
2. Scoop ice cream into said bowl
3. Add several pieces of pineapple love and if your pineapple is canned, a few spoonfuls of the juice can't hurt
4. Crumble three pieces of bacon over the top
5. Finish it off by drizzling a tablespoon of chilled maple syrup all over it
6. Take a bite (use a spoon dear, we are still civilized here)
7. Moan, sigh...let you eyes roll back into your head, squeal
8. Swallow (uh, napkin, you, um, have something running down your chin)
9. Take a deep breath and repeat steps 6 -9 until done (this might include a second sundae)

One of the many pleasures of living alone is that there was no one around to watch me devour this satisfying treat, and all of the left over bacon?  Mine.  All of it.

Mine.

Notes


* Due to issues with lactose intolerance I used vanilla coconut milk ice cream, which does have a bit of a toasted coconut flavor to it.  I think this only added to the taste of this treat.  I'm sure regular vanilla ice cream would work just fine.

** I used unsweetened canned pineapple chunks, but I am sure that fresh pineapple would work as well and might even add another dimension of texture.