I eat, I read, I watch — dining solo #21
Trout and Ontario asparagus
I eat, I read, I watch — dining solo #21
Today’s post is the 21st of “I eat, I read, I watch,” my column highlighting a solo dinner and my reading and watching accompaniments. Don’t just eat alone - dine solo! You’re worth it. And it’s not hard to do.
Missed earlier instalments? Check out the list at the bottom of the post.
I eat: Rainbow Trout, garlic mashed potatoes, and roasted asparagus
In my effort to eat as much asparagus as possible while it’s fresh, here’s another take on it.
Let’s start with three red potatoes. I don’t peel them. Seems like a waste of time. If you are at my table and you don’t eat the peels, I will judge you for pickiness, as I did my late husband while he was judging me for my perceived laziness. I did, however, wash them, carve out the eyes, cut them into pieces, and put them in a pot of cold water, with salt. I bring them to a boil, turn the down to medium, and put the timer on for 12 minutes.
I get the oven pre-heating to 450. Then out comes the asparagus. I’m planning my pilgrimage to the asparagus farm soon, but for now, I’m stuck with store-bought. Nevertheless, it’s Ontario grown and therefore pretty fresh. I rinse them and break the ends off with a good snap. I lay them on a baking sheet, drizzle some olive oil on them, and give them a good dusting of umami salt and pepper. Can’t get enough of that umami salt!
Now the rainbow trout. It’s been in my freezer for a bit but it’s nearly thawed - I’d had the forethought at lunch to put it in the main fridge. I run a little cool water over the package to speed it along. Good enough. It goes into a separate pan, skin side down, and gets a little dousing of olive oil as well as S&P.
Both asparagus and fish go into the oven for 12 minutes. Luckily my induction stove top has three (!) timers, one more than I’ve ever needed, but there you go. By now, the potatoes are done so I drain them and add bit of 10% cream and a generous dollop of the World’s Best Garlic Spread from Exeter, in my home county of Huron. Worth picking it up if you see it. I gave the potatoes a good mashing and put the lid on to keep them warm.
At 12 minutes, my fish looks a little undercooked so I leave it in for 3 more minutes. Perfect.
I plate half of everything: potatoes, fish, and asparagus. I give the fish a good squeeze of lemon and chop a scallion over the whole lovely mess.
With a Partake (the non-alcoholic beer I’ve started buying) served in a Toronto Maple Leafs stein, this is the perfect meal for an evening when the rest of Toronto will be glued to its TV to watch some hockey game or other. You may ask yourself why I have such a stein? It was on a bar shelf when we bought the house 14 years ago. When you buy ‘as-is,’ you do get some unlikely treasures.
Prep Time: 30 minutes if that
Origin: All Canadian but of the olive oil
Cost: $16 for two meals
Got a favourite way to eat asparagus? In the Comments below please!
I read: Love Me: One Woman’s Search for a Different Happily Ever After
Marianne Power’s book is not the kind to which I typically gravitate. But “different happily ever after” did catch my eye, and I am looking for titles that relate in some way to the book I’m writing, Lane Change, in which I chronicle my own path to Chandlerville, the place and the state of mind where I now live.
Power’s younger than I am by a few years, but writes many of the things I’ve thought through my life, which has primarily been as a single woman.
Like these questions she poses: Why are single people accused of running away from something? Why aren’t couples accused of running away from being alone?
Like the fact that sologomists (people who marry themselves) are open to roasting a chicken and eating it alone if they want to, complete with table cloth, candle, and fancy china. Does this sound a little like I eat, I read, I watch - this very series?
She talks about the sadness and loneliness that sometimes results from not wanting the things that others want, of not doing the things that others are doing. But ultimately, Power concludes, as I have, that she:
no longer feel[s] like a Bridget Jones loser, [she feels] like part of a new breed of women who are choosing to build different kinds of lives. Lives that suit them. Lives that our mothers and grandmothers were not able to choose. When we have the freedom to choose, we choose different things.
I enjoyed this book more than I expected to. I will make sure I keep track of Power’s writing, since I’m sure there’s more to come.
What are you reading? Add it to the Comments below.
I watch: Towards Zero
This is a BritBox Agatha Christie offering, and worth a look. It’s set in England, 1936. A scandalous divorce leads to murder at Lady Tressilian’s estate. Detective James Leach must uncover the truth before another victim falls. Everyone’s got a motive and no-one’s very likeable. The only person I knew in this cast was Angelica Huston who does a pretty decent job of being a British aristocrat of a certain age. If you want a decent mystery, give it a try.
Have you found anything worth sharing? In the Comments below please!
Missed the earlier instalments of this column? Click:
#1 (pork chop & green beans)
#2 (trout & veg)
#3 (shrimp pepper bisque)
#4 (rice & peas with coleslaw)
#5 (ramen)
#6 (burger & fries)
#7 (duck sausage & salad),
#8 (shrimp & veg with pasta)
#9 (Wigilia)
#10 (mushroom shepherds pie)
#11 (roasted veg and sausage)
#12 (leftovers)
#13 (garlic shrimp with rapini on egg noodles)
#14 (beef stew)
#15 (salmon mac and cheese)
#16 (salmon cakes and ragout)
#17 (pork tenderloin, red cabbage, potatoes)
#18 (pulled turkey and salad)
#19 (almond butter chicken korma)
#20 (lobster tacos with asparagus)
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