More Nattering about Books and Food

I cannot fully express the joy and sense of accomplishment I feel being at able to occasionally prepare a simple meal for myself.  My happiness is unbounded and worth the resultant exhaustion. Even though I remain only able to get up for 5 or maybe 6 minutes at a time, which limits me to simple things that allow me to stagger the preparation over a period of time, the sense of freedom gained is immense.  Being able to make a salad, or a very simple meal, even it takes an hour, is the difference between being completely dependent on others and being independent.

First I made the buttered spinach recipe I wrote about from The Nourished Kitchen. It was simple.  I let the spinach sweat over low heat, and this allowed me to rest, then I forced the extra moisture from the spinach, sauteed it in some butter, seasoned to taste, and added finely minced hardboiled egg.  It was a lovely combination, although I changed the proportions a bit, since I was making it for myself and planned to eat the entire thing for breakfast.  I had 8 ounces of tender spring spinach, a little under half the recipe, with two hard-boiled eggs (the full recipe amount).  It made for an excellent repast, which is not surprising since I love spinach mixed into scrambled eggs.  It is possilbe that I like hard-boiled eggs mixed into a bowl of spinach even better, and a strong possibility this may become a standard.  It is easy to toss the spinach in the pot and do other things, like make coffee and toast, chop the eggs and feed the cats, while the spinach steams. Then it is a simple task to toss everything together and eat. Of couse this implies that I have boiled the eggs previously, but that is not hard,  and hard-boiled eggs are a good staple to have in the house for those times when I am rushed and need a bit of protein to tide me over.

I've been reading Deborah Madison's Vegetable Lieracy over the past week or so and of course it has further fueled my desire to be up and in the kitchen.  I am not quite finished reading it but I've read enough to know that it will indeed see frequent use.   The book is divided into 12 sections representing 12 families of vegetables, and the author has some thought provoking observations on how the vegetables under consideration in each section work together.  Actually, although there is no dearth of practical information in the book, it is really more personal and anecdotal than strictly educational in approach, and that is one of the things I like about it.  The recipes sound wonderful, and given my experience with Madison's previous books, I have no doubt that they are excellent.

Last night I made Tuscan Kale with Garlic-Anchovy Dressing for dinner.  It was incredible.  The recipe deems this a side dish for 3 or 4, and it would be an excellent side dish.  I love a large meal-sized salad however, and four cups of Kale also made an excellent, and generous,  dinner for me, although I did use only about a quarter cup of croutons, and slightly less olive oil than called for.  Truthfully, although the croutons were good in the salad, and added a nice crunchy counterpoint, Tuscan kale retains enough crunch and texture that I could happily eat the salad without croutons, if I were making it just for me again.  But don't go thinking that I left any croutons behind either, I enjoyed every last one.  I can only recommend this recipe for those who enjoy anchovies and garlic as the olive-oil-garlic-anchovy dressing is noticably pungent.  I felt the anchovies complemented the kale well.  In fact I enjoyed it so much, I could use this dish as a reward for good behavior, an earned treat, and it would work, as I found this far more indulgent and satisfying than any junk food or pastry I can recall.

I wonder if that is a bad sign or a good sign.  What kind of person craves kale with anchovies and olive oil instead of dessert or french fries?  Perhaps I've finally crossed some line,  gone over to the dark side…. I've partially lost the sweet tooth that has plagued me since childhood.  I still love a sweet.  I still love a really good pastry or piece of chocolate, an excellent dessert, even an occasional french fry. I don't completely avoid these things, but when I do want to indulge, I rarely want more than a small amount.  But I could certainly eat a whole bowl of Kale with Anchovy-Garlic dressing without regret.  The recipe is generous enough with the olive oil that  I can't justify eating and entire bowl of  it every day, but at the same time, with 4 cups of kale,  I can't exactly call it junk food either.

Aside from cooking and reading cookbooks, I can't say that I have been very ambitious this week.  I've basically been filling my time, between cooking attempts and doctor's visits, with light escapist reading.  

BMBG recommended that I try Lawrence Block's The Burglar in the Library and I took her advice, although, as I was only familiar with Block's darker novels, I had trouble imagining Block as the author of laugh-out-loud mysteries.  Obviously I knew nothing of the Bernie Rhodenbarr novels.   With nods to Agatha Christie and Dashiell Hammett, skill and tremendous imagination, Block's humerous mystery had me rolling on more than one occasion.  

I enjoyed the book so much that, feeling not particularly focused on more thoughtful literature and non-fiction, I went back to the first book, Burglars Can't Be Choosers,  and have been working my way through the series.  Block is a good writer; he is also a writer with a great sense of humor and a wicked wit who brings a light touch and a certain brash outrageousness to the most clichéd plot devices.  In fact the clichés are part of the point and part of the fun; Block never forgets his reader and never seems to doubt the reader's intelligence.  The books do build on each other and are worth reading in sequence but I enjoyed the first book I read, which is not the first of the series, immensly anyway.  And the Burglar series, although light and deliciously humerous, hold up to being read in quick succession, no easy feat.  I'll probably finish off the series over the rest of this week, or through the weekend, and they are books I would probably enjoy coming back to for a quick escapist bit of fun.