I eat, I read, I watch — dining solo #11 - Roasted veg!
endless possibilities with roasted veg…
Today’s post is the 11th of “I eat, I read, I watch,” my column highlighting one of my solo dinners and my reading or Netflix accompaniments. Please treat yourself well at mealtime too. Don’t just eat alone - dine solo! You’re worth it. And it’s not hard to do.
Missed the earlier instalments? See the list at the bottom of the post:
I eat: Roasted Veg and sausage
It was fall and my fridge was groaning from the weight of the vegetables I’d been unable to resist at the farmers’ market. There was not much else in it, though, so I rooted around in the freezer and found a couple of sausages from Speducci, the local Italian market. When I first bought them, they looked marvellous. Like everything else that’s spent some time in the freezer, they looked a little sad - time to make them more palatable.
I preheated the oven to about 375; the temperature gauge is at the front of my oven which is below the countertop so seeing it can sometimes be a challenge - but I’m not too fussed. I put the veg under a stream of water and then onto the cutting board with plans to roast them all up and go from there. I cut the acorn squash into 5 slices and scooped out the seeds, and then chopped half a red onion, two carrots, and a yellow beet. Everything went onto a cookie sheet and got dressed with a few dollops of olive oil and a liberal grinding of salt and pepper. Into the oven it went. Timer - 20 minutes.
When the timer went off I added half a dozen whole mini peppers and tossed things around a bit in the oil. And I got a pan heating for the sausages. I know they wouldn’t take long. I made the mistake of overcooking the first half of this package - I didn’t want to kill them a second time. Even if the Italian sausage wouldn’t pass muster for my late Polish husband, I know the importance of getting the right mustard for the job. These called for a generous spoonful of horseradish-mustard. It went on the plate.
I pulled the veg out - the pepper skins were just starting to blister. Perfect timing. I scooped some of the squash flesh onto the plate and took a couple of carrot pieces and a beet slice. My sausage was done so I plated it with a spoonful of red onion. With a glass of red wine and tada! Dinner.
And for the next day, I heated up all that lovely roasted veg in half a litre of vegetable stock, pureed it, added cans of coconut milk and drained chick peas, seasoned with a few drops of spicy garlic chilli oil, and I had a delish soup with a cracker or two on top.
Prep Time: Dinner #1 - 45 minutes; Dinner #2 - 20 minutes
Cost: $10 for about 4 meals
Tell me about your comment food. In the Comments below please!
I read:
Because I spent so many years not reading much, there are certain writers I’ve missed. Joan Didion, for example. Didion, an American writer who died in 2021, wrote the much celebrated The Year of Magical Thinking. There’s a reason some books are cited in all the memoir and grief writing courses. Hers is a straightforward account of the grief she experienced after the sudden death of her husband in December 2003. Because she was a journalist as well as a memoirist, it’s as though she’s documenting the experience with a birds-eye perspective. Brilliant book. Can’t believe I hadn’t read it before.
Got a reading recommendation? Add it to the Comments below.
I watch:
Having gotten so much out of Didion’s book, I decided to watch a Netlflix documentary about her. Directed by her nephew, Joan Didion: The Centre Will Not Hold is very much her own account of her life, including of the time she chronicles in The Year of Magical Thinking and the period immediately after when her daughter dies. If you know nothing about her - as I didn’t - then give it a watch. Fascinating woman. Tragic story.
What’re you watching? In the Comments below please!
Missed the earlier instalments of this column? Click:
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