I eat, I read, I watch — dining solo #16
salmon cakes, eggplant ragout, pickled mushrooms
I eat, I read, I watch — dining solo #16
Today’s post is the 16th 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: Salmon Cakes and Ragout
Recall last time’s salmon mac and cheese? Well, some of that so-called smoked salmon was resting in my fridge, awaiting contamination, along with a bunch of veg ready to go off so I needed to be creative. So let’s go.
First, a diced onion into some oil olive heated to medium - 6 on the dial. Then some dicing cremini mushrooms, a yellow pepper, half zuke, and a Chinese eggplant. As the onions got soft, I threw in half a head of sliced garlic cloves. Then all the chopped veg. And finally, a couple of sprigs of rosemary, some dried basil from the plant that died on my window ledge, some umami salt, all the grape tomatoes in the bowl on the counter, and a drop of chilli oil. I got it all up to temp, put the lid on, and reduced it to 4 on the dial. I’ll check in a few to see whether I need to add some tomato paste or passata, depending on the thickness.
Salmon cakes (think crab but without crab) need breadcrumbs for binding and my last trip to the supermarket yielded nothing Canadian-made. This label checking is a new thing for me but if we’re subject to tariffs or other economic southern pressures, we need to start new habits. Without the canned breadcrumbs, this meal started with making some from a couple of slices of sourdough bread from my freezer. My Braun immersion blender came with a blender-type attachment. A few minutes later, voila, breadcrumbs.
I scraped the salmon flesh from its remarkably thick skin and realized there wasn’t enough of it nor was it the right consistency to make good salmon cakes. I opened a tin of canned and mixed all the salmon together with two raw eggs and a bunch of chopped scallions. Needs something for zing, I thought, so I added a couple of spoonsful of feta chunks. And then a few spoons of crumbs. Mix, mix, mix. Still a bit wet so I got a bowl of cornmeal for dredging. I got a hunk of butter heating in my precious cast iron pan, then formed a patty, ran it through the cornmeal, and gently lowered it into the butter. It gave me a satisfying sizzle, promising just a little crust on the cake, as I’d hoped.
I lifted the lid on the ragout, which was coming along nicely. I gave it a good stir and decided it’d be better a little thicker but that would happen with the lid off. No need for paste this time.
My first - tester - cake had been languishing in the pan for a few minutes - best check to see if it’s holding together. I tentatively lifted a corner. Perfect! I flipped it over and saw that tell-tale browning that confirmed my strong suspicion that this was going to work. Once I estimated the second side was done I plated it, added another chunk of butter, and nestled the remaining four in the pan. Not quite the sizzle of the first one, but a reasonably satisfying sound nonetheless.
With a little more testing and turning, and some ragout stirring, I had five cooked cakes and a decent veg melange to go aside it. I’m keen for a cold component on each plate so I extracted my trusty jar of Polish marinated mushrooms with carrot, and the capers. Obvs. Fish cries for capers.
With a glass of ginger kombucha, what an excellent repast.
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cost: $7 for salmon + $5 veg - 2 meals
Favourite go-to for cleaning up the fridge? In the Comments below please!
I read: The Business of Being a Writer
I recently discovered Jane Friedman. She has spent 25 years working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. I ordered her book, The Business of Being a Writer, from the library as part of my effort to reduce the books in my house. I also know myself - I buy these books on writing and read the first few pages and then get bored. If nothing else, they drive me back to the actual writing. I suppose that’s as good an outcome as any!
Friedman, though, has broken that mould. Not only am I going to read The Business of Being a Writer to the end, I’m going to pre-order the 2nd edition, to be released later this spring.
Why is this so good? Well, Friedman tells it like it is. If you want to make it - even in a small way - as a writer, you have to work hard not just creatively but on the business side too. That means doing many of the things I’ve picked up along the way from other courses, like submitting regularly to publications, expecting to be declined in the vast majority of cases, building a following person by person, getting involved in the writerly community, reading a lot, and writing a lot. She’s giving me lots of good info on how to get a book published though, and that’s all new to me. If you’re a writer and you haven’t read this one, I highly recommend it.
Got a reading recommendation about writing? Add it to the Comments below.
I watch: The Secret To Finding Yourself. Every Woman Needs to Know This About Midlife! With Eleanor Mills.
Someone else I’ve just discovered is Eleanor Mills. Mills is a UK based reporter turned businesswoman who has created a movement of mid-life women called Noon. I knew of her book, released already in the UK and coming very soon to Canada called Much More to Come. I’ve also been subscribing to her newsletter for a few months. But it was the interview she did with Davina McCall, a well-known TV personality in the UK, that really hooked me on Mills.
Mills talked about how she ended up having to reinvent herself when she was dumped from her journalism career at about age 50. She considered how, if we are likely to live until our 90s, 50 is only noon-time of our life. She’s also coined this term ‘queenager’ summing up the feelings of being at the top of your game and young enough to really run with it. Both Mills and McCall are women I’d want to hang out with.
Her message so resonated with me, I’ve preordered her book. I know many of you will find hers a refreshing voice too. Check out the Davina McCall interview here:
https://www.youtube.com/@BeginAgainWithDavina
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)
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