Dinners you only eat alone

The other night, I had for dinner:
Kale chips
Leeks
Chicken liver

It was so good. So good. But no one would eat this with me. Making crazyass meals like this is one of the real joys of living alone.

Kale chips I got from a commenter at Shapely Prose. Oh gods the goodness. My leeks I got more or less from Fanny Farmer, which is my favorite cookbook. Possibly my favorite book. The whole meal is a hearty iron & minerals extravaganza.

Kale chips
Kale, drizzled in olive oil
Spread on a cookie sheet, bake 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

That’s all there is to it as received, but I’ll add that the kale should be chopped into small, bite-sized pieces, and, rather than drizzle, I’d drizzle then toss. Otherwise, you get little pools of oil and little dry spots. A thorough tossing so there’s a very light even coating makes them perfect.

Sautéed leeks
2 leeks, cut into thick coins
1 large clove garlic, smashed
About 1/2 cup chicken broth

Sauté the garlic in olive oil for about 2 minutes, then add the leeks. Cook about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add chicken broth, cover, cook over medium flame about five minutes. Uncover and cook another five minutes.

So good!

Chicken liver
2 livers, washed and patted dry
Sauté until really really done.

Happiness!

I know, you hate liver. You probably hate kale. And you’re iffy about the whole leek thing. That’s the point. This is Deborah Eats Alone The Hell With You food. And it is such a delight to be able to indulge in it.

13 comments

  1. Evn says:

    I love kale.

    Jack says that’s because it’s bitter, like me.

    A real comedian over here.

  2. Deborah Lipp says:

    Some day Jack will be anemic and you won’t and you’ll have the last laugh.

  3. Yvonne Rathbone says:

    The other day I had kim chee and cheddar cheese on rice chips (like tortilla chips but made from rice, a little sweeter than other kinds of chips, which went well with the salty cheese and the sour/spicy kim chee.)

    It was heaven.

  4. Evn says:

    Jack eats way too much red meat to be anemic. I’m thinking constipation will be his inevitable downfall.

  5. Deborah Lipp says:

    Yvonne, that’s a definite “only alone” kind of meal.

  6. Ken says:

    Dunno nada about kale. I make a great leek and potato soup with chicken broth, add one of those packages of slivered carrots (so I’m lazy), salt, pepper, and a dash of paprika.

    My favorite recipe for chicken liver is to fry up a mess ‘o bacon cut in small pieces and some chopped onion. When the bacon is crispy and the onion is translucent, remove them from the pan with a slotted spoon. Shake the chicken livers in a bag of flour, salt, and pepper and saute in the bacon grease. Add the bacon and onion back in and add a splash of dry sherry. Serve over rice.

    My mother got that recipe from the newspaper when I was but a wee laddie, and it was a family favorite (especially when you could buy a tub of chicken livers for pennies).

    Wasn’t until years later that she revealed that she got the recipe from a column on “What you feed your dogs”……

  7. Deborah Lipp says:

    It sounds like a yummy recipe. I fried the liver in bacon grease, but honestly I didn’t notice an improvement in flavor over plain ol’ oil.

    I got a big tub of liver for $1.29.

  8. Roberta Lipp says:

    Have been eating egg and cheese sandwiches every night this week.

  9. Tracy says:

    Love Chicken liver, love Kale, love Leeks…

    Invite me next time you’re cooking and I’ll bring the wine 🙂

  10. maurinsky says:

    I think I would want some salt on the kale chips, but leeks are divine, and I have no particular problem with liver (I just hate handling it, so I never make it).

  11. Deborah Lipp says:

    Oh, yes. I salted the kale chips.

  12. Katrina says:

    Mm, I love leeks, yet I never seem to cook with them. I’ll make that my resolution for this summer. Couldn’t get me to try the chicken livers, though.

    My “eat alone dinner” is old-fashioned tuna noodle casserole, made only with tuna, a can of Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup, and egg noodles. Oh, and maybe some potato chips crushed on top!

  13. Kathy says:

    There is a lot no one eats with me. Some are:

    Fried liver (but they’ll eat fried eggplant with me!)

    glazed asparagus

    saurkraut

    gingerbread

    and….poppy-seed muffins.

    It makes me sad. 🙁 These are all GOOD things.