…DIVINE! And this coming from an atheist. Every once in awhile, when the stars align yours truly cooks the perfect meal. It happened tonight and it made my hubby happy and left me full of good food and pride. The coolest thing is that I didn’t even plan it. Sometimes the greatest things in life happen accidentally.
Here are the details to my serendipitous meal:
* Decided to grab whichever is the freshest fish at Costco today; it turned out to be catfish. Have been a fan since childhood so that will do.
* Headed to the “Cold Room” and grabbed some pre-washed baby spinach. Of course I also got some other groceries–enough for the week–and the total came to under $150! Score!
* Arrived home and unpacked everything and put everything in its place.
* Saw the Japanese Pumpkin I bought a week ago on the kitchen counter.
photo from freshchannels.com
* Cookery Details
Butter-Maple Roasted Japanese Pumpkin
1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Cut up and peel one small Japanese Pumpkin into diced 1 inch cubes (remember to discard pumpkin insides such as seeds and bits).
3. Cover the bottom and sides of a square cake pan with aluminum foil.
4. Put pumpkin cubes into pan.
5. Cut up cubes of butter (amount depends on how much butter ya like. I put about 1/4 cup).
6. Drizzle 1/3 cup real Maple Syrup all over pumpkin and butter.
7. Cover with aluminum foil on the top. Put in Oven. Let roast for 30 minutes. Remove and serve hot, sweet, and slightly buttery. Your house will smell like heavenly roasted pumpkin.
Herb Catfish and Spinach
1. Put about 2 lbs of fresh catfish fillets in a large bowl. Add seasonings (sea-salt, fresh-ground pepper, granulated garlic, dark chili powder–I used the non-spicy kind but you can substitute the spicy kind if you like your fish with a bite, dried chopped onion, and Italian herb seasoning mix)
2. Heat up a large pan on High heat. Once hot, add olive oil. Once oil is heated but not yet smoking, add seasoned fish 2 fillet at a time. Sear both sides of fish fillet on High heat.
3. Add 1 cup broth (I used pork broth–same as chicken broth or beef broth except made with, you guessed it–pork). Reduce heat to Medium-High. Cover pan with lid and cook, checking occasionally until fish is almost flakey. Remove fish from pan and serve a fillet per plate.
4. Increase heat to High Heat and add hands-full of fresh, pre-washed baby spinach leaves. Stir gently with wooden spoon until just wilted and turn off the stove; spinach will continue to cook in pan after you turn off the heat so don’t worry about it being undercooked… especially since rawer spinach is better for your health anyways. Remove from pan along with pan juices and add to plates.
5. Add Butter-Maple Roasted Japanese Pumpkin to each plate and “VOILA!” you’ve got what I made tonight… Yummy in your tummy!
HAPPY COOKERY EVERYONE!
Precious Happy 
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