Tag: food

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Comforting Cauliflower

By Fran Hill

It is January in South Dakota. Days are cold, snowy and dark. I know that winter will last at least another three months, but I am not betting against the possibility of an April blizzard. Like most of you, I not only want, but need, comfort foods. Enter Cauliflower Au Gratin.

Admittedly, cauliflower doesn’t usually come to mind when I think about comfort food. Vegetables are not high on that list. During the winter, vegetables are more often treated like a responsibility than a feature of the meal in my house. Sure, I roast just about anything that I find in the produce section and chop cutting boards full of kale and spinach to add to soups, stews and sauces, but overall, there is no excitement for this section of my daily diet.

I do, however, get excited about rich, creamy and luscious cheese sauce. The nourishing cabbage-like flavor of cauliflower begs to be drenched in a blend of cheeses. Baking it all with bacon and green onion creates a scrumptious casserole that is absolutely pure comfort food. With Cauliflower Au Gratin on my plate, the next few months of winter are going to be delicious.

Creamy, cheesy cauliflower au gratin is a wintertime comfort food.

Cauliflower Au Gratin

1 head cauliflower

1/2 cup shredded colby jack (or other mild) cheese

1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

4 ounces cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup milk (approximately)

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 green onions, chopped

6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

salt & pepper, to taste

Heat oven to 375 degrees F.

Separate the cauliflower into florets. In a casserole dish with a lid, microwave 5 minutes until steamed and tender-crisp.

Combine the cheeses (freshly shredded will melt more smoothly due to avoiding the anti-clumping agents in pre-shredded cheeses), cream cheese and minced garlic using a mixer. Add the milk a little at a time to achieve a sauce-like texture. Don’t add too much milk, as the cauliflower will release additional liquid as it cooks.

Fold half of the crumbled bacon and half of the green onions into the cheese mixture. Toss the cauliflower to thoroughly coat with the cheese mixture.

Pour into a greased 8×8 baking dish. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil, top with remaining bacon and bake an additional 10 minutes. Top with remaining green onions before serving. (Serves 4-6).

Fran Hill has been blogging about food at On My Plate since October of 2006. She, her husband and their three dogs ranch near Colome.

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Comfort, Joy and Cake

By Fran Hill

Christmas is less than a week away, and I may jinx things by stating this, but I am crushing it. I am so on top of my game.

To be totally fair, I did change the game a bit this year. I am trying to practice more comfort and joy and less panic and hassle. I am not killing myself with baking, decorating, shopping and hosting. When the logistics of a holiday situation prove difficult, I am not gritting my teeth and digging in. I am looking at what is comfortable and what brings me joy. Crossing things off my usual lists, outsourcing, and downsizing have been my gifts to me.

Don’t worry. There are still plenty of twinkling lights strung on every solid surface. I can’t have a Christmas without sparkle. There are still sweet treats, but I may not be making them all. There are still gifts, but they are more carefully selected (and even more simply wrapped with brown paper … because I have that commercial size roll of craft paper leftover from some other event). There are still get-togethers, but the gatherings are smaller and simpler. No one has complained.

I haven’t checked out many new recipes this season. I am falling back on the comfort of the tried and true and the joy of knowing what people like and appreciate. Old Fashioned Pudding Cake fits that description perfectly.

It isn’t a fancy, pretty dessert, but the magic of a cake that makes its own pudding is absolute joy. A dessert that begs for ice cream seems like true comfort. Sometimes, I drizzle a little Irish cr’me over the cake when serving. Occasionally, I have added pecans or walnuts to the batter, and crushed candy canes dusted over each serving add some fresh sparkle. Always, Old Fashioned Pudding Cake proves that comfort and joy are really the best gifts of the season.

Old Fashioned Pudding Cake adds warmth to the holiday season.

Old Fashioned Pudding Cake

For the cake:

1 cup flour

3/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup milk

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla

For the pudding:

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup cold water

Heat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease an 8-by-8 baking pan or comparable skillet.

Combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. In a measuring cup, mix milk, melted butter and vanilla. Pour the liquids over the dry ingredients and stir gently just until combined. Spread batter into pan and smooth top.

For the pudding layer, combine the white sugar, brown sugar and cocoa powder. Pour dry mixture over the cake batter.

Carefully, pour cold water over the sugars. DO NOT STIR. Bake for 45 minutes. As it bakes, the cake will rise to the top while the pudding forms beneath. The cake is finished baking when the edges of the cake turn dark brown and crispy, and when the top of the cake is shiny and dry to the touch.

Sprinkle cake with powdered sugar, if desired. Allow cake to cool for at least 10 minutes before serving. Scoop portions of cake and pudding into individual bowls and top with ice cream. Leftovers will keep refrigerated for up to a week and can be reheated for 20 seconds in the microwave. (Serves 6-8)

Fran Hill has been blogging about food at On My Plate since October of 2006. She, her husband and their three dogs ranch near Colome.

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That’s No Lye

By Fran Hill

Last month, I ate lutefisk for the first time. I ate cod that had been dried, soaked in lye, rehydrated, rinsed, and then boiled and served with melted butter. At Summit’s 80th Lutefisk Supper, I filled my plate with mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, coleslaw, cranberries, lefse spread with butter and sprinkled with sugar, and a large gelatinous pile of lutefisk drenched in butter. I had seconds. And thirds. Dare I say that I liked it?

It’s no secret that I have been a devoted sushi fan for many years, but somehow my exposure to the Norwegian delicacy of lutefisk had been non-existent. My friendship with Laura Johnson Andrews, South Dakota Magazine‘s Departments Editor, pretty much made this a sacrilege. Laura’s blood pumps with melted butter and Jell-o-like cod. Her adoration piqued my interest, and I am thankful to report that she shared my first lutefisk adventure with me. It won’t be our last.

While Laura and I have Summit’s Lutefisk Supper penciled in for next year (and are taking suggestions for other community and church dinners to check out), it is safe to say that lutefisk isn’t something that I will make at home. I will leave that to the professionals.

At home, I will stick with Torsk. This cod dish has been a favorite from the menu of an area steakhouse for many years. Creating it at home is not nearly as labor intensive as removing lye from lutefisk. Torsk is flaky and has none of the sometimes off-putting gelatinous texture. Traditionally, Torsk is seasoned with paprika, but my husband prefers the seasoning that the steakhouse uses in their preparation. It adds a kick to the mild flavor of the fish.

Torsk may not have the history, tradition, or aroma of lutefisk, but it is an excellent simple dinner to tide me over until Laura and I head out for our next lutefisk adventure.

Don’t like the idea of fish soaked in lye or the sometimes gelatinous texture of lutefisk? Flaky torsk is a delicious substitute.

Torsk

6 FROZEN cod fillets (This is not a mistake. This preparation is from frozen. Do not defrost.)

6 cups water

2-3 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons salt

1 1/2 cups butter, melted

paprika or steak seasoning

Preheat broiler and brush a baking sheet with some of the melted butter.

Dissolve the honey and salt in a cup of hot water. Arrange the FROZEN fish in a large saucepan and pour the water mixture over the fillets. Add the additional 5 cups of water (make sure the fish is covered; add additional water, if necessary). Bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil for 5 minutes. Fish should be soft, but not yet flaky.

Remove the fillets from the water, and blot with paper toweling to remove excess water. Arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet and brush each fillet with roughly 1 tablespoon each of melted butter. Season with paprika or steak seasoning.

Broil for approximately 8-10 minutes, or until the fillets are golden and flaky. Serve with the remaining melted butter for dipping. (Serves 6)

Fran Hill has been blogging about food at On My Plate since October of 2006. She, her husband and their three dogs ranch near Colome.

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The Resourceful Chef

By Fran Hill

In South Dakota, you plan a Halloween costume that fits over your snowsuit … just in case. We all know that autumn often means at least one short-lived snowstorm, and most people are prepared. As the forecasters warn of the fronts moving in, farmers hustle to harvest crops and ranchers bed livestock. We make sure winter coats still fit and find matching gloves. If the storm is severe, there is a run to the store for milk, bread and toilet paper. Some years, the storms rage and there is devastation. Most often, an inch or so of white covers our world and melts quickly in the 50- to 60-degree days that follow. This is a South Dakota autumn.

Earlier this month when our first snows fell, I wasn’t concerned. Hubs and I had been out of town for a couple of days, and my introvert side wanted some downtime. I needed to be home to tend to neglected chores and a few work-from-home items. In our driveway, my car sat through the rains that turned to snow and while I wouldn’t call it buried, it was thoroughly blanketed in white. Even though the following days were warmer, there wasn’t much melting with the car parked in the shade. However, digging into my to-do lists, I didn’t even think about it.

I was running late for an appointment a day or so later when I walked out and discovered my snow- and ice-covered mess. I was even later when I realized I didn’t have an ice scraper. I wasn’t prepared, but I was resourceful as I dashed back into the house and grabbed a wooden spatula from the crock of utensils beside my range. I carefully chiseled ice from the windows and managed to only be slightly late that morning.

I have said it before, and I will say it again: Round wooden spoons are useless. Go for the flat wooden spatula. Round spoons don’t get into the edges of a pot and don’t connect with enough surface area to scrape foods from the bottom. They also won’t work as a stand in for an ice scraper. Wooden spatulas are where it’s at.

When you aren’t scraping ice with your spatula, it works perfectly to stir up a pot of Kielbasa and Cabbage. This is a simple dish that really doesn’t need a recipe. Onions and garlic are softened and fragrant before kielbasa (or other link sausage, or even crumbled bulk sausage) is browned. Toss some chopped cabbage and shredded carrots to the pan and steam with just a bit of stock until wilted. My family likes to stir in buttered egg noodles before serving (often with steamed green beans and a loaf of crusty bread to complete the meal), but the dish is just as delicious without.

No fancy equipment is needed to prepare for Kielbasa and Cabbage, just a cutting board, a knife, a large skillet with a lid and something to stir it all up. I recommend a wooden spatula.

Kielbasa and Cabbage hardly needs a recipe, but a wooden spatula sure is handy.

Kielbasa and Cabbage

1 small onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tablespoon butter

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 ring kielbasa sausage, sliced

1 small head cabbage, coarsely chopped

1 medium carrot, sliced into ribbons with a vegetable peeler

1/4 cup chicken broth

1 tablespoon parsley, chopped

salt and pepper, to taste

Heat butter and oil in a large skillet. Sautƈ onion until tender. Add the garlic and heat until fragrant. Add the sliced kielbasa and cook until browned and heated through. Stir in the cabbage and carrot. Add the broth and season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook until cabbage is tender. Taste for seasoning and garnish with parsley. (Serves 4)

Fran Hill has been blogging about food at On My Plate since October of 2006. She, her husband and their three dogs ranch near Colome.

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A Sight for Sore Eyes

By Fran Hill

My husband has worn glasses since he was 4 years old. Over the years, he has had the expected love/hate relationship with those spectacles. He tried contacts but rejected them. Sunglasses always had to be crafted with prescription lenses. Recently, he inquired about LASIK to surgically correct his vision. Unfortunately, the consult resulted in a diagnosis of cataracts and left him ineligible for just a laser procedure.

Cataracts? Yikes. He is too young to have cataracts. I am too young to have a husband with cataracts. This is making me feel even older than when my own vision screening resulted in bifocals. Thankfully, modern medicine makes eye surgery a pretty simple process. Hubs had the lens replaced in one eye last week, and the other completed this week. He is well on his way to experiencing the super vision he never had.

Meanwhile, I am working to preserve my own sight. Consuming carrots for better vision may be an old wives tale, but as the spouse of a cataract burdened man, maybe I am an old wife. The beta-carotene of carrots does have benefits for absorption of vitamins necessary for proper vision. And the honey and garlic that I roast with these beautiful root vegetables makes them incredibly tasty. So, fact or fiction, I don’t even need my glasses to see myself eating Roasted Honey Garlic Carrots.

Roasted Honey Garlic Carrots are sweet, colorful, and maybe even good for your eyes.

Roasted Honey Garlic Carrots

2 pounds of carrots, trimmed to consistent size

1/2 cup unsalted butter

3 tablespoons honey

2 cloves garlic, chopped

salt and pepper

1-2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Heat oven to 425 degrees F. Meanwhile, melt butter in a medium pan. Whisk in honey and garlic. Toss carrots with sauce and spread evenly (in a single layer) on a rimmed sheet pan. Season with salt and pepper. (Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper really do magic here.) Roast for 20 minutes or until carrots are tender. (Thicker carrots will take longer than thinner. This is why consistent sizing is important.) Garnish with parsley. (Serves 6…but Hubs and I have eaten it all on our own.)

Fran Hill has been blogging about food at On My Plate since October of 2006. She, her husband and their three dogs ranch near Colome.

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The Season’s Last Bit of Sweetness

By Fran Hill

This past year, I have been introduced to many area gardeners and produce farmers who work hard to cultivate locally grown crops. They diligently research seeds and seedlings, weigh the needs and benefits of each plant against their resources, and ultimately offer amazing fruits and vegetables for the community.

Some delve into vintage crops that South Dakota’s early settlers grew to sustain their homesteads. Others forge into plantings not native to the area, but that are prominent components of other cultures and cuisines. None make me as happy as the farmer that staggers his sweet corn crop to produce plump and juicy ears right up until frost.

Of course, those much-anticipated first summer ears always seem the sweetest, but who can deny the pleasure of freshly harvested local sweet corn on the cusp of autumn? It is pure delight.

One of the joys of having an extended period of fresh corn is trying new recipes. Homemade Creamed Corn topped with Cajun Shrimp could easily be prepared with frozen corn, but the special sweetness of using fresh is an amazingly pleasing juxtaposition to the spicy shrimp. It is a wonderful dish that comes together quickly and is sure to impress everyone when it hits the table.

South Dakotans love summer sweet corn, but it’s an extra special treat paired with spicy shrimp in autumn.

Homemade Creamed Corn with Cajun Shrimp

(adapted from Cooking Light)

4 cups fresh sweet corn

1 1/2 cups half and half (or heavy cream)

2 tablespoons cornstarch

2 tablespoons butter

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1 pound raw shrimp, peeled and deveined

2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning

3/4 teaspoon smoked paprika

1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons butter

1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves

1/4 cup chives, chopped

1/4 cup chicken stock

Set aside 1 cup of fresh corn kernels. Pulse remaining 3 cups in a food processor until almost creamy, about 5 or 6 times. Pour processed corn, cream and cornstarch into a pan. Bring to a simmer, stirring often. Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 5 minutes. Stir in 2 tablespoons of butter and season with salt. Remove from heat; cover and keep warm.

Combine shrimp, Cajun seasoning, smoked paprika, and pepper. Heat oil and 2 tablespoons butter in a large skillet. Add shrimp; cook without stirring 1 minute. Add tomatoes, thyme, garlic, and season with salt. Cook, stirring occasionally for about 3 minutes. Add reserved corn and cook until shrimp are done, about 2 more minutes. Add the chicken stock and stir to loosen browned bits. Serve shrimp mixture over creamed corn and top with chopped chives. (Serves 4)

Fran Hill has been blogging about food at On My Plate since October of 2006. She, her husband and their three dogs ranch near Colome.

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A Simple Fix

By Fran Hill

Like each and every one of you, my life runs in a million different directions. I have multiple commitments and many demands on my time and attention. It seems that this is just the way things are these days. Life is busy.

Also, like each and every one of you, we need to eat. Every day. Multiple times per day. I would like to say that I am organized and have a meal plan for each week and foolproof methods to get meals on the table. I don’t.

Anyway, last Sunday morning, I was feeling pretty good about myself as I pulled ground beef from the freezer to grill burgers later that evening and noticed a package of brats with a faulty vacuum seal. Not wanting those seasoned sausages to suffer freezer burn and go to waste, I also plucked them out with the plan to serve brats on Monday night after a full day of subbing at school. Winner. Winner. I was not just one meal ahead in the plan, but two. Life was good.

The frozen packages rested on the counter as I prepped Sunday brunch. Then, not wanting the faulty brat package to leak as it defrosted, I sealed it in a zip-top bag and popped them into the fridge. Or so I thought.

Monday evening, I turned on the grill, prepped fresh green beans for steaming (thank you, farmers market!) and, at Hubs’ request, began frying a pan of onions and sliced potatoes. I moved to the fridge to retrieve the brats, and they weren’t there. Admittedly, my fridge is a mess right now. I have bags and containers and bowls of various fresh vegetables (’tis the season) overflowing every shelf and drawer. I started pulling that mess out item by item. No brats. Where could they be? My searching became more frantic.

Then, it dawned on me. I opened the freezer, and there, nestled between a baguette and the ice cream, was the package of brats. In my Sunday morning hustle, I had repackaged the frozen brats and popped them back into the freezer instead of the fridge. As it turns out, brats will not defrost in the subzero environment of a freezer. Who knew?

So here is my professional advice for defrosting brats: put them in the refrigerator. If you do follow this ingenious tip, maybe you want a side dish to serve with them. My green beans and fried potatoes would have been excellent, but in these last days of summer, a pasta salad loaded with vegetables may be even better. I usually serve this Simple Pasta Salad with roasted chicken, but it literally goes with anything and even stands alone if your brats somehow end up back in the freezer.

When supper plans go awry, pasta salad saves the day.

Simple Pasta Salad

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

1 clove garlic, minced

1 teaspoon honey

salt and pepper, to taste

1 pound pasta

1 small cucumber, sliced

1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved

3 cups fresh spinach, chopped

1/4 cup red onion, sliced into rings

1/2 cup black olives, sliced

1/4 cup artichoke hearts, chopped

1 cup mozzarella cheese, cubed

8 ounces hard salami, sliced into ribbons

2-4 tablespoons grated parmesan

Combine the olive oil, lemon juice, minced garlic, honey, salt and pepper in a bowl and whisk to create dressing. Alternatively, add all ingredients in a small mason jar and shake to combine. Set aside for flavors to meld.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook pasta according to package directions. Rinse under cool water.

Meanwhile, prep all the remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Add drained and cooled pasta. Toss with dressing and parmesan. Refrigerate salad for at least 2 hours before serving.

Fran Hill has been blogging about food at On My Plate since October of 2006. She, her husband and their three dogs ranch near Colome.

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Discovering Ground Cherries

By Fran Hill

A bounty of ground cherries procured at the Burke Area Farmers Market.

I grew up with a variety of apple, pear, plum and chokecherry trees in my parents’ backyard. We harvested the fruits from this mini orchard and made jams, jellies, pies, and crisps. When the pears ripened, I ate so many that the juices seemed to permanently run down my arms. I also remember venturing down the road to the nearby creek and picking sand plums until our buckets were so loaded it felt our arms would break carrying them home. Moving forward into adulthood, there have been wild grape harvests and stalking the neighbor’s gooseberry bush to beat the birds to the punch. Taking advantage of local, in-season fruits is second nature for me.

Imagine my surprise earlier this summer when I learned of a new-to-me seasonal fruit that I could also grow in my backyard. Ground cherries are absolutely not new to the South Dakota prairie, but are a new experience for me. Jo Wulf, a vendor with the Burke Area Farmers Market, invited me to visit her amazing garden and ended our morning tour with a Ground Cherry Coffee Cake fresh from the oven. She collects ground cherries from her garden all summer long and sells both the raw cherries and baked goods incorporating their freshness at the weekly market.

The paper husks of the fruit are easily removed to reveal golden berries (which, by the way, is another name under which ground cherries are commercially marketed). The berries are sweet, but slightly tart and have an almost tropical essence similar to mango or pineapple. I have snagged both Jo’s delicious coffee cake and fresh berries from the market in Burke, but am already planning to include the hardy plant in next year’s garden.

I have attempted to recreate Jo’s delectable coffee cake, and may be close with my own Ground Cherry Skillet Cake. This is a dense cake with a crunchy brown sugar-pecan topping. It is mouthwatering when served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Ground cherries are perfect little fruity bites to complement the cinnamon cake, and I am forever grateful that Jo and the Burke Area Farmers Market introduced me to them.

Ground cherries are sweet, tart and tropical, and perfectly complement the cinnamon in a skillet cake.

Ground Cherry Skillet Cake

2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons room-temperature unsalted butter

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3/4 cup buttermilk

1 large egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2/3 cups ground cherries

1 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Butter and flour a 12-inch cast iron skillet.

Whisk together flour, sugar and salt. Cut in butter until mixture crumbles into the size of small peas. Remove 1/2 cup of flour and butter mixture and set aside to use as topping later. Add baking powder, soda, and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Stir in buttermilk, egg and vanilla.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Scatter ground cherries over the top.

Add nuts, brown sugar, and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon to the reserved flour mixture and combine. Sprinkle topping over batter and ground cherries.

Bake 70-75 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan for 10-15 minutes before serving.

Fran Hill has been blogging about food at On My Plate since October of 2006. She, her husband and their three dogs ranch near Colome.

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Catfishing With Nata

By Rebecca Johnson

Nata Jones and her husband Brad enjoy fishing at Apple Tree, a peaceful bay by the Missouri River east of Springfield.

Catfishing is a popular sport for Yankton residents because the wild Missouri River flows just south of town. There are tricks to landing the wily cats, and to cooking them. But it’s nothing you can’t learn. Ask Nata Jones.

Nata is a native of Chernivtsi, a city of some 240,000 people in the Ukraine. She met Brad Jones of Yankton while vacationing in Minneapolis, and within a year she left her chocolate store and was married at the Chapel in the Hills near Rapid City.”It was a beautiful wedding at a wooden church in the mountains,” she recalls warmly.

Nata Jones

She liked South Dakota even before she discovered the Missouri River.”I love small town people. Everybody is so friendly and smiling. You don’t need to worry about nothing,” she says with a charming European accent.”If something happened, everybody would help me.”

She applied for three jobs and was amazed to find herself with not one but three. She tried to balance them all for month, but eventually chose to be a certified nursing assistant at Avera Yankton Care Center, a nursing home on Eighth Street, not far from the river. She loves to visit with the residents, and she likes her co-workers.”I never have a day when I want to stay home,” she says.

Not that she doesn’t like home. She and Brad live in a wooded area near Lewis and Clark Lake.”The first year I am here we see millions of geese come by,” she exclaims, still with wonder in her eyes.”I see by the house deer, turkey, raccoon. I never see this in Ukraine.”

And then there are the catfish and walleye.”I fished in the Ukraine, too, but this is a little bit different here,” Nata says.”In the Ukraine I don’t have time and beautiful place to go. Now I just come home from work and if it’s sunny out (Brad and I will) go.”

Their Chesapeake Bay retriever, Rex, always goes along.”He is very important fisherman,” says Nata.”He likes to jump from the boat ramp and just fly into the water.” Rex is also an environmentalist; he swims below the surface to retrieve discarded plastic bottles and then deposits them on the bank.

As Brad and Nata Jones concentrate on fishing, their dog Rex enjoys chasing bull frogs and retrieving plastic bottles from the Missouri River bottom.

Nata and Brad fish for whatever finned creatures are available but Nata proclaims catfish her favorite, explaining it’s the most expensive fish in the Ukraine. Channel cats seek areas where fast water becomes slow. Brad finds the perfect, clear water channels either by boat or along shore.”He is the real professional. He knows all the secrets,” Nata says. They use stink bait from a local bait shop to lure the bottom feeding fish, because the whiskered swimmers will generally eat anything they can catch in their mouths but their strongest sense is smell.”(The stink bait) smells very, very bad but this is what catfish like,” the angler says with a laugh.

Reeling in food for dinner is the ultimate goal but that is not Nata’s definition of a successful expedition. She doesn’t care if they get a bite. They enjoy the boat ride or the time ashore. She can’t imagine ever moving from this home near all her favorite fishing spots.”When my husband retires, he wants to leave to Montana or Yellowstone,” says Jones.”I said no because we have such a beautiful place here. We cannot leave.”

Baked Catfish with Onions and Tomatoes

Here’s one of Nata’s favorite recipes for catfish, although it can be used with any white fish. Baking times vary according to the thickness of the fish.

2 lbs. catfish

1 medium onion, diced

2 large tomatoes, diced

2 tsp. olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Remove all skin and cut fillets into 8 pieces. Place into lightly greased baking dish. Saute onions in olive oil until translucent. Add tomatoes and cook until soft, stirring often. Spoon mixture over fish and lightly salt and pepper. Bake for 45 minutes at 375 degrees or until fish flakes easily with a fork. (Sometimes Nata replaces the two large tomatoes with 3 coarsely shredded carrots for a twist on this basic recipe.)

Editor’s Note: This story is revised from the May/June 2012 issue of South Dakota Magazine. To order a copy or to subscribe, call (800) 456-5117.

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In the Moment

By Fran Hill

The cicadas were singing last night. According to the Farmer’s Almanac, that means just six weeks until the first frost. I am not ready for that.

Here in South Dakota, it is a favorite pastime to complain about the weather. It is too dry, too wet, too cold, too hot, too humid, too windy, too sunny, too cloudy. The seasons are wished away by dreaming of heated summer days in the bitter below zeros of winter and begging for cool relief beneath the merciless August sun.

I try to buck this trend. I try to live in the moment and make the most of each and every glorious season. My only complaint is that none last long enough. I am simply not ready for cicadas to be singing while I roast my marshmallows over backyard fires.

I am going to hang on to summer as long as it allows. I’ll willingly spend days dripping with sweat as I weed the garden, and then savor the harvests of my work. I will wiggle my toes in the sandy banks of the Missouri River and take in every rainbow sunset I can. I will refresh with drinks on patios and picnics on tailgates in alfalfa fields. I will eat tomatoes and zucchini as quickly as the gardens can produce them, and snap fresh green beans with abandon. I will churn homemade ice cream and let the juices of fresh fruits and berries drip from my fingers.

Before that first frost, I am going to eat all the rhubarb I can handle. Right now, Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble is a weekly occurrence. I feel like I get bonus points for the strawberries also being from my garden. This basic recipe is so simple that I almost have it memorized. Fruit is macerated with sugar and lemon, and the simple crumble employs melted butter — I don’t even have to remember to bring it to room temperature earlier in the day. The hardest part is waiting the 40 minutes for it to bake, but I plan to spend that time enjoying my summer because, you know, the cicadas are already singing.

Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble is a good reminder to hold on to summer.

Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble

(adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

2 cups of rhubarb, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

2 cups of strawberries, halved, quartered, or not (the ones from my garden are tiny and I only hull them)

juice of a lemon

1/2 cup of sugar

3 tablespoons corn starch

1 cup of flour

1/3 cup old fashioned oats

1 teaspoon baking powder

3 tablespoons sugar

3 tablespoons honey

1 stick unsalted butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Combine the first 5 ingredients in a bowl and set aside to macerate while prepping the crumble.

Combine the next 4 dry ingredients with a mixer (or by hand, if you want a little arm workout). Add the honey and melted butter. Mix until ingredients pull together and form coarse crumble.

Pour the fruit into an ungreased 8- or 9-inch baking dish, pie plate or cast iron skillet. Crumble the topping over the fruit. Place the filled baking dish on a rimmed cookie sheet that has been lined with foil (to catch drips in the oven and save cleaning later) and bake for 40-50 minutes until the filling is bubbly and the crumble is browned.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream for the best summer ever. (Serves 6-8)

Fran Hill has been blogging about food at On My Plate since October of 2006. She, her husband and their three dogs ranch near Colome.