2 cups spinach
1 red chili, seeded and sliced
1 tablespoon bacon fat or oil
1/4 teaspoon mustard seed

1. Melt bacon fat in a skillet over medium-high heat and add chili and mustard seed.
2. Once chili starts to brown, add the spinach and reduce heat to low.
3. Stir in spinach and allow to wilt, about 2 minutes, then serve immediately.

Makes 2 servings

1 pound shrimp
1/2 pound chorizo, cooked and sliced
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 teaspoons caraway seed
1 tablespoon red chili flakes or pure chili powder
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons sea salt

1. Preheat broiler or grill to high.
2. Combine garlic, caraway, salt, chili flakes and olive oil in a mortar and pestle or blender to make a sauce.
3. Skewer alternating shrimp and chorizo on soaked wooden or metal skewers and brush with marinade. Repeat to use up remaining skewers.
4. Broil or grill until flesh of shrimp turns pink, then flip and cook the other side for a total of about 5-6 minutes.

Makes 4 servings

6 baby potatoes
4 slices bacon
1/4 cup scallions, chopped
salt and pepper
water

1. Boil potatoes in salted water until fork tender, about 15 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, heat skillet over medium-high heat and fry bacon until crisp. Reserve on paper towel.
3. Drain potatoes, cut into quarters and add to the bacon fat. Season liberally with black pepper.
4. Turn potatoes once the flesh starts to brown, about 3-4 minutes. Allow to brown the other side.
5. Garnish with bacon bits and scallions to serve.

Makes 4 servings

I know I said I'm not really fond of bacon, but I've been cooking peppered bacon (that is, bacon with lots of black pepper) quite regularly lately. Perhaps that's my bacon niche. Again tonight with the peppered bacon is Peppered Bacon Fried Potatoes. While perhaps too similar to the Chive and Bacon Potatoes on February 2nd, I justify it by this being an entirely different dinner and therefore being used in an entirely different context. Plus, it's not exactly the same! Actually, it's better, because these are baby potatoes fried in bacon fat instead of red potatoes fried in olive oil. Plus, green onions instead of chives. That's a whole other realm of green garnishes!

I had asked my sous chef friend Wilson to help me come up with dishes based on what I had in my kitchen cupboards and fridge. All of his recommendations I'd already made some variation of except this dish, so away I went. I learned my lesson from last night and noticed that the frozen shrimp I bought weren't shelled and made sure to do so myself. I was going to grill them but I ran out of propane as I was heating it up. The dish was Shrimp and Chorizo Skewers with a caraway and garlic marinade. The caraway is fairly prominent, which is something I don't typically enjoy, but it tends to go very well with shrimp. This is something I wasn't aware of before, which leads to another pseudo-spice victory. I still swear by the end of this I'll figure out at least 1 way to use every ingredient that I previously despised in a somewhat enjoyable way. Now, if I can somehow sneak okra into Shannon's mouth and not have her vomit even the angels will be singing my praise.

Before starting this project I'd never really had wilted spinach with anything but salmon. Cooked spinach and seafood just went hand in hand in my mind and unless it was being stuffed in a lasagna I couldn't really think of another purpose for it. I suppose this doesn't step far away from that, shrimp being seafood and all, but I made Chili Wilted Spinach to go along with it. There's nothing fancy here; the chili adds a bit of heat and the mustard seed adds a bit of tang, while the spinach does its spinach thing and just fills up your mouth with leafy goodness.