Plan on it

and a recipe for a spur-of-the-moment smoked trout salad

To everyone new here, welcome. I’m Elizabeth, the writer of The Delicious Bits Dispatch, a weekly missive for the curious, blending discovery, reflection, and musings, always wrapped up with a seasonal recipe worth lingering over.

It was shortly into my marriage that I knew I was in trouble.

We were having dinner at my in-laws’ house in August when my mother-in-law asked me “So, what are your plans for Thanksgiving?”

My heart sank. It wasn’t because I didn’t want to spend time with my husband’s family. It was more about the unknown, the moments that I couldn’t imagine yet but that just might happen and that I just might miss if we locked in. Committing so far in advance to anything was closing all the doors of possibility that lay ahead.

Spontaneous combustion

In my childhood home, planning ahead, much less being on time, was an ever-receding goal. There never seemed to be a moment when someone wasn’t being rushed or was rushing out the door, a family of White Rabbits continually checking their pocket watches. It was the way things were, and with my innate lack of understanding of how long things actually take, it was all right by me.

When you’re not a planner by nature - or nurture - living in a scheduled, plan-ahead world can seem stifling. And while there’s no question that planning is critical…in business, in our personal lives, to help us achieve our goals, ambitions and the right outcomes…there’s also an element of flexibility and creativity that can get lost.

The stage door moment

But sometimes all it takes is a spontaneous decision to elevate an already perfect experience.

We were in New York seeing Der Rosenkavalier, one of my husband’s favourite operas, with some of his favourite performers. This was to be one of the last times that soprano Renee Fleming and mezzo soprano Elīna Garanča were performing in roles that had help define their careers. In an epic production lasting more than three hours, the two women shone, their performances as soaring as their voices.

Standing ovations complete, we wafted our way out of the Lincoln Center close to midnight. As we headed to the street to hail a taxi, on impulse, I asked my husband if he knew where the stage door was. No, he did not, and anyway it was late. But I persisted. Why not find that stage door, meet those women, be groupies for a moment, and prolong the evening’s magic?

Reluctantly, he followed me as I used technology to guide us into the labyrinthine underbelly of the Center. And there we were, amidst a clutch of super fans. As the performers came out, relieved of heavy makeup and wigs, we applauded them, they generously posed for selfies and the connection created a magical memory.

It was made all the more special because it was unplanned, a moment we would not have mourned if it did not happen, yet made all the more precious because it was spontaneous.

Richard meting the ever gracious and lovely Renee Fleming

It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.

— Eleanor Roosevelt, You Learn by Living (1960)

And yet, when it comes to planning a trip, something switches in my brain. Perhaps it’s the idea that there are so many possibilities, the fear that I will overlook an extraordinary experience, that prompts me to start planning in advance. I go down the rabbit hole of seeking out the best local restaurants, overlooked sites, off-season activities, festas and sagras and saint’s days and street festivals and unexpected happenings.

I admit to an old-fashioned love of travel guidebooks and I still have a decent number on my shelf. The Colosseum and its history hasn’t changed, nor have the locations of the Senso-Ji temple in Tokyo or the Lion Rock fortress in Sri Lanka. And like clothes that were tucked in the back of my closet that now fit me, I revisit these old friends gladly when travel is on the horizon.

A small sampling of the eclectic travel books I seek out

This time around, there’s been neither the luxury of time nor the comforting illusion that I could just wing it. There had been a plan—Jordan and Egypt in mid-April—but with everything unfolding in the world, that didn’t seem exactly wise. Why not Puglia in June? Until suddenly the dates moved up and departure is now a week from today. Phew. I don’t think we’ve ever planned a trip this quickly. The big pieces are in place—flights, hotels, a car. And now it’s time to sit back and let serendipity and a handful of really good personal recommendations guide us.

A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.

—Lao Tzu, Chinese philosopher, from the Tao Te Ching

If this quote from Lao Tzu sounds like advice for people who travel without bookings, digging a deeper reveals a more nuanced and thoughtful meaning.

This reflects the Taoist principle of Wu wei, or effortless action. The point is not to force outcomes or cling to rigid plans, but to let things unfold as they are. Being not intent on arriving does not mean you never reach a destination. It means you are not obsessed with the endpoint or rushing through everything just to get there.

Photo credit: Giusparta

What I’ve learned over a lifetime of travel is that planning only gets you so far.

Leaving room for the unexpected, days with plenty of white space and wide open windows. It’s being a flanneur with a three-hour glass of wine at a streetside cafe in Paris; visiting a Jain temple in Mumbai and, by chance, arriving during Paryushana, a joyful religious festival, and being invited to the communal table; travelling the rural roads of Ireland to seek out a young cutler and having an oyster knife made.

The memories that make a trip meaningful, the replays that spring unbidden to mind, are most often the ones that had no plan or forethought. They bloom naturally, revealing themselves with patience, waiting for us to pay attention, to look beyond the monument.

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Smoked trout salad with pesto beans and greens

serves 2

It was 5 pm on Tuesday and I hadn’t planned anything for dinner. I went to my freezer and saw that I had a whole smoked trout filet waiting patiently on the shelf. Why not a smoked trout salad? Dinner dilemma solved. It’s also as tasty with a good quality oil-packed tuna instead, and since you’re much more likely to have a jar or tin of tuna on the pantry shelf, it’s made easier by half.

Making the leap from spontaneous moments to spontaneous cooking requires the same spirit of flexibility, creativity, and ingenuity that might lead you to a stage door…or a delicious dinner. It’s all about having the right staples in the cupboard.

The key is to choose good quality ingredients to start with. Yes, beans are probably better from dried, freshly made pesto can’t be beat, and seared tuna is divine in a salad. Still, a jar of high quality imported tuna, organic canned beans, and top drawer jarred pesto are excellent sub-ins. With a little imagination and some greens, a lovely salad can be made in minutes.

Note: At the height of summer and basil season, I make a large batch of Marcella Hazan’s excellent pesto and freeze it in small containers. It’s made better by following Marcella’s advice: don’t add the cheese and butter before freezing, but only after you’ve defrosted the pesto. The flavour will be brighter and fresher as a result.

Ingredients

1 14-ounce (398 ml) can of cannellini beans (about 2 cups)

⅓ cup pesto (homemade or store bought), more to taste (see Note)

1 8-ounce (226 gr) whole smoked trout filet* or a 6-ounce jar of good quality oil-packed tuna

4 cups mixed salad greens

Fresh herbs to finish, optional

Salt, pepper, olive oil and lemon juice to taste

1. Drain and rinse beans and gently heat in a small saucepan, or microwave for one minute. Stir the pesto into the warmed beans and set aside. The beans can be made ahead and left at room temperature until ready to serve.

2. In a medium bowl, mix salad greens with salt, pepper, olive oil and lemon juice to taste. Start with a teaspoon or two of the lemon juice; you want it to heighten the flavour, not overpower it. Place in a serving platter or immediately divide between two bowls, and top each bowl with 1 cup of beans.

3. Remove skin from the smoked trout and break into bite sized pieces. Divide the trout between the two salad bowls, finish with herbs if using and serve.

Sources:

Pluralism Project. “Paryushana and the Festival of Forgiveness.” Pluralism.org. Harvard University.

Eva Wong. Taoism: An Essential Guide. Boston: Shambhala Publications.