Down to hEarth

 Sauteed Spinach has always been a fast side dish - but take it to the next level of richness with a little cream... Looking around the internet at different recipes showed some basic common elements - with lots of different ways to make it just what you want. For me (and faraway daughter) this worked pretty well: Ingredients: 2 packages of fresh spinach - washed and spun dried. Not a big deal if a little wet 2 T olive oil or butter (or both!) 1-2 tsp flour or cornstarch 30 g or to taste chopped shallot or yellow onion 1 small chopped garlic clove (optional) juice of 1/2 lemon 1/2 cup cooking cream or half n half  Process: Add oil/butter to saute pan - heat low. Add shallots, let soften slightly then add garlic. I like to slow cook my shallots/onions to soften them up before caramelizing a bit. Don't burn them.  Add in the spinach and slowly cook it down until it is softened.  Add in 1 tsp of the flour - basically enough flour to absorb the oil/butter and coat the o...

Apparently there are many regional variations on this dish. The one I learned comes from the Terengganu region of Malaysia along the eastern coast. Ingredients: Curry Paste mixture: 30 g  onion, finely chopped 30 g  minced garlic 2 sticks of lemongrass, chopped into 2 inch pieces 20 g   minced ginger 20 g   turmeric minced 2 g     fresh turmeric leaves 20 g   fresh galangal minced   -"the four brothers" 3 pcs cloves 1 stick cinnamon 3 pcs star anise 3 pcs cardamon seed vegetable oil 100 g beef, thinly sliced 1-2 inch width or chicken thinly sliced 30g   fried grated coconut* 30 g  chili paste 30 g  palm sugar - broken up 30 ml  coconut milk 100 ml  water Heat oil in pan or wok.  Add in the curry paste ingredients - stir until aromatic. Add in the 4 bro spices, stirring continuously until mixture is golden brown.  Add in chili paste and fried grated coconut. Add in meat and cook for t...

 I finally found a small cooking class while visiting Malaysia. The recipes were relatively simple due to the fact that all the ingredients are readily available and the visit to the market for ingredients was fascinating. This first recipe was delicious! But I learned some important lessons about using turmeric. The root and the powder stain everything they come in contact with. Knives, cutting boards, counters, hands... if it drips - it will stain. Even as I would like to say to use a food processor to really get a fine mince on the ginger, garlic and turmeric - be mindful that it will be yellow after you are done. Hot water does help quite a bit. Its not a bad idea to use already minced turmeric - it is available under different vendors like the Ginger People - here in the US. Ingredients:  2-3 Tb     vegetable oil Curry paste: 30 g           lemon grass stalk cut into pieces 30 g         ...

Bringing flavors together in this dish was fairly straightforward. I have found  with Italian cooking that if the components like red sauce or a filling taste good - the overall dish usually is great. I know how I like my red sauce to taste: fresh and sharp with that tang of good herbs and garlic. I want the meat - whether sausage or ground - to be seasoned well. Fillings: use good pesto or fresh basil. Fresh cheeses. Good pasta - homemade if possible. Cooking outside of my own markets on the other side of the world means I have to try different products to get the right fresh flavors - and it has turned out to be pretty straightforward. For me, Italian cooking will aways mean using the best farm to table ripe vegetables and fresh ingredients. I'm learning that this is true for any cuisine. And when one sees large pasta shells at the store - one must do something with them, right? 1. Prepare the Red Sauce and the Shell Filling Red Sauce: Here in Malaysia, I go with what I can find....

I had lemon slices, fresh basil and the meyer lemon linguine.  I always have pesto in the pantry or fridge - there was shrimp in the freezer and leftover salmon in the fridge. Add garlic and shallots, a little wine - how can this be anything but delicious?  In a saute pan: Add 2-3 T of olive oil and heat up the pan. Add about 1/3 cup finely chopped shallots. Let shallots soften and just start to brown - and then add about 2T chopped garlic. Add 1-2 T butter and saute until aromatic. Add in 1.5 T good pesto sauce. Add half a lemon - chopped up with rind etc. The lemon melts into the saute. Add about 1 cup of white wine - I used a Sauvignon Blanc, salt and pepper - and simmer until liquid reduces about half way. Don't dry out the pan.  Optional: I added in about a 1/4 cup of chopped sun dried tomatoes and a good pinch of chopped basil (keeping most the basil to garnish after pasta is in serving bowls) Bringing this together requires cooking up the pasta before you add in th...

 Faraway Child and her husband love seafood marinara. I've never made it before due to the lack of seafood eaters in my household. Fish is fine - but clams and calamari? No way. So this was a fun experiment and I think we hit on a winner. Ingredients: 500 grams (3-4 cups) of canned whole tomatoes. I found Italian canned tomatoes and canned whole cherry tomatoes in 250 gram cans at BSC.  1 yellow onion - peeled and cut in half  2 garlic cloves - peeled and slightly crushed 1 cup white wine - split.  1 lime 2 lemons  1 tsp oregano salt to taste 1-2 Tbsp butter Seafood mix - prawns, clams, squid, fish. (16 clams/12-15 prawns/squid or deboned fish) pasta - linguine noodles work great. serve with extra lemon wedges and some cut up basil The sauce is based on Macella Hazan's simple marinara sauce recipe found all over the internet. Tomatoes, onions, salt, butter. Pretty easy and like most of Marcella's recipes - wonderful.  I add garlic and wine to the initial re...