From For the Love of
Food, Denis Cotter, Collins, 2011.
One of the selling points for me in this book was that it
had a whole section of recipes for mash. And these mashes were all of somewhat
exotic sounding names, like this particular one for leek and wasabi mash and
accompaniments. I could not resist a book which had such a variety of mash
dishes.
To begin the leek was chopped and sautéed in butter until
tender. One teaspoon of wasabi powder was mixed to a paste in a little milk.
The potatoes were steamed and mashed with warmed milk and melted butter. Then
in went the leeks and the wasabi paste. That was the mash done.
For the accompaniment part of the recipe some tamarind pulp
was soaked in a little boiling water. It was left to soak and then pushed
through a strainer to separate the pulp from the liquid. The tamarind water was
kept and the pulp binned.
Oyster mushrooms were now fried in butter for a couple of
minutes. In went some bok choi cut into quarters and a very small amount of
grated ginger. These were fried until the bok choi were tender. To finish, the
tamarind water was added with coconut milk and a little soy sauce.
It was served in pasta bowls with the vegetable mixture
alongside the mash.
I found that this did not come together totally as a whole
dish. The flavours did not meld well for my palate. It would seem from the short
introduction to the dish that Cotter was trying to make a mix work. I don’t
feel that it was completely successful. Using an Asian noodle dish and then
substituting mash for the noodles did not really work despite Cotter’s efforts
to make the mash and sweetness of the coconut milk meld by the addition of the
sourness of tamarind. It was quite edible but not
something that I would make again. Better luck with the next mash dish I try.
Taste: ✔✔✔
Ease of
cooking: ✔✔✔
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