Chinese Garlic Chives

Somewhere between chives and green garlic, these tender shoots are a great way to add a fresh garlicky bite to any dish.

Seafood Spanish Style!

I thought I would post these pictures of amazing seafood.  In Spain seafood is often served simply like this, just flash cooked on the flat top (plancha) with a little sea salt, then drizzled with garlic and parsley oil.

Perfection!

Japanese Sesame Grinder

This sesame seed grinder from Japan is a great kitchen tool!  It can also be used as a sea-salt grinder, or you can combine sesame and salt to make Gomashio, a traditional Japanese seasoning of ground sesame and salt.  You can purchase one here.

As you can see, we like to combine black and white sesame seeds for a nice color and flavor contrast.

Sesame seeds are incredibly healthful.  They are a great source of iron, magnesium and calcium, as well as vitamins B and E.  Sesame is widely used in cuisines all around the world, and is one of my personal favorite “universal staples”.  In Hindu mythology the sesame seed represents immortality.

I like to grind it over salads and soups, and Japanese dishes.

Xató

Xató Salad at Cal Xim restaurant in Barcelona.

Xató (pronounced cha-tó, with the accent on the long o at the end) is a famous seasonal salad from the Penedés region of Catalonia in northern Spain.  Xató starts appearing on menus around Catalonia in late winter/early spring as it’s principal ingredient frisee  comes into season.  The frisee is the only green leafy goody in this dish, which is rounded out by raw pieces of bacalao (salt cod), tuna preserved in olive oil, anchovies, olives and romesco sauce.

This is one of many dishes from various parts of Catalonia that  embody a real sense of regional identity.  It’s a symbol of the cuisine of the areas just south of Barcelona; the coastal village of Sitges, the upper and lower Penedés, an area renowned as well for some of the best and most prestigious wines in Catalonia.  Xató is also absolutely delicious!

RECIPE COMING SOON!

Well, here goes.

I find myself in a  moment of change  and possibility, and one of the fruits of this  moment is the  concept of  this blog.  I hope it  will serve as a means of sharing  some of the  knowledge, wonders,  tricks,  observations,  flavors and histories that  I have  accumulated after years of  immersing  myself in the vast  universe of all  things    cooking and  eating on planet Earth.

Feedback and contribution will be joyously appreciated!