It's True What They Say, Watch Out For the Quiet Ones

In every dish that we envision, there are notes and flavours we choose to enhance, or better yet, choose to lead the dish while others provide the foundation for the main flavour to shine.

Come to think of it, it's almost like real life.

But I think there are exceptions to the rule and this is one of them. I had originally bought potatoes for mash weeks back but that didn't materialize, so I'm stuck with 4 huge ones sitting idle on my kitchen counter top. I was very motivated to use them considering I had two boxes of baby spinach screaming for attention before they start fading.

Looks like it's going to be a plant-based dinner tonight!

Grab a handful of pearl onions as much as your palms allow, followed by another handful of garlic cloves and cili padi (bird eye chillies) then fry in high heat.

It's much better to fry the onions and garlic first followed by the chilli to avoid the chilli burning.

(These are my rosemary sprigs from my garden, they survived under my care!)

Add a couple of rosemary sprigs, but no more than 3 medium length stalks.

Add sea salt into the aromatics and taste.

The taste now should be a little smokey, pungent and savoury. Now, to balance I recommend a tablespoon of mustard. Taste it again... more interesting right?

If it's ok, now add boiled potatoes and a cup of cream, followed by mozarella cheese.

I feel that the mustard is a good balance for the cream and cheese.

Fold the cheese in with the potatoes.

Now add the spinach and watch it absorb all the flavours.

If you like it cheesy like me, add more cheese on top and turn off the fire. These baby spinach cook fast.

It really is so simple.

Sprinkle some paprika and chilli flakes for a more dramatic effect. Then, dig in ✌🏻.

As I ploughed through my bowl of potatoes and spinach I was thinking how lovely they tasted, until I bit into the pearl onions.. I realised I had been blind. The most awesome flavour is in the little pearl onions. You have to try it. It's pricier than normal onions but you have to treat yourself sometimes. Pearl onions in this recipe, is in my opinion, the ✌🏻silent one✌🏻. The enigmatic character that you may not pay attention to at first but will rock your socks off once you have had it.

Recipe serves 4 (as sides) or 2 as main dish.

Ingredients:

Potatoes - 4

Spinach - A lot.. 1-2 boxes

Pearl Onions - 1 generous handful

Garlic Cloves - 1 handful

Cili Padi (Bird Eye Chillies) - 4-5 (add to your level of preferred heat)

Rosemary - 2-3 medium stalks

Mustard - 1 tbsp

Cream - 1 cup ( or 3/4 Chinese rice bowl)

Mozarella Cheese - 2-3 handfuls

Salt to taste