Fragrant Spicy Smoked Fish, Accompanied By Garlicy Buttered Spinach 🍽 Putting The Extra Step To An Old Recipe

Whoohoo! 📢 Making progress and celebrating every step forward! Some time ago, I told @bearmol that though I have experience in cooking and baking, I haven't made two or three dishes at a time and that I had to work on my time management. Well, practice makes "perfect" I would say: was able to prepare two dishes at the same time and also started at an appropriate time.

The spinach in our garden is growing plentiful in various parts, so was meaning to cook that with the smoked fish in our freezer. So I pulled the smoked fish a day before and let it slowly defrost in the refrigerator. The spinach was plucked right before starting with the food preparations and I immediately put the rice in the rice cooker.

The spinach was washed and thinly cut, after which one onion, one bulb of garlic, one medium sized tomato and one red pepper were diced. The smoked fish was fortunately already pulled into smaller pieces. One square of bouillon cube, salt, butter and black pepper were on standby.

After the food preparations, a pot went on the stove with a little bit of vegetable oil. In went the smoked fish with a little bit of black pepper, to let it brown a little. This (extra) step is optional, because we usually sauté the onions and garlic first. After the fish was browned a bit and had some crusty edges, it was removed.

It was then time to sauté the onion and 1/3 of the garlic and after those were golden brown, in went the bullion cube and tomatoes that were mashed and mixed together. It was around this time that our pan for the spinach was placed on the burner, letting the butter melt. When it was all melted and distributed evenly, the rest of the garlic was added to sauté.

While the garlic was browning, the smoked fish was added into the pan with the red pepper at last, for a fragrant aroma and spicy after kick. Black pepper was sprinkled to taste.

The spinach was added to the pan with garlic and butter and only salt and black pepper were used as seasoning. No water was needed, because the vegetable has enough moisture and I let it simmer on medium to low temperature. The pot with the smoked fish was also on medium to low heat.

The spinach could be cooked through till it's soft like the picture below or be pulled from the heat a few seconds earlier, when the greens are more whole. Because of me liking the softer texture, I let the vegetable simmer a little longer. Same goes for the smoked fish: I like a crusty golden brown texture.

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And that was my dinner for today: butter and garlic spinach accompanied by a fragrant spicy smoked fish. So happy that extra step turned out as I hoped it would. What meal did you have today? Let me know in the comments below 🤓.