1 lb fresh spinach, stemmed
1/3 cup toasted sesame seeds
1/4 cup japanese soy sauce
1 tbsp mirin or dry sherry
2 tsp sugar
8 fresh flowers, opp. garnish
Directions
Bring large pot of salted water to boil over high heat. Add spinach
and cook 5 minutes. Drain in colander; rinse under cold running
water. Gently squeeze dry with hands. Divide spinach evenly amoung 8
salad plates.
Light crush sesame seeds using mortar and pestle. Transfer to small
bowl. Add soy sauce, mirin, and sugar and blend until smooth. Spoon
over spinach. Serve at room temperature or chilled. Garnish each with
a flower.
Servings: 8 servings
Ae Mono (Spinach With Sesame Dressing) Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Salad; Spinach; Vegetable
The History of Recipes
Transcribed cooking instructions as a concept can be observed back into ancient history, at least as far back as early Egypt, and quite possibly further than that. Interesting though that maybe, sadly, these old recipes were just very simple hieroglyphic or cunieform recipes for meal preparation.
In an interesting twist, the oldest recipe in existence, according to Professor Solomon Katz, is a series of clay tablets in the Sumerian language which show the baking of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as making drinkers feel blissful. Much later, in Roman times a man called Apicius created some documents detailing recipes enjoyed by his fellow Romans. In his scrolls, Apicius describes how the roman meals were separated into hors d`oeuvres, main meal and dessert, something that is very familiar to us today. Aspicius also describes how the Romans made use of a wide range of herbs, including a few that will be familiar to modern chefs for example thyme, fennel and dill. In the 15th century, people returning from the crusades brought back many new foods and spices from the holy lands, including spices such as rosemary and coriander. These new foods and spices was responsible for a surge in cookery books, many of which still exist in private collections. Over the next few hundred years, the powerful and rich houses tried to serve the most extravagent banquests, and consequentially chefs and their recipe collections could command a high salary. Nevertheless, it was during the 1800s the formal cooking and recipe collections really came of age. The Famous Mrs Beeton in the UK, and the equally famous Fannie Merritt Farmer in the USA, devoted their lives to assembling, verifying, and recording the recipes of their peers. When we get to the 1900s, cook books were increasing in popularity as a result of better eduction, leisure time and having more money to spend. The arrival of TV gave us celebrity chefs and the demand for the spin-off recipe books. And that brings us to the present day and the invention of the internet, permitting us all to access thousands of recipes just like those on our site. |
We hope you enjoy this Ae Mono (Spinach With Sesame Dressing) recipe.
