Cooking, the steampunk druid way.

I had been working for long hours during the weekend with a couple of friends.

We finished and I was going to say my goodbyes and return home, when one of the girls said :

_ Wait, don’t go yet. Have dinner with us. Do you like baked fish and potatoes ?

_ Yes - I answered - I like it very much.

We all went to kitchen, peeled the potatoes, cut the fish to slices and then…

… I saw one of them pick up a big pan.

_ Sorry for asking but what are you going to do with that ? – I asked.

Both girls looked at me puzzled and them to each other-The one holding the pot answered.

_ Well, I’m going to fill it with water until it is half full, put it on the stove and when it starts shimmering I’ll add the potatoes and the fish.

_ Please don’t. –I said- Do you mind if I do it my way ? Do you have a pot, about three times smaller ?

They looked at each other again and then to me and said that it was ok.  I suppose that they only accepted because they had already eaten at my place and knew that I wouldn’t be making anything less than palatable.

I cut the potatoes in medium sized cubes and placed them inside the pot together with the fish slices. I added salt , two spoons of olive oil and added water up to a third of the height of the pot. The food looked a little crammed up and obviously the water didn’t cover it.

I placed the pot on the stove, with the flame as low as possible.

_ Now we wait.

They didn’t say anything but their faces spoke eloquently.

We chatted for a while. After 17 minutes I got up, and checked the food with a fork.

_ It is done. Do you have any corn starch?

I transferred to potatoes and fish to a platter and shown them the remaining liquid in the pot. It was white, almost the colour of a mixture of milk and water.

I added another spoon of olive oil and two spoons of corn starch and dissolved it into the liquid. The result was a delicious and creamy fish sauce.

_ This is good ! - said one of them – But why do you do it this way ?

I answered.

_ Well, because this way it tastes just as good, if not better than the traditional, and this way there is no waste.