Spinach

[romily]

I used to hate spinach as a kid - but we always had the kind frozen type as kids, kind of shredded spinach with added cream.

I still haven't been adventurous enough to try it again as I clearly remember my strong dislike from younger days. But I was very brave the other day and tried a spoonful at the indian restaurant - kind of a spinach and potatoes dish. and it wasn't too bad, but then it tasted mainly of indian spices not spinach.

So I thought I'll give cooking it a try - but would like some recipes where spinach plays the side role, not the dominating role taste wise, to ease myself into it.

Any tips?

[vinnyd]

Eggs Florentine? (Or anything with Florentine in the name.) Or a spinach quiche.

[Liiisa]

Eggs Florentine is a lot of work, though, isn't it? I think it requires a Hollandaise. Well, you can do a bastardized Florentine by frying up some spinach with mushrooms and onions in butter and then adding eggs. And cheese. Hey, that sounds good.

Spinach lasagna - sauté the spinach in olive oil and onions, use as a layer in lasagna. (Eat a little bit before adding and you'll see that sautéed spinach is really good.)

One thing about spinach - the bunches sold in the store are sometimes a little gritty, so I soak them a bit before using and then rinse them again. (Or I take the lazy way and buy a bag of baby spinach. You might like that better because it's less 'spinach-y'.)

Once you've done spinach, you can move up to kale!

[whortleberry]

Spinach and bacon quiche?

[HalcyonDaze]

I just do it as a side - rinse it really well, wilt it in a pan with a bit of butter and lemon juice, and depending on how much effort I feel like making, might have pan friend some bacon and/or garlic to go with it.

Love it.

There should be some good and easy pasta recipes - I buy baby spinach leaves and just chuck that in for the last minute of the pasta cooking, drain together and then stir through the rest of the sauce I've made.

[sophie]

Love in soups or in Greek dishes like spanokpita.

[Deleted]

It's a food of the Gods for me! Love it.

Ricotta & Spinach canelloni - dead easy to make and great for freezing in portions

Like Liisa said, but just make a regular lasagne and put a layer of baby leaf in

Spinach and gruyere pin wheels

Spinach and feta parcels (not low in fat, but very yum!)

I also use it as salad leaves and add it to sandwiches, e.g. grilled halloumi, sundried tomato and spinach ciabatta roll with pesto mayonnaise (yes, this is why I'm fat ;o)

[romily]

See, I don't eat salad, so leafy stuff is very suspicious to my mind!

I think I try it with pasta first - stir in some baby spinach at the end. Like this:

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/10338/gnocchi-with-creamy-tomato-and-spinach-sauce

Just taht I will (of course)add more spices - pepperoncini, dried oregano, more garlic, some chopped onions for the sauce and of course loads more parmesan to add more flavour (in my household parmesan gets measured in half handfuls!). That way the spinach shoudl be a side flavour, and I just need to get over the fact it's green a leafy. And if I hate it I can pick it out and don't have a ruined dish either.

Next step would be something like that: uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/658398 Is that what you had in mind surfy? they look yum!

[Deleted]

Yes, that's it. I think they're called Borreka? Or something sounding like that in my tongue. You won't notice the ''leafy'' aspect of them this way so you might prefer it, although cooked spinach can go a little stringy so be warned of that.

The pasta dish looks yum! I love mascarpone, I just wish it wasn't so bloody fattening!!! I might book mark it for my point free Saturdays

[Tulipana]

Pasta with stirfried spinach, salmon and tomatoes (and some pinenuts: MMMMM!)

[treehugger]

Some of my faves:
Lasagne with butternut squash, spinach and goats cheese. utterly relish.
Palak paneer (spinach with cheese) at home - one of my fave Indian dishes and pretty simple to make.
Fresh spinach salad with blue cheese, pink grapefruit and walnuts.

[whortleberry]

Do you have a good palak paneer recipe, treehugger?

[Deleted]

Whortle, I'm going to be making this one soon - www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/paneerwithspinach_86756

It's from the book I got for Christmas that Hugger recommended.

[sprite]

i also hated spinach as a kid--it was dry, to my taste. but now, especially cooked, i really like it. work often has a salad of baby spinach, feta, tomatoes and olives--a tiny bit of oil, but it is really tasty.

we keep a couple of frozen pizzas as emergency food, and i like to take the spinach one and add an egg near the very end, under the grill, to make a pizza florentine.

agree with spinach lasagne, and i love saag aloo (the indian potato and spinach dish). i ate some last night despite my gut being full to busting.

[Deleted]

I had eggs florentine for brunch with a friend yesterday. Delicious!!

[whortleberry]

Thanks for the link, surfy

[lizby1]

I got that book from the library surfy. I think i might have to buy it. Loads of great recipes!

[tzarine]

i love creamed spinach. here's a recipe:
6 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 bay leaf
1 whole clove
2 cups whole milk
2 (10 ounce) bags ready-to-use fresh spinach

Directions:

1
Melt 4 tablespoons butter in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat.
2
Add flour and stir until light golden, about 7 minutes.
3
Stir in onion, bay leaf and clove.
4
Gradually whisk in milk.
5
Whisk until mixture boils and thickens, about 10 minutes.
6
Reduce heat to low and simmer 5 minutes longer, whisking frequently (sauce will be very thick).
7
Remove bay leaf and whole clove.
8
Cook spinach in large pot of boiling water just until wilted and tender, about 2 minutes.
9
Drain.
10
Transfer spinach to bowl filled with ice water to cool.
11
Drain well.
12
Roll up spinach in kitchen towl and squeeze out as much liquid as possible.
13
Transfer spinach to processor and finely chop.
14
Add spinach to warm sauce, simmer over low heat until spinach is heated through, stirring often, about 5 minutes.
15
Stir in remaining 2 tablespoons of butter.
16
Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.

[Deleted]

Oh Whortle I forgot to say, I made it and it was great! Master Surfy loved it too -



I served it with her recipe for Bombay potatoes and a little naan

[whortleberry]

I made it tonight, Surfy. It was great E wasn't much of a fan (but she is sick) but BabyH liked it, although I separated his out before the addition of milk and cooked some chicken in the sauce to accommodate his problems with dairy.

[treehugger]

Well done whortle

That is my favourite book. I have made so many dishes from it and they have all been TASTY! We had the Keralan coconut curry for dinner last night, sprog1 loved it.

[Deleted]

I might do that next

Glad it went down well Whortle!

[cakemonkey]

I love spinach. I've taken to putting two handfuls in my smoothie in the mornings. You can't really taste it but still get the goodness.

[Deleted]

Think you need more than a few handfuls to get the full benefits though Cake. 80g is 1 of your 5 a day, which is about 4 tablespoons.

I wilted some in a pan with butter, today and then chopped it up and added it to mash for Master Surfs' lunch. He's poorly so trying to get him dosed up with the good stuff!

[cakemonkey]

I weighed it yesterday morning and I'm putting about 40g in. So half of my one a day then. That's fine, as there's plenty other stuff going in.

[riverhorse]

I LOVE spinach - I always have a big bag of baby leaf spinach in the freezer, just "as is", and grab frozen handfuls at a time to throw into pasta sauces, pasta bakes, etc.

Romily, if you get used to the taste and want to try a purely spinach side dish, I can recommend (especially with Italian dishes) that you fry up a bit of chopped garlic and onion, wilt the spinach in with it, then add just a dash (maybe 2 teaspoons???) of cream, and then grate lots of parmesan cheese over the top, mix it all together and there you have it. The garlic and parmesan goes SO well with it!

[Deleted]

Feb 13, 2014 7:45:22 GMT -5 riverhorse said:

I LOVE spinach - I always have a big bag of baby leaf spinach in the freezer, just "as is", and grab frozen handfuls at a time to throw into pasta sauces, pasta bakes, etc.

Romily, if you get used to the taste and want to try a purely spinach side dish, I can recommend (especially with Italian dishes) that you fry up a bit of chopped garlic and onion, wilt the spinach in with it, then add just a dash (maybe 2 teaspoons???) of cream, and then grate lots of parmesan cheese over the top, mix it all together and there you have it. The garlic and parmesan goes SO well with it!

Mmmm. Doing this! Is it called anything?

[riverhorse]

Errr, "River's Italian-style spinach"?? Will that do??!!

[Deleted]

Erm, OK

LOL