how to eat like a bird: spinach with raisins and pine nuts

I'm not crazy about spinach (or raisins or pine nuts), but the reviews on CHOW convinced me to try this classic Catalan dish. And it was indeed delicious. Turns out I can overeat vegetables, too, which can only be a good thing.

This recipe comes from The New Spanish Table by Anya von Bremzen, who travels the world for Food and Wine, charming grandmothers, street vendors, and exalted chefs alike, into sharing their best secrets and age-old family recipes. In the cookbook, this innocuous dish reappears as a filling for a decadent cannelloni in béchamel sauce. (I remember being transfixed by the picture for several minutes). To add richness here, I topped it with a fried egg. --A poached egg would have been even better, but I was lazy and hungry and wanted to use the same pan.

I was tempted to fry the egg Spanish-style, which basically means frying it in a generous amount of extra virgin olive oil, all the while spooning oil over the egg, basting it with the stuff... but the spinach had a nice coating of garlic-scented olive oil already, so I thought it may be overkill without any toast to absorb some of the oil. If you have a nice thick slice of rustic country bread, by all means, go for it.

But for everyday eating, there's no reason not to enjoy this unadorned. It's tasty and absolutely healthy. (I cut the recipe in half because I couldn't bear the thought of washing more than one bunch of spinach, but spinach cooks down so much, that I pretty much ate three-fourths of it in one sitting. If you're sharing or want leftovers, make the recipe in its entirety.)

Comments

I had the cannelloni last weekend at a restaurant in Andorra. They were just delicious, but the bechamel stayed there. I just ate what stuck to the pasta, and it was more than enough!
A usual, quick and tasty recipe in our home with spinach is:
1. Wash spinach. Drain.
2. Heat some olive oil. Fry in it a couple smashed garlic cloves (not pressed, just hit them with something so they're a bit broken and can release ther flavour... I have no idea how to say that in English).
3. When the garlic starts turning brown, add the spinach.
4. Cover and cook on low until there's no more liquid in the pan and the spinach are thoroughlly cooked.

Posted by: Gracia Fraile | October 15, 2008 at 08:53 AM