Catalan Spinach

It's like all the ingredients for a favourite salad, in a hot vegetable dish. Well, no vinegar. It occurs to me a few drops, or some lemon juice, sprinkled over it would not go amiss.

 

As usual with spinach, most of the work is in cleaning and preparing it. Make sure you have everything ready to go before you start cooking because the cooking goes extremely fast - there's no time to be rummaging for raisins in the back of the cupboard. Everything else should be heading off to the table just after the spinach hits the pan.

 

4 servings

20 minutes to wash and sort the spinach

15 minutes to finish the dish

 

8 cups loosely packed spinach leaves

1 medium tart cooking apple

1 to 3 cloves of garlic

1/4 cup raisins

1/4 cup pine nuts, chopped almonds, OR pumpkin seeds

2 tablespoons olive oil

salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste

 

Wash and pick over the spinach. Drain and wash again. Drain very well. 

 

Peel (or not) and core the apple, and cut it into dice. Peel and mince the garlic. Measure out the raisins and nuts or seeds.

 

Heat the oil and the spinach to the pan, turning it to get it all wilted down. Add the apple and garlic and mix in well. Add the raisins and nuts or seeds, and mix in well. Season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, until the spinach is done to your liking - not too long; it's spinach. Serve at once.

Last year at this time I made Spinach & Feta Stuffed Leeks.