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Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2012 19:54:08 GMT
I loved spinach as a child. (I think I might have been weird, compared to quite a few other children.)
In recent years, I have found that I don't much care for it anymore, even though I will eat it if it is put in front of me. I am not sure why this could be, particularly since spinach now tends to be fresh or frozen -- in any case, better than the tinned stuff that was generally served 50 years ago.
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Post by Don Cuevas on Apr 14, 2012 21:32:55 GMT
I like spinach, if it's not overcooked. However, the green chard (acelgas) that we buy here, at $5 pesos for a huge bunch, is a better bet. We enjoy it best simply prepared, like steamed in a covered pan, salt, maybe a dash of olive oil, perhaps a minced clove of garlic at most.
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Post by bixaorellana on Apr 14, 2012 23:22:08 GMT
Yep, the swiss chard here is the best.
However, this thread couldn't have come at a better time. I was at the market yesterday & a lady offered me such a good deal that I wound up with three bunches of spinach.
The only thing I have against spinach is something strange -- after eating a certain amount of it, I get this weird, sort of dry feeling behind my teeth. It bothers me enough that I'll stop eating it at that point.
I tend to make spinach the way my grandmother did -- steamed with a fair amount of water, then dressed with olive oil, s&p, & served with hard boiled eggs.
I really like it creamed, as well, but don't think I've ever cooked it that way.
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Post by Don Cuevas on Apr 15, 2012 10:25:03 GMT
"The only thing I have against spinach is something strange -- after eating a certain amount of it, I get this weird, sort of dry feeling behind my teeth. It bothers me enough that I'll stop eating it at that point." It's the oxalic acid in the spinach. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinach#Iron
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Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2012 13:44:50 GMT
Spinach is one of my favorite vegetables/greens. I think creamed spinach may well be one of my favorite foods. It was also one of my mothers favorites and one of or last meals together,in fact, 2 or 3 of them included creamed spinach.
It's also one of the few foods that I will tolerate being added to pizza,if it's done right,and that's a stretch for me as I am a NY pizza snob. On Oysters,(Oysters Rockefeller),Quiche,just about anything Florentine,I like it.
I love spinach!!
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Post by mich64 on Apr 15, 2012 16:40:58 GMT
I enjoy spinach as well! My favourite is steamed then add butter, salt and pepper. Simply delicious.
I also enjoy spinach salad, where a sliced boiled egg is placed on top of the greens that have a light creamy dressing and bacon pieces added.
Cheers
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Post by bixaorellana on Apr 15, 2012 17:16:53 GMT
Thanks for the link, DonC. It appears that Popeye triumphed despite spinach! I could kick myself for never having grown malabar spinach when I lived in Louisiana, which would appear to have the perfect climate for it. Anyone know it? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basella_alba
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Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2012 17:30:15 GMT
I like spinach salad, but I was reading the other day that it is one of the biggest nutritional mistakes of recent times -- something about the nutrients being inaccessible to our metabolism until the spinach is cooked -- same thing as for tomatoes, apparently.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2012 18:14:35 GMT
Malabar spinach will grow like crazy here,loves the heat!! I haven't grown it in years,it's a climber,and the leaves are reddish. My friend and helper has it growing currently in his garden and I had some fresh last week. I thought for sure you had grown it Bixa.
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Post by Breeze on Apr 15, 2012 18:41:39 GMT
Martha Rose Shulman had a spinach bouillabaisse recipe in the NYT the other day. She claims it's the saffron that makes this a bouillabaisse, but since there's no fish in the dish, I don't think I'll call it that when I make it.
I recall reading a long time ago not only that raw spinach is not good for you (somehow I forgot this in the spinach salad frenzy of the last 10 years) but that you should not eat leftover spinach that's been cooked.
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Post by mich64 on Apr 15, 2012 19:27:00 GMT
I eat raw tomatoes frequently, perhaps this is another reason why my metabolism is in such a mess.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2012 19:56:01 GMT
I don't think that such things are 'bad' for you, but they are perhaps empty pleasures in terms of nutrition. I just don't like it when people say that they are 'toxic.'
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Post by lagatta on Apr 16, 2012 0:05:52 GMT
Yes, it isn't very accurate. Better to say that they may be harmful for people with certain conditions, allergies or food intolerances.
Not only oxalic acid for people with various forms of arthritis, but much more dramatic cases. An uncle undergoing cancer treatment and a friend undergoing AIDS tritherapy had to pretty much abstain from vegetables, whole grains, anything "healthful" and eat stodge.
Both are alive and reasonably well, some years later, and able to eat normal food.
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Post by hwinpp on Apr 16, 2012 4:09:40 GMT
I love spinach, any which way.
It's just a pity we can't get it here.
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Post by Don Cuevas on Apr 16, 2012 8:36:54 GMT
I love spinach, any which way. It's just a pity we can't get it here. Not at ALL? Count your blessings for the bounty of foods that you do have, HW. SignedI.M. Envious
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Post by hwinpp on Apr 16, 2012 9:19:58 GMT
We get nice greens that are similar, you can even cook them the same way with good results. But it's just not the same.
Funnily enough I've never checked the frozen goods sections in the supermarkets, will have to do that.
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Post by auntieannie on Apr 17, 2012 21:21:13 GMT
spinach wilted with garlic in a little oil. a little s&p, maybe a few drops of cream or milk... spinach added at the last minute to a dal (lentil curry). I haven't had creamed spinach in years. mom used to buy it sometimes and the mini-bricks that became available as we were reaching adolescence were a great improvement to the packs of frozen creamed spinach that were available before. but it was quite good anyway.
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Post by bixaorellana on Apr 18, 2012 1:03:38 GMT
I just dined on creamed spinach alongside corkscrew pasta tricked out with soused carrots, some garbanzo beans, chile paste, kefir, olive oil & a little pot cheese. Good golly it was good!
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2014 13:57:38 GMT
I bought fresh spinach today for the first time in years. I usually buy it frozen, but this looked very good and it also cost next to nothing. I have to remember to rinse it forever, though, because I have a vivid memory of how spinach + sand tastes.
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2014 14:42:20 GMT
I once signed up for a once-weekly delivery of organic vegetables, and I loved it, if only because it forced me to find creative ways of using things I'd never usually buy. One winter I got a lot of spinach - so I made Marcella Hazan's spinach and ricotta gnocchi, and it's my go-to dish for dinner parties. The gnocchi can be made up and cooked and then can sit around until they're dressed and put in the oven to finish. I find pasta is often too much trouble to make as a primi - there's too much last minute fuss, and this has none. And they are delicious, very easy to make and light (no potatoes).
Marcella Hazan's Spinach and Ricotta Gnocchi
1 tbsp. finely chopped onion 2 tbsp. butter 2 tbsp. finely chopped mortadella or proscuitto (don't leave this out!) 10 oz. frozen spinach or 1 lb. fresh spinach, cooked, well-drained, and chopped Salt 3/4 c. ricotta 2/3 c. flour 2 egg yolks 1 c. freshly grated parmesan 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
Saute the onion in the butter until golden. Add the finely chopped meat and saute a minute or two. Add the spinach and salt and saute 5 mins. Place all this in a mixing bowl, add ricotta, flour, mixing thoroughly with a wooden spoon. Add egg yolks, parmesan and nutmeg.
Make small oval pellets of the mixture with your hands. It will be wet and a bit gloopy, but keep using flour to coat your hands. Try to keep them under 3/4" in diameter.
Cook the gnocchi, a few at a time, in boiling salted water for abut 3 minutes each. Lift them out and place them in a buttered dish. (It's at this time I put them in the fridge).
When ready to serve, pour some melted butter over them and sprinkle another cup of parmesan over. Bake in the oven until lightly browned and bubbling. Serves 4.
The quality of this dish absolutely depends on the quality of the parmesan you are using. Padano at the very least, Reggiano preferably.
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Post by lagatta on May 14, 2014 19:49:53 GMT
Not spinach tonight, but green chard. Close enough. Just blanched, sautéed with garlic and olive oil.
casimira, I have a suspicion that you wouldn't like broccoli on pizza. Alas where a certain group orders it, the vegetarian one is always ruined adorned with that, while the meat one has horrible peperoni sausage...
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2014 20:22:22 GMT
I ended up simply cooking the spinach in butter with chopped garlic, very briefly until it just wilted. Excellent.
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