Ingredient: Spinach

Baby, Wild


» Jump to recipes using Spinach as an ingredient

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Spinach-

  • Description-

Spinach is a tender, dark, leafy green. Spinach is a very versatile and frequently used ingredient.

  • Preparation-

Before cooking or serving, wash your spinach in a bowl of cold water until you remove all of the grit. Dry your spinach in a salad spinner.  Remove any tough stems, then cut or tear the leaves if you desire.  Spinach can be served raw, steamed, used in soups, or sautéed.

  • Varieties-

Curly spinach, which requires cooking, wild spinach (see below), flat leaf spinach, which is tender and sweeter, and baby spinach, which is very tender and ideal for salads.

  • Storage-

Spinach can be stored for 3-7 days wrapped in a damp paper towel and stored in the refrigerator.

  • Nutrition-

Vitamin A,C,K, folate, lutein, folic acid, potassium, magnesium, and antioxidants

 

There are many secret veggies on the farm and in our own backyards just waiting to be enjoyed!  Here is a fave…

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Wild Spinach

One such weed is the lamb’s quarter or wild spinach.  I first learned of this beauty from farmer and forager extraordinaire Elizabeth Almeida at Fat Moon.   Nutrient rich and a perfect stand-in for traditional spinach, it is a welcome visitor in my garden come weeding time.  One thousand and one thank-yous, Elizabeth!  image


Recipes Using Spinach

Butternut Squash Stuffed Shells with Browned Butter and Sage

This is a lovely way to enjoy your butternut squash over the winter. The rich marriage of squash with that herb-infused brown butter makes for a hearty and flavorful meatless stuffed shell. The bacony-crisp of the sage leaves are reminiscent of makes for a perfect garnish, while the amount of cheese involved is entirely flexible (I’ve used nutritional yeast in place of the Parmesan in a pinch.) Roasting the squash before mashing really brings out the sweet and nutty flavor of the squash, a step not to be skipped for full-effect, though you can roast your squash up to 3 days ahead of time as needed.


Quiche with Sweet Potato Crust

This recipe has many flexible ingredients, what you put in as a filling is up to you! A mandolin slicer is great for slicing the sweet potatoes evenly, making for a tastier crust.


Asparagus and Potato “Cake”

This was the result of a creative moment, but I have no regrets about the way it turned out! Potatoes and/or sweet potatoes provide the starchy middle that keeps things together, and the asparagus provides the springy gimmick. The rest of the ingredients are pretty flexible, so make it your own and have fun!