Green Cuisine: What Can You Make with Spinach?

0

Spinach is the perfect ingredient that pairs well with just about anything. Its use in large quantities and incorporation into various dishes is characteristic of Italian, Spanish, French, Balkan, and Caucasian cuisines. The cuisines of the Far East—Chinese, Korean, and Japanese—also embrace spinach. This leafy green is also quite popular in India.

Recently, this vegetable-herb has been making a comeback in the U.S. and Europe, where it has had a fascinating, albeit challenging, journey over the centuries. We’ve previously shared the amazing adventures of spinach, along with tips for preserving it for winter.

Today, let’s take a closer look at this remarkable vegetable-herb.

So, what does spinach pair well with?

In Salads

First and foremost, spinach is a salad vegetable, and there are enough spinach salad recipes to fill a sizable cookbook. Spinach salads can be dressed with sour cream, mayonnaise, vegetable oil, or lemon juice. It’s best to cut the leaves of lettuce and spinach with special vegetable scissors or tear them by hand to retain their juiciness. Beyond the classic combinations of spinach with salad or boiled eggs and cucumbers, there are countless nutritious, light, and filling recipes. For example:

Spring Cocktail Salad

• 200 g fresh spinach
• 200 g lettuce
• 1 green onion
• 400 g radishes
• 1 apple
• 1-2 tsp sunflower oil
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp salt
• Sugar to taste
• Dill to taste
• Black pepper to taste.

Wash the spinach thoroughly and dry it well. Slice the radishes into rounds. Peel the apple, remove the core, and cut a quarter of it into small slices, then drizzle with lemon juice. Gently mix all the ingredients together. Dress with vegetable oil and drizzle with lemon juice. Add sugar and pepper to taste.

Vesuvius Salad

• 300 g boiled beef
• 100 g smoked ham
• 6 potatoes
• 3 tomatoes
• 3 cucumbers
• 1 bunch of lettuce
• 1 bunch of spinach
• 0.5 jar of mayonnaise
• Salt to taste.

Finely chop the meat and potatoes, slice the cucumbers into strips, and cut the tomatoes into wedges. Chop or tear the lettuce and spinach into pieces. Mix all the components, season with salt to taste, and dress the salad with mayonnaise. Garnish the finished dish with decorative cucumber slices.

Spinach Puree

This is the foundation of countless dishes. While there aren’t many ways to prepare puree, spinach is typically sautéed with garlic and onions or steamed, then combined with garlic and vegetable oil. There is also ready-made canned puree available. Common pairings include spinach puree with mushrooms and cheese (like feta) and eggs.

Spinach puree is often added to Eastern pilaf, Italian pasta and risotto, Chinese-style meat dishes, Indian curries made with vegetables and grains, as well as to lobio, stews, casseroles, and even omelets, potato pancakes, and crepes. Spinach puree is used to make the famous spinach balls, known since medieval times, which are still popular in the Caucasus under the name mkhali. There is also a Balkan recipe for spinach balls with feta or cheese, garlic, and sour cream. In Victorian times, fatty fish was baked on a bed of spinach and served as an aristocratic breakfast—toast rubbed with garlic, spinach puree, and a fried egg.

Pork Liver with Spinach (Chinese Cuisine)

• 180 g pork liver
• 180 g spinach
• 3 tsp soy sauce
• 5 g ground pepper
• 1 onion
• 1 head of garlic
• 1 tbsp potato starch
• 1 tsp vinegar
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 g ground ginger.

Slice the prepared pork liver into thin pieces. Clean the spinach of old leaves and stems, wash it, and chop it finely. You can also use spinach puree. In a deep skillet, sauté the pork liver with starch, then add the finely chopped onion and garlic. Pour in the soy sauce and vinegar, add ginger and pepper, and sauté for 3 minutes over high heat. Once the contents of the skillet come to a boil, add the spinach and sauté for another 3-5 minutes.

Chicken Breasts with Spinach and Cheese

• 2 chicken breasts
• 3/4 cup spinach (chopped or pureed)
• 1/2 onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 100-150 g cheese
• 1 tbsp butter
• Salt and pepper to taste.

Heat half of the olive oil in a skillet. Sauté the onion, garlic, and spinach for about 7 minutes, until the onion is soft. Cut the chicken along the side to create a pocket (without cutting all the way through). Open the “pocket” and lightly pound it. Place half of the spinach filling on one side of the pounded breast. Top with cheese. Fold the other side of the breast over the filling and secure the edges with toothpicks. Brush with butter (or low-fat sour cream) and bake in a dish.

In Soups

This is another traditional culinary domain for spinach! Besides the classic green borscht, there are many soups from various cultures around the world where spinach reigns supreme! There’s no soup that spinach would ruin (unless it’s sweet 😊)—clear soups with noodles, fish soup, borscht, minestrone, exotic Chinese soups—spinach is always welcome and adds freshness to the dish.

Recipe for Traditional French Spinach Puree Soup

• 1 liter chicken broth
• 3 potatoes
• 1 onion
• 1-2 cloves of garlic
• 2 bunches of green lettuce
• 1 bunch of spinach
• 1/2 cup cream
• 60 g butter
• Salt, pepper, and sour cream to taste
• A pinch of nutmeg and ground pepper.

Finely chop the potatoes, onion, and greens. Melt the butter in a skillet and sauté the onion and garlic. Pour the chicken broth into a pot and add the prepared ingredients. Cover the pot and simmer on low heat for 15 minutes. Strain the soup and pass the mixture through a sieve. Pour the resulting puree back into the broth, add cream, pepper, and salt, and bring to a boil. Serve with sour cream.

In Pies (Filling)

The filling can be either spinach puree or fresh spinach. Classic combinations include mushrooms, eggs, cheese (like feta or young cheese), herbs, or other vegetables such as pumpkin or beet greens (Ossetian pie). Any savory dough works well—puff pastry, “lazy” puff pastry, unleavened dough, yeast dough, or shortcrust pastry. Spinach pizza is also popular.

Open Spinach Pie

• 1/2 pack of unleavened puff pastry
• 400 g spinach (or spinach puree)
• 2 chicken eggs
• 100 g any hard cheese
• 3 tbsp olive oil (for the filling)
• Salt to taste
• 200 ml milk.

Roll out the dough to fit the baking dish. Dust with flour, lay the base so that the edges are high, and fold them slightly. Mix all the ingredients (except for the cheese)—spinach, eggs, milk, olive oil—well, and season with salt. Pour the filling onto the base. Top with grated cheese and place in an oven preheated to 175 degrees for 40-50 minutes. You can add a bit of starch to the spinach filling to absorb moisture.

In Dough

Spinach is often added to dough not just for decorative purposes, although that’s a bonus 😊. Spinach pairs wonderfully with light dough, giving it a unique flavor: “green” dough remains very popular in the Balkans and Eastern countries. Sometimes dried spinach is used: in the Middle Ages, there was even an expensive aristocratic bread made from spinach flour, which was obtained from spinach seeds. In Kyiv restaurants, spinach pancakes with red fish have become a staple. Here’s another light and delicious spinach pastry recipe.

Spinach Muffins

• 120 g butter
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 3 eggs
• 50 g spinach
• 120 g flour
• 10 g baking powder
• 3 tbsp sour cream (15-20%)
• 100 g hard cheese
• A pinch of salt.

In a bowl, place 120 g of softened butter (or margarine) and crack in 3 eggs. Whisk with a whisk or mixer until the butter is evenly distributed. If the oil separates slightly at this stage, that’s okay. Add 120 g of flour, 1 tbsp of sugar, 10 g of baking powder, 3 tbsp of sour cream, and a pinch of salt. Mix the batter thoroughly with a whisk until it has a uniform consistency. Next, prepare the spinach. If using frozen spinach, thaw it first and squeeze out excess moisture with your hands. Heat a skillet with 20 g of butter and sauté the spinach for 2 minutes. Grate 100 g of hard cheese finely. Gently fold the cheese and spinach into the batter with a silicone spatula. Mix to distribute them evenly throughout the batter. Silicone molds do not need to be greased with oil, as there is enough in the batter itself. Fill the molds almost to the top, leaving about 5 mm to the edge. Bake in a preheated oven for 20-25 minutes at 180°.

For a Healthy Lifestyle

Of course, healthy eating recipes take center stage in spinach cuisine. This dietary vegetable owes its resurgence to this very trend.

Banana, Apple, and Spinach Smoothie

• 1 banana
• 1 apple
• 1 lemon (juice) to taste
• 30 g fresh spinach
• 70 ml water

Combine all the ingredients in a blender and mix until smooth.

Tropical Smoothie

• 1/2 cup water
• 2 mandarins
• 1 banana
• 1 small bunch of spinach (60 g)
• 1/2 cup crushed pineapple
• 2 tsp flax seeds

Combine all the ingredients in a blender and mix until smooth.

For Dessert

A spinach cake? Why not! Here’s a recipe for a delightful treat from Turkey.

Spinach Cake

For the batter:

• 3 egg yolks + 130 g sugar
• 6 egg whites + 50 g sugar + a pinch of salt
• 150 g spinach
• 2.5 tsp baking powder
• 80 ml vegetable oil
• 140 g wheat flour
• 40 g rice flour

For the cream:

• 250 g cream
• 250 g sour cream
• 300 g condensed milk
• 1 small lemon

For decoration:

• 700 g raspberries
• Powdered sugar to taste
• Raspberry syrup to taste
• Blackberries to taste.

Mix the rice and wheat flour with the baking powder. Pour boiling water over fresh spinach for 10 minutes, and thaw frozen spinach. Blend the spinach with the oil. In a bowl, beat the egg yolks with 130 g of sugar until frothy. Add the spinach-oil mixture to the whipped yolks and mix gently. Gradually add this to the flour, mixing the batter carefully. Pour the batter into a baking dish. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 °C for 45-50 minutes, checking for doneness with a skewer. Remove from the mold and let cool.

For the cream, zest the lemon and squeeze out the juice. You may need less juice, so adjust to your taste. Whip the sour cream and cream with the condensed milk, and while continuing to whip, add the lemon juice and zest. The cream will start to thicken after adding the lemon juice.

Cut the sponge into three layers. Remove the baked crust, which will be used for decoration. Cut the remaining sponge into layers. Layer the sponge with cream, as well as the top and sides. Coat the sides with cream and sprinkle with sponge crumbs. Top with raspberries. You can fill the gaps between the berries with raspberry syrup using a pipette. Instead of raspberries, you can use blackberries or strawberries for decoration. Place the cake in the fridge for a few hours to soak. Before serving, dust with powdered sugar.