Friday, July 25, 2008

Spinach with Raisins and Pine Nuts


I went to the market this morning and the only thing that looked good to me was the spinach. Everything else had that sort of non-glow that comes from being around just a little too long. Now remember, I am not like everyone who lives up North and this is their growing season and they have a plethora of fresh fruits and veggies at their whim. I am in the hot, miserable, "whanna buy some swamp land" called Florida.

Our produce sucks this time of year. You may not even know this about me if you are a new reader and if you are one of my old friends you will know this only too well...I want local produce!!! Organic if I can get it. Well I can't get it right now so I am relying on produce that is organic and generally shipped to my loving hands from California!!!! While I am relying on this we are definitely eating more meat then we ever do during the winter here. So tonight I decided to roast a chicken (yes, it was 95 our today but the a/c works whether I have to oven on or not!) and make some spinach to go with it. I am so tired of the same old sauteed spinach so I wanted to shake it up a bit. After doing a quick search I came across a recipe on chow.com that would work and I had all the ingredients.

Spinach with Raisins and Pine Nuts (CHOW-food, drink and fun)

INGREDIENTS
  • 5 to 6 tablespoons golden or dark raisins
  • 2 packages (each 10 ounces) fresh spinach or 2 medium-size bunches fresh spinach, tough stems discarded
  • 3 to 4 tablespoons fragrant extra-virgin olive oil
  • 6 to 8 whole small peeled garlic cloves, lightly smashed
  • 5 tablespoons pine nuts
  • Coarse salt (kosher or sea) and freshly ground black pepper
INSTRUCTIONS
  1. Place the raisins in a small bowl, add very hot water to cover, and soak until plump, 10 to 15 minutes. Drain well and pat dry with paper towels, then set aside.
  2. Rinse but do not drain the spinach. Place the spinach in a large saucepan over medium heat and cover the pan. Cook the spinach until wilted, 4 to 5 minutes, stirring a few times. Transfer the spinach to a colander, and squeeze out the excess moisture by pressing on the spinach with the back of a spoon. Chop the spinach coarsely. (The spinach can be prepared a few hours ahead up to this point.)
  3. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet or wok over low heat. Add the garlic, pine nuts, and soaked raisins, and cook until the nuts and the garlic are light golden, 3 to 5 minutes. Increase the heat to medium, add the chopped spinach, and cook for about 1 minute, stirring to combine evenly. Season with salt and pepper to taste, transfer to a serving bowl, and serve.
This was a definite hit in our house. I wish I had of had more as this recipe was gone in no time at all!!!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

It looks delicious and reminds me of a dish we used to get in a tapas bar. I think they added garlic, but it's very similar otherwise.

Peter M said...

It sounds like FLA's problems could be solved with some green houses.

I must say the spinach up here's looking rather crisp, green...salad days indeed.

Anonymous said...

This looks great. I used to make this dish a lot, and it's one of those dishes that just comes together so well!

Brittany said...

I have everything to make this! Except the pine hunt..which I hate...so it will be sans pine nuts:)

Judy@nofearentertaining said...

Hi Ann-there is plenty of garlic in there-6 to 8 cloves!

Hey Peter-Unfortunately green houses are not up to hurricane code! And I sure would want to have my house hit by a green house!

Hi Ben-This was a great way to do it. Yep I am saying that. That's my goal - to winter here and summer somewhere up there!

Hi Fearless kitchen-it is weird ingredients that just work!

Hey Brittany try maybe some walnuts or something if you like them!

Dharm said...

That spinach looks really green and fresh! Certainly Popeye food!

Thistlemoon said...

I am so with the snowbird thing Judy! This is my goal too! :)
I LOVE making spinach this way - goes good with chard too....well we have a few more months until that is back in season.

Emily said...

Yum! I love spinach and pine nuts together. I've never added raisins, but that sounds delicious. Very Italian, eh?

amuse me said...

This recipe looks awesome - heading to the store right now! :)

Mike of Mike's Table said...

I hear you on the crummy local produce. Its pretty frustrating when everybody else's garden is looking good and we have a fairly barren crop in the dead of summer. This sounds like a tasty one though!I love the mix of pine nuts and raisins