New Ways with Spinach

Some Ideas on Using this Leafy Superfood

Oct 7, 2009 Jo Romero

Spinach is rich in vitamins, iron and calcium. It is also amazingly versatile and can be used in almost any dish. Here are some ideas on how to add it to everyday meals.

Spinach has had a bit of a bad press - apart from a stint in the 1930s where it enjoyed powerful status as Popeye's vegetable of choice. A plate of the leafy greens resulted in turned up noses and screwed up faces from children all over the world. When cooked carelessly it is easy to imagine why. Boiled for too long, resulting in a watery, slimy mess, spinach loses most of its taste and nutrients.

Steamed or wilted in a pan for a few minutes with a sliced garlic clove and a spattering of olive oil and it is completely different. There is the need to be generous though, a bag of bouncy spinach leaves will wilt in the pan to almost nothing after a few minutes.

Rich in calcium, vitamins A, C and K and folic acid, spinach is undoubtedly good for you. But its shining glory is that it is high in iron. Iron deficiency results in the immune system not functioning as it should, succumbing the patient to niggling complaints such as cold sores, colds and infections. It can also present itself as anemia, a lack of red blood cells, resulting in a pale complexion and general fatigue.

According to the US Dept of Agriculture, 180g of boiled spinach gives 6.43mg iron, whereas a 170g hamburger patty gives at most 4.42mg of iron. In order to gain the most iron from green leafy vegetables such as spinach, it is recommended that they be eaten with a drink of orange juice. The orange juice helps the body to absorb the iron.

But how can we incorporate spinach into everyday meals? Here are some ideas.

Great Ways to Eat More Spinach:

Curries – In India, they have a fondness for spinach, and it features heavily in their cuisine. Sag Aloo is a dish of curried spinach and potatoes and is often served as a side dish. Finely chop fresh spinach leaves and add them to any curry in the last few minutes of cooking. This is successful in Thai curries too, and adds colour, taste and goodness to the dish. The benefit here is that as the spinach is cooked in the sauce, it loses none of its nutrients, as in boiling and then draining.
Pasta - finely chopped spinach leaves are great when blended with garlic and ricotta cheese and then used to make cannelloni or ravioli. Shredded leaves stirred into a cheese sauce and then mixed with pasta also makes a delicious and nutritious dish. Stir chopped spinach into tomato-based sauces too and add to lasagne.
Stir-fries - add texture and colour to stir-fries by chopping or slicing spinach leaves and frying at the end of cooking, to wilt it slightly.
Salads - spinach can also be eaten raw in salads as an alternative to lettuce. Likewise, it is good in sandwiches, wraps and paninis and of course eaten raw (but thoroughly washed of course) the full nutritional benefit is achieved.
Other ideas include sprinkling chopped spinach into omelettes, risottos and soups.

No longer the stuff of wrinkled up noses and hidden under our forks at dinner, spinach is now considered a superfood. It is healthy, tasty and incredibly versatile. Now a bunch of spinach is to be looked forward to instead of dreaded.

The copyright of the article New Ways with Spinach in Seasonal Cooking is owned by Jo Romero. Permission to republish New Ways with Spinach in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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