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04 April 2008

Dear Spinach, you are a dirty, dirty vegetable. [More:]

You made me wash you three times before we could even get to the pinching and chopping. And I'm still not too sure about you. You know I love you, I really do, but that ain't right.

Then, the worst thing, with all your "oh, look at me, I'm all that - I'm too big to fit into that pot" ... once I get you all nice and heated up - you dwindle down to almost nothing. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother.
I LOVE spinach. We always get Jersey spinach and you could lay a towel on it and go tanning, there's so much sand. What the hell...I can't be bothered with this all-day soak stuff. Give me some triple-washed in a bag, already!

Fav stuff to make - any combo of pasta and spinach is great, and I also love to make cream cheese and spinach omelettes.

What are you making with yours?
posted by iconomy 04 April | 13:07
But in the end, spinach is the greatest thing ever.

It's a horrible love affair :-(
posted by cmonkey 04 April | 13:11
Black eyed peas! I'm a fool for spinach, but the pre-washed is ridiculously expensive at my grocery. I confess to buying the frozen more often than not, because fresh spinach is such a bad date.
posted by taz 04 April | 13:12
taz, even Marcella Hazan, who is totally one of those "This recipe is completely beginner-level, it simply requires three days of work, $700 of kitchen gadgets, and immense upper arm strength" cookbook authors, endorses frozen spinach. So no guilt's required. :-)
posted by occhiblu 04 April | 13:14
I buy the pre-washed bags because I'll never actually wash the sandy spinach and would end up throwing it away.
posted by octothorpe 04 April | 13:15
I must confess to not really enjoying cooked spinach. Unless it's in spanikopita, of course; then just try to hold me back. But a lovely spinach salad is worth all the rinsing, truly.
posted by bmarkey 04 April | 13:17
I loves the spinach, too. I do the pinching before the washing, and throw the leaves into a sink full of cold water. Leave for about 5 minutes, occasionally swish around a bit, pull out before pulling plug. It's always worked really well for me that way, even with spinach that looks like it was used as the base for some demented child's sand castles--sand sinks to the bottom, spinach floats on the top.
posted by elizard 04 April | 13:20
Spinach is great. It makes you strong. Unless I have a lot of spinach to cook (for something like spanakopita) I usually throw it into the pan after I have taken it off the heat and leave it only for a minute or two before serving. Perfectly wilted and unmushy.
posted by goo 04 April | 13:22
I like baby spinich. Easier to clean. Sweeter to eat. Yum. But if none's available I get frozen.

Why o why do they chop it, though? It just ends up getting stuck in the strainer, and it's so little you can't just drain the water out of the pot with the lid on.
posted by small_ruminant 04 April | 13:23
Collards are exactly the same way.

But they're sooooooo gooooood......
posted by bunnyfire 04 April | 14:09
I love spinach too, but not cooked to death - either raw in salad or just lightly wilted in a pan that's been heated, oiled, then taken off the heat.

I also love how easily it grows. Since it's cool-ish here, there's continuous 'baby' spinach for quite some time into June.
posted by Miko 04 April | 14:21
baby spinich wilted- yum!!

I do NOT like raw spinich though. My teeth feel gross after and I'm hungry again in about 40 minutes.
posted by small_ruminant 04 April | 15:29
If it's not to be eaten fresh, i always use frozen.
Fresh spinach is a pain in the ass and i yam what i yam.
posted by ethylene 04 April | 16:05
I learned from Jeffrey Steingarten that most of the nutrients in spinach are only released after cooking, so spinach salads aren't really as good for you as everyone thinks.
posted by mudpuppie 04 April | 16:09
We actually use dishwashing soap on our spinach (and collards, too). Just a few drops, and, of course, rinse thoroughly, but it really helps get the dirt off.
posted by mrmoonpie 04 April | 16:17
so spinach salads aren't really as good for you as everyone thinks.

But they're still yummy.
posted by muddgirl 04 April | 16:25
most of the nutrients in spinach are only released after cooking

You know, since Senor Steingarten said that on Iron Chef, I have been hearing that constantly, everywhere. He's partially right - spinach has a lot of oxalic acid, which binds with minerals like iron and calcium and makes them insoluble. Boiling spinach reduces but doesn't eliminate the oxalic acid content. Meanwhile, a lot of other foods that we eat raw and cooked all the time also contain a lot of oxalic acid (nuts, Swiss chard, beans, rhubarb). You don't need to avoid it unless you have a kidney problem.

So the problem becomes mainly that iron is less available to the body in raw spinach - but we knew that already. If you combine the spinach with foods that boost iron, you can gain some iron back. Anything high in Vitamin C (red peppers, potatoes, oranges, lemons, and tomatoes) and a lot of meats will make the iron more bioavailable.

There are other non-mineral good things in raw spinach, too, which he didn't say on Iron Chef (vitamins A and C, folate, fiber). So I think he was just slamming on raw spinach because he likes to be a jerk.

All that said, since spinach totally does cook down to nothing, it doesn't do anybody an amazing amount of good to eat a salad containing a cup of spinach leaves (which would cook down to about 2 T. boiled). Good thing they're yummy.
posted by Miko 04 April | 16:29
Creamed spinach with jalapeno juice is delicious. Also, spinach ravioli.

Collard greens will always be my one true love, though.
posted by BoringPostcards 04 April | 16:32
most of the nutrients in spinach are only released after cooking

But what about raw spinach versus various lettuces? Maybe it's just me, but I don't often wonder "should I eat my spinach raw or cooked?" but rather "should I eat a spinach salad or some other type?"

Actaully, I just eat burritos. No spinach.
posted by mullacc 04 April | 16:36
I learned from Jeffrey Steingarten that most of the nutrients in spinach are only released after cooking


If Jabba the Hut told me it was daytime, I'd still have to look outside to be sure. As Miko points out, he delights in being a jerk.
posted by bmarkey 04 April | 17:48
We just planted our spinach!! We put in three different kinds this year so we have some for salads and some for cooking and freezing. It's amazing how much better a spinach salad tastes when the spinach is super duper fresh. Yum yum spinach!!
posted by jrossi4r 04 April | 18:06
I've heard that about raw spinach most of my life. Which doesn't make it true, but it makes it unsurprising. Also, I seem to remember being taught that its nutrients absorb better when you eat it with something fatty, like butter. Which I think is gross, so I don't do it. Generally I like butter, but for spinach I like vinegar.
posted by small_ruminant 04 April | 19:23
I like watercress.
posted by phoenixc 04 April | 19:26
Spinach, I love you too, and I even eat you raw in some weird raw soups that I like to make -- and I can't say that about very many vegetables -- but . . . there's another green leafy vegetable in my life.

Swiss chard, boiled, and mixed with a quirky but unforgettable pesto vinaigrette sauce, you're stealing my heart away. I know, some people say it's just the sauce, but, baby, I'm an in-the-moment kind of guy, and I really don't care to make such distinctions -- all I know is I just want some of you inside of me, right now.
posted by treepour 04 April | 19:47
Lots of calcium, but spinach hangs on to it after you eat it. A cup of kale has more calcium than a cup of milk (and no hormones) and gives it freely. Kale is alkaline, too, and milk often isn't these days. Cancer needs acidity, it can't thrive in an alkaline body. (Cancer loves milk protein--casein--too!)

Popeye should eat more kale and less spinach.
posted by shane 04 April | 23:28
Does your kale look like this? ≡ Click to see image ≡

(not my image) I probably won't be able to find it, but if it's around I'll probably have to try to identify it visually. The dictionary says that in greek kale is κατσαρό λάχανο / katsaro lahano, which I don't think I've seen, but dictionary translations for stuff like this are not always reliable.
posted by taz 04 April | 23:54
Kale is good too, but that alkaline-diet thing isn't supported by evidence.
posted by Miko 05 April | 00:24
That does look like my kale, taz - I couldn't tell if you were asking rhetorically or seriously, but it looks like kale.
posted by Miko 05 April | 00:27
Totally serious! You would be surprised how difficult it is to identify greens when you can't go by the produce signs. (Unless you happen to be a particularly visually observant person in the greens area. :))

I mean, spinach is easy, beet greens are easy, arugula/rocket is easy (for me)... but the rest? I pretty much have no idea. You see some curly green stuff that is obviously greens, but it's called something like "oogyschmagoogy", it's hard to figure out what it might be. It's been, like, 15 years since I've seen greens in the U.S., so it's hard for me to remember what certain things looked like.

I pretty much think all greens are good, but some taste best if they are barely wilted, some need a bunch of cooking, etc., so it's almost always a surprise lottery for me when I get some, plus I can't usually just read a recipe in English that calls for some certain kind of green, and go and find that.
posted by taz 05 April | 00:38
taz, that kind of kale is (I believe) called Lacinato kale, Dinosaur kale, or Tuscan kale around here.

My favorite is Russian kale, which is curly and reddish and thin, but it's harder to find around here. I eventually would like to plant some. Cuz it's awesomely wonderful.
posted by occhiblu 05 April | 00:38
like this?

≡ Click to see image ≡

It seems like maybe I see that sometimes. Will look!
posted by taz 05 April | 00:41
When I garden, I always start some spinach early, get a couple of harvests out of that patch, then reuse the space for other veggies in late April/May. Right now I ony have 3/4" sprouts (it's been cold).

I do nothing healthy with the greens I grow. 10 hours in the slow cooker with a couple of onions and a pound of bacon. That's how you do spinach (or chard, or mustard...).
posted by sourwookie 05 April | 00:44
Actually, this would be a good use for my google notebooks... I'll buy greens and then try to identify them via images and so get some English names to go with the stuff I can find here. The english-name thing is mostly important because I can't find cooking/recipes/nutritional etc. info with Greek names (and easier for me to remember in English).
posted by taz 05 April | 00:45
There aren't even greens at my local groceries. i saw broccoli rabe at a place in a halfway decent place and nearly started pointing and hopping.

Spinach i like to warm in cooking juices and add pine nuts.
posted by ethylene 05 April | 00:46
Yep, that's the Russian kale. Very very very good. (And it requires a lot less cooking than the heavier lacinato kale. When I put it in soup, I let the lacinato kale cook for at least 5 minutes, but give the Russian kale about 30 seconds; it's perfect when it's just wilted.)
posted by occhiblu 05 April | 00:58
cool. I've started my notebook, and added these - so if I find them here, I'll add the greek names, and what I find here I'll try to find photos of to get the English names.
posted by taz 05 April | 01:20
Hey! How did I miss an entire thread about spinach and chard and two kinds of KALE?

I'm going to bed now, I should have gone to bed an hour ago, but I have to express some love for the greens.
posted by tangerine 05 April | 03:40
This thread resulted in me having lovely organic Tuscan kale with tofu leftovers i just finished off.
Man, tasty.
posted by ethylene 05 April | 20:43
We've had several spinach harvests, and have been able to have a couple of servings of turnip greens, kale, and chard. The lettuce is coming in nicely, and we'll probably have collard greens this week, too. Our garden is awesome.
posted by mrmoonpie 05 April | 22:13
We did, in fact, have collard greens this week, last night, to be exact.
posted by mrmoonpie 08 April | 09:33
When I went shopping Sunday I could not walk past the kale. Tonight: butterfly pasta with ragout of white beans, spicy sausage, kale, and garlic.
posted by Miko 08 April | 09:40
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