Creamed Spinach with Bacon (and fried fish)

I love to not drive whenever possible, and the long holiday weekend was a perfect time to just walk places and be very slow paced. One such walkable visit included my friends' new bookstore, Moon Palace Books (I did some shelving - check out the alphabetized fantasy section!) behind Peace Coffee on Minnehaha. The creamed spinach recipe I made is from the Smitten Kitchen blog - and she actually just published a cookbook. They have it at Moon Palace Books if you want to take a peak - it looks really good.

Another local visit for the weekend was Everett's grocery store (38th and Cedar) for some fish. Everett's sells frozen Pike filets (and walleye) - as well as lots of other sort of Scandinavian fish varieties that are just not all that common elsewhere. The Pike is pretty cheap at $6 a pound, and the walleye is about twice that. Both are caught in Canada.

So, those two adventures lead us to today's post of fried Pike and Creamed Spinach! I have never had creamed spinach before, and I am not sure what quite possessed me to suddenly want some, except that I had a package of frozen spinach in the freezer and the cold weather usually makes me want more cream whenever possible. My Charming Companion made the Pike exactly as if the pike were fresh and we were camping as outlined here. Meanwhile, I was sauteing onions in butter and stirring in creamy substances to make this tasty side dish. I modified the Smitten Kitchen recipe below:

Creamed Spinach (serves 2 large portions or 4 very small ones!)
1 10 oz package frozen spinach
1/4 + c heavy cream
1/4 c coconut cream (the thick part of the coconut milk when it is separated - regular coconut milk would work too)
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
1 1/2 T butter
1 t coconut flour
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
Salt and Pepper

1. Cook your spinach as instructed: mine was to add the spinach to a cup of boiling water and simmer, covered, for 8 minutes. Drain the cooked spinach when finished, pressing it through a sieve to get as much liquid out as you can.

My very poor quality photo of lunch!

2. In a medium saucepan, melt butter, then add onion and saute on med-low heat until translucent (about 5 minutes). Whisk in the coconut flour, stirring constantly to thicken the butter/onion mix just a bit. Add cream and coconut milk/cream slowly, whisking while you go. Add spinach, nutmeg, and salt and pepper. Stir while the mixture thickens and cooks down a bit - just a few minutes. Serve right away, or reheat when ready. It's very tasty topped with some chopped bacon!

*For a VEGAN version of this dish, just use all coconut milk, omit the coconut flour, and instead of nutmeg, use 1/2 t ginger, and  a dash of cumin. It tastes delicious.

Roasted Sweet Potato Salad with Spinach and Avocado

I started making some sweet potato fries for dinner, and then realized I had some spinach and avocado and thought they would all be tasty together. And sure enough, I found a recipe online. I modified the recipe a bit, used the same dressing, and it turned out great. I really liked having the warm sweet potatoes and nuts on the fresh spinach. To make this EVEN easier, you could use any bottled dressing, or one without tahini and it would still be good.

2 sweet potatoes, diced
small onion, diced
coconut oil
4+ c spinach leaves
1 avocado, diced
1/2 c almonds, toasted
feta cheese (optional)

Dressing:
2-3 T tahini
1 T water (i used hot to soften the tahini)
1 T olive oil
juice of a small lemon
salt to taste
garlic, minced (optional)

Roast sweet potatoes and onion in coconut oil at 500 degrees for 15-20 minutes, stirring halfway through. Mix dressing and toss with roasted sweet potatoes/onions. Layer sweet potatoes, almonds, and avocado over spinach and serve!
*Note that in photo i just put dressing over the top...I think it is better mixed in with the potatoes, but I didn't get a photo!

Saag Paneer

This recipe is from my friend Ixchel, cook and roommate extraordinaire. Sadly, she no longer lives in Minneapolis so Mary and I were on our own this time. Thanks to Angelica for organic spinach fresh off the farm and to my mom for a never-ending supply of tomatoes. Delicious and nutritious. Especially good if you listen to Erasure while you make it.

Paneer:

1/2 gallon whole milk

2-3 tbsp white vinegar

Saag:

2 pounds fresh spinach, trimmed, washed and coarsely chopped

1 1/2 tsp ground fenugreek

1 jalapeno, minced

1/4 cup finely chopped onion

1 inch piece of fresh ginger, finely grated

1 cup finely chopped tomatoes

1 1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp cornmeal

2 tsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp cayenne

1/4 tsp cinnamon

-To make the paneer, heat the milk in a large, heavy bottomed pot over medium high heat.

-Meanwhile, place a colander in the sink and line it with 3-4 layers of cheesecloth.

-When the milk begins to boil, turn the heat to low. Quickly add the vinegar and stir. The mixture will curdle at this point, the whey separating from the curds.

-Empty the mixture into the colander and drain out the whey (which you can save for other uses). Twist the cheesecloth tightly to form a ball. Squeeze out as much liquid as you can.

-Place the ball, still in the cloth, on a cookie sheet, top it with another cookie sheet and put some giant books on top of it. Let sit for about 45 minutes.

-Meanwhile, make the saag.

-Bring one cup of water to a boil in a large pan. Add the spinach, fenugreek, and jalapeno and cook covered for 15-20 minutes.

-In a separate pan, saute the onion, ginger, tomatoes and remaining ingredients until thickened.

-Blend or mash the spinach, depending on what consistency you like.

-Combine the onion/tomato/spice mixture with the spinach.

-Slice the paneer into rectangular chunks and add to the saag.

-Heat and serve with rice or naan.

butternut and spinach risotto

risotto is my go-to dish for fall--when i'm having friends over and know i can finish the bottle of wine i have to open to make it. the recipe is adapted from a cookbook composed entirely of risotto recipes--which i love. i decided to do butternut and spinach cause that's what came in the CSA box this week. next time, i'll steam the squash for a few minutes ahead of time. i had to keep cooking it longer than i should have because the squash was underdone at first, making the rice a little mushier than i would have liked. but tasty, nonetheless.

heat 4 c veg broth on low

saute, in a hunk of butter and some olive oil:
onion finely diced
garlic finely diced-about 2 cloves or so

add 1 1/2 c arborio rice and saute for a couple of minutes. add 1/2 c white wine and stir till liquid cooks off. add a ladle of broth and 2 c squash cut into small cubes. continue to add broth a ladle at a time, letting the liquid cook off before adding more. continuous stirring is also required.

add a few cups of torn spinach when you have about a ladle of broth left. keep stirring, add the last of the broth.

add 1 or so cups of parmesan, salt and pepper to taste and let it rest a couple minutes before serving. serve with more parmesan.