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Spinach is an extremely nutritious leaf but one which is very much under utilised in modern cooking and recipes. Principally, this is because it is often criticised for lacking in flavour and at times having a most unappealing, coarse texture. I get around these problems in two ways: I always buy baby spinach leaves and I am always extremely careful never to overcook them.

Although I more often than not eat spinach raw in such as a green leaf or other form of salad, there are a couple of dishes in which I have cooked it several times with what I believe considerable success. I will share them with you below.

Tomato and Spinach Soup

Peel, de-seed and roughly chop six pounds of tomatoes and two red bell peppers. Put the whole lot in to a large soup pan and gently bring up to a heat. The water in the tomatoes will be sufficient to prevent burning or sticking. Bring to a simmer, cover and leave for thirty minutes, stirring occasionally. At this time, add one pint of fresh, hot vegetable stock and simmer for another thirty minutes.

Take two handfuls of baby spinach and roughly chop. Peel and finely chop or crush four cloves of garlic. Add the spinach and garlic to the soup and after no more than three or four more minutes, season and serve.

Spinach Omelette

Bring a large pan of water to the boil. Sit a large bowl or basin close to the cooker or hob and half fill it with cold water. Add a handful of ice cubes to the bowl.

Take a small handful of baby spinach leaves and drop them in to the boiling water. After no more than a minute, remove them with a slotted spoon and plunge them straight in to the iced water. This is called blanching them. After a few seconds, retrieve them by hand and squeeze them hard to get rid of as much of the water as possible. Roughly chop them and set them aside, meantime.

Break three eggs in to a bowl and whisk well. Season with salt and a little freshly ground black pepper.

Melt a knob of butter in a small omelette pan and pour in the egg mixture. In the initial stages of cooking, work your way around the edge of the pan with a spatula, drawing the egg mix from the edge in to the centre. Desist this procedure when the eggs are about half set or you will end up simply with scrambled eggs.

When the omelette is all but completely set, scatter the spinach leaves over one half of it only. Subsequently fold the other half up and over on top of it. Plate up and serve.

I hope you can see that in both the above dishes, particular care is taken not to overcook the spinach. I hope you will try out one or both of these recipes for yourself, but if not, that you will at least adapt the principals.

Learn more about this author, Gordon Hamilton.
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