Spinach Sauté

This recipe is pretty similar to my Spinach and Mushrooms recipe from a couple months ago. But I added a little flair to it with some red pepper so I figured it deserves its own post. Plus spinach is in peak season right now so you can never have too many spinach recipes!

Spinach Sauté
Makes: 4 servings

8 oz mushrooms
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 yellow onion, very thinly sliced
1 red pepper, 1/2" dice
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter or margarine (I used Smart Balance)
4 big handfuls of baby spinach
pinch of sea salt

• Rinse the mushrooms well, cut off the stems, then cut them into thin slices.
• Over medium heat, saute the mushrooms, garlic, onions, and peppers in the olive oil and butter. Sprinkle a pinch of sea salt over the mixture. The mushrooms will release quite a bit of liquid. The liquid will eventually evaporate. Continue cooking until the mushrooms are a light golden brown and the onion and pepper are soft. Total cooking time will take about 12 - 15 minutes.
• Add the spinach to the mushroom mixture, sprinkle another pinch of sea salt on the spinach. Cook until the spinach is just wilted, about one minute.

This is a great side dish for dinner or toss in some sliced grilled chicken for a filling lunch!

Spinach & Mushrooms

As promised, I'm trying to get as much use as I can out of the wonderful spring fruits and vegetables. I just love spinach, especially baby spinach. This is a quick, simple vegetable side dish with a ton of flavor. This might even be the one that gets your kids to eat spinach!!

Spinach & Mushrooms
Makes: 4 servings

8 oz mushrooms
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter or margarine (I used Smart Balance)
4 big handfuls of baby spinach
pinch of sea salt

• Rinse the mushrooms well, cut off the stems, then cut them into thin slices.
• Over medium heat, saute the mushrooms and garlic in the olive oil and butter. Sprinkle a pinch of sea salt over the mushrooms. The mushrooms will release quite a bit of liquid. The liquid will eventually evaporate. Continue cooking until the mushrooms are a light golden brown. Total cooking time will take about 12 - 15 minutes.
• Add the spinach to the mushrooms, sprinkle another pinch of sea salt on the spinach. Cook until the spinach is just wilted, about one minute.
• This makes a nice bed for a piece of grilled chicken or steak!

Spanakopita (Spinach Pie)

Spanakopita is a traditional Greek snack. The name translates to spinach pie in English. It's made out of layers of delicate flaky phyllo dough and a filling made out of spinach, feta, onions, and egg. Sometimes it is made as one large pie and then individual servings are cut. It can also be made into little individual servings by folding the phyllo dough into little triangles. I prefer the latter preparation. It looks really nice and it makes for great little finger food when you're hosting a special occasion.

Spanakopita
Makes: 30 triangles

10 sheets of phyllo dough, thawed
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 onion, finely diced
4 scallions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
18 oz (2 boxes) frozen chopped spinach, thawed
4 oz crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1 egg, beaten
pinch of salt
1 tbsp butter, melted

• Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium-low heat. Add the onions, garlic, scallions, and a pinch of salt. Cook for 5 - 6 minutes until the onions are soft but not brown.
• Transfer the onion mixture to a large mixing bowl. Set aside.
• Take the thawed spinach and grab a small handful. Squeeze most of the moisture out of the spinach and then place it in the mixing bowl with the onion mixture. Repeat with the remaining spinach. This step sounds a little gross but it's very necessary. You'll be surprised how much liquid comes out and that liquid will make the spanakopita soggy if you skip this step.
• Add the feta and Parmesan cheese to the spinach and onion mixture. Mix it all together. Taste the mixture to make sure it doesn't need any salt. Add some if necessary.
• Once the seasoning has been adjusted, add the beaten egg to the spinach mixture.
• Now that the filling is done, you can start assembling the triangles. This is the most time consuming part of making these. First, open your package of phyllo dough. Wet a paper towel then wring it out as much as you possibly can. You want it just barely wet. Use the damp paper towel to cover the rest of the phyllo dough while you're working with a sheet. This will prevent the dough from drying out and cracking.
• Brush a baking sheet with the melted butter. Set aside.
• Take one sheet of phyllo dough and cut it into thirds length-wise with a pizza cutter.

• Place a small spoonful of filling at the top and off to the right of one of the strips.

• Now you'll need to start folding. You fold these like you would a flag. I'll explain. Grab the upper left corner and fold it down to the right so that you form a triangle at the top.

• Now take the top right corner and fold it straight down.

• Take the top right corner again and fold it down and over to the left.

• Take the top left corner and fold it straight down.

• Repeat until you get to the end and have a perfect triangle. Place it on the buttered baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining phyllo dough and filling.

• If you're making these a day ahead, you can stop at this step, cover it up with plastic wrap, and refrigerate it. Then place it in the oven the next day about an hour before you're ready to serve.
• Bake at 350° F for 45 minutes. The tops will start to brown pretty quickly. But don't worry, they won't burn, I promise.
• These are great served hot out of the oven or cooled to room temperature.

Spinach Salad with Grapefruit Dressing

This is THE BEST salad you will ever have in your life! I cannot get enough of it. I know that the combination of spinach and grapefruit sounds a little weird. But trust me, it's amazing. I'm not a big fan of grapefruit, it's a little too tart for my tastes. But on this salad, it compliments all of the other ingredients so well. Try it!!!

Spinach Salad with Grapefruit Dressing
Makes: 1 serving

Salad:
2 big handfuls of baby spinach
2 tbsp walnuts
2 tbsp crumbled blue cheese
1 large pink grape fruit, cut into segments

Dressing:
1/4 cup cranberry juice
1/4 cup pink grapefruit juice
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 shallot, finely minced

• First make the dressing. Whisk together the cranberry juice, grapefruit juice, olive oil, sugar, salt, and shallot. If you've never used shallots before, they look a little bit like a really small onion and they have a very mild onion flavor. Sometimes they're sold in bulk or they might be sold in a little mesh bag of four or five. This is what they look like:

•  Once the dressing is made, set it aside.
• Now toast the walnuts. Place them in a dry pan over medium heat. Swirl them around in the pan until they start to brown and become fragrant. Remove from the heat.
• Assemble the salad. Start with a bed of the spinach; top it with the toasted walnuts, blue cheese, and grapefruit segments.
• Drizzle the salad dressing over the salad. The leftover dressing can be kept in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

Ok, time for some science. When making a vinaigrette like the one above, you're creating an emulsion. An emulsion is a suspension of one liquid in another - in the case of salad dressing, that would be the suspension of the vinegar in the oil. When creating an emulsion, it helps to have emulsifiers - that is something that helps the suspension stay together. With bottled salad dressing, you will usually see xanthan gum in there as the emulsifier. However, you can also use any kind of chopped vegetables as an emulsifier (hence all the little bits of veggies that you see floating in Italian dressing). With our grapefruit vinaigrette, the minced shallot acts as the emulsifier, helping the dressing stay together. The more you know!