Espinacas
a la Catalana
Catalan style spinach
Makes 2 servings as a tapa or side, 4 as a garnish
1/2
lb. spinach, prepared as described below
2 TB pine nuts, toasted to a hazelnut color
2 TB raisins
2 TB dried apricots, cut in pieces to size of a raisin
6 TB whole butter
salt
Prepare the spinach and pine nuts:
- Bring 1 gallon (or more) lightly salted water to a boil ( this water can be heating while you perform of the next steps).
- Cut off the thick, fibrous end of the stems (about 1/2"), or if you prefer, pull the stem out of each leaf all the way to the top of the leaf, so you end up with just the green part of the leaves.
- Wash the leaves: submerge in plenty of cold water, move them around, then pull them up, out of the water, leaving soil and grit at the bottom. Do this at least twice, starting with fresh clean water each time. Drain.
- Blanch the spinach: plunge washed leaves into the boiling water; as soon as they are all soaked and wilted, transfer them to ice cold water to stop the cooking and set to color. When cool, drain, then squeeze the water out as much as you can.
- Toast the pine nuts to a hazelnut color: put them in a pan in a medium oven (300 - 325û), tossing them occasionally. Or refer to the "Toasted Ingredients" recipe in this section. Set pine nuts aside.
Sauté and serve:
- Put 1/2 of the butter in a sauté pan large enough to hold all the prepared spinach in one layer not more than 1/2 inch thick. Melt and cook this butter on medium-high heat until it turns brown (like a hazelnut or a little darker, not black).
- As soon as the butter is the right color, add the prepared spinach (which should be barely moist and cold) to cover the bottom of the pan - this will cool the butter and keep it from turning darker. Lower heat to low.
- Break remaining butter into dice. Sprinkle 1/2 of this butter and 1/2 of the pine nuts, raisins and apricots on top of the spinach, salt very lightly. Flip or turn with a spatula and sprinkle with the remaining ingredients and (maybe) a little more salt.
- Continue cooking on low heat, turning occasionally, until all the butter has melted and everything is thoroughly heated.
- Transfer to plate(s).
Note:
In Spain, olive oil is almost always used for this sauté, so one could say that if you use the oil, your dish will be more "authentic".
The butter is a personal preference of mine - I like the richer taste, and the nutty quality you get from browning the butter. This browning is a French technique, used in many sautés and pastry making to ad that rich, nutty flavor. The French called this browned butter "beurre noisette", hazelnut(-colored) butter.
Most recipes direct that dry apricots and raisins by soaked in warm water when used the way we use them here. I find them too mushy when you do that. When they have not been soaked, they tend to burn easily - but if you cook them on low heat as suggested above, you will not have any problems.
Some cooks like to sauté raw spinach (skipping the blanching). This is OK, but if you want to do that, watch out for two things:
- Use young spinach so the cooked product will be tender.
- Wash at least four times. Invariably, there is grit in spinach, even if you can't see it. If you don't get rid of it completely, your dish will be inedible.