Spinach: The incredible shrinking vegetable

I grew up watching Popeye fight with Bluto, romance Olive Oyl, and (YUCK) eat spinach from a can. Don’t get me wrong – I love spinach, but canned spinach is a crime against vegetables. How canned spinach gave Popeye such pep is beyond me. The best spinach is always fresh; in a pinch (or a cooked recipe) frozen spinach will do. I would have to be starving to death to eat the canned stuff.

On Easter, I brought home an enormous bag of fresh spinach from my parents’ garden. My dad picked the leaves on Sunday morning in Norfolk and I was putting the bag in our fridge in Bristol by dinnertime. We have had spinach salad and sautéed spinach all week. Spinach is high in fiber, a terrific source of iron, and contains antioxidants that protect eyes from cataracts and macular degeneration. Spinach commonly contains pesticides -- bugs, moths and other critters love it, too. Eat spinach you have grown yourself or that you know was not treated with pesticides.

Wash spinach is a large basin with plenty of water. The leaves tend to be sandy, so wash in at least two changes of water. If you have a salad spinner, this is a great contraption for drying the leaves. Spinach shrinks dramatically when cooked, so be sure to prep plenty. An interesting fact: Spinach is native to central and southwestern Asia.

Here is a simple and delicious method I love that make great use of fresh spinach.

Sautéed spinach
1 teaspoon oil or butter
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
Salt and pepper
2 quarts fresh spinach, washed and torn in pieces

Heat the oil or butter over medium heat, in a large sauté pan. Add the chopped garlic. Once the pan is hot, add the spinach. If there is more spinach than pan, wait a minute or two until the spinach wilts and add more. You don’t have to cook spinach to death. Just warm it until it wilts, add salt and pepper and serve. Serves 3-4 (or one hungry husband who loves spinach!)