5 Spinach Recipes

If you have been following my posts about My Patch you will be aware that I have a lot of spinach in my vegetable patches at the moment. This is not an issue for me as I love it and so does my family. It is an incredibly versatile vegetable and I wouldn’t be without it in my garden.

Spinach is a hardy vegetable, very productive and easy to grow. It is easy to incorporate into almost any meal. It is one of the vegetables that I grab almost every time I go to the garden. Other reasons I love it, and you should too, include:

It can be eaten either raw or cooked
It has a long production period (I have a plant that has been producing for over a year)
It is one of the foods considered to hold high level of chemicals – if you enjoy it and can grow your own please you and your family will not be exposed to such chemicals
It is high in Vitamins K, A C and folate. According to Livestrong.com a 2 cup serving of baby spinach meets over 25 percent of the Recommended Daily Intake for Vitamin C

Ingredients that combine well with spinach include: pine nuts, anchovies, lemon, capers, any protein, feta, ricotta, pumpkin, tomatoes, potato

These are my top ways to enjoy spinach fresh from my vegetable patch:

1. Spinach Dip Recipe

A light, tang snack. Offer it to children as a snack with cut up carrot or capsicum sticks. This is also delicious on baked potatoes

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons of pine nuts
70 grams Feta cheese
1/2 cup of plain yogurt
150 grams washed fresh spinach
1 tablespoon lemon juice
a pinch of salt and a generous grind of fresh pepper

Steps

Bring a pot of water to boil. Add the washed spinach and cook for 2 minutes. Drain, remove and chop. Remove any large stems
Brown the pine nuts in a pan
Put all of the ingredients into a food processor and whiz until smooth.

2. Baby Spinach Salad Recipe

This is a light summer meal or a side that works well served with any meat.

Ingredients

Baby spinach leaves
1 tablespoon pine nuts
1/3 cup pumpkin cubed, roasted and cooled
2 tomatoes cubed or a handful of cherry tomatoes
1 avocado sliced

Dressing:

Egg Mayonnaise
2 teaspoons seeded mustard
handful of fresh sage leaves
1 tablespoon olive oil

Steps:

Combine the salad ingredients together in a salad bowl.

Whisk the ingredients of the dressing to combine and drizzle over salad prior to serving

3. Baby Food or Spinach Storage Recipe

I cook spinach like this for Cuddles (my 11 month old). It is also a great method for keeping the spinach to use in cooking at a later date. If I was not using the spinach for baby food I would freeze it in slightly larger containers than the ice cube trays. It can be used when defrosted for pesto, dips, pasta etc.

Ingredients:

Freshly picked and washed spinach leaves

Steps:

Wash the spinach leaves and remove the stalks.
Set a pot of water to boil
Add spinach when water is boiling and cook for 2 minutes
Remove and add to a blender with a small amount of the water used for the cooking
Process to a smooth paste and pour into ice cube trays and put in the freezer
After 12 hours remove from the trays and put into zip lock or plastic bags to store. Label the bags with the ingredients and date and store until required. Use within 2 months.

4. Spinach and Pine Nuts Recipe

A tasty side dish that is very well suited to accompanying pork

Ingredients:

100 grams of freshly picked spinach leaves washed
1 clove of garlic
2 anchovies (if you like them) chopped
2 tbsp pine nuts
1/2 lemon juiced
2 tablespoons sultanas
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and pepper to season

Steps:

Heat a fry pan and add a small amount of oil to the pan.
Add the oil and then the garlic and the anchovies
Stir until the anchovy is starting to dissolve
Add the spinach and the sultanas and stir for a couple of minutes until the spinach is wilted.
Pour over the lemon juice and season with a pinch of salt and generous grind of pepper
Place a serving of pork fillet on top of the spinach to serve

5. Prawn, Spinach and Tomato Pasta Recipe

Quick, healthy, tasty

Ingredients:

300 grams of fresh raw prawns shelled and de-veined (Also good with chicken, tuna, prosciutto or tofu)
100 grams of washed and chopped spinach leaves
3 garlic cloves chopped finely
pasta of your choice
Parmesan cheese
punnet of cherry tomatoes (roasted if you have the time)
handful of fresh basil leaves
Zest of 1 lemon
1 chilli finely sliced – with or without seeds depending on your taste. With seeds will be hotter (if kids are eating this meal leave this out)
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Steps:

Put a saucepan of water on to boil, large enough to cook the pasta of your choice
Prepare the ingredients while waiting for the pasta water to boil. Once the water has boiled add the pasta and cook for the time specified on the pack
Heat a fry pan, add a small amount of oil and then the garlic (and chilli if you are using)
Add the tomatoes and cook for a couple of minutes if they have not been roasted. If they have been roasted stir until warmed through
Add the prawns and cook for a few minutes on high heat until they start to change color. Add the spinach and lemon zest and stir until spinach wilts
Drain the pasta and add to the pan
Add the basil and stir through
Serve with Parmesan cheese and seasoned with salt and pepper

If you are using chicken instead of prawns, add the chicken at Step 4 and cook almost through before adding the tomatoes. If I use chicken I slice it into strips before cooking.

This post is part of a series kindly hosted by Rhonda at the Down to Earth blog. See what is on the mind of others who are a fan of simple, healthy living.

You will find more spinach recipes via the links below and also via my Recipe Index page.

*Images were updated in this post 27/07/2014

Share this post:
Join me here:

nellymary says:

December 9, 2011 at 7:09 am

Hi Kyrstie, over from DTE, what lovely recipes…in good time too, as I have plenty of spinach and ruby chard in my garden….I also blanch my spinach, but hadn’t thought of whizzing it…Great…..On my mind today is tracing the heritage of a recipe….
http://justlikemynanmade.blogspot.com/2011/12/on-my-mindjumping-johnnys.html

Kyrstie says:
December 9, 2011 at 12:42 pm

Hi Nellymary, thanks for your comment. I have not heard of jumping johnnies….There are jumping Punky’s at our place though 🙂

Kellie @ Three Li'l Princesses says:

December 9, 2011 at 8:39 am

I’m still stuck back on Spinach Dip. Yum!

Kyrstie says:
December 9, 2011 at 12:38 pm

Thanks Kellie,
It is a good one for this time of year. I have tagged your delicious looking zucchini fritters to try when my zucchinis start producing.

Rhianna says:

December 9, 2011 at 10:17 am

Yum, yum yum! Thanks for sharing

Yvette @ Delightfully Tacky says:

December 9, 2011 at 10:52 am

Yummy! We love baby spinach in our house!! Though growing it this year was not as successful as our baby vine tomatoes! Nor was our chilli or basil successful (although last year they took over the garden!) Perhaps next year will be a little more successful!!! Yummo – going to make that spinach dip for tomorrows afternoon tea with our leftover spinach leaves from the salad!!!

Kyrstie says:
December 9, 2011 at 12:44 pm

Thanks Yvette, I am sure you will enjoy the dip it is delicious. I am keenly waiting for our tomato crop to be ready. I have so many things I want to make with them this year.

kate says stuff says:

December 9, 2011 at 12:36 pm

Oh yum! I love spinach!

kirri says:

December 9, 2011 at 1:09 pm

I love spinach and strangely enough (or lucky) is that my girls do as well…as long as it is on Pizza, or hidden in chocolate brownies and now it seems, we may see if they like it in a dip!

Kyrstie says:
December 9, 2011 at 1:19 pm

Hi Kirri, the brownie recipe sounds interesting! A mum at my mothers group put broccoli in a birthday cake a couple of weeks ago and a heap of veg as an egg substitute. The kids loved it! Funny. Spinach on pizza is yum, my nearly 4yr old added to his home made one last night. Recipe next week maybe. Everyone will be sick of me adding spinach to stuff soon lol.