Hey gang,

I had my eye on this recipe for a long time from The New Spanish Table and I don’t know why it took me so long to get around to making it.  You see, I am now an addict.  I probably eat this stuff two-three times a week and I’m not even particularly fond of spinach.  Don’t get me wrong, I get fabulous spinach out in restuarants but my spinach is always ho-hum.  Not this stuff, it’s like crack.

I had a busy day yesterday getting all my data/figures/etc and re-reading all my tech reports for my meeting with a nice company in North Van who is providing me with case history data for my thesis so I needed something quick to make with some greenery (as I’ve been slacking in that dept lately) and these fit the bill.  Perfect, perfect with a poached egg on top and maybe a side or two of butter fried feta… oh baby.

Fast-forward to today, 5 hour thesis/stability modelling meeting and loads of things cleared up and loads more of loose ends to chase down.  Isn’t science research fun?  Ugh.  I whipped up some “spanish” russian salad which took forever and a day to make –mostly as I didn’t have any mayo and broke my mayo cherry by making some up for this recipe.  Huzzah!  It held and was delicious and not scary at all.  As long as I don’t die from some horrible raw egg disease I’m gold.  Made a little tapas plate of thick-cut feta, roasted red pepper antipasto, espinacas con garbanzos, and the spanish russian salad (which admittedly, looks like vomit, but is delicious), seen below (gee can you tell I’m writing a thesis?):

The beans though!  They can hold their own.  Good the second day cold for lunch, good hot with a poached egg, good under beef, good under grilled fish.  It seems to go well with anything so far.   Worth making, and is probably ridiculously good for you.

Andalusian spinach and chickpeas (Espinacas Con Garbonzos) – bastardized from The New Spanish Table with things omitted (like saffron) and steps removed (like the things requiring saffron) because damnit, these are quicker and just as good….

ing:

• 1 large bunch of spinach (1 pound?) stems discarded
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 can (I used 19 oz, book calls for 15oz) can of chickpeas (but any white bean is better… if you can find spanish broad beans use them instead!  Much, much better.  Even white kidney beans fair better than chickpeas.)
• 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar (I use 1 teaspoon sherry vinegar, 1 teaspoon lemon juice.. tastes better)
• 1 1/2 teaspoon sweet (not smoked) paprika
• 3/4 teaspoon cumin (I use 1 teaspoon)
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano (+I use a pinch of thyme and a pinch of ajwain, again tastes better)
• 3/4 teaspoon chili flakes
• 1 pinch cinnamon (I omit..taste reasons)
• 1 pinch nutmeg (I omit..taste reasons)
• 4 plum tomatoes, chopped
• 1 small pinch sugar
• sea salt / black pepper
• olive oil

dir:

1. Rinse the spinach but don’t salad spin/dry.  Heat a pan to medium-high and add the spinach and cover.  This cooks the spinach in the water clinging to it’s leaves.  Stir once, remove once wilted (4-5 minutes) and place in a colander over a bowl to drain.  When cool enough to handle, smush with something to squeeze out the remaining liquid, plop on cutting board and rough chop.
2. Add whole cumin, paprika, chili flakes, oregano, (thyme, ajwain) and other spices (if using) to a mortar and pestle and grind up a bit to break up the cumin.
3. Heat 2-3 good glugs of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add the garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes until just starting to brown.  Add the grinded up spices and stir for 20-30 seconds.  Add the tomatoes and cook, stirring, until reduced (about 5 minutes).   Add the can of chickpeas (+ 1/2 the liquid from the can) + spinach.  Add sugar, black pepper and simmer until most of the liquid is evaporated (8-10 minutes).  Add vinegar/lemon juice and stir.  Taste.  Salt to taste (the beans WILL require some salting, so add some please).

My brain needs a break before I wake up and play with light-tables, dip overlays, pencil crayons, and joint/fault/bedding continuity (oh my) –m out.

Just because it’s ’small’ doesn’t mean that it isn’t fantastically awesome. I have no idea where my old man got the idea for this but it is something he has been making as long as I can remember. Note, my dad didn’t cook much growing up but it seems to have been growing on him lately. Go dad. He makes his with crap vinegar and crap oil and it still turns out delicious. I use the goodstuff and it ends up much, much better.

It’s pretty simple, crunchy, and is my ubiquitous oh-crap-I-need-vegetable-intake side dish. It’s friggen delicious and I end up eating a few bowls a week as red cabbage is criminally cheap. It’s quite good for you as well.  Try to find smaller sized red cabbages, something the size of a 2 year olds head (note: The police probably wouldn’t like you harvesting heads for size comparisons, so don’t even think about it), as they tend to taste better and tend to not go skanky on the outer edges. Skanky you say? I don’t know what else to call it, but less than fresh red cabbage has this ring around the outside that is noticeble when you cut into it by the less-than-bone-white color on the inside and the cabbage doesn’t taste as good.

Anyways.. the key is finely shredded cabbage (use a mandolin or be really good with a knife), and as it stands:

• 1 child sized head of red cabbage
• 1/2 red onion
• sherry vinegar
• lemon juice
• salt/pepper
• walnut oil
• olive oil
• Sugar

Finely shred the cabbage and cut the red onion into thin half moons. Toss in a good pinch of salt and a lot of black pepper. Splash in a bit of sherry vinegar, splash in more lemon juice. A good dab of walnut oil and a good dab of olive oil (50/50 total oil between the two). Toss in a good sized pinch of sugar. I never measure I just go by taste, too sharp? more oil/sugar.. not salty enough? sugary enough? too oily (tough to fix actually).. It ends up tasting fantastic.

-m, out.