Catlan Style Spinach

Country:Spain, Distinctly a Catalan regional dish, a Starter or side-dish

Story:   While I was in Pisa recently, I 'reached out' for contacts via my favourite Couch-surfing social network and was lucky enough to connect with Ariadna from Spain who described Pisa as her second home.  She is a professional translator, and grew up and lives in the Catalonia region of Spain.  When I asked her what is a typical Catalan dish - this was her immediate reply.  I've been desperate to try it and finally managed it.

Ingredients (serves 4 as side dish):

• 500g fresh spinach
• 2 cloves garlic (or 2 tsp of chopped garlic)
• 1/2 cup pine nuts
• 1 cup dried currants, raisins, or sultanas
• olive oil

Preparation:

• Wash the spinach thoroughly under cold running water, Trim or rip off the stems.
• Soak currents/raisins/sultanas (best in just boiled/hot water) while waiting for spinach to cook
• Steam the spinach (about 3 minutes)
• Remove from pan immediately and allow to drain thoroughly.
• Coat the bottom of a large frying pan with olive oil. Heat pan on medium and sauté garlic for 1-2 minutes. Traditional recipe calls for you to remove the garlic for use elsewhere.
• Add pine nuts to the pan sauté for 1 minute.
• Add the (drained) currants/raisins/sultanas and continue to sauté for 1 minute
• Add the drained spinach to the pan and mix well, coating with oil. Stir well and keep breaking up the spinach so you don't have one big lump.
• Salt to taste.

Variations

• The traditional recipes call for less nuts and raisins, but I really like the punch they both give so have increased the proportions; The exact proportions of the ingredients can be adjusted to your own tastes - this is just to get you started.
• Along with salt and sometimes pepper, some folks add a splash of balsamic vinegar at the end.
• Of course if you like garlic you can leave it in (I did, although it was a bit too dominant).
• You can substitute Fresh spinach for frozen or even tinned if necessary; If using fresh spinach you can steam it, or sweat it down in the pan with the other ingredients; I steamed it first and drained it as best I could before adding to the frying pan.
• Consider toasting your pine nuts first (separately) for extra colour and flavour.
• Pre-Soak the raisins/currents/sultanas in something special like a desert wine (half and hour should be plenty of time)
• Some folks add additional fruit such as browned diced apples into the mix.
• Can also add fried ham/bacon bits (would obviously then no longer be vegetarian)
• Optionally Eat with dried/toasted bread slice.
• Optionally mix in with hot cooked past as a main course.