Jackson Free Press

Spring is finally here, and it has gradually gotten warmer. In addition to causing my allergies to flare up and adding to my desire not to go to work, Spring's arrival has brought on my craving for salads, particularly spinach salad.

Spinach is native to Central and Southwestern Asia. It spread to Europe by the 1300s, where it was a common food served during Lent. By 1806, spinach appeared in North American seed catalogs, and in the 1920s, spinach's image was further improved by sailor man Popeye's use of the vegetable as the source of his strength, allowing him to repeatedly save his true love from the grips of his nemesis Brutus. According to foodreference.com, spinach became the first vegetable frozen and sold commercially in 1930, thanks to Clarence Birdseye.

The green leafy vegetable is jam-packed with nutrients. Raw spinach offers up 70 percent of the recommended daily value of Vitamin A and 25 percent of our daily Vitamin C requirement, based on a 2000 calorie-a-day diet. Frozen spinach contains somewhat lower amounts of Vitamin C, but a higher level of Vitamin A with 120 percent of the recommended daily value (nutritional information found at ilovespinach.com). Contrary to popular belief, however, spinach does not provide an exceptional amount of iron. While the raw leaves do have a moderate amount of iron, the body is unable to absorb all of it due to the oxalic acid the vegetable also contains.

Up until last year's E. coli scare, I ate spinach several times a week. You can cook it in less than 10 minutes, and it's actually good for you. What could be better than that? Spinach, however, seems to be up there with liver and Brussels sprouts in the "yuck" category for many people. Most spinach-haters just haven't eaten it prepared the right way to satisfy their taste buds. (I will admit, I have eaten Brussels sprouts prepared myriad ways, and I still think they're revolting. I am still firmly convinced that there is something that will make them taste good, but I obviously haven't found it, yet.)

While I routinely eat it now, I didn't grow up eating much spinach. The only way it was ever served at my house was in my momma's "fancy" spinach salad. Even this wasn't served very frequently; she typically saved her spinach salad for potluck dinners or when company was coming. Everywhere else I encountered it, namely at my grandmother's house, the leaves had been boiled down to a tasteless, green mush that was incredibly unappetizing. This may work for some greens, but not for spinach, in my opinion. My husband says that up until recent years he thought spinach came in only two forms: in a salad or in a big frozen block. I've asked numerous folks and have yet to encounter anyone that has anything positive to say about spinach in a can. I think I'll leave that to Popeye.

Somewhere in my early 20s I decided to give spinach another try. I started putting it on pizzas and in pasta sauces and, of course, salads. My favorite spinach cooking method by far, however, is to simply sauté it in olive oil along with several cloves of minced garlic. I think that my husband and I could eat this particular side dish every night.

I appear to have followed in my momma's footsteps; I always seem to take her spinach salad whenever I attend a potluck function. Inevitably, I always get asked for the recipe, so here it is.

MOMMA'S "FANCY" SPINACH SALAD
1 bag or 2 bunches fresh spinach
1 small can mandarin oranges

A half to a whole red onion (to your taste), sliced or roughly chopped
One small package of walnuts
One small package of goat cheese, such as Montrachet, crumbled (feta cheese and bleu cheese work almost just as well)
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Drain the oranges, reserving liquid. Toss spinach, oranges slices, onion, walnuts and cheese in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl or cup, whisk together the reserved liquid from the oranges and enough olive oil to make vinaigrette the consistency you want it. Add salt and pepper to taste, then drizzle the dressing over the salad and toss again. (My husband usually adds chicken or shrimp to his, and it's also good with grilled or seared scallops.)

Previous Comments

ID

84894

Comment

I was crushed when the spinach recall occurred. I love spinach in my salad. I still haven't eaten any in a while, though.

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2007-04-05T16:28:16-06:00