Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Espinacas Guisadas (Sauteed Spinach)

In Mexican cooking certain greens are generally sauteed in a very simple fashion and served as a side to any meal, or sometimes eggs are scrambled together with the sauteed greens to make a simple breakfast with tortillas and a hot sauce and if desired refried beans.

The recipe I present is my mother's it's quick, easy, and healthy here she sautee's spinach, you may substitute the Spinach for Purslane (Verdolagas), any variety of Swiss Chard (including Beet tops), Collard Greens, and cleaned, de- spined cactus pads that are julienned very thinly. My mother sometimes likes to combine the purslane with spinach or combine cactus pads with purslane so feel free to do that to.

Ingredients:
-2 large bunches of spinach, washed well, drained, and chopped
-2 roma tomatoes diced
-1 onion chopped
-1-2 green chili peppers (Serrano or Jalapeno) minced
-2 cloves garlic finely minced
-salt to taste
-fresh ground black pepper to taste
-oil to cook aromatics (my mother uses Extra-Virgin Olive Oil)

Directions:
(1) Heat oil in a large pan on medium high heat, then add onions and sautee until aromatic and translucent together with the green chili pepper, add a little bit of salt add garlic and sautee until fragrant, and add black pepper and stir well until fragrant, then add tomato and cook down a few minutes until it looks cooked.

(2) Add spinach, and cover until it starts to wilt a bit (check on it maybe in 2 minutes) then incorporate everything well together, add more salt to taste , and cook for a little longer until everything is well together.
PLEASE NOTE:
The way my mother washed leafy greens is she trims them and looks through them for any impurities, chops them then gives them a good rinse, afterwards she puts them in the sink with lots of water, vinegar, and salt and swooshes them around several times, drains, rinses again, then puts them in a colander to drain until ready to use. I clean my leafy greens like that to.