[Sca-cooks] Spinach- Miscellany- redaction questions.

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

Philippa Alderton <phlip_u at yahoo.com>wrote:
>Translation reads:
>
>Take spinach, cut off the lower roots, and wash: then
>boil lightly in salt and water and dry. Refine sesame
>seed oil, drop in the spinach, and stir until
>fragrant. Chop up a little garlic and add. Sprinkle
>with fine-ground cumin, dry coriander and cinnamon,
>then remove.
>
>Cariadoc's redaction reads as follows:
>1 lb spinach
>1 T sesame oil
>1 clove garlic
>1/4 t cumin
>1/8 t coriander
>1/2 t cinnamon.
>
>Boil spinach in salted water about 2 minutes. Chop
>garlic. Fry spinach in oil briefly; add garlic and fry
>a bit more; add spices and serve.
SNIP
>Our first question was, was Spinach
>the actual green mentioned? The instructions seem more
>appropriate for a tougher leaf, such as, perhaps,
>arugula.

I was served a dish very like this when i was in Fez last year. In
Morocco they use some green other than spinach, but i'm not sure
what. Definitely not arugula, though... Something i was reading
somewhere referred to a green called "orach" or "French spinach".

A quick search on http://www.google.com
turns up
Orach as Atriplex patula and Atriplex hortensis and says it's in the
goosefoot family. There's a photo at
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/MV103
and it looks an awful lot what i find marketed as "New Zealand
spinach" - has "heart-shaped" leaves.

>Second, boiling for two minutes seems
>excessive- rather than discrete leaves, as the recipe
>seems to imply, with the drying and then frying, you'd
>have a soggy mass. We were thinking that if this did,
>in fact, refer to spinach, it might refer to older,
>tougher leaves than we had gotten from the grocery,
>and a quick blanching might be more appropriate than a
>boiling- soggy mass, again.

I agree that a different green, such as kale, chard, and orach
require some boiling.

>As done, I stir-fried a couple of lbs of spinach, in
>batches appropriate for our frying pan
SNIP
>Added the spices as
>suggested, using a bit of chopped garlic to test the
>heat of the (light sesame) oil - didn't measure, used
>the pinch and experience method.

I feel His Grace's version of this recipe is extremely under
seasoned, on the basis both of having eaten all sorts of modern Near
Eastern food, including, as i said, a similar dish in Morocco, and my
personal taste. I use more of every single ingredient except the
cinnamon (personal taste, again) to 1 lb. of spinach.

Here's my recipe:
1 lb spinach
1/3 c sesame oil
3 cloves garlic or more, smashed
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground white pepper
1/4 tsp. salt

I use white pepper because i have an unpleasant reaction to black
pepper, although i've been finding that if i get the extremely finely
ground powder my local spice shop carries, i'm not having so much
trouble with black pepper.

At camping events i use frozen chopped spinach (helps keep the cooler
cool although it begins to thaw). I put it in my cast iron skillet
and cook it until the water evaporates, then i add the oil and
garlic, and once they're cooked i add the spices. At home i've cooked
it with fresh spinach. I put oil and smashed garlic in the cast iron
skillet, cook very briefly then add the spinach, stirring almost
constantly so the spinach wilts and the garlic doesn't burn. It cooks
down pretty fast. As soon as it's soft i add the spices, stir for a
short time, and serve.

I use more oil because of all my experiences with modern Near Eastern
vegetables. No guarantee that's how Medieval Near Eastern vegetable
were cooked, but no guarantee that they were not. I like them
unctuous - yes, the first time or two i used way less oil, but i
prefer it the way i do it now.

I have yet to experiment with kale or chard - i really like chard,
but am less fond of kale, although i'm a fan of just about every
leafy green, including dandelion greens and chrysanthemum greens. Now
i should go looking for orach...

Anahita