Kicking spinach’s bad reputation
TRUE spinach ( Spinacia oleracea) grows in the cooler months. The leafy stuff we grow in summer is actually Swiss chard, a different vegetable.
True spinach has smaller, smoother leaves with a more subtle taste. But the advantage of planting both of these easy-to-grow vegetables is a generous harvest of tasty leaves with many culinary uses all year long. If it gets too cold outside to start off new seedlings, one can grow baby spinach in trays on sunny windowsills to use as mini vegetables for stir-fries or as salad greens.
Spinach is grown from seed and must be sown directly into the garden in wellcomposted soil that drains well, as the plant does not transplant easily because of a long taproot. It needs space to mature, so proper spacing between seedlings (at least 20cm) is advised. If you have sown too thickly, simply thin the seedlings out and use the excess plants chopped up as fillings for sandwiches and in salads.
If you want to grow spinach indoors to blend into daily smoothies, pick miniature seed variety and sow them thickly into deep trays or a window box filled with good-quality potting soil.
Remember to always keep the soil just moist – it should never dry out completely. Simply snip off the baby leaves as needed, and do repeat sowings all winter long. Feed garden plants regularly with a nitrogen-rich foliage fertiliser.
A vegetable with a bad reputation
MANY a grown-up might not have fond memories of the bland, cooked spinach mothers forced them to eat. Parents were influenced by a cartoon character, Popeye, who downed canned spinach before he got into righteous fights. This myth – that the high iron content gave you “super Popeye power”, has since been busted. But still, spinach is full of nutritional goodness: fibre, vitamins and minerals, and it is low in calories.
Creamy spinach and onions
IF YOU are not too worried about your waistline or feel like zooshing up your leaves with onion and other delicious edibles from the garden, try this tasty side dish with a slight bite. It goes well with roasted pork bangers (smothered with crisp sage leaves) and mash, or as a base for poached eggs.
200g baby spinach leaves, rinsed 1 onion, chopped 2 cloves of garlic, crushed 1 mild jalapeno chilli, roughly chopped 1 cup of fresh mushrooms, sliced Vegetable oil and a dash of butter for frying Salt and freshly black pepper 60ml thick cream
Method
Ingredients
ground
ADD the onions to a little oil and butter and fry on low heat until soft and caramelised. Add garlic, chilli and mushrooms and stir-fry for a few minutes until all the moisture from the mushrooms has evaporated. Add spinach, cover the pan with a lid and allow the spinach leaves to wilt (it takes a few minutes). Add the cream and salt and pepper to taste and allow to cook through.