Green Love

The summer project this year in our household is our little edible garden. This is the first time, we have invested a little tome to pay attention to the tiny little spot that we had at the back of our little backyard. It is interesting as with anything natural even though we planted everything together we are seeing the results in batches. We have lots of spinach, I personally love spinach so my husband planted tons of it. I think I need to think before I ask in future. At least 2-3 evenings I recieve two large colanders filled with bright green spinach, washed and picked through by the man. Earlier this week

I tried something different, with the spinach. I actually cooked this in a fairly thick sauce. I first made the sauce and then folded the spinach into the base. The results were interesting. The most pronounced flavor here is the fennel.

Spinach in a fennel tomato sauce

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

3/4 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 small red onion, cut into a coarse dice

1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger

2 cloves of garlic, grated

1 large tomato cut into a dice
1 large stick cinnamon

2 green serrano chillies, finely chopped

1 teaspoon salt

3 cups of washed fresh spinach leaves

Method of Preparation

1. Heat the oil and add in the fennel and cumin seeds and wait for them to sizzle.

2. Into this mixture add in the red onion, ginger, garlic and mix well. Cook on low heat for about 5 minutes until the onions are soft and just begining to turn golden.

3. Add in the tomato, cinnamon and the chillies and salt and cook this mixture for 15 minutes, stirring frequently. At this point, you sould have a fairly smooth gravy, with the onions soft and melted into the sauce.

4. Fold in the spinach leaves and cook for another 3-4 minutes, until the spinach is just cooked through.

This dish is as homey and comforting as the no frills picture. It tastes pretty good even at room temperature.