Spinach with Pine Nuts (Pignolia) and Garlic
Based on a Roman dish, this antioxidant-rich spinach dish picks up nuttiness not just from the pignolia, but also from the toasted garlic.
INGREDIENTS | SERVES 4
- ¼ cup pine nuts (pignolia)
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 2 pounds washed spinach leaves, stems removed
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Lemon wedges
Gently toast the nuts in a dry sauté pan until they start to brown. Set aside. In a very large pan, heat the olive oil and garlic over medium heat until it sizzles and starts to brown.
Add ⅓ of the spinach, and the pine nuts, and sauté until it's wilted, and lets off some liquid. Add the rest of the spinach in batches, seasoning with salt and pepper as it cooks. Serve with lemon wedges.
The Incredible Shrinking Spinach!
Leafy green vegetables look huge when they're taking up cubic yards of refrigerator space, but seem to shrivel into mouse-size portions when you cook them. They shrink to one-sixth their raw volume upon cooking. Stem trimmage also means they're less voluminous than you'd think. Figure on a half pound of raw greens per person (slightly less if the stems are eaten, as with Swiss chard).
