I went to my local farmer's market last week and was admiring some odd-looking leafy greens. I asked what they were and it turns out that they're Jamaican spinach. Of course, having never gone to Jamaica, I had no idea how to cook these, but luckily enough, one of the vendors at the stand was from Jamaica. Here's his recipe.
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Jamaican Spinach
1 big bunch of Jamaican spinach (the ones at my market come with three leafy branches)
1 medium-large tomato
1 medium onion
grapeseed/olive oil
3-4t garlic
Chop up the onion (handy tip: put the onion in the freezer for a couple minutes so it won't sting your eyes as badly) and put in a large pot with a dash of oil. While onions are cooking, roughly dice the tomato and add to the pot, then cook until onions are translucent.
Wash spinach leaves and rough chop in large pieces. The Jamaican said that the spines are quite tasty, so I didn't concern myself with removing all of the spines like I do with kale, but I also didn't include all the spines as he suggested. I kept it mostly leafy (but if you want to include the spines, go for it!). Add the spinach to the pot, sprinkle with more oil and add the garlic. Stir occasionally until the spinach is wilted down.
Be sure not to overcook the spinach. I haven't overcooked spinach yet, but I did overcook kale, and it turned into a nasty version of charred-flavor nori paper (seaweed used on sushi). Ugh.
For me, this makes about two (large) servings. Depends on your portion size.
I so wish this farmer's market would stick around all year long...
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8 comments:
hmmm.
so I just go to whole foods and look for jamaican spinach? (sadly Im not kidding)
dont answer that as Im on my way there and shall see what I can turn up (and if my husband will actually eat anything which begins with an S and ends with a PINACH)
Miz.
Miz, if you check back in, let me know if you found any at WF! It'd be nice to know I can find it somewhere besides the farmer's market.
I used to hate spinach, especially cooked. I think I'd never had it cooked tastily, because now it's one of my favorite veggies! I think I hadn't really given it a chance, I just had one bad experience when I was younger and wrote off spinach as ucky.
Very timely. I don't have spinach of any sort. but I have Swiss Chard in my garden and was going to sacrifice some today.
Leah, I bought some Swiss Chard a couple weeks ago, but then had a snafu where my fridge was set too cold and the leaves all froze. What is it like in comparison to spinach or kale?
Swiss Chard is fairly close in taste to spinach. I don't know much about kale and can't recall right now if I've ever had it.
Sorry to hear about the unfortunate fridge incident.
I'll have to try some before the season's over!
I have a close friend who though he looks "American" on the outside, is all Jamaican on the inside! He will like this! He usually tells me he is going to Jamaica for two weeks, then two months later, he comes home :-)
That's awesome, Dr. J! I wish I could take two months off in another country (I'd probably head for France). He's probably tried this kind of spinach then :)
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