I am also really, really ready to clean the flower beds as I can see the tulips and daffodils tips poking out, but I also know that plenty of beneficial insects are still sleeping among the leaves, so I will give that a miss for now. But as soon as the days measure 50F (10C) or more for a week, I'm going in!
Going through the seed collection always puts a smile on my face. I'm reminded of gluts of vegetables last season, some of the failures, and I am excited to try new things. One of those is spinach, perfect for early season growing. I can't for the life of me remember why I have never grown spinach before, and I am going to guess it's because, even though I like it as a vegetable, it somehow hardly ever shows up at the table.
A quick look through my many Dutch cookbooks explains why: spinazie, spinach, is only featured in a few recipes: as a soup, in stamppot, or sautéed (with or without cream). Spinach was traditionally served with fish, not with meat. One traditional way of serving spinach is with soldaatjes, soldiers, which are fried strips of bread.
Older recipes mention boiling the spinach with a little bit of chalk to reduce that odd feeling that spinach gives the back of your teeth. Eating it with an egg, or with cream, replaces the chalk.
Spinach is a tricky vegetable to serve kids, right along with spruitjes and boerenkool, but made from fresh produce and with a splash of fresh cream, it may work just fine. And if they don't eat it, try the traditional Dutch approach of mashing the veg with boiled potatoes and a big helping of appelmoes, apple sauce! Works every time :-)
Spinazie met soldaatjes
2 eggs
2 lbs (1 kg) fresh spinach, although frozen spinach will work as well
Spinazie met soldaatjes
2 eggs
2 lbs (1 kg) fresh spinach, although frozen spinach will work as well1 small onion, peeled and diced
2 slices of bread, day old
2 tablespoon butter
Salt
Pepper
Nutmeg
2 slices of bread, day old
2 tablespoon butter
Salt
Pepper
Nutmeg
Garlic (optional)
Generous splash of cream (optional)
Boil the eggs in water, (6 minutes for soft, 8 to 10 minutes for hard boiled eggs), rinse with cold water. Let cool for a minute, then peel and slice.
Wash the spinach and remove any sand, any hard or root ends of the stem or wilted leaves. Cut the korstjes, the crusts, off the bread and cut it into strips. Melt half of the butter in a pan, fry the onions until they are translucent. Shake the water off the spinach and add to the pan, stir once or twice, cover and leave on low heat to wilt the leaves.
Stir the spinach. Heat the rest of the butter in a small frying pan and fry the bread on either side until golden brown. Taste the spinach, add a pinch of salt, pepper and nutmeg and stir. If you wish, you can add a splash of heavy cream at this point, stir, and bring up to temperature.
Serve the spinazie with the egg slices and the soldaatjes.
Generous splash of cream (optional)
Boil the eggs in water, (6 minutes for soft, 8 to 10 minutes for hard boiled eggs), rinse with cold water. Let cool for a minute, then peel and slice.
Wash the spinach and remove any sand, any hard or root ends of the stem or wilted leaves. Cut the korstjes, the crusts, off the bread and cut it into strips. Melt half of the butter in a pan, fry the onions until they are translucent. Shake the water off the spinach and add to the pan, stir once or twice, cover and leave on low heat to wilt the leaves.
Stir the spinach. Heat the rest of the butter in a small frying pan and fry the bread on either side until golden brown. Taste the spinach, add a pinch of salt, pepper and nutmeg and stir. If you wish, you can add a splash of heavy cream at this point, stir, and bring up to temperature.
Serve the spinazie with the egg slices and the soldaatjes.
