Spinach.

“The thought of spinach is pleasure……

….a standard of vegetable aspiration”

- Jane Grigson, 1978

Sturdy, forthright and down to earth, spinach is one of the most reliable vegetables in the kitchen and garden.

Available in some fresh variety throughout most of the year, the tender spring spinach coming into season this month is the most delicate, crisp and delicious kind. Packed to the nines with vitamins, antioxidants iron, protein and fibre, spinach is without doubt the Superman of the vegetable world. Not least because of its unrivalled ability to transform its guise, in size, taste and texture between in its raw and cooked state.

The most popular way of cooking spinach is in a pan, with just the water clinging to its leaves. The French, however, ever the contrarians, prefer to cook it in boiling water. While the summer variety can be eaten both raw or cooked, the winter variety is only suitable for cooking; it is recommended to remove the stalks of the coarse winter variety in cooking (- use for stock).

“Raw Spinach is very tasty”

- The Silver Spoon

Spinach is delicious with butter, with cream and nutmeg, with grated parmesan, or very simply with freshly squeezed lemon and olive oil.  The utmost delicious spinach recipe I have ever come across –winning over even its biggest sceptics – is spinach baked in the oven, seasoned and tossed with fresh tomatoes and topped w ith pecorino (full recipe in June’s edition of Thoughtfully Delicious).

Spinach goes particularly well with egg, ham, chicken, bacon, anchovies, yoghurt, white fish, tomato, pine nuts, mushrooms, most cheeses, mustard, beans.

A final tip on choosing your Spinach, from Jane Grigson: “assess its liveliness”.