Japanese-style spinach

Have you ever had ohitashi, the spinach dish served in many Japanese restaurants? It’s steamed spinach with a sweet sauce, sometimes sesame, or miso, or both.

I’ve been making my own version of this dish for years, usually with spinach but sometimes with other steamed greens. I just had it for lunch with my Plan B spinach and thought I’d share it with you. And my apologies, I ate it all before I could take a picture.

Basically, I use equal parts miso, tahini and honey, but you can play with the proportions to adjust the flavour. Mix them together in a bowl then thin out with some water and toss with steamed spinach.

For a standard bunch of spinach, I use a teaspoon (by which I mean a cutlery teaspoon scooped in, not a well-measured 5 mL) of each ingredient and often end up with too much sauce. So maybe a proper teaspoon would do. As for quantities of spinach, I can quite happily eat a whole bunch on my own but it depends on your tastes and what else is on the menu. Enjoy!

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What do I do with all these greens?

Now that summer’s in full swing, I’m suddenly faced with having to use what I have, quickly. Unlike winter’s cabbages, which are perfectly happy if you ignore them for days or weeks, summer greens are best when just picked. So when the box from Plan B arrives with a ton of lettuce and salad mix, that means a few days solid of salads. (Not that I’m complaining. The latest batch of salad mix has some yummy spicy mustard greens mixed in.)

And strawberries? Better eat those within 5 minutes of picking, if you can.

I just made a lovely mostly local salad: greens, some green onions, *ahem* avocado, and halloumi, red peppers and strawberries that I picked up at the market this morning. I made a dressing suggested by a besthealthmag.ca reader (in the comments): just sprinkle on some olive oil, balsamic vinegar and maple syrup, and toss. And with that, I don’t think I’ll make a “proper” salad dressing for a long time – it’s super easy and delicious.

I also accidentally made these little fried green things. Their official name is “subrich”, which is Piedmontese for “how to fatten up your grandchildren”. I say accidentally because I was looking for something to make that included greens and eggs – I picked up duck eggs at the market today too – and was already halfway through the recipe before I realized how fried they are. Not that they don’t taste good, but I wouldn’t eat the whole batch by yourself. I used a mixture of beet greens and spinach, and some basil, parsley, thyme and chives from the backyard planters.

And speaking of beet greens, pickling beets has suddenly moved to my to-do list. The beets I planted in the community garden are big now and I’m going to have to do something with them soon. I got my mother’s basic pickled beet recipe and I guess I’ll have to freeze some of the greens. I also picked a few handfuls of peas and a couple of carrots today, but somehow they didn’t make it home…

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My local dinner

Roasted beets, potatoes and onions:

+ Sautéed spinach, shiitake mushrooms, sliced almonds and garlic:

+ An egg poached in last summer’s tomato sauce:

= a yummy local dinner. Not bad for March 31.

Eggs and spinach from Karma Co-op, tomato sauce canned with the help of my parents, other vegetables from Plan B, almonds and olive oil from the lovely state of California.

(My version of the poached eggs in tomato sauce with spinach from Smitten Kitchen. Her pictures are prettier.)

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