Rebecca’s Recipe of the Week: Japanese-Inspired Spinach | Canalside Community Food

This is so easy it’s hardly fair to call it a recipe. Spinach drizzled with sesame oil makes a fresh companion to a piece of fish and a bit of rice. If you’re feeling adventurous, get some sushi-grade salmon from Regency Fishmongers, cut it into thin strips, and serve it (raw) with this salad, and a little dipping sauce of soya mixed with wasabi. Yum!

Possibly Japanese Spinach Salad
Serves 1-2

Ingredients
1-2 teaspoons sesame seeds
All your Canalside spinach and spring greens
sesame oil, to drizzle

Preparation
Bring a half-kettle of water to the boil.

Heat a frying pan over medium heat. Add the sesame seeds and toast for 3-4 minutes, or until they start to turn an attractive golden colour. Set aside. You can in fact toast a larger quantity of seeds and then keep some for future use.
Remove any enormously tough stems from the spring greens. The tender stems on the young spinach don’t need to be removed.

Put the greens in a large pan with a lid, over medium heat. Pour the boiling water over them so that there is about an inch of water in the bottom. Put the lid on the pan and bring to the boil. Cook for 2-4 minutes, or until the greens are wilted. They should still be bright green.

Tip the greens in a colander and leave to drain a bit. Press them down with a spoon to extract as much liquid as possible. Using a pair of scissors snip the cooked greens up a little, and press them down again with the spoon.

When you’re ready to eat, put the drained greens in an attractive serving dish and drizzle with sesame oil. Sprinkle some toasted sesame seeds over the top, and serve.