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Spinach And Beans

Sometimes spring isn’t quite hot enough for salads and you crave something to warm you up. This recipe uses fresh, in-season spinach, lightly cooked with beans of your choice. It works well with butterbeans, cannelloni beans or even black-eyed beans or chick peas.

Ingredients

Serves 4

200g butterbeans, cannelini or chickpeas, cooked
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
300g spinach leaves
salt & pepper to taste
½ teaspoon ground cumin seeds
½ teaspoon ground coriander seeds

Method

Peel the onion and chop finely. Peel and crush the garlic.
Gently heat the oil in a pan and sauté the garlic and onion for about 8 minutes, until soft.
Add the ground coriander and cumin and sauté for a further 2 minutes.
Wash the spinach leave thoroughly, to remove any grit. Drain well.
Add the beans to the onion mixture and heat for a couple of minutes, to heat through.
Add the spinach to the pan. Cover and cook for 2 minutes until the spinach has wilted.
Season with salt & pepper to taste.

Time From Cupboard-To-Table

Around 20 minutes

Notes & Variations on Spinach And Beans

Instead of the cumin and coriander, you could use ¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg. Add this at the same time as the spinach.

For a really warming dish, serve with mashed potato. Or you could try it as a lunchtime meal with toast or fried bread.

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