I wasn’t a big “greens” person before, but I love them now. The secret? Bacon, of course.
Ingredients:
- 5 slices thick-cut bacon
- 1 shallot, diced
- 3-6 cloves garlic, minced
- 1½ pounds baby spinach
- salt and pepper to taste
Preparation:
- Slice bacon into 1-inch pieces and fry them up in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
- Remove bacon pieces from pan and set aside. Remove all but 1 tablespoon bacon fat* and return skillet to heat.
- Cook shallot and garlic until softened.
- Add spinach, a large handful at a time to the skillet. At first, the greens will look like they’re taking over your kitchen. However, it will cook down rapidly. Don’t worry if you can’t add all of it at once. Just let the first bunch cook down and then add some more.
- While the spinach is cooking, chop the bacon down into smaller pieces if necessary.
- Once all of the greens have cooked down, return the bacon bits to the skillet and heat through.
- Season to taste with salt and pepper
- I like to add a final step of giving the whole pile of spinach goodness a quick chop so there aren’t any long pieces – I think it makes it easier to eat.
The Verdict:
I really enjoy spinach cooked this way. For a long time, I thought that creamed spinach was the only good cooked spinach. Turns out that all you need are aromatics and a fat to transport that delicious flavor. Chunks of cooked bacon don’t hurt either. Besides that, if you use bacon fat instead of heavy cream, you haven’t violated the dairy aspect of the slow carb diet.
*I like to have a jar waiting, with a coffee filter attached to the mouth of the jar with a rubber band. That way, I can pour the rendered fat into the jar and refrigerate it for a future use.
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So there is this nearby town called San Francisco. I do not fall into that category of folks who left their heart there, I go only when I have to. But when I go I make sure if at all possible to dine at the Tadich Grill. I also do not fall into another category of folks that look forward to “eating out”.
The Tadich Grill in San Francisco is the only exception to “eating out” that is still open for business. But it has been open for over 160 years. Proves that you don’t have to be trendy to be good. My father ate there and tried his first mesquite grilled fish when he was interning in San Francisco in the ’20s―when Tadich Grill was about 70 years old.
If you’re interested in the Tadish Grill, check it out on Wikipedia⋯or on Amazon for it’s bio with recipes⋯or its menu at sanfrancissco.menupages.com. It’s on California Street near the east end of the cable car route. Don’t think this an endorsement, it’s just the last place I still like to eat out.
So what does this have to do with spinach? Well, Tadich serves spinach as a side dish ⋯ plain, creamed or sautéed with garlic. Sautéed is my choice. Like our Housewife, this experience with spinach opened my eyes. It’s incredibly easy to prepare, just sauté some freshly chopped garlic in the bottom of a large sauce and and when it done, turn off the heat, added the fresh washed whole spinach leaves and cover to let steam. I’ve always done this with olive oil, but now I’m going to try it with bacon fat (or bacon “leavin’s” as they were called in my Texas childhood).
Another old mid-west tradition was to put a little brown sugar and bacon leavin’s in canned creamed corn. Not exactly slow carb, but a definite improvement over plain canned creamed corn.