Quick shrink

As I was cooking dinner yesterday I was reminded of an old, very English, film (black & white when I saw it but that may have been the TV I saw it on) set in the 1950s starring Kenneth Moore. In this film, at one point, he has custody of some children & goes to buy some food to cook for them all. He buys a small bag of spinach. He is confident that it will fill them all. When he cooks it he discovers it wilts down to nothingness, barely a teaspoonful.

As you will have worked out, I was wilting spinach. Into one of my biggest pan, I put so much spinach it was difficult to put the lid on. The Fox gagged a bit as he knows that neither of us are that excited by spinach. I assured him it was okay. A few minutes later I took off the lid to stir the spinach. By then there was barely enough to cover the base of the pan.

I used the spinach to cover the base of some ramekin dishes. I then topped them with an egg each & baked them. We had something similar once when we were staying in a hotel in Sydney Australia, only then it was for breakfast. I served chips & peas to accompany it.

I’ve always been a bit suspicious of spinach. It always tasted so iron-y to me - good for you but not very nice. These days, since I’ve discovered the joys of a little grated nutmeg seasoning, I quite enjoy it but not as the main veg on a plate. It’s good for setting off fish or eggs.

I suppose my first image of spinach, like many other people, was while watching Popeye on the TV in my childhood. The idea of swallowing a whole cold tin of spinach as he did, showed courage in my mind. My stomach would have rebelled. The almost immediate effects on the sailor man were amazing.

My views on spinach are changing as I grow older. I still remain amazed by how so much can turn into so little so quickly.