Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Popeye is going to love this - Spinach & Walla Walla Wine!

For you spinach lovers, and even the not-so spinach lovers, here's a recipe that will get everyone eating their spinach. Chef Caren, of Green Gables Inn in Walla Walla, sent me this recipe for Spinach ala Caren. I love this recipe she created, as she uses Walla Walla ingredients as well as featuring Riesling from Trust Cellars.

Spinach ala Caren

1 lb clean and well drained fresh leaf spinach (curly or baby spinach may be used)
2 small shallots (finely diced)
4 oz Thundering Hooves Cottage Bacon or Italian pancetta (diced)
1 TBSP olive oil
1 cup Trust Cellars Riesling (and don’t forget an extra cup or more for the chef's glass)
1 TBSP Walla Walla Sweet Onion Mustard - Dill flavor

Saute two diced shallots and diced Cottage Bacon (or pancetta) in a large skillet with a tablespoon of olive oil. After shallots are sweated clear and bacon is crispy, add one cup of Trust Cellars Riesling into the warm skillet of shallots and bacon to deglaze the pan (and pour the second cup or more of Trust Cellars Riesling into the chef's glass). Reduce the shallot, bacon and wine mixture to half, then stir in one tablespoon of Walla Walla Sweet Onion Dill Mustard. To this mixture, add the fresh spinach and toss lightly. Leave spinach in the pan just long enough to sweat it, leaving the spinach with a nice crunch. No soggy spinach! Salt and pepper to taste. Yummy!

Also, congratulations is in order to Chef Caren for her award winning Walla Walla Sweet Onion savory cheesecake that she recently entered in the Walla Walla Sweet Onion Festival!.

(At this time, Trust Cellars is sold out of Riesling, but there's a few bottles available at Walla Walla Wine Woman - - oh, and so is the Walla Walla Sweet Onion Mustard!)

2 comments:

Michael said...

Despite my love for bacon, I would definitely go with pancetta in this dish (as you mentioned). There is just something about rendered pancetta fat, shallots and a crisp white wine that can't be beat! And I like the idea of using a Riesling here, though I haven't had the Trust Cellars I'm sure it's great.

Great post!

Jeff said...

I'm hungry and that picture isn't fair to make me look at.

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