Great High Iron Meal.

Fresh Spinach

I am an extremely picky eater, and getting sufficient amounts of iron in is always a task for me. So I came up with this dish which truly works like a charm, considering Spinach is one of the best sources of iron…remember Popeye? Not that it necessarily holds that much iron, it is just that the kind it holds is the sort your body can work with really well. Considering I add a whole bunch of other stuff to it, like Parsley, which is high in iron as well, only makes the meal more nutritious, and I love that it is so easy to make.

Spinach potato mash:

3-4 persons.

Spinach: (frozen is easiest) 1 kg

Potatoes: 6 mid-size. Diced

Sweet potatoes: 2 mid-size. Diced

Purple potatoes: 4 mid-size. Diced

Leek: 4-6 inches. Chopped

Onion: 1 mid-size. Chopped

Butter: 150-200 gr.

Milk: ¼ cup

Cheese: 100-200 gr (mix of sheep/goat/cow is nicest, but any other melt cheese will do) Grated

Parsley: 1 tablesp. (dried)

Pepper: 3-4 turns (2 knife points)

Salt: 2-3 teasp. (to taste)

Sweet chili sauce: (optional) 2 tablesp.

Peel your potatoes and cut them all about the same size. Cubes of about an inch and a half. Put them all together in a pan and just barely submerge in water. Add a teasp. of salt and a turn or two of your pepper mill, and boil until you can stab a fork into any of them and slide it right out again. Drain of water. Use a fork or hand masher (you can use an immersion blender, but I like it better when the potato mash isn’t all that smooth) to mash the potatoes with half the butter and milk until you have a lumpy paste.

Use a large skillet or wok for the Spinach. Melt the remainder of the butter (or use olive oil, if you prefer) and put in the frozen spinach. Mid-heat and frequent stirring will quickly defrost your spinach. Add your leek, onion and Parsley and keep stirring. The spinach will be best if you actually bake it, so increase the heat if you think it is going to slow. Add some Salt and pepper and the Chili sauce if you opted for that and when the spinach is completely defrosted, stir the cheese through it. Let it bake for a bit longer, until the cheese has melted properly and clumps through your spinach a bit. Turn off the heat.

Spoon your spinach mix on top of your potato mash and stir firmly until you have a colorful mash.

Serve with a small triangle of butter on top, allowing it to melt on the mash. I tend to serve this as a main dish, but you can serve it with a hamburger and/or a salad on the side.