Catalan Spinach

This is a traditional Catalan way to serve spinach which we tried with our visiting neighbours from Barcelona - they seem to put pine nuts in everything!  It a lovely side dish which can also be served on toast as a tapa.

Ingredients:

1 kilo (2.2lbs) fresh spinach

70g (2.5 oz) raisins

4 tablespoons pine nuts

2 cloves garlic

1 medium onion

150ml (5 fl.oz) olive oil

Salt

Method:

1.    Put the raisins to soak in boiling water for 10-15 minutes.

2.    Meanwhile, lightly toast the pine nuts in a dry frying pan and set aside.

3.    Thoroughly wash the spinach, drain, remove the stems and tear up roughly

4.    Peel the onion and chop finely, peel and crush the garlic.

5.    Heat the oil in a large frying pan or terracotta cazuela and slowly cook the onion for 5 minutes until soft and translucent.  Add the garlic and cook for a further 2 minutes.

6.    Remove the raisins from the water and drain.

7.    Add the spinach and mix well with the oil so it gets a good coating.

8.    Add the pine nuts and the raisins to the pan, mix well and cook on a low heat for 10 minutes until the spinach has wilted and turns dark green

9.    Season with salt and serve

You can also add 150g(5.25 oz) chickpeas to the pan when you add the spinach or top the whole dish with a few green olives cut into quarters

Serves 4-6