I love spinach. It is versatile - good raw or cooked - and very good for you. Buying spinach in a village farmer’s market will give you a very different experience from the pre-washed, bundled-up spinach purchased at the supermarket. Although you always need to wash your pre-washed supermarket spinach, the spinach you purchase from a farmer is full of mud and needs an extra thorough washing.

Accordingly, the spinach adventure from farm to table can be either therapeutic or frustrating enough to prompt an early beginning to the day’s ritual of imbibing. I choose to look at it as therapeutic.

Before I purchased my own house in the Charité sur Loire, I rented a beautiful place not far from my current home. At one juncture in my rented Burgundy kitchen, my landlord, Dean came to stay for a few days. Dean had a friend with a chateau about 18 km from the village. Let’s call him Eric.

Eric invited us to dinner and asked me to prepare an entree. The good news? He had truffle! In fact, he specifically instructed me to create a recipe that would accentuate the truffle.

I thought of a dish that would taste delicious: creamed spinach placed in a ramekin with an egg yolk in the middle, finished under the broiler for a few minutes with shaved truffle on top.

On Saturday morning, we trundled off to the farmer’s market to shop for spinach and eggs - along with a few other provisions for the rest of the week. Dean went to see about the spinach. I went to flirt with the marvelous Monsieur Pomme over his selection of apples. In the midst of our typically enchanting chat, I heard Dean loudly calling my name from across the market.

Dean was in the middle of a spinach crisis. I could see him filling bags of spinach. He wanted to know if we had enough.

Not enthused about the distraction from MMP (Marvelous Monsieur Pomme) I waved at Dean in my best French fashion to signal my satisfaction. A gesture that proclaimed: "Oui. C'est bon!”

However, when Dean and I arrived home, I realized there was enough spinach for twenty guests. The problem? We were only having six people over for dinner.

The solution? I quickly filled the sink with water to begin the task of washing the spinach. In the process, I remember thinking that we paid more for the mud than the greens. It took four rinses to complete my task.

In addition to the entree - which was really delicious - our guests each received a bag of clean, fresh spinach. None of us would have to worry about our iron intake for a while.

The best part? My recipe was a great success. I sautéed the spinach in butter - adding salt and pepper along with a little white wine - before folding in some crème fraîche. Then I turned off the heat. When I was happy with the consistency and taste, I put the spinach into a ramekin, placed the dark yellow yolk in the middle and transported the dishes to the chateau. When I arrived at the chateau’s kitchen, I placed the ramekins under the broiler for a moment or trois. Then - just before serving - I shaved truffle over all. Et voilà! My entree was served.

FINIS

Madame McIntosh
Mars 2020

P.S. For more information about Maison des Mots email moi at 6ruedunord@gmail.com, s'il vous plait.

Maison des Mots Barbara-jo Residency