Spinach with Sherried Raisins and Toasted Pine Nuts

The first time I had spinach with sherried raisins tapas was at a Spanish restaurant in Frankfurt. Spinach is a common ingredient that I use in many recipes, commonly in Italian dishes, creamy side dishes, salad, or Chinese food. In Chinese cuisine, it was unusual to combine with raisins and sherry.

But that tapas was a delicious treat. Since then, this recipe becomes my tapas collection. Whenever I see the fresh green leafy baby spinach in supermarkets, I would buy a pack to make this dish as I am obsessed with this fabulous dish. I add the pine nuts to have a bit of a crunchy taste and a rich nut aroma. The fortified dry sherry is food-friendly and is the key to this dish.

What are the main Ingredients

The healthy spinach dish has four main ingredients, baby spinach, raisins, sherry, and pine nuts. The baby spinach is very tender and does not take long to cook. 

Spinach

I use organic baby spinach, a type of vegetable for salad. Since spinach magically reduces in minutes, I buy at least 200 g of spinach for this recipe two servings.

Raisins

I use golden raisins or regular ones. Raisins give this dish a heavenly flavour. 

Pine nuts

The rich, buttery flavour and soft texture of pine nuts lend to the full flavour when roasted. Pine nuts are usually quite expensive, and a cheap alternative would be the sliced almonds.

Dry Sherry

Sherry wine helps in enhancing the aroma and flavour of the food immensely. In this recipe, the raisins are soaked in the sherry before cooking.

How to make Spinach with Sherried Raisins and Toasted Pine Nuts

• Soak the raisins in the dry sherry for 20 minutes. This step also helps tenderize the raisins.
• Rinse the spinach well, then use a salad spinner to dry the spinach. This step helps the sherry sticking to the spinach without dilution.
• Heat olive oil in a wok. Add spinach and saute over medium-high heat for about 30 seconds.
• Then add the sherried raisins and toss just until the spinach is wilted but not collapse. If you cook too long, the spinach will get watery and the sherry flavour gets diluted. Season the spinach with a pinch of salt and transfer the spinach to a plate.
• Before toasting the pine nuts, dry the wok completely. Then toast the pine nuts until they start turning brown. Don’t toast too long as the pine nuts can get burnt quickly. I season the pine nuts with salt before topping the spinach, but this step is optional.

Tips for the recipe

Do not cook the pine nuts and spinach together. Otherwise, the pine nuts have a lack of nutty and crunchy essence.

Did you make the recipe?

You can print the recipe or pin it for future cooking. Please let me know how it turned out for you! Leave a comment below and tag @cuisinereinvented on Instagram and hashtag it #cuisinereinvented.