Please give me the beginner guide to spinach

[Anonymous]

If the package says pre-washed, you don't need to wash it again. You should remove stems where they protrude from the leaf.

If it is not already bite size, tear to bite size.

You do not need to pre-cook: it cooks quickly. And if it's undercooked, frankly no harm done.

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I appreciate everyone chiming in with ideas and trying to help, but this seems to have gone off the rails completely. I had very specific questions and I couldn't get answers to those. I am not sure why people were telling me to bake onions and curry and soups and such, and make completely different dishes than the ones I mentioned. I'm not looking to make new recipes, but to add spinach to things I already know how to cook. If I could get the following questions answered about spinach I would greatly appreciate it.

Is it okay not to wash spinach first?

If the packaging says it's already washed, it's ok. I usually pick through to see if there are any wilted/slimy leaves.

Do I tear/cut it up into small pieces or just take it straight out of the bag and use it at the size it comes in?
I vaguely recall people talking about massaging it - is that a real thing?

Baby spinach can just come out of the bag or box. Other spinach you might want to cut and definitely get rid of big stems. Massaging is more a thing with kale but for "mature" spinach it's worth trying

I want to try it with eggs, and also a shrimp and pasta stir fry thing I make. Do I put the spinach in the pan before or after the shrimp? (If it matters, I buy pre-cooked shrimp so really am just warming and seasoning it in the pan.) *I think one person said it cooks quickly and to put the spinach in at the end but I got overwhelmed at all the information that was beyond what I'd asked and my brain shut down, so please correct me if I misunderstood that.

With eggs I usually sauté it first with some oil and salt and pepper and then once it's shrunk down I pour in beaten eggs and scramble it all together. With pre cooked shrimp, I'd probably do it the same way, sauté the spinach until it's mostly wilted and then add the shrimp to warm it up.

I'd also like to put it in baked pasta dishes, like stuffed shells - do I cook it in a frying pan first or just toss it in the shell with the cheese and then it cooks in the oven?

For this I would use frozen, thaw it and squeeze out all the liquid, then mix into the cheese. There are probably good recipes for this--look for "Florentine" in recipe titles, that usually indicates spinach

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Number one: Don't be an idiot. I'm honestly not sure you are mentally fit to handle spinach.

Too late - I'm already an idiot. For years I wasn't mentally fit enough to make a baked potato. I knew all the steps, did them and yet couldn't get one to come out fully cooked. I once left it in the oven for an hour and 45 minutes. (Yes, I poked holes - everyone seems to think that'll magically cook it. It doesn't.)

Look, not everyone is experimental with food and not everyone has always had access to all foods or to people they can ask stupid questions of. So, an anonymous forum is ideal for me.

Don’t let the grumpy naysayers get to you. I agree that DCUM is a great place to come for advice with something. We all have “stupid” questions about something, but the smart thing to do is to ask for help.

FWIW, I find baked potatoes a little intimidating, too, but I’ve had better luck with them in the microwave.
Spinach is actually one of the easier vegetables to cook (at least for me).

Happy cooking and good luck on your spinach adventure!

P.S. You might want to try a baked onion in the oven. No foil or holes are needed (keep the skins on). You just put the onion in a pan and bake it.

I love this post. I'm an excellent experienced cook but am learning from this post.

PP if your potato didn't cook in an hour, more than likely your oven is at fault. When spouse and I bought our first house I loved cooking and was so frustrated that things never worked out even though I followed the recipes and had made them in the past with no problems. Spouse and I were very busy working demanding jobs and finally after 2 years had the time to figure out the oven wasn't heating properly and staying heated. Two years we put up with that.

[Anonymous]

I watch a lot of videos when I'm making something new. I have a short attention span so another hint is to know you can adjust the playback speed on the videos. It's amazing how many people sound normal at 1.5 speed.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thank you for all your suggestions and especially 18:23 for helping line up my questions with the answers!

Tonight I ate spinach for the first time. I chopped it up into tiny pieces, so it looked like big pieces of basil basically. My friend (a former chef) mentioned that if I just dumped it in with just cooked pasta the heat from the pasta would cook it enough so that's what I did. I ate it and everything went fine. 30 seconds later I violently threw up. Perhaps that's why I've had an aversion to spinach my whole life, or maybe it's a coincidence. It was the only new component of my recipe. I will try again tomorrow night with leftovers.