Spinach

From baby to large-leaf, Gareth Bartram, chef at Louth’s newly opened Auction House restaurant, talks spinach

At its peak, spinach is delicate and sweet, with a subtle minerality to it. It’s restrained, so it carries flavours well. Even if I’m just wilting some to go with chicken or fish, I can’t resist adding ginger, garlic and chilli to the pan first. Taste aside, spinach is a great colour enhancer. It retains its vibrant green during cooking and I often use it to brighten a Thai curry or colour pasta dough – I’ll even add handfuls when blending a broccoli purée to heighten the colour.

Spinach thrives in Lincolnshire’s rich soil and there’s an abundance of it at this time of year – scope for spinach and walnut pesto, creamed spinach with a cream and chicken stock emulsion, or to add to a Lincolnshire poacher tart. If you take 1kg of spinach leaves, they wilt down to nothing whichever way you cook them and, whether you’re using fresh or frozen, it’s important to squeeze out excess liquid otherwise it will dilute the flavour of the dish. Supermarkets generally sell bags of small leaves, but farm shops often stock large-leaf varieties like giant noble, which I’ll use in a favourite spring lamb dish: line the saddle with large, blanched leaves, spread a filling on top – maybe mushrooms and some forcemeat from offcuts – roll it, wrap it in caul fat, cook and then slice for a beautifully layered dish.

This article was taken from the May 2024 issue of Food and Travel. To subscribe today, click here.