Prepare frozen spinach salad. How to cook frozen spinach: basic recipes. Green omelette

Spinach– a true storehouse of vitamins and microelements. Because spinach is wonderfully stored frozen, it is especially suitable for use in the winter and spring. From this plant you can prepare many suitable and appetizing dishes.

You will need

• For the omelet:
• 5 eggs;
• 5 tablespoons of milk;
• 2 tablespoons sour cream;
• a slice of butter;
• salt and pepper to taste.
• For the soup:
• 1 chicken breast;
• 3 medium potatoes;
• 1 carrot;
• 1 package frozen spinach;
• 300 ml. cream;
• salt and pepper to taste.
• For the casserole:
• 1 package frozen spinach;
• 400 g bacon;
• 1 bell pepper;
• 300 g hard cheese;
• 3 eggs;
• 1 glass of sour cream;
• 3 tablespoons flour;
• salt and pepper to taste.

Instructions

1. Spinach omelette. Take a package of frozen spinach. Pour water into a saucepan and bring it to a boil. Place spinach in boiling water for 5 minutes. In a separate bowl, beat 5 eggs. Add salt to taste, 5 tablespoons of milk, 2 tablespoons of sour cream to the beaten eggs. Beat the whole mass. Place a stick of butter in a large frying pan. Place boiled spinach in hot oil and pour beaten eggs and milk over everything. Pepper to taste. Cover the pan with a lid and cook the omelette for 10 minutes. Cut the finished omelette into portioned slices, pour sour cream on top and sprinkle with chopped green onions.

2. Spinach soup. Make broth from one chicken breast. Remove the meat from the broth, cut it into small slices and put it back into the broth. Peel the potatoes and carrots and cut into small cubes. Potatoes should be rinsed to remove starch in cold water before adding to soup. Place chopped potatoes and carrots into boiling water. Cook vegetables over medium heat for 20 minutes. Add a package of frozen spinach to the soup, along with salt and pepper to taste. After this, add cream to the pan and continue to cook the soup for 15 minutes. Pour the finished soup into bowls. This soup is very suitable for small children.

3. 3. Spinach and Bacon Casserole: Boil a package of frozen spinach in boiling salted water. Take the bacon and cut it into thin strips. Core the bell pepper and cut into rings. In a separate bowl, beat 3 eggs, add 1 cup sour cream, 3 tablespoons flour and salt to taste. Grate the strong cheese or grind it in a blender. Place chopped bacon in a fireproof dish, top with boiled spinach, bell pepper rings and grated cheese. Fill everything with batter. Place the dish in an oven preheated to 170 degrees for 40 minutes. Serve the finished casserole warm, cut into portions. Have a nice appetite.

Fresh spinach can be eaten raw, but frozen spinach must be cooked. There are also a lot of dishes with boiled spinach - soups, vegetarian lasagnas, spinach pastas, purees - you can’t list them all! Cooking spinach is very primitive, but certain subtleties certainly exist here.

You will need

• - spinach;
• - colander;
• - frying pan.

Instructions

1. Fresh spinach Choose fresh, juicy, clear green spinach without any chestnut or yellow spots.

2. Sort through the spinach - remove wilted, drooping, spoiled leaves. Rinse the leaves thoroughly to remove sand and dirt. Remove excess water from spinach. It’s best to use a special salad dryer for this, but if you don’t have one, it’s also possible to carefully and carefully blot the vegetable with paper towels.

3. Cut off the tough stems as close to the base as possible. Spinach leaves are prepared very quickly, which cannot be said about the stems. To avoid differences in textures, it is better to try to get rid of the latter as much as possible.

4. Spinach should not be boiled in large amounts of water. Just take a large frying pan, put the spinach in it and literally sprinkle it with water. Don't put all the leaves in at once. Add the first portion, turn the heat to medium, and toss the spinach with tongs. Once it settles, add a little more. Take out the finished spinach with tongs, pull it out and after a couple of seconds you can add the next portion. Act quickly. Spinach is prepared for about 2-3 minutes each. It is considered ready when the leaves are completely soft but still clear green.

5. If you want to preserve the spinach's inherent bright color, place it in a colander and pour ice water over it. This procedure will instantly stop the cooking process. Otherwise, even after you turn off the heat, the tender vegetable will still cook and lose its brightness.

6. Frozen spinach When using frozen spinach, the most important thing is to remove as much water as possible from it before cooking. To do this, it is defrosted first. Take the spinach, remove it from the bag and place it in a colander. Mark the colander over the pan and put the entire structure in the refrigerator for 12 - 14 hours. Do not defrost spinach in the microwave - you will not notice how it will not only cook, but also be overcooked. Place the defrosted spinach in a frying pan and heat for 2-3 minutes. Don't add water.

Note!
Remember that spinach shrinks significantly in volume after heat treatment. If you can feed several people with a fresh spinach salad, then by preparing such a bunch you will get a share for one.

Helpful advice
Before using ready-made spinach in recipes, it is, as usual, squeezed again to get rid of excess liquid.

The French called spinach the king of vegetables. This honorary title was awarded due to his suitable qualities. This herb is truly very tasty and nutritious. You can cook a lot of fragrant and juicy dishes with spinach.

Persia is considered the birthplace of spinach, where it originated before our era. In the Middle Ages, it came to Europe, where it first became the food of monks, and after that a delicacy on the tables of the nobility. In modern France, spinach grows in virtually every garden and is used not only for cooking, but also as a natural coloring for dough, creams, ice cream or butter. Spinach has a neutral taste, so it harmonizes well with many products. It’s best to eat it fresh, adding it to vegetable salads, but even after heat treatment, the herb retains most of its useful properties. The main thing is not to keep it in the refrigerator for more than a day, wash it strictly before cooking and under no circumstances put it through a meat grinder. You can cut the spinach with a sharp knife, but it’s better to tear it with your hands. To prepare soups and main courses, you don’t have to buy fresh spinach; frozen spinach is absolutely fine. Make cream soup: fry onions with garlic, add spinach, simmer, add salt, beat with a mixer, transfer to a saucepan, pour in milk and cream, bring to a boil. Place half a boiled egg on a plate. Spinach helps you lose weight. It helps get rid of spider veins and preserves youth. In addition, spinach is good for health. It strengthens the immune system due to the huge amount of folic acid and chlorophyll, increases visual acuity and strengthens bones.

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Tip 4: How to cook omelet with spinach in a slow cooker

Omelette is always a good breakfast. And with the addition of spinach - it’s even more suitable!

You will need

• 3 eggs, 150 grams of frozen spinach, 200 grams of cheese, 10 green onions, 200 grams of cottage cheese, salt.

Instructions

1. Thaw the spinach, scald with boiling water and rinse under cold water several times.

2. Finely chop the green onions, grate the cheese on a large grater, beat the eggs well with a fork.

3. Squeeze the spinach and mix with green onions.

4. Mash the cottage cheese well and mix with cheese and beaten eggs. Add spinach and green onions to the mixture, add salt and stir.

5. Pour the egg mixture into the slow cooker and cook in the “Baking” mode for 30-40 minutes.

Semi-finished vegetables are very famous. They prepare tea quickly and easily. There are several methods for defrosting vegetables. Which one to use determines the character of the upcoming dish.

Cooking vegetables in a frying pan

Pan-frying is the most primitive method of cooking frozen vegetables. Cook frozen green beans, beans, tomatoes, corn, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, and green peas this way. First, place the frying pan on the stove, add the vegetables and fry. For the first few minutes, fry the vegetables over high heat with the lid open. The vegetables will defrost and the water will evaporate. When there is no water at all, add 2 tbsp. vegetable oil. If there are a large number of vegetables, add more oil. At the same time, salt the dish and add spices. Now cover the lid and fry the vegetables until they become soft. Use the resulting dish as a side dish or serve independently. You can add fried vegetables to mashed potatoes or porridge.

Cooking vegetables in a saucepan

You can make soup from the same frozen vegetables. If you use store-bought freezes, choose those mixtures that say on the packaging that this is the upcoming soup. First, cook 1.5 liters of broth. It can be meat or chicken. Place the meat with bones in 1.5 liters of water in a saucepan. Cook for 40 minutes and then pull out. Remove the meat from the bones and cut it into slices. The cooking time for the chicken is also about 40 minutes. If you want to make vegetarian soup, put water on the fire to boil. At this time, fry 1 chopped onion and 1 carrot. You can add tomatoes to the mixture. It turns out that the cooking procedure is as follows: add chopped potatoes (3 pieces) or cereal (200 grams) to the broth, then frozen vegetables, and then sauté. Bring the broth to a boil, add salt and pepper. At the very end, add a slice of butter to the soup. The dish is ready!

Defrosting vegetables in dough

Sometimes frozen vegetables are used for pies and rolls. You can use any kind of dough: yeast, butter, puff pastry, shortbread. First defrost the vegetable filling in a frying pan with sunflower oil. Lightly fry the vegetables until tender. You can add cheese to the filling after frying. After this, roll out the dough on the table, put the filling inside the pie, and place another layer of dough on top. Seal the pie well so that it does not fall apart. If you are making an open pie, add an egg beaten with cream to the filling. This omelette mixture will wonderfully “bind” together the components of the filling. Consequently, it will not fall apart and come out of the dough. In certain cases, the filling can be placed frozen directly into the dough. This is acceptable if the ice layer is small. Such a mixture must contain salt and spices in sufficient quantities.

Freezing greens is a good way to preserve a product rich in vitamins for the winter menu. Sometimes caring housewives keep the preparations until spring and even early summer, when the newest crops are growing in the beds. The question arises - what to cook from frozen greens, so as not to throw away an expensive product and at the same time pamper your home with delicious and light dishes?

Green omelette

Try making a hearty and juicy omelette from frozen greens. For 250-300 g of any vitamin mixture (chopped spinach, onions, parsley, dill), 4 eggs are enough. Thaw the greens, let the excess moisture drain and pour in the beaten yolks and whites. Add 300 g of cottage cheese and grated hard cheese, salt everything to taste and mix.

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Place the resulting mixture in a baking dish, greased with butter and sprinkled with crushed breadcrumbs. Keep the green omelette in the oven for 40 minutes, take it out, sprinkle breadcrumbs on top and put it back in the oven. After 10 minutes the dish is ready.

Green cream soup

Frozen greens make an amazing, dietary first course. In this recipe, you can use not only “grass,” but also all sorts of vegetables from the freezer that have been stored until late spring (carrots, sweet peppers, green beans, etc.). Before preparing the puree soup, briefly hold 300 g of cold raw material at room temperature, then boil until tender in salted water, remove from the pan and cool.

Grind the boiled vegetables and herbs in a blender along with a handful of fresh parsley and dill and dip the resulting mass into the broth. Dissolve 5 g of sifted wheat flour in a couple of tablespoons of milk and pour in a thin stream into the soup while stirring continuously. Season the dish with 10 g of butter and a glass of milk, bring to a boil, add salt if necessary. Serve the finished frozen herb puree soup with sour cream or fermented baked milk.

Simple green vermicelli soup

In May-June, sorrel is very popular among summer residents, as it enriches the diet with vitamins, while fresh vegetables have not yet ripened in the beds. Use this plant, rich in vitamins C and B, and frozen greens to make a quick and nutritious noodle soup. To do this, cook thin pasta (100 g per share), add chopped sorrel (100 g) and slightly thawed parsley, dill, spinach (350-400 g) to the broth.

Bring the liquid to a boil. Beat 2 eggs into a separate bowl, mix with 100 ml of milk and the same amount of butter. Season the green soup, bring to a boil again and immediately turn off.

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Tip 7: How to Make an Authentic Empanada Appetizer

Even from the most ordinary semi-finished products, which are sold in any store, you can prepare a strange and very appetizing dish. By wisely combining primitive ingredients, you can make a luxurious and authentic appetizer that will decorate any festive table.

You will need

• – 100 g corn flakes;
• – frozen with meat;
• - two eggs;
• – 5 g of Provençal herbs;
• - salt pepper;
• – 100 g frozen spinach;
• – 1 baked sweet pepper;
• - garlic;
• – 15 ml lemon juice;
• - olive oil;
• – lettuce leaves.

Instructions

1. Pour 100 g of corn flakes into a large bowl and knead them with your hands. Break two eggs into a separate bowl, beat with a whisk, add Provençal herbs, salt, a small amount of ground black pepper and mix.

2. Take pancakes with meat, cut each into three parts. Dip the pancakes in the egg and herb mixture, then sprinkle all sides with corn flake breading. After such breading, your guests will not even realize that these were originally pancakes with meat.

3. Place the pancakes on a heated frying pan and fry over low heat for 5-7 minutes on each side.

4. To prepare the sauce, place frozen spinach in a saucepan and heat it up. Add pre-baked sweet peppers (without skin), heated spinach, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper into a separate container and grind with a blender until smooth.

5. Place the lettuce on a plate and spread a portion of the sauce over the entire leaf. Place fried breaded pancakes on top of the sauce. For a brilliant accent, you can garnish this dish with chili pepper.

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This soup incorporates a unique combination of the aroma of a rich broth and the benefits of a vitamin treasure of greens, luxurious taste and a minimum of effort spent on its preparation. From early spring until the first days of autumn, this dish allows you to wisely use every leaf of seasonal greenery from your summer cottage or market. It will fill you with energy and lightness in order to happily and carefreely meet the radiant summer.

You will need

• Chicken broth, ideally homemade - 1 liter;
• Head of green salad – 200 grams;
• A little leek – 10 grams;
• Fresh spinach straight from the garden – 150 grams;
• Fragrant parsley – 50 grams;
• A little butter - 50 grams;
• Juice from a quarter of a lemon – 10 grams;
• Just a pinch of salt and ground pepper.

Instructions

1. Rinse the leek stem and allow excess water to drain. After this, finely chop with a sharp knife or chop in a food processor. Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat and lightly fry the prepared leeks until soft.

2. The remaining greens, namely lettuce, spinach and parsley, are also diligently washed to remove any remaining soil, dust or hidden insects. To do this, you can disassemble it into separate leaves. Significantly remove excess water. A paper towel works great for this. Then, just chop up the greens and add some more and simmer with the onions for no more than 10 minutes. Out of season, it is permissible to replace fresh spinach with frozen one, purchasing it in a store or making it yourself.

3. Next, you need to pour the broth into the pan with the greens, reduce the heat and simmer the soup under the lid for another 10 minutes. As you know, heat treatment destroys many useful substances, so it is important not to bring the broth to a boil.

4. After 10 minutes, you need to turn off the heat and prepare the puree using a mixer or immersion blender. Depending on your preferences, you may not need to grind the soup further. To make the dish more filling, you can pour in a beaten chicken egg and quickly stir with a fork. In the hot broth it will coagulate and form beautiful white webs.

5. Finally, all that remains is to add salt and pepper to the soup, as well as squeezed lemon juice. For a more pronounced creamy taste, you can add a little more butter. This soup is usually served with croutons or white bread croutons.

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This primitive and appetizing dish is a good option to please the family for lunch or dinner.

You will need

• 500 g spaghetti
• 400 g frozen spinach
• 2 cans of canned tuna in its own juice
• 200 ml cream 22%
• olive oil
• basil

Instructions

1. Boil spaghetti in boiling water until done. Heat olive oil in a frying pan. Place frozen spinach in it.

2. Add tuna to the prepared spinach, draining the juice in advance. Stir and bring to a boil.

3. Pour the cream into the pan and heat for a couple of minutes. Add salt, basil. Mix the sauce with the pasta and serve immediately, sprinkled with grated Parmesan.

If you like the former, then try making a very strange creamy soup with spinach and pine nuts. The soup is prepared quite primitively. It will take a well-deserved place on any table.

You will need

• – 1 onion;
• – 1 clove of garlic;
• – 100 g pine nuts;
• – 100 g suluguni cheese;
• – 70 ml cream;
• - nutmeg;
• - spinach;
• - vegetable oil;
• - flour;
• - salt.

Instructions

1. Toast the pine nuts in a dry frying pan until they are ready. You can tell if it's prepared by the fact that the nuts start to sparkle.

2. Peel the garlic and onion, cut as you like. Pour vegetable oil into a frying pan and fry the onion with garlic and nutmeg. Leave some of the onion untouched - it will serve us well when we decorate the finished dish.

3. Using a sieve, squeeze out the frozen chopped spinach. Together with fried vegetables and nuts, place it in a blender. Add salt and pepper to taste and whisk until smooth.

4. What happens must be placed in a saucepan. Add cream, stir and bring the mixture to a boil. If the soup ends up being too thick, thin it with water.

5. Cut the suluguni. Heat a frying pan on the stove and fry the suluguni. In another frying pan, which should also be preheated, fry the onion, breaded in flour. The onion must be fried until golden brown.

6. The soup is ready. Pour it into portions, garnish with cheese and fried onions and serve.

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Spinach It is not for nothing that it is one of the most suitable products. In terms of contents of vitamins and iron compounds, it has no equal. One of the classic recipes for cooking spinach is spinach omelet.

You will need

• 600 g spinach
• 1 tbsp. vegetable oil
• half an onion
• 400 g potatoes
• 10 g butter
• 125 ml. milk for potatoes and
• 100 ml. milk for omelet
• 6 eggs
• 20 g margarine
• pepper

Instructions

1. To prepare this dish, it is best to use fresh spinach, but if you don’t have any, you can also use frozen spinach.

2. Rinse fresh spinach leaves thoroughly under running water and dry with a towel. Allow frozen spinach to thaw and drain excess liquid.

3. Peel the potatoes, cut them in half and cook in salted water.

4. Cut the onion into small cubes, fry in vegetable oil until golden brown. Add the spinach to the pan and continue to fry until the leaves fall into one continuous mass. Add salt and pepper.

5. Drain the water from the potatoes, take a masher and make mashed potatoes by adding warmed milk.

6. Mix eggs with milk, season with salt and pepper. Fry an omelette from the egg mixture.

7. Take a warm plate and place spinach, mashed potatoes and scrambled eggs on it in three identical piles.

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Note!
Spinach can only be eaten freshly cooked; under no circumstances should it be reheated.

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Helpful advice
Do not save ready-made spinach dishes for a long time. Try to eat the dish right away. When stored for a long time, this product begins to release nitrogenous salts that are harmful to the human body.

Freezing for the winter - recipes with photos

Spinach requires efficiency from housewives, but its capriciousness is more than compensated by its usefulness. Knowing all the secrets of freezing it, you can safely buy it for future use!

5/5 (1)

Spinach, famous for its benefits, is good for everyone except one thing - it spoils too quickly. If you realize that you will not be able to cook and eat it within 12 hours of purchasing fresh spinach, better freeze it this green storehouse of vitamins. This way it will retain not only its freshness, but also most of its nutrients. How to freeze spinach?

The benefits and taste value of any dish depend not only on the skill of the housewife, but also on the correct choice of ingredients. Therefore, approach the selection and purchase of spinach responsibly.

• First of all, make sure that the product is environmentally friendly. After all, spinach has a unique ability to grow even in heavily contaminated soil containing heavy metals and hazardous substances. Spinach can absorb all these poisons. Therefore, you need to be sure that the greens you buy grew on clean soil. Study the price tags and labels, find on them the name of the farm where the spinach was grown and where it was brought from - these should be environmentally safe areas.
• Pay attention to the appearance of the leaves: they should be a rich green shade. This indicates the freshness of the product, and also the high content of vitamin C in the composition. In general, the “correct” leaves are smooth and juicy. Yellow, black spots, lethargy, signs of wilting, as well as other defects are unacceptable: they indicate damage to the spinach by insects, its staleness, or even disease. Such a product will definitely not bring any benefit, and may even cause harm.
• Smell the spinach: it should be tasty and have a fairly distinct smell. An unpleasant odor or complete absence of aroma indicates that the product is not fresh.
• Carefully, without breaking, feel the leaves by squeezing the tip of the leaf with two fingers. It should crunch slightly - this is another proof of freshness.

Tip: Give preference to specimens with not very thick stems. An overly wide stem indicates that the spinach is overripe - most likely, it has already accumulated too much bitterness.

Preparing everything you need to freeze for the winter

The most important, long and therefore difficult stage of preparation is washing spinach. It is necessary to thoroughly wash each leaf and stem, as there is a lot of dirt and aphids on them.

Advice: Cut off the stems, but don't throw them away - you'll need them later.

Recipe 1.

1. The easiest and fastest way is to freeze whole leaves. Place them in a saucepan and pour boiling water over them for 2 minutes. After this procedure, the leaves will become soft and lose a significant part of their volume - don’t worry, this is how it should be.
2. Place them in a colander, let the water drain, and when the greens have cooled, squeeze them out with your hands.
3. Next is a new test of patience: the leaves need to be rolled into tubes to save space in the freezer. But if you no longer have the strength to do this, just pick up the leaves in your palm and squeeze them in your fist: this will make them even more compact.

Tip: First, carefully place the resulting portions on a cutting board and place in the freezer. And when they freeze, put them in bags and place them again in the freezer - for long-term storage.

Recipe 2.

1. You can chop fresh leaves: then at the time of cooking you will not have to waste time on this.
2. Place the leaves cut into narrow (1-2 cm wide) strips into bags, release the air from them and roll them into tight rolls.

Recipe 3.

1. You can make spinach puree. For this, not only leaves are used, but also the above-mentioned stems.
2. Grind the greens with a blender, then place them in ice or candy molds and place in the freezer.
3. When the puree freezes, remove the resulting briquettes from the mold and put them in a bag.

Advice: Since the expiration date is of great importance for spinach, it makes sense to include notes in the bags indicating the freezing date. This will help you not to miss the moment when the greens expire.

How to store frozen

Spinach is so capricious that it can be stored even frozen. no more than 4 months. After this period, its use may be harmful to health. Therefore, try to quickly cook something tasty with these greens. And hurry up to eat the resulting dish: already on the second day, dangerous nitrogen compounds will begin to form in it.

Frozen Spinach Options

How to cook frozen spinach?

• Chopped spinach can be used for baking: open and closed pies and pies. Along with spinach, you can add unsweetened cottage cheese, cheese, eggs, chicken, fish and rice, and various vegetables as filling;
• Among the main dishes for which spinach is relevant: any soups, omelettes, vegetable and meat casseroles. You can add spinach to zrazy, as well as pancake dough.
• Spinach puree is useful for cream and puree soups, as well as a variety of sauces for meat, fish or pasta. Spinach puree will perfectly complement cutlets - both meat and fish.
• If you are a fan of healthy vegetable drinks, be sure to prepare a smoothie or multi-ingredient cocktail with spinach puree.

Spinach requires efficiency from housewives, but its capriciousness is more than compensated by its usefulness. Therefore, if you come across fresh spinach on store shelves, be sure to buy it. Now that you know all the secrets of freezing spinach, you can safely buy it for future use for 4 months in advance.

Spinach is called the king of vegetables - because of its usefulness and ability to enrich even the most delicious food with flavor.

Both frozen and fresh herbs look great in tart fillings, ravioli, and a creamy sauce is just the perfect addition to traditional pasta.

So, today on our table is frozen spinach and a recipe for making stewed greens with cream with step-by-step photographs.

And here’s the good news: I just love easy, nutritious meals that can be created from whatever is in the refrigerator.

Our pasta in creamy spinach sauce will be just like that.

Frozen spinach - side dish recipe

Let's start with the ingredients:

1. 1 package frozen spinach (400 g)
2. 3 small onions
3. 200 g cream of any fat content
4. 30 g butter
5. 250 g pasta (enough for a full meal for three people)
6. Salt, pepper, nutmeg to taste

Step 1:

We do not defrost spinach on purpose. Just put it on a plate and work on the other ingredients.

Step 2:

Melt butter in a frying pan. Chop the onion into half rings and fry until golden brown.

Step 3:

We also send pieces of spinach there. Cover with a lid and simmer for 10 minutes.

Step 4:

Pour in the cream in a thin stream. Let it simmer a little.

Salt, pepper, add spices. I chose nutmeg, but basil, dill, fennel, parsley and citrus zest go well with spinach greens.

As an additional dressing, you can use a couple of tablespoons of lime or lemon juice to make the taste more sour.

Step 5:

After another five minutes, turn off the finished dish. This is what cooked spinach in creamy sauce looks like:

Step 6:

Now all that remains is to put the pasta on the plate and decorate the dish beautifully, because food should bring ecstasy not only to our taste buds, but also to cultivate aesthetic beauty.

If desired, you can diversify the serving with balls of soft cream cheese - it will give several more flavor shades.

Tip: if you don’t want the pasta to be deposited on the sides, choose only a product made from durum wheat. This paste takes ten minutes or more to cook. The bigger, the better.

Bon appetit! And traditionally, a few words about why spinach is so cool and why it needs to be eaten in large quantities at any time of the year.

5+ Health Benefits of Spinach

1. It contains four times the required amount of vitamin K (and you will also find vitamins A and C, calcium, iron, beta-carotene, the list goes on for a long time)
2. For its ability to cleanse the body and have a good effect on the gastrointestinal tract, the French nicknamed it “a broom for the stomach”
3. Imagine, despite 20 calories per 100 grams, it is nutritious, stimulates satiety and fights cholesterol
4. Prevents the formation of cancer cells
5. Most greens are grown in China, and in the USA they even make cartoons about it and erect monuments - the pirate Popeye, after eating spinach, literally acquired heroic strength
6. Contains 90% water and is ideal for vitamin-rich vegetable smoothies
7. Persia is considered the birthplace of the vegetable (from Persian the word “spinach” is literally translated as “green hand”)

Frozen spinach - 5+ recipes with photos

Pkhali

Those who have been to Georgia know that pkhali, light with spices, is prepared there from literally everything.

Cabbage, eggplant, nettle, grape leaves, broccoli, etc. are used.

Thanks to proper processing, almost all the beneficial substances are retained in the dish, and a small list of ingredients makes it also cheap.

You can also use frozen spinach for pkhali.

For the recipe we take:

1. 500 g frozen vegetable
2. 50 g walnuts
3. 2 cloves garlic
4. Half a teaspoon of wine vinegar
5. Dry adjika on the tip of a knife
6. Two stalks of green onions
7. Half a bunch of basil, dill and cilantro
8. A piece of chili pepper for spicy lovers

Boil the spinach for five minutes in salted water, place in a colander, let drain and squeeze.

Finely chop the greens and garlic.

Grind the walnuts in a blender or crush them with a rolling pin.

Combine the ingredients in a deep bowl, season with adjika and vinegar, and salt.

Tip: By the way, in ancient times spinach juice was used as ink. So any dish you add it to will automatically take on a green tint.

French tart with cheese and spinach

The benefits of spinach are legendary. Most often, these greens can be found on sale not fresh, but frozen. How to cook frozen spinach? Oddly enough, this is even easier than preparing fresh herbs. Even inexperienced cooks who are dealing with spinach for the first time can handle the preparation.

About spinach

This green has a rather peculiar reputation. On the one hand, everyone knows that spinach is very healthy because it contains a record amount of iron. On the other hand, everyone (even those who have never eaten spinach) knows that this greenery tastes rather unpleasant.

The calorie content of spinach is only 23 calories, which is why those who are on a diet love to eat this greens. However, it is worth considering that most dishes with spinach are quite high in calories, since this plant goes perfectly with fatty foods - cream, cheeses, bacon.

Features of preparing frozen greens

If raw spinach must be washed, squeezed and chopped before cooking, having previously cut out the rough veins, then all these manipulations are no longer necessary with a frozen product. As a rule, greens are frozen already prepared - that is, peeled and chopped, in the form of a large block or individual small pieces. Spinach frozen in small portions is more convenient to use in cooking than large packages.

Delicious soup recipes

Frozen spinach, like fresh spinach, is ideal for making soups and sauces. Perhaps you should forget for a while that spinach has been considered a symbol of healthy eating for many years, and try combining this green with fatty and not very healthy foods. The results of such experiments usually turn out to be very interesting.

For example, creamy spinach soups are very tasty. They are prepared according to the same scheme. Frozen spinach should be placed in a frying pan with a drop of vegetable oil to melt. After this, add water to the greens and cook until tender. Then grind the mixture with a blender, add cream and heat. To improve the taste of this soup, you can add cheese (processed, regular grated, blue cheese, even pickled cheese), mushrooms, and ham. You can boil any vegetables along with spinach, but it is important that they are not sour, otherwise the cream in such a soup will curdle.

It's very easy to make cream cheese soup with spinach. It is prepared like regular cheese soup. - from a bow and carrots need to be fried, added to the water in which the potatoes cut into small cubes are boiled. After this, add grated processed cheese and spinach to the pan with constant stirring, then cook the soup until tender. This soup is served with fresh herbs; you can also add hard-boiled eggs.

Spinach goes well with meat or fish, including noble fish. You just need to add frozen herbs to the broth along with other vegetables that are needed in the recipe - and you will get an original and healthy soup.

Sauces, casseroles, pancakes and baked goods

Spinach sauce is easy to prepare: you need to simmer the greens with a small amount of butter, and then dilute with sour cream or cream. Various vegetables, onions, tomatoes, cheese, mushrooms, ham, and bacon can be used as additives. In any case, the result is a tasty and original sauce with a beautiful green hue. These sauces are great for potatoes, pasta, rice, and even as a stand-alone dish with golden brown croutons.

If you wish, you can come up with a more complicated dish. For example, use spinach sauce to make a casserole. It goes well with both various vegetables and starchy foods. Spinach can be baked with bechamel sauce, either alone or in combination with different types of cheese, eggs, vegetables or dough products. Simply baked spinach with cheese is also a very tasty and easy-to-make dish.

Spinach can be the basis for vegetable pancakes. They are easy to prepare, have an original taste and are much healthier than traditional dough products. You just need to make spinach puree, mix it with eggs and a small amount of flour to make a semi-liquid mass, and then fry the pancakes in oil or in a non-stick frying pan.

Spinach goes perfectly with cheeses. The spinach and cheese filling is suitable for stuffing large pasta, for making phyllo dough pies, for French quiches, and as a filling for dumplings, and for pizza.

Finally, spinach can be used to make a “coat” for baking fish or meat. The cooking technology is very simple: stew the greens in a frying pan, puree, spread on a piece of fillet, cover with dough or pour in sauce, and then put in the oven. Salmon fish baked in spinach puree looks especially beautiful - its pink tint harmonizes perfectly with the dark green color of the spinach puree.

Spinach is considered the king of vegetables because it is very healthy and can add rich flavor to even the simplest dish. Both fresh and frozen greens look great as fillings for lasagna, ravioli and other dishes. A creamy sauce based on it would be an ideal complement to traditional pasta.

So today we will talk about frozen spinach. We'll also look at how to make steamed greens with cream.

Frozen spinach - side dish recipe

Initially, you need to decide on the ingredients. Here is a list of them below:

• One pack of frozen spinach (400-500 grams);
• Three small onions;
• 200 grams of cream, and you can take any percentage of fat content acceptable to you;
• 30 grams of butter;
• 250 grams of pasta (this amount is enough to feed three people a full lunch;
• Nutmeg, salt, pepper (to taste).

So, we have decided on the main components. Now let's look at the step-by-step technique for preparing a side dish of frozen spinach.

Step 1.

First you need to prepare all the ingredients. There is no need to defrost spinach on purpose. The vegetable just needs to be put on a plate, and for a while you need to pay attention to other components.

Step 2.

Melt the butter in a frying pan. Along with this, it is necessary to chop the onion into half rings. Next, it is fried until it acquires a golden hue.

Step 3.

Before the spinach becomes completely soft, you need to pay attention to it. We send the vegetable to the onion in an already preheated frying pan. Cover the dish with a lid and let simmer for ten minutes.

Step 4.

At this stage it was time to add cream. Pour the product into the pan in a thin stream. All components should be allowed to simmer for a few minutes.

This is also the time to add salt, pepper and other spices as desired. Ideally, nutmeg would be suitable here, but you can use fennel, basil, parsley, dill, and citrus zest. All of these elements go well with spinach.

If you want the dish to feel sour, you can use a few tablespoons of lemon or lime as an additional dressing.

Step 5.

The finished dish must be turned off five minutes after the last manipulations. This is what spinach in creamy sauce looks like.

Step 6.

At this stage, mix the dressing and pre-boiled pasta. We put it on a plate and decorate the dish beautifully, because it is important to impress a person not only with taste, but also with aesthetic appearance.

If desired, you can diversify the serving with balls made from soft cream cheese. Then the flavors will be even brighter.

Important! If you want the dish to be lower in calories, then when choosing pasta for pasta you need to pay attention to products made from durum wheat. The paste is cooked for more than ten minutes and is not so harmful to the figure.

That's all. Bon appetit!

The benefits of spinach

As usual, let’s say a few words about what spinach is actually good for and what its benefits are. The positive aspects of the king of vegetables are as follows:

• Spinach contains four times the required amount of vitamin K. In addition, you will find vitamin C and A, iron, beta-carotene, calcium and other useful elements;
• It is able to cleanse the body and has a positive effect on the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract. No wonder the French called spinach “a broom for the stomach”;
• Low calorie content. 100 grams of the product contains only 20 calories. Despite this, it is nutritious, is responsible for the process of saturating the body, and effectively fights cholesterol;
• Prevents the development of cancer;
• Most spinach is grown in China; in the States, cartoons are made about this vegetable, and monuments are erected to it. For example, a pirate named Popeye, after eating spinach, received literally heroic strength;
• Spinach contains 90% water. Hence, it is perfect for making vitamin-enriched vegetable smoothies;
• Spinach is good for the thyroid gland as it contains iodine. It is very easily and quite quickly absorbed by the body and digested, which many other vegetables cannot boast of;
• Spinach acts as a kind of protection for the mucous membrane and is responsible for normalizing carbohydrate metabolism. The vegetable is considered a key participant in the production of hormones that are essential for the human body;
• Spinach is beneficial for the intestines because it contains large quantities of chlorophyll and fiber. As a result, it helps relieve constipation;
• Spinach contains lutein. This substance is responsible for improving eye function; the vegetable can be eaten to prevent retinal dystrophy. Spinach is extremely important to eat for those who spend a lot of time at the computer. Lutein helps reduce fatigue and tension. Vision problems will not bother you if you eat at least 350 grams of spinach per week.

Interesting to know! In general, Persia is considered the birthplace of spinach. Translated from the local language, the word means “green hand”

Popular recipes with frozen spinach

Pkhali

Those who have once visited Georgia know that pkhali is a light vegetable snack seasoned with spices. In this kitchen it is prepared from literally everything. The main ingredients may include:

• Beet;
• Grape leaves;
• Broccoli;
• Cabbage;
• Nettle;
• Eggplant.

Main components:

• 500 grams of frozen spinach;
• Two cloves of garlic;
• 50 grams of walnuts;
• Two stalks of green onions;
• Half a teaspoon of flexible vinegar;
• Half a bunch of cilantro, basil and dill in similar quantities;
• If you are a spicy lover, you can add a piece of chili pepper.

The spinach itself is placed in salted water and boiled for five minutes. Next, we throw the main raw material into a colander and let it drain, then squeeze it out.

Cut the garlic and herbs into small pieces. It is better to grind walnuts in a blender; you can also crush them using a rolling pin. All components should be combined in a deep bowl, seasoned with vinegar, adjika and salt.

Interesting to know! In ancient times, spinach juice was used as ink. Any dish to which this vegetable is added will acquire a greenish tint.

French tart with spinach and cheese

The dish is a pie, tasting which a person can feel that he is in sunny Provence, filled with the tastes of grapes and aromatic oils. Tart can serve as both an appetizer and a full-fledged independent dish.

The required components are as follows:

• 50 grams of grated parmesan;
• A tablespoon of olive oil;
• 100 milliliters of cream;
• Half a package of ready-made yeast-free dough (puff pastry);
• One package of frozen spinach;
• 200 grams of ricotta cheese.

You should start preparing the dish by defrosting the dough. It is laid out in the most suitable baking form, and we make punctures with a fork. A layer of parchment is placed on top. To prevent the dough from puffing up during baking, it is sprinkled with beans. The next step is to send it to the oven, preheated at 180 degrees for 15 minutes.

While the dough is baking, make the filling. It is important to remember that spinach does not need to be defrosted, it is simply stewed in a frying pan with olive oil. When it is ready, add cream and two types of cheese.

To make the mass concentrated, you can add a few tablespoons of ground ice seeds diluted with water.

The spinach is laid out in a prepared form and sent back to the oven. Now the baking time is 25 minutes. The dish is usually served cold.

Attention! A similar filling can be used as mince for Italian cannelloni.

Tomatoes baked with basil and spinach

Let's remember a dish of Italian cuisine. Just from using this phrase your appetite should increase significantly.

Main components:

• Four medium tomatoes;
• One eggplant;
• Bunch of basil;
• Three cloves of garlic;
• Half a package of frozen spinach;
• 50 milligrams of olive oil;
• Half a teaspoon of salt;
• 2/3 teaspoon Italian herbs.

Cut off the tops of the tomatoes and set them aside for now. They will be useful for lids later. The so-called “entrails” themselves are removed with a spoon and placed in a separate bowl.

Cut the eggplant into small cubes and fry it in olive oil, add spices and salt to taste, and the remaining tomatoes. The whole mixture is thoroughly mixed and simmered in a frying pan for several minutes.

We stuff the blanks with filling. They should be closed with lids and placed in the oven to bake for 30 minutes.

In this case, the spinach itself must be thawed and ground together with basil and garlic in a blender. The sauce is brought to a boil, water is added, but the consistency should be closer to thick. It should be served along with prepared tomatoes.

Cottage cheese and potato casserole with rosemary

To prepare this independent and very tasty dish, you need to take the following components:

• A pack of cottage cheese (250 g);
• Four potatoes;
• Half a pack of frozen spinach;
• One branch of rosemary;
• Olive oil;
• A third of a bunch of basil;
• Salt to taste;
• Three tablespoons of flour.

Potatoes are boiled with rosemary and mashed. Spinach can be defrosted in the microwave by turning on the appropriate mode for five minutes.

As for cottage cheese, it is mixed with flour, salt, and pre-chopped basil. Next, spinach and mashed potatoes are added to the mixture.

If we consider the classic version of the dish - casserole, then an egg is added to it. In the case of vegetarians, you can use flax seeds ground with water for gluing.

The whole mass is laid out in a mold greased with olive oil. It should be baked in the oven for more than 40 minutes. When ready to serve, the dish is usually served with sour cream.

Cheese soup with spinach

We couldn't help but give an example of a nutritious first course that includes frozen spinach. Let's prepare a traditional hot version. For this we need:

• 2.5 liters of purified water;
• Packaging of frozen spinach;
• 100 grams of rice;
• Three medium-sized potatoes;
• One carrot;
• One onion;
• One processed cheese;
• Greens in the form of parsley and dill;
• Salt, pepper, Provençal herbs to taste.

Onions and carrots are fried in olive oil. Pre-defrosted spinach is also sent there. Rice and potatoes are boiled in two liters of water until tender. Next, frying, spices, and diced cheese are added to the pan.

During cooking, stir the dish with a spoon until the cheese is completely dissolved. The soup is poured into bowls and sprinkled with fresh herbs.

Frozen spinach salad

From this article you can see that there are many ways to cook spinach. It remains to supplement the list with a cold appetizer in the form of a salad of frozen greens. To prepare you need to take:

• One package of spinach;
• Two stalks of green onions;
• A tablespoon of sesame seeds;
• Three tablespoons of soy sauce;
• One tablespoon of olive oil;
• Half a lemon;
• Salt to taste.

To defrost spinach, pour boiled water over it. Next, we squeeze through a colander and mix the main component with finely chopped onion and flaxseeds, fried in a frying pan.

Next we move on to preparing a dressing from soy sauce, oil, lemon juice, and salt. As a result, we get the maximum amount of vitamins for the minimum price.

We suggest you find out more about frozen spinach in the following video