We bought a big bag of spinach.
When we looked at the vitamin rankings, spinach seemed to outperform many of the vegetables we usually eat — like asparagus and broccoli — and it made us wonder:
why isn’t spinach part of our regular grocery basket?
So this time, during our weekly shopping, we came home with a huge bag of spinach.
I found myself wondering how many meals that much spinach could possibly make. Giovanni said spinach risotto would be great, so I searched online and found a few spinach risotto recipes.
In Iran, we usually eat spinach in two ways: spinach with yogurt, and a stew called aloo-esfenaj made with spinach and plums. The first is more like an appetizer, while the second is a main dish usually eaten with white rice.
But this time, I wanted to try spinach in risotto too.
Following the recipe I had found, I sautéed some onions and then added the spinach. I could barely fit all of it into the pan. There was absolutely no room left to move anything around.
For a moment, I thought maybe I should remove half of it — it simply looked like too much spinach for two people. But the recipe clearly said:
400 grams of spinach.
So I put the lid on the pan and lowered the heat.
Five minutes later, when I lifted the lid, that enormous mountain of spinach had disappeared.
The spinach had wilted down, and suddenly there was enough space for the wooden spoon to move around freely.
And it made me think that many people are a little like spinach.
When they speak, you feel as if you are standing in front of a mountain of experience and expertise. But after a while, you realize the mountain was never quite as massive as it first seemed — like a balloon suddenly collapsing after the touch of a needle.
I don’t know if the lesson here is that we shouldn’t be like spinach.
After all, spinach — even after shrinking so much — is still necessary for life 🙂
