UPDATE II: No one really knows yet what caused the national outbreak of E. coli poisoning from bagged spinach. California's spinach industry is taking a real economic hit, as sales of the product are still banned nationwide. One death is definitely tied to the bagged spinach E. coli outbreak; another may be. Most victims simply got sick; 130 cases have been reported. Public health authorities are trying to figure it all out, and contaminated irrigation water is one possible culprit. In such instances, washing the spinach won't help, but boiling it will likely kill the germs, according to the Centers For Disease Control.

Which would at least leave us with goma ae, the fine Japanese spinach dish, in which the spinach leaves are boiled; drained and chilled with soy and sesame seed; and served up as an appetizer or side dish. Perhaps alongside your tonkatsu pork cutlet in a crisp Panko breading napped with that special plum sauce; perhaps accompanying your mackerel teriyaki; or with Korean gal-bi ribs.

Spinach is about: balancing the ingredients in your meals; nutrition and health; and richly varied preparations from all corners of the globe.

It is only natural, in an unnatural way I suppose, that the modern quest for convenience has led to the proliferation of the bagged, pre-washed variety of spinach now at the center of the mysterious E. coli outbreak. It is far preferable for the time-pressed home cook, as rinsing unbagged spinach leaves takes ages and doesn't really work too well. There's always serious grit you missed, somehow, even after the third, soggy go-round. I swore off that years ago.

I had some of the bagged stuff in my fridge right when the E. coli scare hit, and my family had been eating it right along. In a Chinese soup one night, and I was going to put some in a dinner salad the day I heard the news. Almost didn't dump it, as no one here had gotten ill, but decided to play it safe. Right now, some unscrupulous grocers are reportedly selling banned bagged spinach out of the bags. I hope at present that people are steering clear of all but certified organic and homegrown.

The E. coli mystery will eventually be solved, with necessary corrections. If the growers have been skating around health issues, the state and feds will have to ensure otherwise, although regaining marketshare should be motivation enough for growers to go all out. I am counting on a bagged spinach revival because of the financial stakes; and because to me, life without it is simply not plausible.

Collards, mustard greens and turnip greens are all fairly wonderful, but they have their peculiarities and limitations. Escarole, endive and especially frisee are sublime, but face it, they're an aquired taste and far less versatile than spinach. Broccoli rabe I love but its bitter taste, like that of mustard greens, is offputting to some. Mesclun is too fancy-pants; sugar-pea vine wonderful in stir fries but typically available only in Asian markets and then a heck of a lot of work to stem, partly because the leaves are so small.

All of which is to say that other greens tend to have their pecadillios.

A few preparations help demonstrate why spinach, most particularly the handy bagged kind, is of primal importance in the larger scheme of things.

Sag Paneer. This classic Indian dish (pictured below, left) is made with bagged spinach finely chopped in a food processor, then eased into a basic white sauce jazzed up with basic Indian spices such as ground cumin, cayenne, coriander, clove, Kosher salt, and a small pinch of fenugreek if you have it. After simmering over a low heat for about 20 minutes, you add pre-browned cubes of the pale white, looks-like-tofu vegan Indian cheese called paneer; mix it in thoroughly and cook another 15 or so minutes. Hit the concoction with a bit of cream, stirred in during the last minutes of cooking. Serve as part of an Indian feast.

I still remember a dinner at cozy, funky Moti Mahal on Belmont Avenue in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood, just down the street from the then-abode of my bride and I, when the wonderfully mad and manic Mumbai George (where are you now dude?) upscaled my order of sag paneer at no extra cost by substituting chicken for paneer in the velvety spinach. Where he came from, that was a real sign of favored treatment.

Sag lamb is another option; the meat should be lean and tenderly cooked.

Stir-fried spinach, Chinese style. With plenty of chopped garlic, and chicken or Chinese BBQ pork. Use loads of spinach, because of course it shrinks a lot when you cook it.

Good-old fashioned creamed spinach. Can't beat it. Bagged leaves chopped finely in the food processor are crucial here.

Hedonistic Spinach Salad. With crumbled bacon, blue cheese, hard-boiled egg slices, marinated beets, candied pecans and a zesty garlic-mustard vinaigrette. Without the bagged pre-washed leaves, this is a virtual non-starter, sorry to say. It's just not the same with Romaine, either.

Anyway. We'll get to the bottom of this spinach imbroglio BEFORE there appears a ponderous five-part series in some some frumpy MSM daily titled: "Spinach - An Industry In....(wait for it now)......CRISIS."

We'd damn well better, anyway.

TECHNORATI TAGS: SPINACH, GREENS, BAGGED SPINACH, E. COLI, CALIFORNIA, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL GOMA AYE, SAG PANEER, CHICAGO, BELMONT AVE., MOTI MAHAL, LAKEVIEW, STIR FRY, CREAMED SPINACH, SPINACH SALAD

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at September 20, 2006 04:48 PM