Shrimp with spinach and garlic

This dish contains less than 5 main ingredients and takes under 15 minutes to go from fridge to tabletop.

There are some leafy greens that never cease to amaze me, spinach being one of them. In minutes,  seemingly enormous piles of this delicate green wilt down to a mere nothing. Tonight I'm using tender adult leaves, somewhere in between baby spinach and the full-grown version. If you choose baby spinach you will have to increase the amount even further.  Estimate one full bunch per person (see quarter for scale in the picture above). Spinach adores growing in sandy soil, so make sure to rinse well. Eating sand doesn't feel good. Frozen spinach works fine too.

Here is what you will need:

• Spinach
• Shrimp
• Garlic
• Olive Oil
• Salt & Pepper
• Carbohydrate (that's Israeli Couscous in the little blue bowl)

A  nice deep frying pan comes in handy, allowing the spinach to be smushed down all at one, otherwise work in batches. Sometimes spinach releases a large amount of water, if this happens just drain off the excess before adding the shrimp.


Peel shrimp as needed (save peels, see below). Heat a few tablespoons of oil in the pan, add thinly sliced garlic, then the spinach and let it wilt for a few minutes. Add shrimp, and as soon as you see the edges turning opaquely pink flip shrimp over, turn off the flame and add a lid. The shrimp will continue to cook in the residual heat. Check after 3-4 minutes, season with salt and pepper, add a fresh drizzle of olive oil and it is done!

Serve with a starch of your choice: Israeli or regular cous-cous; pasta; polenta; cornbread; or even a crusty French bread.

If you want to be naughty, sprinkle with  crispy, salty cubes of fried pancetta or bacon. A sprinkling of hot pepper flakes and/or lemon zest adds more zip.

And, now for the peels: resist the temptation to just toss them. Instead, place them in a small pot, add just enough water to cover, and boil under a lid for about 10-20 minutes. The yield will be a pale pink liquid, delicately perfused with shrimp aroma and flavor. I pour it into a plastic container, labeled with the date it was made and keep it frozen until I need some stock for any seafood dish.