Baked Spinach

You must use fresh spinach leaves for this dish which makes a tasty light meal on its own or a quick and easy vegetable with fish or meat.  The whole thing is cooked in the oven and there is no need to toast the pine nuts.

Strip the spinach leaves away from any thick stalks and dry thoroughly after washing. I use a salad spinner to achieve this. The rest of the ingredients are as follows:

• 1kg spinach leaves
• 6tbs olive oil
• 2 chopped garlic cloves
• 4tbs pine nuts
• 150g Mozzarelli cheese, grated
• Parmesan or Pecorino cheese to taste
• salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 220°C, 425°F

Put the oil and garlic in a roasting tin or baking dish and spread the spinach on top. Pack it well in and then top with the Mozzarella and pine nuts, in that order. Season with salt and pepper and bake in the oven for 15 minutes.

Grate some Parmesan or Pecorino cheese over the top, add a few twists of black pepper, and return to the oven for a further 5 minutes. Serve at once.

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