Dinner time #4 Espinacas con Garbanzos (Spinach with Garbanzo Beans)

This time dinner for my lovely friend from Greece Kristina for her birthday inspired by my trip in Andalusia. We had wonderful time with amazing meal. 

Recipe: Espinacas con Garbanzos (Spinach with Garbanzo Beans)

Summary: This recipe can be eaten as a side dish or as a light meal. It's great with meatballs and some crusty garlic bread (as I made for my company). It is one of the very popular choices of tapas in Andalusia’s bars. I tried for the first time this in restaurant during my stay in Cordoba. This meal made me fall in love with garbanzo beans again (first I tried hummus with it which is one of my favorite side dish and dip since my summer in UK).

 
Ingredients:

• 1 onion;
• 1-2 glove garlic;
• 1 cup tomato sauce;
• 500 gr. fresh spinach;
• 185 gr. garbanzo beans(drained);
• Pinch of herbs de Provence and Rosemaria;
• Sea salt;
• Fresh grounded black peppers; 
• Olive oil;

Instructions:

1. Prepare all your ingredients. Rinse chickpeas and spinach really well thorough running water. Chop garlic and onion into peaces. 
2. In large pan or in big pot heat olive oil in medium-low heat. Cook the garlic and the onion in the oil about 5-6 minutes until you can feel the smell of garlic all in your kitchen.
3. Add tomatoes sauce, boiled a little about 3-4 minutes, put spinach in and cover all for few minutes.
4. Stir in garbanzos with all spices and salt.
5. Lightly mash the beans and mixture with wooden stirring spoon. 
6. Allow to cook until thoroughly heated. 
7. Enjoy your meal for dinner or lunch.

Quick notes: do not be surprised then from big pile of spinach becomes just a small mash. Also, first time then I cooked this meal I need to add a little bit of water so next time I add more sauce in the beginning. I think it was because at first time I boiled it too long( my friend was a bit late) so it got drier then next times.

Variations: good as side with meatballs or just a bread like tapas. You can add more veggies and do it in your own way, because it is really flexible(if I can say this word when I describing meal) for all kind of variations.

Preparation time: 10-15min.

Cooking time: it depends how much you want to boiled them. You can do it for 10-20min if you a really hungry and longer if you are still waiting for someone. But remember as long as you do it longer the spinach will get smaller and dryer, so you need add more sauce and greens.

Diet tags: Suitable for vegetarians and height in proteins even if it is without any kind of meat. Beans are really good switch for meat when you need to get more nutrition which you do not get when you do not eat meat.

Number of servings: 3-4 as a side/1-2 as main course;

My rating 5 stars: ★★★★★

Friend(-s) rating 5 stars: ★★★★

“Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside.”
― Mark Twain

So enjoy your dinner tonight and remember always is more fun to dine with someone or even cook for someone. 

Hope you all looking forward to my new cookings. I think next time will be something for dessert...

xx Moni