2020 has been a year where I had a love hate relationship with food. Some days I’d have an insatiable motivation to cook the most elaborate dishes and try complicated, five pages long, bread recipes and on some days, I didn’t even want to open the fridge. Lately I found the balance by finding comfort in simplicity. Cooking simpler food that I love, I know how to cook and that doesn’t require 15 obscure ingredients that I would normally enjoy searching in crowded shelves of specialty stores, seems to do the trick. 

So here is a fancy looking yet simple salad (or side dish, meze) recipe that needs only 5 ingredients plus salt. You can serve it as a salad or a side dish, it goes really well with rice and meats, or you can spread large dollops on a slice of bread and call it lunch on a day you don’t feel like cooking. 

As 2020 is coming to a close, I am starting to enjoy cooking again. It is a slow process but sticking to simpler and familiar food has been helpful. How is your relationship with cooking this year? Comment below, I’d love to hear your thoughts. 

Yields: 6 servings Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

2 cups plain yogurt (or Greek yogurt diluted with 2-3 tbsp water)

1 garlic clove, grated

Pinch of salt

2 bunches fresh spinach (not baby spinach)

1 tbsp tomato paste

2 tbsp olive oil

Preparation

1. Throughly wash the spinach. Most spinach leaves have some residue soil on the stems, so the best way to wash them is to submerge in water for 5 minutes and let the soil, if there is any, fall to the bottom. You can also wash them in a colander in small batches, rubbing with your hands until all the residue is washed away. 

2. Place the yogurt in a serving platter like a wide pasta bowl. If you are using Greek yogurt, add 2-3 tablespoons of water to make the yogurt runnier. Mix until the yogurt is smooth 

3. Add the salt and grated garlic into the yogurt and stir until evenly distributed. Spread the garlicky yougurt evenly inside the platter.

4. Over medium heat, cook down the spinach until they are wilted but still in bright green colors, 2-3 minutes. Transfer to the serving platter and distribute evenly over the yogurt.

5. Add the olive oil and tomato paste into a small pot (I use a Turkish coffee pot). Over medium-high heat, while stirring, warm up the olive oil and the tomato paste. When the oil turns into red and starts to bubble a bit, take off of the heat. With the help of a spoon distribute dollops of the tomato sauce over the spinach and drizzle any leftover oil all over the dish.

6. Serve warm. This dish is still delicious chilled as well. 

Enjoy!