Speedy, versatile and nutritious, Rachel Allen’s spinach recipes for curry, soup, potatoes and frittata make it easy to eat your greens

You can cook the stalks too but remember that they’ll take a few minutes longer to tenderise than the leaves themselves. I love making a classic spinach a la creme where the stalks are sliced, then boiled until tender in salted water before the leaves are added in and cooked quickly before draining. Then add both into a pan with a generous dollop of cream and bubble up for a minute or two until slightly thickened.

I often add spinach into curries and stews just a few minutes before the end of cooking and in this chickpea, spinach and coconut curry, you have a really satisfying vegetarian main course that’s full of flavour and goodness in under half and hour.

Chickpea, spinach and coconut curry

Serves 4-6

You will need:

• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 8 spring onions, sliced
• 1-2 large cloves of garlic, sliced
• Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 2 x 400g tins of chickpeas
• 1 x 400g tin of coconut milk
• 100g red lentils
• 125g spinach leaves
• 2 tablespoons chopped coriander
• A squeeze of lemon juice

​1 Place a large saucepan on a medium heat to warm up. Spoon in the coconut oil, allow it to melt, then add in the sliced spring onions and the garlic. Season with salt and pepper, then turn the heat down, cover the pan with a lid and cook gently for a few minutes until the spring onions have softened.

​2 Add in the turmeric and the cumin, turn the heat up and stir for a few seconds until the spices are aromatic, then drain the chickpeas and add those in. Place the coconut milk in with the chickpeas and then fill the coconut milk tin with water and pour that in too, along with the red lentils. Bring the mixture to the boil, then cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes, until the lentils are completely tender.

​3 While the lentils are cooking, prepare the spinach. If it’s perpetual spinach that has large stalks, then you’ll need to remove the stalks from the leaves. Slice the leaves, then set aside. Cut the stalks into pieces approximately 1cm long. If you’re using baby spinach leaves, then there’s no need to separate the stalks from the leaves.

​4 When the lentils are tender, add the spinach stalks into the curry and cook, uncovered, for a couple of minutes until tender, then tip in the sliced spinach leaves and cook for a couple of minutes more, until tender.

​5 Add in the chopped coriander, then season to taste with salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice. Serve the curry with rice, and if you wish, some thick natural yoghurt.

Spinach and rosemary soup

I love a vibrant green soup and this spinach soup recipe, also uses rosemary which works really well flavour-wise, though if you prefer, you can replace it with a pinch of ground nutmeg instead. It’s a master recipe that works with other greens too such as chard, kale, watercress, wild garlic or nettles and also freezes perfectly. To serve the soup ‘brothy’ style, just increase the stock to 750ml, omit the milk and cream, and do not blend.

Serves 6

You will need:

• 15g butter
• 110g peeled and chopped onions
• 150g peeled and chopped potatoes
• Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
• 600ml chicken or vegetable stock
• 275g spinach (stalks removed before weighing), chopped
• 2 teaspoons chopped rosemary
• 600ml milk — see Tip, below

​1 Melt the butter in a saucepan over a medium heat. Add the chopped onions and potatoes, season with salt and pepper, stir and cover with a butter wrapper or a piece of parchment paper and the saucepan lid. Turn the heat down to low and sweat gently for 10 minutes, stirring every now and again.

​2 After 10 minutes, pour the stock into the saucepan, turn the heat up to high and bring to the boil. Check that the potatoes and onions are tender, if not, cook them for a couple of minutes longer until they are.

​3 Tip in the chopped spinach, season with salt and pepper, and cook, uncovered, over a high heat for 1–2 minutes or until the spinach is just cooked. As soon as the spinach is cooked, add in the chopped rosemary and take the pot off the heat.

​4 Add in the milk, and the cream if using (see Tip), and blend the soup straight away to preserve the lovely fresh green colour of the spinach. Taste for seasoning, and serve.

Rachel Recommends To prevent the spinach and rosemary soup losing its fresh green colour and flavour, it’s important to reheat it without the lid on, and also to avoid prolonged simmering.

Top Tip Replace 100ml of the milk in the soup with the same amount of cream for an even richer result.

Spinach and olive layered potatoes

For a veggie meal or a delicious accompaniment to roasted lamb or chicken, try this potato gratin, that has spinach and olives between the layers. Leave out the olives if you wish and increase the spinach, but make sure to cook the potatoes until they are meltingly tender.

Serves 4-6

You will need:

• 800g peeled potatoes (I weigh these after peeling)
• 25g soft butter
• 2 small pinches of ground nutmeg
• 2 large cloves of chopped garlic
• 2 tablespoons chopped stoned black olives
• 2 large handfuls spinach leaves (destalked and chopped if large)
• 250ml cream
• 40g finely grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 litre pie or gratin dish

​1 Preheat the oven to 180C, 350F, Gas 4.

​2 Slice the peeled potatoes, as evenly as possible, about 5mm thick.

​3 Rub half of the soft butter in the base and sides of the gratin dish.

​4 Divide the sliced potatoes into three batches. Place one third of the sliced potatoes on the base of the dish to cover the bottom, season with a pinch of salt, pepper and nutmeg, half of the chopped garlic, and dot with the remaining butter. Add 1 tablespoon of the chopped olives and 1 large handful of the spinach leaves.

​5 Next add another third of the potatoes, laying them out to cover the first layer, season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Add the remainder of the garlic, and then the remaining chopped olives and the spinach.

​6 Arrange the final and third layer of potatoes nicely over the top, season again, and pour over the cream — it should come just over half way up the sides of the dish.

​7 Scatter with the finely grated cheese, cover with a layer of parchment paper and place in the oven for approximately 1¼ hours, removing the parchment paper lid after 30 minutes. The potatoes should be completely tender and the top golden with the cream bubbling up the sides of the dish when ready.

Spinach, bacon and gruyere frittata

A frittata is a warm and accommodating host for a myriad of different ingredients but of course eggs and spinach are a great match. This recipe is so fast so there’s not much need to prepare ahead. The frittata can be kept somewhere cool for up to 24 hours and either eaten at room temperature or placed back in a preheated oven to reheat gently. It’s ideal for packed lunches too!

Serves 4-6

You will need:

• 1 tablespoon water
• 350g spinach, stalks discarded and leaves washed (weight after stalks removed), shredded
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 200g streaky bacon rashers, cut into lardons
• 8 eggs
• 125ml cream
• 100g grated gruyere cheese
• 25g butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

1 Preheat an oven to 200C, 400F, Gas 6.

​2 Place a large frying pan (about 25cm in diameter) on a medium heat, add the water and the spinach leaves and stir over the heat until the spinach wilts. Drain the spinach (reserve the cooking liquid for soup or just to drink if you like) and set aside.

​3 Place the pan back on a medium heat and add the olive oil and the bacon lardons and cook until light golden. Tip the bacon out of the pan (keeping any fat in the pan) and put with the spinach.

​4 In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs with the cream and the grated cheese. Mix in the spinach and bacon and season to taste. If you don’t want to taste the mixture like this you can always cook a teaspoonful of the mixture in the frying pan, then taste for seasoning.

​5 Put the pan back on the heat and add the butter and the 1 tablespoon of olive oil. When the butter foams, pour in the mixture and turn the heat down to low. Cook for about 3-4 minutes until the frittata is a light golden colour underneath.

​6 Put into the preheated oven and cook for about 8-10 minutes until it is just set in the centre. Slide on to a warm plate and cut in to slices to serve.