This dish is inspired by a Croatian dish called blitva, which is swiss chard with minced garlic and potatoes. Very easy to cook, and you can eat a lot of spinach in one serving.
An Unforgettable Croatian Food – Blitva
In my visit to Croatia, I had a grilled whole sea bream in a very popular restaurant called Villa Spiza. The sea bream was of course delicious, but what I have always missed was that side dish.
Later, I found out that side dish is called blitva, which is Swiss chard and potatoes fried with minced garlic (Swiss chard translated into Croatian is also called blitva).
The stems of Swiss chard are brightly colored, ranging from yellow to purple to orange, in many different colors, while the leaves are dark green. Swiss chard is slightly bitter on its own, but when cooked it becomes sweet and has a spinach-like flavor.
Note: Spinach will produce water
The Blitva recipe found on the Internet is simple: boil potatoes and Swiss chard in salted water, fry minced garlic in olive oil, add vegetables and stir well to taste.
When I cooked it for the first time, I used spinach instead of Swiss chard. I threw the spinach directly into the pot, and as a result, the spinach released too much water, and the taste of the whole dish became bland.
So, the next time, I first dry-cooked the spinach, released most of the water and drained it. Also, I used butter instead of olive oil, it really tasted like what you eat in a restaurant.
Ingredients
- 250 g baby spinach
- 250 g potatoes, peeled, cut into big chunks
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 10 g butter
- salt and pepper
How To Make Croatian Blitva inspired Spinach with Potatoes
- Boil potatoes in salted water for about 10 mins or until cooked through, set aside.
- Cook spinach in a dry pan, until wilted and released its water, set aside.
- Melt butter in the same pan with low heat, fry garlic until fragrant, then add potatoes and mash part of them.
- Add spinach, salt and pepper for seasoning, everything stir-fry well, serve hot.
More Tasty Spinach Recipes
- Afghan Slow Cooked Spinach
- Salmon Spinach Spaghetti in Forest Sauce
- Smoked Salmon Spinach Spaghetti with Cashew Cream
- 【15 mins】Spinach Radish Miso Soup
- Chickpea and Spinach Coconut Curry
