Sauteed Spinach with White Beans and Pine Nuts

Wednesday was a busy day. Vince and Tammy got up early and went to the Space Museum. When they got back, Vince and Jim played golf. Tammy and I had lunch at the club and then went to a store in our center that has bars that can be purchased for their basement area. That night we went to dinner at Clare’s at the Depot in Warrenton. Dinner was great.


Thursday was the White House tour. We had lunch at Central downtown and then came home. Tammy took Vince back to the store so he could look at all the bars. I knew I would be exhausted as I can’t remember the last time I was aware of 4:30 AM. Jim wanted to be at the head of the commute which is considered the worst in the nation. It only takes one incident to hold you up for hours. We had breakfast and hung out at the Marriot until it was time for our tour. On TV there, we learned that President Obama was in Prague but we still held out hope of seeing Bo.

Thursday night Jim wanted steak and wine. Everything else was to take a take a backseat. I purchased pate and cheese for our appetizers and Vince made drinks for everyone. I warned Vince that Jim can only pour wine or Scotch, so if he wanted a drink, tell me what ingredients to buy, but he had to make it. He made great Cosmos and VO Manhattans. Jim cooked the steaks on the grille and I made Sautéed Spinach with white beans and pine nuts from Fine Cooking April/May. It served 4 as a side dish, perfect as I did not have to cut anything in half.

2T EVOO
2T Pine Nuts
1 large clove garlic, thinly sliced
1 15.5 can of cannellini beans
1# fresh spinach
¼ t Salt
½ C lightly packed fresh Basil thinly sliced
1T grated lemon zest
Black pepper

Heat a 12” skillet over medium heat. Add EVOO, pine nuts, and garlic stirring often until the nuts are golden and the garlic is fragrant, about a minute. Add the beans and stir another minute to heat through. Add the spinach and salt. Turn with tongs and cover until wilted about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and add the basil lemon zest and a few grinds of pepper. This was fast, easy and good. The recipe also says that you can serve two as a vegetarian meal topped with a poached or fried egg.

The wines were the center of the meal. Jim served Opus One, 1995 and Chateau Mouton Rothschild, 1998. I asked to have my second portion of the Mouton aerated. The Opus One was outstanding.

We had a chocolate tasting and port for dessert. I got up to see them off this morning for the long haul back to Northern IN. They took ham sandwiches and breakfast bars along for the trip.
We are having leftovers for dinner tonight.