4 cups peanut oil (for frying, about 4 cups)
10 ounces clean fresh spinach (Dried!!)
Buy the bag of Baby Spinach that is already washed
Sea Salt or Regular Salt
freshly grated Parmesan Cheese to taste-optional
Prep Time: 10 mins
Total Time: 15 mins
Make sure the spinach is dry... any water remaining on it will make grease splatter.
Total Time: 15 mins
Make sure the spinach is dry... any water remaining on it will make grease splatter.
Use one bag of baby spinach (if you can find it), or buy regular spinach and tear it up into smaller pieces. Remove the stems.
Pour about 2 inches of peanut oil in your frying pan (depth). Heat on high. Keep an eye on it, but when it gets that "greasy, glossy" look it's probably getting close. You can test when it's ready by putting in one piece of spinach. If it starts to fry quickly and curl up, you're ready to go. It takes 5 to 10 minutes to heat the oil, depending on your stove capacity.
Take the spinach a handful at a time and drop it into the oil. If it's not wet, you're fine. Stand back. If it's wet, stand back a lot! Flip the spinach over with a slotted spoon so it gets fried on both sides and doesn't stick in a wad. The spinach will curl and start to look like "old person skin." This will take 30 seconds max. Scoop it out of the oil and onto the towels to drain. Immediately sprinkle with sea salt. Let it sit about 30 seconds before tasting. It's amazing. It will melt on your tongue and you might even feel it sizzle or sing. If it's just limp and greasy, you didn't cook it quite long enough.
The trick is it doesn't take too long before the edges burn and it's overdone. Cook a second batch. This is when you are proud of yourself and you call everyone over to take a taste. You can even set up an assembly line. Just place a new layer of paper towels for each batch. (The paper industry will love you for this.) Keep frying 'til you have as much as you want.
