How spinach puree is prepared, useful properties and harm when used. Food recipes. Fun facts about leafy vegetables and a diet to lose weight with green puree.
Spinach puree is a dish, the main ingredient of which is the plant itself with leaves and stems, and additional, if you adhere to the classic recipe, are a small amount of butter and spices. It is considered a classic American dish. An annual herb of the Amaranth family of the genus Spinach is a leafy vegetable. Leaves (sometimes petioles) of a dark green color and a slightly bitter taste are used for food. With proper heat treatment, the amount of nutrients that are in the composition of the plant decreases slightly. In combination with butter, they are fully assimilated.
How is spinach puree made?
There are many ways to prepare this dish. Oils are introduced into it - butter or vegetable, vegetable or meat broth, milk, cream and various seasonings.
Before making spinach puree, you need to rinse the leaves, sort out, prepare a saucepan or thick-walled dishes. The leafy vegetable should be stewed or lightly boiled and then mashed.
Puree options:
- Classic recipe … 0.5 kg of leaves are cut, sautéed in butter (50 g) until soft for 10-15 minutes. Allow the spinach to cool. Knead the puree with a fork. To improve the taste, seasonings and spices are used - crushed garlic, salt, pepper, spices to taste.
- Children's recipe … This spinach puree recipe includes chicken eggs. To protect the child from salmonellosis infection, they are purchased from friends or pre-treated: they are soaked for 30 minutes in warm water with baking soda (2 tablespoons per 1 liter), washed with running water. Some housewives additionally wash the shells with laundry soap, and then lower the egg in boiling water for 40 seconds. Liquid yolks are thoroughly mixed with cottage cheese: 1 pc. per 100 g. Leaves, 100 g, stew, as in the previous recipe, grind to a homogeneous consistency, mix with cottage cheese. Can be diluted with milk.
- Spicy puree … Spinach leaves, stewed with butter and chopped until smooth, 300 g are mixed with a can of canned green peas, from which the liquid has been removed, placed in a blender bowl. Lay 2 cloves of garlic, pour in 3/4 cup of cream. Interrupt until smooth, add seasonings to taste - salt and pepper. The garlic is preliminarily squeezed through a press. When presenting, sprinkle with white sesame seeds on a plate.
- Hearty recipe … 200 g of broccoli and 400 g of spinach are boiled separately. Butter is added to spinach, a piece of about 50 g. Everything is thrown into a colander to remove excess liquid. Grind 100 g of soft cheese - your choice. Choose a variety that melts when heated. Combine all the ingredients, season with 80 g of cream, add seasonings.
- Spinach Ice Cream Recipe … Leaves (2 cups) are thawed at room temperature by placing them on a sieve to let the water glass. You can squeeze it slightly, but so that the vegetable does not become flabby due to loss of juice. In a sieve, the thawed product is placed in a water bath and kept until it becomes soft to the touch. Spinach is mashed until puree. Melt butter in a saucepan, 2 tbsp. l., add 1-1, 5 tbsp. l. flour. After a minute, 150 ml of cream is poured into the same container, 1/4 tsp is poured. grated nutmeg, boiled until thick. When the creamy sauce boils down to 1/3, put green puree, salt, pepper, grated hard cheese into it - half a glass. Stir quickly without removing from the heat, and only then turn it off. The ready-made puree can be consumed both warm and cold.
Those who have switched to vegetarianism replace butter with vegetable oil and milk cheese with soy. The taste goes well with vegetables - carrots, pumpkin, various types of cabbage. These vegetables are also boiled.
To make the spinach puree thicker, pre-fry the flour in oil and only then spread the chopped leaves. To increase the benefits of the dish, fresh herbs, tomatoes, red peppers are introduced into it.
Composition and calorie content of spinach puree
The nutritional value of the dish and the content of nutrients are given in relation to the recipe, which, in addition to the main ingredient, includes flour, milk and salt.
Calorie content of spinach puree - 50.7 kcal per 100 g, of which
- Proteins - 3.5 g;
- Fat - 2.5 g;
- Carbohydrates - 3.2 g;
- Dietary fiber - 1.5 g;
- Organic acids - 0.1 g;
- Water - 87 g.
Vitamins per 100 g
- Vitamin A - 798.4 mcg;
- Beta Carotene - 4.716 mg;
- Vitamin B1, thiamine - 0.095 mg;
- Vitamin B2, riboflavin - 0.237 mg;
- Vitamin B4, choline - 22.3 mg;
- Vitamin B5, pantothenic acid - 0.363 mg;
- Vitamin B6, pyridoxine - 0.118 mg;
- Vitamin B9, folate - 90.638 mcg;
- Vitamin B12, cobalamin - 0.022 mcg;
- Vitamin C, ascorbic acid - 21.71 mg;
- Vitamin D, calciferol - 0.039 mcg;
- Vitamin E, alpha tocopherol - 2.861 mg;
- Vitamin H, biotin - 0.321 mcg;
- Vitamin K, phylloquinone - 543.1 mcg;
- Vitamin PP - 1.44 mg.
Macronutrients per 100 g
- Potassium, K - 855.2 mg;
- Calcium, Ca - 127.09 mg;
- Silicon, Si - 0.056 mg;
- Magnesium, Mg - 91.49 mg;
- Sodium, Na - 355.18 mg;
- Sulfur, S - 4.36 mg;
- Phosphorus, P - 98.9 mg;
- Chlorine, Cl - 509.97 mg.
Microelements per 100 g
- Boron, B - 0.5 μg;
- Vanadium, V - 1.27 mcg;
- Iron, Fe - 14.942 mg;
- Iodine, I - 0.53 μg;
- Cobalt, Co - 0.194 μg;
- Manganese, Mn - 1 μg;
- Copper, Cu - 19.27 μg;
- Molybdenum, Mo - 1.385 μg;
- Selenium, Se - 1.322 μg;
- Fluorine, F - 1.43 μg;
- Chromium, Cr - 0.14 μg;
- Zinc, Zn - 0.6377 mg.
The amount of cholesterol per 100 g is 5.3 mg.
Spinach puree contains rare nutrients that are difficult to obtain from other types of food
- Cobalamin - accelerates the formation of red blood cells and increases their life cycle.
- Biotin - carries carbon dioxide through the bloodstream, which is necessary for the healthy functioning of the body.
- Phylloquinone - increases blood clotting and absorption of calcium and vitamin D.
- Sulfur - increases the body's defenses, helps to reduce the effects of intoxication with salts of heavy metals, without this substance it is impossible to get an even tan.
- Vanadium - slows down the aging process, reduces susceptibility to infectious diseases, and reduces the formation of cholesterol plaques.
- Boron - improves the structure of bone tissue and metabolic processes, which increase the absorption of calcium, magnesium, zinc, fluorine and phosphorus.
- Molybdenum - increases the antioxidant effect and is responsible for protein-lipid metabolism.
- Selenium - accelerates blood flow to the brain and prevents the formation of abnormal cells.
- Cobalt - regulates the central nervous system, stimulates the enzymatic activity of the pancreas and the process of hematopoiesis.
- Copper - participates in all enzymatic reactions, being a catalyst.
The dish also contains (per 100 g) 29.4% DV of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid, 22% pectin and 18.3% purine compounds. In addition, spinach contains a high amount of oxalic acid - 143%, which is 1.5 times higher than the daily requirement of the body.
Despite the high amount of calcium and iron, these substances are practically not absorbed. The dish contains a lot of oxalates, the amount of which increases during cooking due to heat treatment and the introduction of seasonings. Oxalates block the absorption of these nutrients.
Benefits of Spinach Puree
The dish is introduced into the diet of patients recovering from debilitating and serious illnesses, and those who adhere to a healthy lifestyle.
Benefits of spinach puree
- Increases immunity, allows you to replenish the body's reserve with useful substances.
- Prevents the development of atherosclerosis, strengthens the walls of blood vessels and increases tone.
- Strengthens muscle tissue, helps to form muscles of the required volume during active sports activities.
- Accelerates liver cleansing, stimulates the production of bile acids and digestive enzymes.
- Helps stop the development of vitamin deficiency.
- Improves vision, supports the functioning of the optic nerve.
- Accelerates metabolic processes in the intestines, helps food to be absorbed, prevents decay of food residues.
- Supports protein-carbohydrate metabolism.
The dish has a weak diuretic and pronounced laxative effect, stabilizes the nervous system, helps to get rid of insomnia and cope with fatigue after exhausting physical and nervous stress.
Spinach puree is especially useful for children - it prevents the development of rickets and accelerates growth.
Contraindications and harm to spinach puree
Not everyone can afford to include a leafy vegetable dish in their diet. You should not get acquainted with a new taste if you have a history of peptic ulcer or gastritis with high acidity at the stage of exacerbation, biliary dyskinesia. It is worth limiting the use with urolithiasis and gallstone disease, with increased blood clotting.
Spinach puree is harmful to people with arthritis and gout. The high amount of purines in the composition increases the frequency of exacerbations and the severity of attacks. The presence of oxalates stimulates the formation of calculi, which are deposited in the kidneys, gallbladder and large articular joints.
Spinach dishes are not combined with medications used to treat thrombophlebitis, varicose veins and accelerate blood supply.
Allergic reactions are common when eating spinach. Symptoms of individual intolerance can be both intestinal disorders and skin irritation - redness and itching.
A leafy vegetable has an unfavorable property - as it grows, it accumulates pesticides, nitrogenous compounds and salts of heavy metals, including thallium. These substances can provoke the development of organic pathologies.
Spinach Puree Recipes
Leaf vegetable puree can be used as an ingredient in other dishes. On its basis, soups are cooked and delicious side dishes are prepared.
Spinach Puree Recipes:
- Cream soup … Spinach puree is prepared in advance, no other ingredients except vegetable oil and flour are added. In a deep frying pan, sauté onions, 2 pcs., Pour in 0.7 liters of water and bring to a boil. Pour 350 g of peeled and finely chopped potatoes. Cook until tender, interrupt with a blender and pour in 1 liter of milk. Bring to a boil, remove from heat, put spinach puree in a saucepan, add salt, pepper and bring to a homogeneous structure. Rye bread is cut into cubes and dried to create crispy rusks. Rusks are poured into the soup before serving so that they do not have time to soften.
- Baby food … Boil some carrots, cauliflower and potatoes separately until tender. Combine with spinach puree, diluted with milk. Can be administered as complementary foods to children from the age of ten months.
- Vitamin puree … You can enrich leafy vegetable puree with vitamins by adding celery and parsnip puree. 400 g of parsnip root and 200 g of celery are cut into cubes and boiled until tender. Fill the blender bowl and beat together with 1 raw egg (the processing method has already been described), half a glass of cream, add salt, pepper. When presenting mashed potatoes, it is better to lay out in layers - celery with parsnips, spinach, again a parsnip-celery mixture. This will combine the tastes better.
- Stump … The potatoes are boiled until tender and mixed with spinach puree cooked with nutmeg and spices. This dish is popular with the Dutch and Belgians.
The taste of green puree goes well with eggs and meat products.
For a delicious spinach dish, preference should be given to young leaves. Wash them just before use, if left for a long time, the product will disappear.
Homemade puree should be eaten immediately after preparation, it cannot be stored. When purchasing ready-made baby food, you need to pay attention to the expiration date - it is advisable to feed the baby 3-4 days before the expiration date indicated on the package.
Interesting facts about spinach puree
Wild spinach has been found throughout the Middle East and warm climates of America since ancient times, but was first cultivated in Persia. In Europe, dishes from it began to be prepared only in the 11th century - the crusaders brought seeds and the fashion for leafy vegetables.
The plant gained the greatest popularity among the monks of Spain - they planted entire plantations. In Russia, spinach began to be grown only in the 19th century - in Turkmenistan and the Caucasus. At that time, dried grass was used as an additive to bread, and products were dyed with juice - creams, sauces, desserts, for example, ice cream or baking cakes.
With a spinach diet, you can get rid of 1.5 kg of weight in 3 days. The peculiarity of such a diet is that all dishes are prepared on the basis of mashed potatoes, and fatty foods are excluded from the diet.
The menu looks something like this
- Breakfast - green puree with cottage cheese;
- Lunch - a smoothie on the same basis, diluted with kefir;
- Lunch - vegetable cream soup;
- Afternoon snack - vitamin puree;
- Dinner - steamed veal stump.
Breeders managed to create spinach varieties that give up to 3 harvests per year in the middle lane. If you plant this culture in your home, you can be sure of the quality of the product and introduce a tasty and healthy dish into the diet of your home.
How to cook spinach puree - watch the video:
