Steamed spinach with olive oil and lemon zest – hardly a recipe, but it’s good to have a reminder of how lovely simply prepared vegetables can be. We had the spinach with the Chicken Breasts Diable from the beginning of the month. It was a good choice, along with celery root purée.

I did mine in a stand-alone steamer, which is one of my favourite kitchen gadgets. I love being able to set the timer and leave it to do its work. I’ve had it long enough that I know how long each vegetable takes and it’s nice to spend my time in the kitchen on more interesting cooking tasks. (I’m totally trying to justify keeping a probably unnecessary electric appliance – hey, at least it was a gift. Tune in next week for my essay on the joys of electric can openers…)

Spinach has always been a favourite of mine (I was one of those weird kids who liked liver and onions, brassicas, and cottage cheese.) and I’m glad that my partner loves it, too. Speaking of spinach-lovers, I thought I’d share an old Popeye cartoon with you. I have to say, though, it was hard to find one that I felt comfortable posting. Those old cartoons are a lot more problematic than I remember. I’m guessing they don’t show that many of them any more. Here’s one that’s not entirely problem-free, but enjoyable for its presaging of our current food wars.

By the way, I’m flu-free now – thanks for the well-wishes from the Facebook Dorista crowd. Now, I just have to find time to catch up on the Ispahan cake.

You can find many other blogged descriptions of this week’s FFWD recipe here: Lemon-Steamed Spinach