Every time I say the name of this recipe, I giggle.
A few years ago, my friend Jane and I met up in Chicago for a vacation weekend. As happens on any good girls’ getaway trip, we ended up having some really memorable experiences. One of them involved a guy we nicknamed Tampa. To this day, any mention of this major Florida city makes me laugh.
Another punchline from this trip was “Cabrini-Green”. Now, Cabrini-Green was a troubled public housing complex on the north side of Chicago which Time Magazine described as “nexus of poverty, drug abuse, gun violence and gang activity” (which – in case I need to be clear — is not very funny at all.)
But because of an experience we had early in the trip, Cabrini-Green became a recurring meme during our girls’ weekend. I tried to write about the whole series of Cabrini-Green related events that now makes Jane and me shake with laughter when we recall it – but I can’t really do it justice. When I tried to explain it to Matt recently, he just smiled politely and looked at me with a bit of concern. If you ever hang out with my friend Jane, ask her to tell you about our Cabrini-Green experience. She’s a good story-teller.
In any case, since Cabrini-Green sounds a lot like Tahini Greens, I am now amused to no end every time I make this recipe.
And lately, I’ve been making this a lot — like four times a week since my sister Lauren first made it for me during our vacation in Taos. It’s that good! For this recipe, I used spinach but you can also replace spinach with any other leafy green for equally delicious results. Enjoy!
Tahini Greens
Coconut oil, 1 tablespoon
Spinach, 10-12 oz
Garlic, 2 cloves, minced
Tahini, 1/4 cup
Olive oil, 2 tablespoons
Lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon
Cayenne pepper, 1 dash
Salt and pepper, to taste
- Melt coconut oil in pan over medium heat. Add spinach to pan. Cover and let spinach cook down, stirring occasionally as needed, until greens are wilted.
- Whisk together garlic, tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, cayenne, salt and pepper. Add sauce to spinach and mix well. Serve warm.