This recipe is taken from Claudia Roden’s mouthwatering book, Arabesque, a culinary journey from Morocco through Turkey to Lebanon.  Use black-eyed or haricot beans for this dish. You can use frozen spinach (defrost it thoroughly). If using fresh, wash it well and remove the stems only if they are very thick. At Wickedfood cooking school, we do a similar dish in the Middle Eastern cooking class, but substituting chickpeas for beans. i

1 large onion, sliced
6T olive oil
3 garlic cloves, chopped
250g fresh spinach, stalks removed and chopped
salt and black pepper
1 x 400g tin of beans, drained
juice ½ lemon

  1. Fry the onion in 2T of the oil, stirring often, until brown and caramelized.
  2. In a large saucepan, heat the garlic in 2T of the oil for moments only until the aroma rises. Add the spinach, put on the lid and cook, without adding water, for a minute or two until the leaves crumple to a soft mass. Add salt and pepper.
  3. Stir the beans and the fried onions into the spinach; add lemon juice and cook through. Add the remaining oil and serve at room temperature, or cold.

Serves 4

Wickedfood Cooking School

Sunninghill – (011) 234-3252 sunninghill@wickedfood.co.za

Wickedfood Cooking School runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built cooking studios in Johannesburg. Cooking classes are run in the mornings and evenings 7 days a week (subject to a minimum of 12 people). This team building venue is also popular for corporate events and private functions – team building cooking classes, birthdays, kitchen teas, and dinner parties with a difference.

Our cookery classes are hands-on, where every person gets to participate in the preparation of the dishes. They are also a lot of fun where you not only learn new skills, but get to meet people with similar interests. For corporate groups and team building cooking classes these classes are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.