Home Alone: White Bean and Spinach Saute

White Bean and Spinach Saute.  Served with Kale Salad and
Roasted Cauliflower

Yep. Its true.  I have been home alone all weekend long.  After an early dinner at Matsuhisa Aspen on Friday to celebrate my final day of clinical, Steven packed up his rental car and headed to Denver to hop a flight to North Carolina. He spent the weekend celebrating his twin brother's graduation from Duke Divinity School, and is currently re-experiencing the wonders of Disney in Orlando, Florida.  While he has been away I have been relaxing and enjoying the peace of a few days off.  Besides crashing a rather hilarious party next door on Saturday night,* I have been happily cooking, exercising, cooking again, and watching movies.  Being too lazy to head to the store one evening, I cleaned out the pantry for this delightful dinner.  It was quick, easy, tasty, and healthy. What more can a girl with a chick flick ask for?

This dish can easily be made vegan by omitting the shrimp and goat cheese.

White Bean and Spinach Saute
Serves 2 (I saved my leftovers for an easy Sunday lunch)

• 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1/2 of an onion, cut into half moons
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup almonds, roughly chopped
• 8 ounces large shrimp, peeled and devined
• 1 (15 ounce) can of white beans or cannelloni beans
• 1/4 cup red wine
• 2 cups spinach, trimmed and roughly chopped
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Crumbled goat cheese (optional for garnish)

1. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat until shimmering. Add onions and saute until soft and just beginning to brown, 5-10 minutes.  
2. Add garlic and almonds and cook until garlic is fragrant, 1-2 minutes.
3. Push pan contents to one side and add a little more oil in the empty space if necessary.  Allow the oil to come to temperature (10 seconds), then add the shrimp.  Sear on each side for 1 minute before combining into the vegetable mixture.  
4. Add beans and heat through. When the beans have warmed, add the red wine and cook until the wine has reduced to 1/2 its volume.  
5. Lower heat to medium-low and stir in spinach until just wilted, about 1 minute.
6. Add salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil.
7. Serve topped with soft goat cheese.

*Our landlord and his friend were experimenting with fried fish on the charcoal barbecue.  I went over to drop off some bread, and found them out back with two large pans of oil, beer batter, and about 5 pounds of fish.  I stayed for a lot of laughs and a few glasses of wine.