This Paleo Spinach Cake recipe is perfect for Passover. We like it so much though, that we eat it all year round. This easy recipe is made with 7 healthy ingredients –spinach, eggs, pine nuts, currants, garlic, oil, and salt. It’s so simple that you can throw it together in just a few minutes.
Our weekly CSA share kicked in recently and we received a ton of fresh organic spinach! For those of you who aren’t familiar, “CSA” stands for community supported agriculture. This relatively new socioeconomic concept changes the way food is produced, distributed, and sold, creating small scale closed markets for farmers in which the consumer participates in the risk and rewards of the farm.
One of the great benefits of the CSA is receiving produce the day it is picked. CSA’s also give farmers more time to do what they do best –grow food. By cutting out the middle man, farmers receive more money for their crops, and save time by not having to market produce to stores. Earlier this year my family purchased a “share” in this season’s crop from Abbondanza. We receive organic vegetables straight from the farm each week during the harvest months.
The bounty of our farm share sends me rummaging through my recipes in search of culinary solutions to vegetable overload. The biggest issue has been spinach. What to do with the several pounds of spinach crowding out the other greens in the veggie drawer of my fridge? Spinach cake of course!
Spinach Cake
Ingredients
- 1½ pounds spinach, thoroughly washed, leave stems on if they are not tough
- 3 tablespoons grapeseed oil or olive oil
- 1 cup pine nuts
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ cup currants
- 2 large eggs, whisked
- 1 teaspoon celtic sea salt
Instructions
- Wilt spinach in a large covered saucepan over low heat (do not add water)
- Drain and cool, then squeeze moisture out of spinach
- Place spinach in food processor and pulse until coarsely blended, then set aside
- In an 9 inch cast iron skillet, warm 3 tablespoons oil, add pine nuts and sauté until golden brown
- Add garlic to pan and sauté an additional minute
- Add currants to pan and sauté an additional minute
- In a large bowl, combine pine nuts mixture, blended spinach, eggs, and salt
- Spread mixture into a greased 7 x 11 inch baking dish
- Bake at 350°F for 30-40 minutes
- Serve
This spinach recipe is based on Claudia Roden’s Tortino di Spinaci. She is my all time favorite cookbook author. I often hear Roden speaking about the history of Jewish food on NPR. She is basically a food historian, as well as a culinary genius.
I hope you enjoy Paleo Spinach Cake as much as we do. Here are some of my other Paleo Passover recipes:
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Sarah says
Just made this after ogling the recipe for over a year. I used a pound of fresh mixed greens from our CSA share, they had an early harvest from their greenhouse! It included chard, arugula, spinach, etc.
I also threw in some red onion which I had already chopped in the fridge, and roasted garlic also in the fridge from a previous dinner so I used that instead of raw garlic. I subbed sunflower seeds for the pine nuts, and golden raisins for the currants.
I used only one egg. I didn’t squeeze all of the moisture out of the greens (due to laziness)… and it turned out great. The roasted garlic made it smell incredible and I love how fresh and delicious the greens are. High quality, local ingredients really make a huge difference.
Thanks, Elana!
Elana says
Sarah, so glad you liked it :-)
Tui says
I just made this as a side dish, with sunflowers instead of pine nuts, and left out the currants, and eggs (i din’t bake it). It is sooo delicious! what a wonderful recipe
Elana says
Thanks Tui!
Sarah says
I came here to look for a grain free brownie recipie and got totally side swiped by spinach cakes!! (of course i still plan on making the brownines, just perplexed that they took a backseat to veggies!! maybe i’m turning into a grown up!) i didn’t quite have enough spinach on hand or currents so I tried some experimenting that hopefully hasn’t deviated too far…
with just a little bit of spinach i added a bundle of italian parsley and some fresh mushrooms (chopped in the processor, salted and squeezed out the water in a mesh bag). instead of currents I diced up an asian pear from the tree … oh yes and added 1/2 a lemon’s bit of juice.
i can’t wait to try it (in the oven at the moment) — thank you for the inspiration! I’ve been looking for more ways to eat greens that’s convenient and quick. thanks elana! :)
Elana says
You’re welcome Sarah!
melissa says
Here to praise this wonderful and versatile recipe!! I have made these spinach cakes a dozen or more times now, each time a little differently based on what I had on hand. I’ve used almost every kind of nut and it’s delicious each time. I’ve used raisins and other dried fruits when I did not have currents and it works every time. I have used many kinds of greens and now prefer a mix of spinach, kale, chard, collards. Even the more pungent greens are made palatable for less mature taste buds with this recipe. I now ALWAYS double or triple this recipe so that I have lots of cakes. They keep very well in the fridge and get sweeter and more delicious by the day. I eat them cold for breakfast. I take them on the go as an energy bar. I serve them alongside a roasted or grilled meat. I pack them in lunch boxes. This recipe is a sure fire winner and I love to share it with other food enthusiasts. Thank so much for it, Elana!
Elana says
Thanks Melissa!
Brenda says
Is there a substitute that you’d recommend for the eggs in this recipe?
Elana says
Brenda, I haven’t tried that so not sure.
Jenny says
This recipe caught my eye instantly. The cake looks so beautifull and appetizing. When I went through the ingredients, I got even more interested.
I did not have the pine nuts or the currants, so I used pecans and dried cranberries.
It is easy to make and very nutritious. My only problem was too much salt. I usually like my food on a salty side and did not think that 1 tsp would be too much. It was for me. I
I am definitely making this again, and again; but I will be reducing the salt.
Amy says
I cannot believe how delicious this is. I am not a fan of cooked spinach, so I was skeptical, but it’s very tasty with the other ingredients.
I used pumkin seeds seasoned with tamari and dried cherries (sweetened with apple juice)
I have an egg sensitivty so I used Energ-G egg substitute and it worked perfectly as a binder.
Thanks so much for giving me new ways to enjoy vegetables.
Lizzy says
Hi,
I tripped upon your recipe for Spinach Cake while trying to find a spinach quiche recipe. I decided to cook your recipe over the quiche recipes I found and I’m glad I did. It was so delicious, easy, and my family devoured it! Thanks for the awesome recipe!
And on a side note: I didn’t have enough pin nuts so I used a mixture of pine nuts and crushed almonds, which worked great.
Jen says
I made this with quite a few substitutions and it was great, so my conclusion is that this is a pretty versatile recipe. I used rainbow chard, olive oil, walnuts, and dried cranberries instead of the spinach, grapeseed oil, pine nuts and currants. It was pretty with the rainbow chard and cranberries. I was pleasantly surprised that my kids loved it too!
Joi says
Your recipes are amazing. So glad I found your site!