Spinach, pine nuts, red onion, raisins. It’s a simple list of ingredients and it’s simplicity itself to combine them – which is why this isn’t so much a recipe as it is a guide – but the result far exceeds any such “simple” expectations.

Salty. Sweet. Slicked with extra virgin olive oil and studded with nuts. This dish comes together in minutes and is devoured just as fast. We first had it at a restaurant – me nursing a chilled, bone-dry sherry and J a thick, hearty red wine – while we were working our way through small plate after little dish before a late evening at the V&A. But while the cured meats were lovely and the cheese, as cheese is wont to be, delicious, it was this spinach dish that stole the show.

I’m probably not the only one who wants to recreate food. To chase after tastes enjoyed at other people’s tables, whether in homes or restaurants. And not all my attempts have been winners. I’m still particularly haunted by the gnocchi, swathed in a lavender-butter-parmesan sauce, that I ate in Rome several years ago. I’m still no closer to figuring out how to make the dish than I am to remembering where I ate it. Usually so fastidious about noting down names, I seem to have simply stayed in the moment, transfixed by the meal and the wine and the good book. The perils of a solo trip is only one set of eyes and one unreliable notebook. But I digress.

Happily, this dish was easy enough to recreate because it’s a simple bringing together. Each ingredient holds its own and contributes a little of itself to create a fantastic whole.

We’ve been known to eat this on its own. Or topped with a fried egg and accompanied by some bread for mopping. But it’s a real cracker on the side of fish. It would even make a fantastic filling, should you feel like stuffing a whole fish and grilling it.

Catalan Spinach

Slice half a red onion into thin half moons and move around a sauté pan warmed over a medium heat and slicked with extra virgin olive oil. Add a pinch of salt to encourage the onion to soften and yield. A shallot also works well here, if that’s what you have.

Don’t let the onion brown, so if it’s starting to really sizzle, lower the temperature. Add the pine nuts and raisins. A little handful of each will suffice. If your raisins are of the tough, obstinate kind, a few minutes soaking in a splash of boiling water before tossing them in the pan will plump them up a bit.

As the pine nuts gather a bit of colour (we’re looking for gold, not brown here), start adding the spinach. A few generous handfuls will probably be enough. Drag the spinach around the pan so that it starts to wilt and then heave the whole lot out of the pan and onto a serving plate. You don’t want the spinach to collapse entirely, it should still have some leaf-ness to its shape.

Take a bite. Maybe add a little more salt if it needs it. Maybe move things around so some of the nutty, fruity jewels sit atop the green. Or just grab a fork and go to town.