Tonkatsu & Sauteed Bloomsdale Spinach

I’m in love with bloomsdale spinach. It’s meatier than the more common smooth-skinned variety you see in the markets. Bloomsdale is an heirloom variety with a crinkly skin, first introduced by D. Landreth Seed Company in 1826.

It is quite delicious and holds up to sauteeing very well, which is exactly the way I’ve prepared it everytime. Sometimes with bacon or pancetta give it a nice smokiness or salty meatiness, but this time just with garlic and olive oil.

I pondered and pondered on what I would want with my delicious sauteed spinach for dinner and could not think of anything. I have blank days sometimes when I can’t seem to quite put my finger on what it is that I want or want to cook. But when I went to Trader Joe’s I saw the pork cutlets. I’m trying to eat healthier and but tonkatsu seemed like the best candidate for the spinach. I didn’t deep fry it though, cutting back on some of the fat by frying it in a few swirls of olive oil in a saute pan.

And I have no regrets whatsoever! The cutlets turned out golden, crispy and juicy. The results were far better than I expected. The katsu sauce is made from a mixture of sriracha, Trader Joe’s ketchup (very important that it is TJ’s) and HP sauce. My mom called it “amazing!” 🙂 Well no surprise, all three of those sauces are excellent.