espinaca fantastica

I had this bag of baby spinach that was supposed to be good until Sunday but already some of the leaves were getting yellowish. I hate that.

And I had these two beautiful vine-ripened tomatoes (good size) that were fast approaching over-ripe (that is, they were turning to mush, almost.)

Soooo... I sauteed the chicken breasts in plugra and olive oil, letting them get nice and brown, and then I took them out and covered them until dinner time. Then I tossed in a couple of cloves of pressed garlic and let it soften.

Then I seeded and diced the tomatoes (always seed them unless they're Romas; the seeds can be so bitter!) and tossed them in with the garlic, and used the liquid from the tomatoes to deglaze the pan.

Let that bubble for a while, then hacked off a chunk of frozen green chilis (probably half of a small can... I got some larger cans and never use them all at once, so I put the leftovers in the freezer) and tossed that in to melt, and added a sprinkling of red pepper flakes, too. mmmmmmm

Washed the spinach, and let it drip for a few minutes while I grated up about 3-4 ounces of Monterey Jack.

Stirred in the spinach until it was wilted, and then cranked up the heat so all the liquid would cook down, and then stirred in the cheese until it melted.

Not pretty, but Oh. My. God. I had it with the chicken, with the bread, I scraped out the serving bowl it was so good. DH liked it well enough, too (I noticed him taking 2nds and 3rds, too) and said "Yes, definitely" when I asked him the same question I ask after every culinary experiment: Can I make this again?

This would make a great hot dip, too. My lunatic salivary glands are doing all sorts of crazy things as I write this!