Roman Holiday: Mint Pesto and Spinach No-meatballs

Facebook Status Report: January 2, 2009

I made this for the first time when faced with an overabundance of spinach. I was a long-time spinach-hater. I have found that the key is to make the spinach the backdrop ingredient- there for color, texture, and much-touted health benefits, but it's best when overpowered taste-wise by other delicious ingredients. Here, it's mint, feta, and (secret ingredient) a hint of cinnamon. This dinner is well-balanced with pasta, red wine, and the movie Roman Holiday.

Here are the original recipes:
http://www.razzledazzlerecipes.com/ethnic-recipes/greek/spinach-balls.htm
http://www.recipesource.com/side-dishes/pesto/00/rec0031.html

I kept the mint pesto recipe pretty much the same, but really improved the spinach balls by adding a generous handful of feta and a couple eggs to the batter. You can use frozen spinach, it's fine.

Fresh mint can get expensive. Farmer's Bounty in Davis sells big bags of it for a few dollars.