OK! Let’s agree on something! I HATE spinach; I can’t eat it in any shape or form BUT every member of my family is a HUGE fan of spinach so I end up cooking it A LOT. Not only cooking it the traditional way but also coming up with new recipes & trying to create a homemade version of every spinach dish my husband tastes in any restaurant. So, you can say I hate spinach but I became a spinach expert hahaha.

This recipes is one of my family’s favorites; I cooked it like 4 times last month. The combination of spinach & artichoke is out of this word (as per my family’s review). This is a very common combination in the international food scene but I tried to create my own lighter version that has no butter or cream yet still tastes so creamy & rich. Also, to give it a little middle eastern touch, I seasoned the chicken with sumac because I love sumac with artichoke & it is also very commonly used with spinach.

This is a very flavorful dish packed with veggies + protein & comes together in less than 30 minutes! All you have to do is prepare some rice & lunch will be ready.

Ingredients:

For the Chicken:

• 750 gm chicken breast cut into cubes
• 3/4 tsp sumac سماق
• salt & pepper
• 2 tbsp olive oil

For the Sauce:

• 3 artichoke hearts boiled & chopped خرشوف

• 1 large garlic clove minced

• ½ cup chicken stock مرقة

• 2 heaped tbsp Kiri labneh لبنة

• ½ cup spinach (see notes) سبانخ

• 1 – 1 1/2 cups skimmed milk
• salt & pepper

Directions

• Season the chicken with sumac, salt & pepper. Heat a large pan over medium high heat until hot. Add the olive oil & cook the chicken until golden & almost cooked through. Remove from the pan & set aside.
• In the same pan, cook the artichoke & garlic for about a minute until the garlic is fragrant but not browned. Reduce heat to medium, stir in the labneh until it melts.
• Add the stock & milk, bring to a boil then stir in the spinach to mix well with the sauce. Reduce heat to low & let the mixture simmer for a couple of minutes.
• Return the chicken to the pan & let simmer with the sauce for a couple of more minutes until cooked through.
• Turn off heat. Season with salt & pepper.
• Serve immediately with Basmati rice or mashed potato.

Notes:

• I used frozen spinach as fresh spinach is not always available. Simply thaw the spinach, squeeze it between your hands to get rid of the water then measure ½ a cup. In case of using fresh spinach, make the quantity 1 cup instead of ½ cup.
• In case stock is not available, use ½ cup water + ½ Maggi cube or just ½ cup water.
• As the sauce cools down, it will become thicker. To loosen the sauce, simply add a little more milk while re-heating.