My mum's Creamed spinach (without cream)
Creamed spinach is one of my absolute favourite side dishes and it is one of those recipes that you will go back to time and time again. Spinach is a beautiful leafy plant but it is sometimes an unsung hero of dinner greens. It is quick and easy to make, perfect to introduce as a vegetable dish during midweek or to serve along those special weekend meat roasts. It is very tasty, nutritious, healthy and accompanies really nicely just about any fish or meat dish.
Spinach cooked this way was the one I loved most as a child, and I could never get enough of it, I could literally eat it out of pan with a spoon, nothing much has changed. And of course, I was never told off for eating too much of it! Definitely worth giving it a go if you have children (and adults) that are not so kin on vegetables.
My mother made creamed spinach very often for me and my brother when we were little during the week as a quick meal together with mashed potatoes and fried egg. This vegetable side dish is very popular back home and still served as part of school meals just as it used to be. It is reassuring to know that some things just haven't changed...
Ingredients
Serves 2-4 as part of meal
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 clove of garlic, peeled
500g of baby spinach (washed and ready to use) You can use other varieties of spinach or Swiss chard in which case you remove the stalks
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
250 ml milk (semi skimmed or full fat)
sea salt
nutmeg, freshly grated (optional)
Method
First of all you need to wash the spinach thoroughly if you bought it unwashed. If you are using the spinach that has been washed already and is ready to use just skip the following step.
The best way to wash the spinach is to put it in a sink or large container of cold water. Swish leaves around and than let them stand for a few minutes allowing the dirt to sink to the bottom.
Place washed spinach in a big pot and pour over boiling hot water. If you prefer you can bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil and then add the spinach. In both cases you need to push the leaves down to completely submerge them in the water.
Blanch the spinach for about 40 seconds to a minute (blanching is most often used as an intermediary step for a dish and it means giving greens, in this case spinach, a quick cook in hot water to cook them through and soften them).
Place a large colander in a sink, drain the spinach and run it under cold water just for few seconds. This will stop the cooking immediately (and retain the nutrients) but it will also help to cool down the spinach.
Let the spinach cool completely for few minutes and drain as much as you can. You want to remove as much excess liquid as you can (spinach contains quite a lot of water). I do this in batches by taking small handfuls of spinach and squeeze it very well. I end up with few balls of very well drained spinach.
Transfer drained spinach on a chopping board and chop quite finely.
Put the extra virgin olive oil and peeled clove of garlic in a saucepan. Infuse the oil with the garlic on a medium-low heat and when the garlic turns nice golden colour remove it from the saucepan and discard it. Be careful not to burn it, trust me this is easily done.
Add the flour and cook briefly, stirring constantly, until the flour turns golden colour.
Add chopped spinach and stir well so the spinach is mixed well with the flour mixture. At this point the spinach mixture might stick to the bottom a bit, do not worry if this is the case.
Start pouring gradually the milk, stirring and mixing constantly, incorporating well. Season with salt and add some freshly grated nutmeg, if using, and cook further for about 5-7 minutes on a gentle heat, stirring constantly. By this time you should end up with a lovely thickened creamed spinach. If it does look a bit watery give it another minute or so.
Just a thought
If you prepare this dish in advance it might get a bit thick. When heating up just pour in gradually a little bit more milk and stir constantly until you get the desired consistency.
