Creamed Spinach. Arguably one of the greatest side dishes to ever grace a good steak. In fact, it’s our favourite. This recipe is going to be the best one you will make, we’re not joking when we say it’s as good as any restaurant version anywhere, ever. Not that we’re biased at all.
If you’ve ever been to Flat Iron Steak in London you’ll know that’s the benchmark for good creamed spinach. Given all restaurants are closed for the forseable future, what better time to learn how to make your favourite dishes at home.
Creamy. Cheesy. Delicious.
If you’ve never made creamed spinach before it can be tricky. But in reality it’s really quite easy. There are a few steps you have to follow to ensure it actually turns out like creamed spinach and not a watery mess. Stick to these and you’ll be fine.
- Use more spinach than you think – at least two bags.
- Blanch the spinach for a short period of around 30 seconds.
- Squeeze as much liquid out of the spinach as possible. In weight terms, two bags of Spinach at 200g each should weigh around 200-220g after being blanched.
- Add more cheese then you think, it will look like a lot but you need a lot for it to come through.
- Season with salt and pepper, you might think the cheese is enough but you’d be surprised.
*Blanch – to plunge vegetables into boiling water for a brief timed period.
The key ingredients used to make the perfect creamed spinach are:
- Fresh spinach, the fresher the better.
- Good quality Parmigiano Reggiano.
- Double cream
- Sharp lemon
- Fragrant nutmeg
Honestly that’s all to it. Follow these steps and you’ll be on your way to making the best creamed spinach ever.
Creamed Spinach
Equipment
- Colander
- Kitchen roll / muslin cloth / J cloth
- Large Sauce Pan
- Sharp Knife
Ingredients
- 450-500 g Fresh spinach washed
- 250 ml Double cream
- 75 g Finely grated parmesan cheese
- 1 tsp Freshly squeezed lemon
- 1/4 tsp Freshly grated nutmeg use an extra fine grate
Instructions
Preparation
- Wash the spinach if needed
- Measure the cream in a jug
- Grate the cheese, juice the lemon and grate the nutmeg. Put into separate bowls.
Cooking Spinach
- In a large pot, bring some salted water to the boil
- In batches, balnch the spinach for 30 seconds each.
- Remove and let drain in a colander. Once drained, move to some kitchen paper and spread it out to cool quicker. Let it cool for 10 minutes.
- Once cooled enough to handle, squeeze as much water out of the Spinach as possible. Best done in two balls.
- Using a sharp knife, chop the spinach up into small pieces - as small as you can. The smaller the better.
Creaming the Spinach
- In a sauce pan, heat the cream until is just begins to bubble.
- Turn off the heat and stir in the chopped Spinach.
- Add the cheese and stir until fully melted.
- Add the lemon and nutmeg and stir well.
- Taste and check for seasoning. If it tastes flat, add some salt and taste again. If still flat add a little more and taste again.
- Finish with a large twist of freshly cracked black pepper.
- Serve in white porcelain dishes.
Notes
- Drain as much water as possible. The weight of a 400g amount of spinach after blanching should be half - 200g.
- Always taste for seasoning. Add more salt if it's flat. It is flat when you cannot taste the ingredients, such as the parmesan. The salt will bring out the flavour of this. If you can taste the actual salt, you've gone too far. Be careful.
- Better quality ingredients = better tasting food. Buy the best quality parmesan you can find, it WILL make a difference.
- Don't over boil the cream. Take it to the point where it just beings to simmer and turn off the heat. The residual heat will melt the cheese easily.
