South African Creamed Spinach

Zutaten

• 400 g spinach (Cooked weight, from 600 grams raw leaves (note 1))
• 40 g olive oil
• 20 g butter (note 4)
• 130 g shallots (finely chopped - note 2)
• 15 g garlic (finely chopped)
• 25 g flour (note 3)
• 150 g milk (note 4)
• 150 g cream (note 4)
• 2 g nutmeg
• 1 g black pepper
• 15 g parsley (chopped )
• 5 g salt

Zubereitung

1. 1

   I used fresh young spinach in this recipe but you could also use frozen or large spinach. I do not recommend using tinned spinach.

2. 2

   Tinned spinach had the life cooked out of it and you would essentially just be consuming a nutritious free substance with inferior taste and quality.

3. 3

   Wash the spinach extremely well under cold running water to remove any dirt.

4. 4

   Chop the shallots and garlic.

5. 5

   Next, sweat it down in a pan with some butter and olive oil until soft, sweet and translucent.

6. 6

   While the onions are slowly cooking. Cook the spinach. There are a few other ways to go about cooking the spinach. You could blanch it, steam it, microwave it or chop it up and put it straight into the pan. Just remember that spinach is bulky when fresh but cooks down to almost nothing. Keep that in mind when deciding how to cook the spinach. I steamed mine in three batches for 1 minute each time or just until it starts wilting.

7. 7

   Add the flour to the onions and cook for 30 seconds more.

8. 8

   Next add the milk, cream, nutmeg, pepper and chopped parsley.

9. 9

   Bring all of that to the simmer while mixing making sure the flour is cooked and the mixture is homogenous. Remove from the heat and let it rest on the side for a bit while you deal with the spinach.

10. 10

    Once cooked the spinach will still have plenty of water in it. I prefer squeezing out as much water as possible and then using that water later on to adjust the consistency of the creamed spinach. Once squeezed out, chop it up roughly.

11. 11

    If you skip this step you will end up with long strands of cooked spinach which will most likely force you to perform the Heimlich manoeuvre on someone or someone on you. Not pleasant so chop it into something manageable.

12. 12

    Finally add the spinach and give it a good mix. Adjust the seasoning if you want and serve straight away.