Growing up I was one of those picky kids, often declaring I DID NOT LIKE certain foods even though I’d never tasted most of them. Since I wasn’t necessarily someone who was crazy about eating in the first place, my picky-ness held on tight until I was a grown married woman or truth be told till The Deer Hunter forced me to try some of the foods he liked or else! Spinach was one of those foods.
After I accepted spinach was indeed good to eat I came across a creamed spinach recipe and after making it a few times we realized it was our favorite way to eat spinach. The first recipe I used was somewhat complicated, but over the years I’ve narrowed down the steps required. If you’re a creamed spinach fan you may have already streamlined the steps yourself or if you’ve never tried it here’s an easy recipe to start with before moving on to the more complicated ones.
My recipe doesn’t really have any set amounts for the ingredients, it’s one of those taste as you go kinda things. It works well with fresh or frozen spinach. In a few weeks I’ll be picking fresh spinach from my garden.
Since Wild Bill is King of my yard, I make sure to wash the spinach well. He actually likes the glasses and sometimes he wears a hat with them too.
I believe the first recipe I used back in the day called for boiling the spinach for a certain amount of time, but somewhere along the way I realized if you can eat it raw how cooked does it need to be? So I started giving the spinach a quick saute before adding the other ingredients.
Cook spinach in oil or butter for a few minutes.
Add additional butter, salt, pepper, and nutmeg to taste. Some folks add in garlic or onions, but we prefer just spinach. Cook while stirring for a couple of minutes till butter is melted.
Pour in some heavy cream. The amount depends on the quantity of spinach you’re working with, but like the butter it doesn’t take much.
Allow the spinach to cook a few minutes till it thickens slightly and you’re done.
—–
Wild Bill took his journey earlier this year. He was my nephews’ and niece’s dog. I’m thinking he was here before Chatter and Chitter, if not then very soon after they were born. Either way he was at least 16 or more years old.
Without a doubt Bill was the toughest…and the craziest dog I have ever seen. We all miss him and his antics.
Tipper
This post was originally published here on the Blind Pig & the Acorn in 2010.
Thank you Tipper! I’m anxious to try this. I’ve had frozen Creamed Spinach and loved it. Unfortunately my husband thinks it’s the most disgusting looking thing he’s ever seen! What does he know!!!! HaHa!!!
Jamie-I have never heard that about spinach : )
Blind Pig The Acorn
Celebrating and Preserving the
Culture of Appalachia
http://www.blindpigandtheacorn.com
I read somewhere that that the longer you cook spinach the more nutritious it becomes? I don’t see how this could be, I was wondering if you’ve ever heard of this before?
I look forward to trying this recipe. I’ll eat anything that don’t eat me first, with the exception of possums LOL!
Sorry to hear about Wild Bill. I miss all our feather/furbabies after they’ve gone. Some of them are honestly the very best friends I ever had. What a blessing God brings them to share our lives for a bit of time.
I was one of two children who would gladly eat spinach in the elementary cafeteria. All the other kids would drop off their little bowls of it, and I’d gulp them down – until a teacher found out and made them start eatting their portion.
I’ve often said if it weren’t for pigs, I could probably be a Vegetarian, but bacon, and pork chops, and ham, ohhh myyy. LOL
I make my spinach about the same way except for a few garlic slivers. Also, I add a tablespoon of ROOM TEMPERATURE whipped cream cheese to almost everything I make with a cream sauce for extra lusciousness. I warm whatever cream or milk I’m adding to the dish first, then whip the ROOM TEMPERATURE creamed cheese into it with a whisk, and then add it to the dish. Yummy!!! Sometimes the cream cheese doesn’t incorporate entirely smoothly if the milk/cream isn’t warm enough, but when you warm it in the pan or cook it in the casserole, it melts just fine.
God bless.
RB
<><
Hi Tipper,our spinach was with bacon grease and eggs.one winter when money was less we did eat a lot of creamed asparagus over potatoes for supper.God Bless.
Tipper,
I’ve had dogs all my life and I feel so sorry for Ben, Mark, and
April(the other pretty Indian
Princess). Wild Bill had a long
life, like most dogs that don’t
live real close to a highway.
I had a registered German Shepherd that came to work with me for 15 years. His name was G I Joe. His arthritis got so bad
that for a year, he could only
put his front paws on my seat and wait for me to pick up his
back legs up and wheelboro him
over to the passenger side of my
truck. I still miss him!…Ken
Tipper,
I’m like the Deer Hunter, I like
all kinds of greens. But funny thing is, I don’t like turnips at
all, just the greens.
Growing up, we always had some kind of greens at mealtime. My daddy was forever picking water cress up our branch and wild mustard greens, which I didn’t like so much. But Polk Sallet
before it gets too big is good
in scrambled eggs and with fried
taters, pinto beans, and cornbread…Ken
Mmm! I’m going to try this. Mama always sliced
hard-boiled eggs on top of the spinach, and I still like that. I also like canned spinach, which is a different world from fresh. I buy those small cans with the easy-open lids and once or twice a week put one in with my sandwich to take to work for lunch.
My creamed spinach is sour creamed spinach. I put in salt, pepper(I like white), nutmeg, sauted onion and regular sourcream. If you use fat free it breaks.
I love to eat spinach, but have never made it creamed. I used to just cook in a pan with a bit of the water left on it from cleaning it. Never tried to cream it, but have had it creamed in restaurants. When I would drain it, I used to keep the water as it was healthy to drink.
PS: Bill was a fine and friendly dog. He had smile for every one. I miss his warm greeting every time I came to visit.
I love spinach, Tipper, I’ve loved it all my life and that’s pretty amazing since I was a picky little eater like you. Even picky as I was I would always eat spinach.
The Deer Hunter, on the other hand, was always good eater. Not only did he love spinach, he loved all cooked greens….mustard, turnip, polk, collards, but his very favorite along with spinach was creases. I don’t see or hear much about them now but we ate a lot of creases because we all loved them.
Tipper,
One more thang….I read a note about your website “Blind Pig and the Acorn” on “The Read WNC” website….in an article about hogs by Rob Neufeld….
Listed right before a comment about Horace Kephart…hummmmm!
Are you famous or what?
We don’t eat spinach here in my house we just don’t care for it much. But loved seeing Miss Cindy’s reply about creases !!! Now I could eat an entire pot of crease greens all by myself. I have not even seen any growing in many years. They grew thick and plenty in the corn fields when I was a kid !!!!!!
Spinach is good for “the system” in many ways. My ophthalmologist says its very good for eye health, and especially if you someone has macular degeneration. Some of the special nutrients in spinach are good for and help stop the progression of that degenerative eye malady.
I have always mistrusted creamed anything, suspecting that it was a coverup of a food that I didn’t want to have anything to do with. Least favorite of all time was creamed chipped beef on toast, a dish that many former military members will recall with less than relish. I will, however, eat creamed tuna on toast and don’t know why I relented in this instance. At any rate, because it is a dish that my Daddy used to make for me, it is now a comfort food and memory of my childhood.
Tipper–Like B. Ruth, the first thing that came to mind as I read about your approach to creamed spinach was that this would work for poke sallet as well. The only real difference would be the need to cook and drain the poke a couple of times to remove excess Vitamin A (it has so much of the vitamin it can be toxic).
I like spinach any way you can prepare it–raw in salads, steamed with water and a bit of salt and butter, creamed, cooked with a cheese sauce, steamed and then adorned with bacon and boiled eggs, etc.
Jim Casada
Tipper,
I suppose one could use your recipe for “poke sallet” as well.
My husbands aunt from the foothills of the Cumberland Plateau could cook a mess of “poke sallet” that could cause you to ‘beat your brains out with gums’ when eatin’ it! She put bacon and eggs in her’n!
It’s time to pick ‘poke’ greens or pert near time! Lots of ‘poke sallet’ festivals about too!
I reckon ramps come on next…
Back to the spinach…I love the stuff. We had it boiled and boiled eggs sliced up in it when I was a kid.
I personally love “Spinach Maria”, I know it is full of cheese and hot stuff, but I love it! I have made it with parmesan as well as cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses…
I made creamed spinach but mine just didn’t suit me…maybe your recipe will…
Thanks Tipper for this reminder that it is time for our “spring greens clean”….lol