Creamed Spinach

An easy and quick recipe that uses milk instead of cream and tastes just as good.

     INGREDIENTS

• 1, 10 ounce package of frozen chopped spinach thawed and squeezed dry.
• 3 tablespoon of butter
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 cup milk (or cream should you so choose)
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper
• (optional) 2 slices of fried bacon crumbled

Using Fresh Spinach: You can use fresh spinach for this recipe, but it's so much easier to buy the frozen. Frozen spinach retains most of it's flavor and nutritional value. When cooked, fresh spinach wilts and releases a lot of water. 1 pound of fresh spinach will cook down to about 1 cup of spinach! You would need 1-1/2 pound of fresh spinach to equal a package of frozen spinach. If you use regular spinach you would want to remove any tough stems. Baby spinach, which is more tender, doesn't have tough stems. Wash the spinach and place it wet in a large pot. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes or until it has all wilted down.) Drain and squeeze out all the water.

     DIRECTIONS

1. You are making a roux (my cookbook, page 25). Melt the butter in a small saucepan on medium heat. Then stir in the flour and let it cook about 2 minutes. 

2. While stirring, slowly add 1/4 cup of the milk until the roux thickens and is smooth. Then add another 1/4 cup of the milk and stir until smooth.  

3. Add the spinach and mix well. Any water left in the spinach will thin the mixture. Add more milk if too thick. You do not want it to be soupy or runny, but a nice consistency. Add the parmesan, pepper and a little salt (the parmesan is salty) and bacon if you wish. As it simmers it may get thicker. Add milk as needed to loosen.

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