Creamed Spinach - Milk, Butter, Onions, Garlic, Nutmeg, & Bacon.

When dining out, the only time I ever eat creamed spinach is when it's served alongside steaks or prime rib. Otherwise, it's kind of a "blah" dish to me bc I'm not the biggest fan of liquefied vegetables drowning in heavy cream. I like spinach. I like milk and cream. I just don't like the idea of blending them together til neither is really recognizable.

But since I had the bright idea to buy a giant ass 3 lb bag of spinach from Costco (dude, it was like $3), I had to think of SOME way to use up a bunch of it.

So eff it, why not try my making my own creamed spinach? I thought about it, and my main 2 probs w/ regular creamed spinach is that (1) it is (I think) way too heavy; and (2) the weird-ass baby food consistency it has.

Therefore, those are the first 2 things I tweaked in my version. Instead of drowning the spinach in heavy cream (or even whole milk), I use skim milk instead (granted, I also add some butter, butter, and bacon, but hell, I still want it to taste good). Also, to add texture to the spinach, I finely chopped the spinach and added some sauteed onions and bacon lardons. This way, it's still "creamy," but it also has a satisfying bite to it.

"Creamed Spinach w/ Milk, Butter, Onions, Garlic, Nutmeg, & Bacon."

INGREDIENTS:

- 1 1b of spinach (fresh or frozen works here. see step 1 below)

- 1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped

- 2 cloves garlic, minced

- 2 slices of hickory smoked bacon or turkey bacon, cut into lardons (matchsticks)

- 2 T of unsalted butter

- 2 T of flour

- 1 C of skim milk

- Salt/Pepper, to taste

- Parmesan, to taste

STEPS:

1. In a med-hot skillet, cook the bacon until it turns nicely brown (prob 5-7 min). Remove the bacon and set aside, but leave the awesome bacon fat behind.
2. Add onions and garlic (along w/ some salt/pepper) to bacon fat and saute over med heat until onion turns translucent and garlic is a little golden.
3. Now for the spinach. If using fresh spinach, you need to blanch it first. Get a big ass pot, throw in a big handful of salt, and bring it to a boil. In the meantime, get a bowl big enough to hold all the spinach, add fill it w/ ice and water (this will make an ice bath). Once the water boils, add spinach and cook until it turns bright green (prob 3-5 min). Immediately drain your spinach and plunge it into the ice water to "shock" the spinach and stop it from cooking. Now, squeeze the spinach so that most of the water drains out (you don't want wet spinach bc it'll make the dish watery/gross).
4. If using frozen spinach, thaw the spinach, and squeeze it so that most of the water drains out (yes, this is a lot easier than using fresh spinach).
5. At this point, you have all the basic elements for creamed spinach and you just need a sauce to bind it all together. For creamed spinach, we're going to make a bechamel/roux--essentially a thickening base of butter, flour, and milk. First, melt 2 T of butter in a saucepan over low heat (you just want the butter to melt, not to burn). Once the butter is completely melted, whisk a T of flour into the butter until it's fully absorbed/not clumpy. Add another T of flour and whisk again. At this point, you should have a semi-creamy sauce. Let the sauce turn a bit golden, then add 1 C of milk and whisk on med heat. After a couple of min, it should look like a creamed spinach sauce (minus the spinach of course).
6. Salt and pepper the bechamel/roux. Although some ppl salt/pepper at the end, I find that adding it here helps evenly distribute the salt/pepper throughout the dish (otherwise, you'd have to salt/pepper at the end, fold, and repeat constantly). Combine the remaining ingredients into the sauce (spinach, onions, bacon, etc). Grate Parmesan on top. Eat.