I love hosting a dinner party. The whole process is fun for me. Coming up with a theme, creating a menu, shopping for the menu, developing a plan for when to prep certain items of the meal, and then pulling it all together at the very last minute (which usually means about an hour late). Since I usually plan to cook more than a small army can eat, I rarely have time to decorate or set a proper table. Instead, I set up a buffet style dinner and allow people to seat themselves.
For my grandmother’s 102nd birthday, we did a steakhouse themed birthday dinner. (Anyone who makes it to 102 deserves a steakhouse dinner.) On the menu: Wagyu tenderloin with a mushroom cream sauce, steamed Maine lobster with butter, romaine salad with cherry tomatoes and blue cheese covered in a bacon lattice, Italian style broccoli, garlic bread, twice stuffed potatoes, and creamed spinach. Her favorite lemon cake with lemon buttercream frosting was for dessert. Yes, it was an epic dinner. I have the cutest photos of my grandmother saved from this memorable evening.
The creamed spinach was just eh. The recipe I used called for it to be baked. I decided to seek out a different recipe the next time that was an exhaustive process of blanching the spinach then chopping it and finally mixing it with other ingredients. It was blah.
I resigned myself to enjoy creamed spinach when at a restaurant. Until, I received a LOT of beautiful spinach in my weekly CSA box from Two Dog Farms. I asked my husband and his parents whether they would like a spinach salad or creamed spinach. I knew what the resounding answer was going to be. So, I winged it. I didn’t look up a recipe to gain inspiration or use as a reference. I opened the refrigerator door and pulled out the items readily available that I thought would taste good with fresh spinach. The result was magical. I am so grateful that I had started writing recipes down for this blog because otherwise this would have been a one hit wonder. Thankfully, I can replicate this creamed spinach upon demand.
I have tried this recipe with fresh and frozen spinach. This is not a contest. Please do not substitute frozen spinach in this recipe. You can thank me later for that recommendation.
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Creamed Spinach
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
Description
For my grandmother’s 102nd birthday, we did a steakhouse themed birthday dinner. (Anyone who makes it to 102 deserves a steakhouse dinner.) But, the creamed spinach was just eh. I resigned myself to enjoy creamed spinach when at a restaurant. Until, I received a LOT of beautiful spinach in my weekly CSA box. The result was magical.
Ingredients
- 4 Tbs butter
- 1 cup onion, diced (1 medium onion)
- 2/3 cup leeks, chopped
- 1 Tbs garlic, finely diced
- 2 Tbs brandy
- 1 1/2 pounds fresh spinach
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 4 ounces cream cheese
- 1/4 cup feta cheese
- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- In a large pot or Dutch oven, melt butter over medium heat. Add the onion and season with salt. Cover and cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Uncover and add the leeks. Cook for another 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes.
- Add the brandy and cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Add the spinach (it will look like a lot and fill the pot to the top) and stir to combine the ingredients. Cover the pot. Cook the spinach covered for 7-9 minutes, stirring occasionally. The spinach will dramatically reduce in volume. Add the heavy cream and cook for 10 minutes at a simmer.
- Finally, add the cheeses, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine and cook an additional 2-3 minutes. Serve warm.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Category: steakhouse sides
Keywords: side dish, vegetarian, steakhouse dinner