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


  • Author: Christina
  • 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

Units Scale
  • 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

  1. 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.
  2. Add the brandy and cook for 2-3 minutes.
  3. 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.
  4. 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

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