Spinach wilted, blended and stirred into a butter and flour roux loosened with milk. Twenty minutes, five servings, and the roux is what makes it a cream rather than a green broth.
The quantities were the problem
This recipe had a reputation for coming out thin and the reason was in the numbers rather than the technique.
It called for three cups of water to cook the spinach, and then blended the spinach with that water and poured the lot into the pot. Add three cups of milk and the finished soup contained more than one and a half litres of liquid, thickened with two tablespoons of flour, which is about sixteen grams.
One cup of water is more than enough to wilt half a kilo of spinach, and three tablespoons each of butter and flour will thicken three cups of milk. Those are the two things that have changed, and nothing else.
Spinach disappears
Five hundred grams looks like it will not fit in the pot and five minutes later it is a couple of handfuls.
That collapse is why the water quantity matters so much: the leaves are mostly water themselves, and they give it up into whatever they are cooked in. Adding three cups on top of that was adding liquid the soup never needed.
Making the roux
Butter melted, flour added gradually, mixed until smooth. Keep the heat gentle so neither of them colours, because this is a white sauce and browned flour changes both the taste and the look.
Then the milk, warmed first and poured in gradually while stirring. Warm milk incorporates far more easily than cold and there is less chance of lumps.
Only then does the blended spinach go in.
Twelve minutes at the end
The seventh step is where the soup actually becomes a soup. Twelve minutes over low heat cooks the raw taste out of the flour and lets everything thicken properly.
Stir it now and then, since flour settles and catches. It thickens further as it cools, so take it off while it still moves easily.
More creams
- Cauliflower cream soup — blended, no roux.
- Béchamel sauce — the roux on its own.
- Creamy pumpkin soup — the pressure cooker one.
- Spinach and egg tortilla — for the rest of the bag.
Creamed Spinach FAQ
Almost certainly too much water. The recipe on this page used to call for three cups of it, all of which was blended in with the spinach and ended up in the finished soup. One cup is plenty: spinach releases a great deal of its own water as it wilts.
Three tablespoons, matched with three of butter, for three cups of milk. The two tablespoons this recipe used to call for is around sixteen grams of flour, which cannot thicken that much liquid.
It looks enormous raw and it is not. Spinach is almost entirely water and five minutes in a pot reduces it to a couple of handfuls.
Cook the flour in the butter first, then add the milk warm and a little at a time, stirring the whole time. Lumps form the instant cold liquid hits hot flour and almost never afterwards.
Yes. Thaw it and squeeze it dry first, and skip most of the water, since frozen spinach has already released it.
To cook the flour through and let the soup thicken. Flour that has not had time in the liquid leaves a raw taste and the cream stays thin.
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- 500 g spinach
- 1 cup water (just enough to wilt the spinach)
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 3 tablespoons flour (the same amount as the butter)
- 3 cups milk (warmed)
- 1 bouillon cube (for more flavour)
- Salt (to taste)
Notas
Instructions
- Put the water and the spinach in a pot and cook for 5 minutes, until the leaves have collapsed.
- Tip that into the blender, blend it smooth and set it aside.
- In another pot, melt the butter and add the flour a little at a time, mixing well. Take care not to let the flour and butter burn.
- Warm the milk a little and pour it into the butter and flour, stirring well until it is completely smooth.
- Add the blended spinach to that mixture.
- Mix, and season with the bouillon cube and a little salt.
- Let the cream cook for about 12 minutes over low heat, stirring now and then.
- Serve it immediately.
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