Creamed Spinach (Espinaca a la Crema)

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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.

Prep Time5

Cook Time15

Total Time20

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: Colombian

Keyword: creamed spinach

Servings:

Calories: 129kcal

Author: Angela Giraldo

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

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.

Notes

Spinach is almost all water. Five hundred grams looks like an enormous amount raw and collapses to a couple of handfuls in five minutes, which is why it needs only a cup of water to cook rather than the three the recipe used to call for. All of that water ended up in the finished cream, and it is the reason this soup had a reputation for coming out thin. Cook the flour in the butter for a minute before the milk goes in, and add the milk warm and gradually, stirring the whole time. That is where lumps form and nowhere else. Twelve minutes over low heat at the end is what cooks the flour out and lets the cream thicken properly. It thickens further as it cools, so stop while it still moves easily in the pot.

Nutrition