Creamed Spinach

The official kick-off to my holiday season is the Thanksgiving lunch at my office. It’s always the Monday of the week before Thanksgiving, and so it’s sort of a warm up (for cooking and eating) before the big day. My contributions to the lunch are: Pumpkin Pie, Buttermilk Pie, Broccoli and Blue Cheese Casserole, Squash Casserole, Mashed Potatoes and Creamed Spinach. I’ll eventually post all of these recipes, but I will start with the spinach.

A couple of years ago I sought after a Boston Market copycat recipe for their creamed spinach… and this one is really close (and maybe better). As is true with my other Thanksgiving casseroles, no cream of anything – these are all from scratch (or darn close). I hope you enjoy!

Creamed Spinach

3 tbsp butter
4 tbsp flour
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 cup milk
2 tbsp butter
2 to 3 tbsp finely minced onion
20 ozs frozen spinach, thawed and drained well
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
Pepper to taste

1.) In a saucepan over medium-high heat, melt 3 tbsp butter and add flour and salt to make a roux. Cook for about 1 minutes stirring constantly. Add milk while stirring. Once it starts to bubble, remove from heat.
2.) In a large pot over medium-high heat, melt 2 tbsp butter and saute onion. Add spinach and water. Cover and cook until spinach is heated through.
3.) Add white sauce, sour cream and parmesan cheese to spinach and stir until ingredients are mixed well.

I doubled this recipe in the pictures below.

I place the thawed spinach in a colander and use a large spoon to press it against the sides to remove all the excess liquid.

This shows how thick the white sauce will be right after it starts to boil.

The finished product!