For Easter, we're going over to our neighbor's house for lunch. Since everyone else had already planned on bigger items (my neighbor is doing a crustless quiche.. yum!), I decided to go for the sides and work on a few veggie dishes (something I need to work on anyway!)
Since I had an abundance of spinach from a previous recipe, I looked for a recipe in which to use said spinach. I found the Creamed Spinach (Recipe #6) recipe, and thought I was set. Looking further into the recipe brought me to the "Cream Sauce" recipe - which brought me to the Bechamel Sauce (Recipe #5) recipe (accent on the second 'e'), which brought me to my first roux ("Roo"). Whew!
Happily, the Bechamel into Cream sauce turned out fabulously - tasted great - and they weren't kidding when they said that when it JUST turns to boiling that it thickens quickly! It was like snapping your fingers - first it was runny, and then it was thickening toward peanut butter! I stopped it in time, kept whisking as instructed, and added the cloves, onions and bay leaf and let it simmer for 30 mins, later adding salt, nutmeg and white pepper to taste. The final touch was the few ounces of cream to turn it into the cream sauce for the Spinach. Again, I didn't have the cheesecloth to filter (I gotta get me some of that cheesecloth!) but pulled the onion, clove and bay leaf out, and we were ready to go.
I'm not sure I could say the same for the spinach. I had followed a friend's advice to freeze the fresh spinach - but I think freezing after a week or so in the fridge may be too late. The spinach never looked the same again after freezing - and although the cream sauce does a lot to improve the wilted spinach taste.. I am not so sure it will make the debut on Spinach Times anytime soon... sorry Popeye.
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