Steakhouse Creamed Spinach

This recipe started as the America’s Test Kitchen Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms with Spinach and Goat Cheese, which is a) absolutely delicious, b) a little fussy to prepare, and c) full of ingredients that don’t last forever and that I don’t buy that often. Over time, that recipe evolved into one that used stuff I’m more likely to have, isn’t as pretty but also isn’t as difficult, and also solves a logistical problem for me, namely, an option for a green vegetable dish that is bold enough flavor-wise not to taste wimpy and bland next to steak, and also is forgiving timing-wise and finishes easily when steak is resting.

Serves two spinach enthusiasts.

Ingredients

• 1 lb of fresh baby spinach (you could sub in non-baby but you’ll have to cook it longer—or a pound of cooked frozen spinach)

• 8 oz mushrooms (white, crimini, or portobello are the most widely available ones that really taste good here. This recipe is also great for showing off wild mushrooms, especially porcinis and, if you’re crazy, morels)

• a cup of water

• salt

• butter

• 1 shallot &/or 2-4 cloves of garlic (These are my favorites for this dish but you can substitute any alliums you have, if you know how to do so, now is not the place for me to explain the whole technique of substituting alliums)

• a pinch of nutmeg (optional)

• a pinch of chopped fresh thyme (optional)

• optional: white wine, especially SHERRY; otherwise vermouth or sauv blanc; otherwise no wine

• halfish a cup of full-fat yogurt (if you have goat cheese around, some of this volume can be relaced with goat cheese. but i rarely do)

• parmesan

• 1 lemon & a few tablespoons of chopped parsley (optional)

Equipment

Microwave, large microwave safe container, colander/sieve, cutting board, sharp knife, largeish pan and burner, spatula, electric kettle (optional)

Recipe

I usually do the first seven steps while the steak is finishing up in the sous vide or cooking in a low oven.

1. Start boiling about a cup of water if you have an electric kettle.

2. Put all the spinach in the large, microwave-safe container, maybe with a couple tablespoons of water. Microwave for about 3 minutes or until just collapsed (mature spinach may take longer). Pour into a colander above the sink & allow to cool. If you’re using frozen, thawed spinach skip the microwaving step.

3. Chop your mushrooms into thin slices. Put a pan on a burner over high heat & throw the mushrooms in (no butter yet!). Pour a half cup of boiling water over them; if you don’t have boiling water, a little less. I know this sounds insane but it will allow the mushrooms to collapse a little so you can later fry them in some butter without them getting totally greasy.¹ Add a pinch of salt. Stir from time to time until the mushrooms are collapsed & the pan is almost dry; this could take 4 to 8 minutes. Taste.

4. Meanwhile, dice the shallot fine. Separately, mince the garlic. If you know you’re a slow chopper maybe do this before you start cooking the mushrooms, but if you’re not, this saves time compared to a “chop everything first” approach.

5. Push the mushrooms to the perimeter to clear a space in the middle of the pan. Melt a tablespoonish of butter in there and fry the shallots in that for a couple of minutes. Then stir thoroughly with the mushrooms so that they’re evenly coated with shallots and shalloty butter. Again, push this mixture to the perimeter. Melt a half-tablespoonish of butter in the clearing & fry the garlic (& at the same time the nutmeg & thyme, if you’re using these) in there for about 30 seconds, then stir thoroughly with the mushroom-shallot mixture. If you’re using wine, now is the time to pour in a couple of tablespoons, Stir thoroughly as the wine reduces.

6. Turn the pan off and take it off the heat. Taste.

7. The spinach in the colander probably isn’t too hot anymore. With thoroughly clean hands, squeeze as much water out of it as you can. You can also squeeze it in a cheesecloth or thin dish towel if you prefer, or press the spinach against the sides of the colander or sieve with a flat spatula, but bare hands works fine. Take your surprisingly small mass of wrung-out spinach² to the cutting board and do a couple of passes, the second pass at right angle to the first, with a sharp knife.

Now you sear the steak. Or if you didn’t do a low-and-slow, sous-vide-or-oven thing with the steak, now is the time to cook the steak. When the steak is resting, do these next steps; you can finish this in about the time it takes steak to rest.

8. Pan back on the burner, medium heat, stir in the chopped spinach & a pinch of salt until it’s just heated through (you want just slightly too hot to eat). Turn off the heat. Taste.

9. Stir in half the yogurt. Taste. Then stir in as much more yogurt as you want.

10. Stir in parmesan, lemon, & parsley to taste. You’ll probably want more lemon if you didn’t use wine!

Now it’s ready! Enjoy.

1. You may have noticed that collapsing is a central principle of this whole recipe; spinach & mushrooms are both liable to get very greasy if they’re still spongy and open when you add fats. If they’re squeezed down, as it were, you have better control of how greasy they get.

2. Seriously, it’s about the size of your fist! Remember when this was a huge bag full of spinach???