Healthy Spinach Gratin

I think it’s pretty obvious I think spinach is awesome (see: Spinach Quiche, Chicken Stuffed with Spinach, and Spinach with Shallots). And really, why not? It’s delicious when paired with garlic, cheese, or anything really; it’s stuffed with iron and other nutrients; and it’s generally really easy to a) find in the supermarket and b) cook. Winning!

You don’t know how hard it was to resist writing a tiger blood or Charlie Sheen joke here.

In any case, I’ve made this recipe from Smitten a couple times to great success. It combines all the things I love and is relatively healthy – no cream, only a bit of butter, and just enough cheese to make things delicious. I like this recipe too because it's forgiving; I've added the ingredients in the wrong order, used fresh spinach from the farmers' market, used bagged baby spinach from my local grocery store, used chicken stock, used vegetable stock, forgotten to take it out of the ice bath right away - it doesn't matter. It still tasted good at the end of the day.

So I hope you enjoy it as well!

Healthy Spinach Gratin

Barely adapted from SmittenKitchen 

The instructions on this look troublingly long – and normally I would be the first to say it’s too hard – but honestly, the longest part of this recipe is cleaning the spinach. The rest goes quickly, I promise! Plus, you get a total of three dishes dirty, bonus! It’ll serve 4 as a side dish, but two if you’re planning on eating it my favorite way, under a poached egg.

Ingredients

1 pound fresh spinach
1 1/2 to 2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 to 2 bulbs garlic, minced

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Salt and pepper
1/2 tablespoons flour
1/3 cup stock of your choice

1/4 cup grated Swiss cheese (I used Cheddar because I had it on hand)
1 tablespoon fine, dry breadcrumbs

Equipment

Large pot with lid, colander, 8x8 baking dish

Stem and wash spinach, no need to dry as it does immediately into the large pot over high heat. Cover and cook until wilted, about 2 to 4 minutes for baby spinach and 4 to 6 minutes to traditional spinach. Transfer to colander, fill large pot with cold water, and transfer spinach to water-filled pot to shock it and stop it from cooking further. Drain again and squeeze a small amount of spinach in your hands to extract as much water as possible.

Chop the spinach coarsely, you should end up with about a cup. Wipe out the pot and place back on stove. Melt tablespoon butter over medium-high high and add garlic and red pepper flakes. Cook a minute, then stir in spinach. Cook for about 2 to 3 minutes until moisture is gone and the spinach starts to stick to the pan. Lower heat and sprinkle with flour and stir and additional minute. Add stock a bit at a time to scrap up any stuck spinach. Simmer for another minute, stirring frequently to prevent new sticking. Season with salt, about 1/4 teaspoon but add more if you prefer.

Preheat oven to 375. Lightly butter the 8x8 baking dish. Stir half the cheese into the spinach and pour into baking dish. Mix remaining cheese with breadcrumbs and sprinkle on top. Bake until heated through, about 25 to 30 minutes.

Serve on the side with fish, steak, chicken, or top with a poached egg.

Serves 2 to 4