Our family is getting ready for the CSA season to begin on our farm, so that requires some recipe testing by the cook of the family (aka, the Farmer’s wife). We have some spinach that we planted in the fall, covered with straw and it survived the winter and began growing again in the spring. Our family has been having spinach salads, and tons of this butter-braised spinach. The butter-braised spinach can also be used in spinach quiche, spinach omelets and spinach balls.
This spinach recipe works well for using the spinach leaves that are too tough to put in spinach salad. I harvested the largest spinach leaves I could find, and the finished dish was tender and silky smooth.
Butter-Braised Spinach
2 to 4 T butter, divided
8 to 16 oz. fresh spinach, any size
Salt and Pepper to taste
Variations: add chopped garlic to the pan when the spinach is added; add heavy cream to the cooked spinach after uncovering and then stir to coat
Here’s my heaping bowl of large spinach. The spinach leaves had thick stems, so I removed them by folding the leaves in half and pulling off the tough stem. If you have smaller, younger spinach leaves with thin stems I would either leave the stems on and chop with the rest of the leaves or cut the stems off at the base of the leaves.
Here’s my pile of stems (to be composted) and the spinach leaves.
Then, I wash the spinach thoroughly in my trusty salad spinner and spun it mostly dry.
I like to chop my spinach up pretty small, into approximately 1″ pieces, by piling the spinach onto my huge cutting board and slicing one direction about 1″ apart and then perpendicular slices about 1″ apart. You don’t have to cut the spinach pieces that small, but I have found my children eat more cooked spinach when it is chopped well, so that’s what I do!
To cook the spinach, it is best to use a frying pan with sides. Heat 1 to 2 T of the butter in the pan over medium heat until melted, then gradually add the chopped spinach, stirring to coat with butter and allowing the spinach to wilt down between additions (covering the pan makes it go faster); after all the spinach has been added, turn down the heat to medium-low and cover and allow to cook for 3 to 4 minutes until the spinach is very tender, stirring a couple of times. The spinach shrinks a lot during cooking! Uncover the pan and stir in an additional 1 or 2 T butter to add a silkiness to the dish and salt and pepper to taste. Note: If you are cooking young tender spinach, don’t cover the pan, just gradually toss the spinach into the hot butter until it wilts, and season to taste.
The spinach as it is added to the pan:
The spinach shrinks a lot during cooking:
The finished butter-braised spinach dish is a wonderful side dish to pasta, meat or nearly any main dish. And leftovers, if any, are amazing in egg dishes or mixed into pasta.
I hope you are looking forward to the first week of the CSA next week when you can try out this recipe on your own bunch of spinach!
Want to get in on the spinach action and all the other home-grown goodness. There are still a few shares available. CLICK HERE to learn more.