Spinach Provençale

I have to admit that there are plenty of vegetables that I like much more than spinach.  In fact, given the choice, I would eat almost any other vegetable before eating spinach.  I spent my entire childhood avoiding it as best I could.  If I dislike it so much, why do I cook spinach at all? 

Fate plays funny tricks on you when you are not looking.  My husband, who normally will not touch vegetables with a ten foot pole, loves spinach.  It is the one vegetable that he will eat no matter how it is prepared.  I love him to the moon and back so, for that reason, I make spinach quite often.

While flipping through my 1956 edition of the Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook, I decided to see what spinach recipes I might find.  Right there, staring me in the face, was the recipe for Spinach Provençale.  It is quick and simple and an excellent side for Chicken Breasts Baked in Cream.  As much as I prefer other vegetables, I found that the onion and garlic complemented and toned down the strong flavor of the spinach. 

The recipe for Spinach Provençale says that it only makes four servings which was incredible to me since it calls for 2-pounds of spinach.  The servings would be massive!  As a main dish, four servings may work but I found that, as a side, I could easily get six to eight servings out of it.

The recipe instructed me to top my spinach mixture with buttered bread crumbs or cracker crumbs.  I had a bit of Irish butter left over from St. Patrick’s Day last week so I decided to melt 1-tablespoon of that and mix it with 1-cup of panko bread crumbs (any dried bread crumbs would work).  The resulting mixture raised the Spinach Provençale to a level where I would quite enjoy eating it on a regular basis.

Spinach Provençale

Serves 4 as a main dish or 6 – 8 as a side

Ingredients

·        ¼ cup olive oil, salad oil or butter

·        2 pounds fresh spinach

·        1 tsp salt

·        ¼ tsp pepper

·        ½ cup chopped onion

·        1 clove garlic, minced

·        2 eggs, slightly beaten

·        1 tbsp butter + 1 cup bread crumbs OR 1 cup cracker crumbs

·        Grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

Directions

1.   Preheat oven to 350°F.

2.   In a large pan, heat oil and add spinach, salt, pepper, onion and garlic.  Cover and cook until spinach wilts and sinks down into the pan.

3.   Remove cover and cook quickly until juices evaporate.

4.   Remove from heat and stir in 2 slightly beaten eggs.

5.   Pour mixture into a 1 quart baking dish.

6.   Top with buttered bread crumbs, cracker crumbs and/or grated Parmesan cheese.

7.   Bake at 350°F for 15 – 20 minutes or until spinach mixture is firm and topping is golden brown.

8.   Serve hot.

NOTES: 

·        I used a 12-inch sauté pan and all of the spinach would not fit in the pan at one time.  I added 2/3 of the spinach and the rest of the ingredients and waited for the spinach to cook down before adding the last 1/3 of the spinach.

·        Since I was serving my Spinach Provençale with Chicken Breasts Baked in Cream, I waited to raise the temperature to 350°F until I put the spinach into the oven.  I then baked it for 25 minutes and removed it from the oven at the same time as I removed the chicken.  The spinach was cooked perfectly as did the chicken, even though it was only supposed to be baked at 300°F.

If you disliked a food, would you be willing to eat it if it was your loved one's favorite food?  Comment below and let me know!