Author Notes
Laurie Colwin altered her version or creamed spinach a bit from one served to her in Dallas during a literary festival by a cook named Betty Josey. "It was so good it made me want to sit up and beg like a dog," Colwin wrote. If you don't have one thing, you can make do—you don't want to keep cans of evaporated milk around just to use 1/2 cup in this recipe, any mix of cream and milk will work; you want to use Gruyère, great; you don't have celery salt, fine. Adapted slightly from Home Cooking (Harper Perennial, 1988). —Genius Recipes
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Ingredients
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2
10-ounce packages frozen spinach
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4 tablespoons
butter
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2 tablespoons
flour
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2 tablespoons
chopped onion
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1
clove garlic, minced
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1/2 cup
evaporated milk
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1/2 teaspoon
black pepper
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3/4 teaspoon
celery salt
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6 ounces
Monterey Jack cheese, cubed
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one or more jalapeño peppers, chopped (fresh or pickled)
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Buttered bread crumbs (I used 1/2 cup breadcrumbs mixed with 2 tablespoons melted butter)
Directions
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Cook the spinach. Drain, reserving one cup of liquid, and chop fine.
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Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the flour. Blend and cook a little. Do not brown.
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Add onion and garlic.
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Add one cup of spinach liquid slowly, then add evaporated milk, black pepper, celery salt, and cheese. Add one or more jalapeño peppers (how many is a question of taste as well as what kind. Colwin used the pickled kind, from a jar. I used one fresh), and the spinach. Cook until all is blended.
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Turn into a buttered casserole topped with buttered bread crumbs, and bake for about 45 minutes at 300° F until the top is crisp and golden. If you want to speed up the browning, toast under the broiler.
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