Creamed Spinach

The last year, I've really been into kale. It all started with this recipe on Orangette. And this time of year, Papa Spuds has great kale available every week.

Unfortunately, pregnant women get random cravings and aversions, and kale is currently on Katy's naughty list. So we ordered spinach instead, which would be fine -- but this was not your tender, sweet, salad-ready baby spinach. This was rugged, leathery, muddy spinach that had been fighting off the cold weather tooth and nail.  Mature spinach, to put it delicately.  I was worried it was going to be inedible, actually.

Creaming saves the day.  There's no magic chemistry to creaming spinach (or corn, which also loves to be creamed).  But it sure is delicious.  This is a fairly high fat version, which doesn't hurt the deliciousness of course, but you could eliminate the butter and replace the cream with milk and it would still be fine.  The cornstarch gives body to the sauce, which is particularly important for the low-fat version.
In a medium pot, cook until wilted, stirring contantly

1. 1 large bunch spinach with stems, washed, dried, and coarsely chopped (about 8 oz.)
2. 1 T butter
3. salt to taste

I think you can skip this step and immediately add the next ingredients, but this is the way I actually tried it last night.  If you're omitting the butter, definitely skip ahead -- don't try wilting the spinach in a dry pot.  Whisk together

1. 1/2 c half-and-half
2. 1 1/2 t cornstarch
3. fresh ground black pepper
4. few grates fresh nutmeg
5. 1/4 t smoked paprika

It's important to blend the cornstarch into the cold cream before heating, so that it doesn't clump.  Stir into the spinach and simmer over low heat, covered, until the spinach is tender and the sauce is thickened, about 10 minutes.  You could replace the paprika with a little cayenne, or some Tabasco, or a touch of chipotle puree -- anything spicy.  But it really needs that little touch to wake it up.  The same basic recipe also works for corn, although I'd drop the spices and stick to salt and pepper.

As a footnote, cornstarch is a really useful thickener.  Like flour, the starch molecules unwind and thicken the liquid they're suspended in when heated to near boiling.  But unlike flour, which generally has to be cooked in a roux to get rid of the raw taste, cornstarch doesn't taste like much of anything.  It's also quite efficient as a thickener -- you need about 1 T cornstarch per cup, as opposed to 2 T of flour.