CREAMED SPINACH QUEEN MARY 2
On a voyage back from Europe to the United States aboard the Queen Mary 2, I tasted this creamed spinach in its steak restaurant. It’s delicious; you could eat it for dessert, it’s so rich and filling. I think the dual secrets are squeezing the spinach of excess water after it has been blanched and thickening the cream.
RECIPE: Creamed Spinach Queen Mary 2
Makes 4 portions.
Ingredients
1 8-ounce bag baby spinach
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
4 teaspoons butter
1/3 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Freshly grated nutmeg, to taste
Directions
In a large pot of rapidly boiling, lightly salted water, blanch the spinach until wilted, 20-30 seconds. Drain and, when cool enough to handle, squeeze of excess moisture. Set aside.
In a saucepan, reduce the cream and butter until the mixture is thickened but not broken. Add the cream and butter to the spinach and toss with tongs, adding the salt, grindings of black pepper, and gratings of nutmeg to taste.
Wine pairings and whys: You know how a tiny patch of spinach will adhere to one of your incisors after you’ve finished that delicious baby spinach salad with warm bacon dressing? So that when you grin at your friend’s joke, you look like a ghoul with a missing tooth? That’s the clue to what kinds of wine pair best with this spinach-laden dish, especially given the richness of the cream and butter that envelops the greens. You want something that’s a liquid squeegee, bold of acidity, lean of cut, a wine that cleanses and refreshes (and removes stickums). White, pinks, yes; sparkling, better. A dry rosé from most anywhere is on board, but buy from a cool climate to heighten that chances that it sports nice acidity; what the hey? how about sparkling rosé too? An Alsace crémant rosé works. Or try some unoaked chardonnay from Burgundy, California or Northern Italy.