For some reason, Creamed Spinach is a staple side dish at steak houses throughout the land. The creamed Spinach entrenched in my taste memory is one that I ordered in a steak house in Chicago, near the Drake Hotel. It was rich and creamy with a fine pure taste of spinach coming through.

I can’t remember ever making it at home and I probably haven’t, although that’s one of the few ways I like spinach. The cream takes the edge off, for me, literally. For me, spinach raw or cooked has a characteristic that sets my teeth on edge. Other greens, dandelion, chard, turnip, beet, mustard, collard, don’t affect me that way.

In our California winter there are few green vegetables at the Farmers Market other than greens. As I was thinking about what would be good as a side dish for leftover Tuna Balls and Spaghetti, that creamed spinach from Chicago came to mind, but I had no spinach. Why not creamed Swiss Chard?

Step one, Google “creamed spinach.” Whole Foods Market was on the first page, so I took a look. Spinach and cream sauce were prepared separately and combined. Their recipe used grated Parmesan cheese as a thickener for the cream. That would work. Other recipes that I checked used flour as a thickener, basically a béchamel sauce, or with the addition of cheese, a Mornay sauce. One, from Boston Market (“That’s my home.”) surprisingly started with chopped frozen spinach and used no cream at all. Continue reading →

From the plate up,
Shaved deli ham, I like to call it Ham Carpaccio
Sliced cucumbers
Salt and pepper
Sliced peeled tomato
Salt and pepper
Lemon olive oil

Hooray! The endive, tomato and cucumber lady is back at the Farmers Market.