Spinach and Potatoes Au Gratin

Submitted by jovigirl

"This is fabulous! Found in an Easy Home Cooking recipe booklet. Very simple but so delicious."

 

• Ready In: 1hr 15mins
• Ingredients: 8
• Serves: 4-6

ingredients

• 4 medium red potatoes
• 9 ounces fresh Baby Spinach
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• 1⁄4 teaspoon salt, divided
• 1⁄8 teaspoon black pepper, divided
• 1⁄2 cup heavy cream
• 1⁄16 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1⁄2 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese

directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F Wash potatoes; cut into 1/4 inch slices.
2. Arrange half of slices in greased medium baking dish.
3. Drop spinach into large pot of boiling water. Cook 1 minutes; drain.
4. Rinse under cold water; squeeze out excess moisture.
5. Place half of spinach on potato slices. Drizzle on melted butter.
6. Add half of salt and pepper.
7. Arrange remaining potatoes, then spinach.
8. Add remaining salt and pepper.
9. Blend cream and nutmeg; pour over spinach.
10. Bake 40-50 minutes or until potatoes are almost tender.
11. Remove from oven; sprinkle with cheese.
12. Bake 15 minutes longer, or until cheese is lightly browned and potatoes are tender.
13. If cheese browns too quickly, just cover with foil and finish baking.

Reviews

[EdwardLCote]

Granted, I made two changes that could have affected my results, so bear that in mind. First, I tripled the recipe to 12 servings. The site warned me that doing that could lengthen the cooking time, which it did, by almost 20 minutes total. Second, I unfortunately don't have a food processor or a mandolin, so I diced the potatoes instead of slicing them.<br/><br/>That said, I had two problems with the dish. A) It was a bit bland for my tastes. I added extra salt and pepper and even garlic to my serving more than once. Not a major problem, and easily solved. B) I can't help but question whether the butter was even necessary. I don't know what it added to the dish. I think it might have even done more harm than good. It just did not integrate with the rest of the ingredients, leaving an almost "greasy" consistency that sort of sat on the food and dripped off of it. I could almost taste the butter, and that didn't help my first problem. I'm not used to working with real butter, so I might have overdone it when I was melting it, but still, I will probably just skip it entirely if I make the recipe again. I think the dish has enough fat and moisture without it.<br/><br/>Some possible ideas for further tinkering: I could add turkey or ham for a carnivorous variation. Or mushrooms to keep it vegetarian. Heavy cream is expensive, and I love sour cream, so I'm curious as to whether a mix of milk and sour cream could get the job done.

 

[Ms B.]

EXCELLENT! We are experiencing some awful winter weather, and the menu needed some comfort food. These were so easy and the flavor was perfect. I did steam the spinach instead of boiling, but otherwise followed the recipe. Mmmmm. These potatoes will grace our table again. Thanks for posting.