A Moveable Feast: Creamed Jalapeño Spinach

Our epic 8 course dinner party (lovingly named A Moveable Feast) continues with this amazing Creamed Jalapeño Spinach.  Truth is, I’m a relative newbie when it comes to creamed spinach.  My initial thoughts when faced with creamed spinach were not terribly positive.  However after tasting it, I was immediately a convert.  Really, it’s heavenly!  But decide for yourself.  Since my obsession with creamed spinach involves great friends, a (now) destination brewery, and my culinary crush, you might just want to read more!

I’m not going to lie.  Before my friends opened their brewery (Surly Brewing Co.-which if you haven’t checked out yet, run don’t walk!) I had never had creamed spinach.  And it is a little fortuitous how this all came about.  Brewery? Creamed Spinach? What?Stick with me here…

Back before Surly was a huge destination brewery, it was just a little brewery located in a suburb of Minneapolis.  (As an aside, it always makes my heart happy when really great people like the Ansari family make their dreams come true through hard work and sheer determination. For more on the Surly Story click here.) It was in this fun little warehouse type building where my friends would hold parties amongst the brewing equipment.  The first party that I went to at the original Surly Brewery featured food catered by another Minneapolis institution, Brasa Premium Rotisserie.  (For my more about my foodie crush, Alex Roberts the creator of Brasa, check out this post! And here is a beautiful ode to him as well!)

Brasa is known for its amazing soul food (think southern meets the caribbean with hints of West Africa) made from locally sourced ingredients.  The original location in Minneapolis is housed in a converted service (gas) station.  And let me tell you, there is nothing like sitting by the open garage doors, sipping a drink and eating slow roasted pulled pork with yuca fries and masa corn cakes.  Heaven.

At this particular party, one of the side dishes on the Brasa catered buffet table was the creamed spinach with jalapeño.  I initially wasn’t going to have any because really?  Spinach?  Not sure I wanted to waste the calories on that.  But my fabulous sidekicks were slurping it down, and when in Rome right?

Holy moly.  I went back for seconds.  And wanted to lick my plate.

So when planning a Southern Inspired Dinner like the one we just hosted, we HAD to serve creamed spinach.  And more accurately Creamed Jalapeño Spinach.  The jalapeño makes all of the difference.  Takes the spinach from bland to amazing.  And THAT is what we wanted for our dinner party.  Not sure how close this recipe is to the one that Alex Roberts and his chefs at Brasa use, but it is amazing in its own right.

We served our Creamed Jalapeño Spinach with 2 mini biscuits and a squeeze of honey butter.

Click on the above image to pin this Creamed Jalapeno Spinach to your favorite Pinterest Board.

PS: These courses are not being released in the order that they were served at our dinner, but in the end we will pull it all together to provide you the entire 8 course meal, including links to all of the recipes. Stay tuned!

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A Moveable Feast: Creamed Jalapeño Spinach

A spicy Southern side dish everyone will love! If you don't like spicy or aren't sure of your audience, you may want to dial it back to 3/4 cup of jalapeño (approximately 3 jalapeños).

Course Side Dish

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 25 minutes

Servings 8 servings

Author With Two Spoons

Ingredients

• 2 10 ounce clamshells of baby spinach
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 shallot finely chopped (about ½ cup)
• 1 cup jalapeño finely diced about 4 jalapeños
• 4 garlic cloves finely minced
• 4 tablespoons butter 1/2 stick
• ¼ cup all-purpose flour
• 2 cups skim milk
• ¾ cup parmesan cheese
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg

Instructions

1. In a large skillet, over high heat, sauté the spinach for 2-3 minutes. This will need to be done in batches.
2. When spinach is wilted, remove to a plate and set aside.
3. Repeat with the next batch of spinach.
4. After all of the spinach is sautéed, heat the olive oil in the large skillet.
5. Add the shallots and jalapeños to the hot pan and cook until shallots are soft, approximately 6 minutes.
6. Add garlic and sauté for an additional 1 minute.
7. Add the butter and flour, stirring and cooking for 2 minutes.
8. Slowly add milk, while continuously stirring.
9. Bring mixture to a gentle boil and continue stirring as mixture thickens.
10. Remove from heat and stir in the parmesan cheese, salt and nutmeg.
11. Add spinach to the cream sauce and stir to combine.
12. Serve warm.