There seems to be a different creamed spinach recipe for each family who makes it. My most popular version was made one Thanksgiving, for a potluck dinner. Because it was the holidays, I crammed my dish with cream and butter and cheese and it was a-mazing! No one had bothered to tell me that the theme was "fat free turkey day" (probably because they knew I wouldn't come), and the guests hoovered my dish up like there was no tomorrow. There is a time for calorie watching and counting, but a holiday meal ain't one of them...
I have made Miso Creamed Kale for L. a couple of times, which adds much needed umami to a potentially stodgy dish. Today's version is a cross between the two recipes referenced, in that I want umami and flavor rather than stodge, and I tried to find a way to do it without adding too much dairy and fat. I am quite pleased with the end result -- steaming the greens first was a brilliant idea (if I do say so myself) because it adds a silkiness to them that you can usually only get from extravagant amounts of butter and cream.
You can put the whole thing through the blender if you want to have a truly creamy result though I rather like a bit of texture to the dish. Just pick out any tiny bit of stem that might have made its way into the dish when you weren't looking, such as the culprit in the picture above!
8 cups mixed chopped greens (I used a mixture of curly kale, spinach, and turnip greens)
1/2 cup chipped scallion greens
1 Habanero pepper (optional)
1/4 cup chicken stock
1 tsp butter
1 Tbsp heavy cream
2 Tbsps grated Parmesan
Salt
Steam your greens in either a metal or bamboo steamer for 5 minutes, until tender, silky, and a vibrant green. Even packing the steamer to the gills you may have to do this in two batches. Once the greens are cooked, tip them into a clean tea towel or several layers of paper towel and blot as much excess liquid as you can without crushing the greens.
Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium Add the scallion greens and the whole Habanero and cook until the shallots are starting to soften, about a minute or so.
Pour over the chicken stock and the cream, lower the heat and cook until reduced and thickened, about 3 to 4 minutes. Stir occasionally.
Add the greens to the dish and stir to combine with the sauce. You want each individual green to have a thin coating of sauce.
Remove the Habanero and discard. Sprinkle the Parmesan over the top of the greens and stir to combine.
You can serve the dish as is, or blitz it into a silky puree. If you do blend the greens, you may have to add a tiny bit more chicken stock.
Sounds great.