A white sailor suite, hugely disproportioned forearm muscles with anchor tattoos, one squinty eye and a pipe that both toots and steams. Forever willing to fight for his girl’s love, and always reaching for his magic weapon: a can of spinach. No last name needed, just Popeye. Akak akak akak akak akak akak akak!
How many of you think of Popeye when you see spinach? I haven’t thought about Popeye in a very long time. Then, suddenly, yesterday I couldn’t get him out of my mind. Maybe it was my body’s way of telling me, I needed to eats me spinach.
Popeye was a cartoon I really loved to watch when I was a kid. (It’s actually playing in the background right now.) I never minded that this cartoon didn’t look like the other modern ones of my childhood. Popeye was retro-cool.
Long and lanky, dark haired, a long sleeved red shirt and long black skirt, small breasted and big-footed. When I sat in front of the television I couldn’t wait for Popeye’s love interest, Olive Oyl, to appear. I am short, thin, dark haired, small footed, hourglass shaped yet small breasted, but I always felt that I could relate to her. Olive Oyl taught me that I could be a bit awkward and that I didn’t need to be blond nor big breasted to make it in the world. She was the opposite of the stereotype beauty and she always received plenty of attention.
I used to love to watch Popeye do everything in his power to win back and save Olive Oyl. It always involved that can of spinach giving him superhuman powers, which made it possible to defeat his nemesis Bluto. The cartoon made me curious about spinach, I too wanted superhuman powers. Apparently I was not alone in my curiosity. Time and time again studies have revealed that the Popeye cartoon has aided the sales of spinach. But it doesn’t end there, experts have found that children who regularly watch this cartoon double their vegetable intake. Parents remember that next time your child won’t eat their veggies.
Spinach is one of my favourite vegetables. It is so versatile and I love it in just about any form. Garlicky and creamy is pretty high on my list of favourite ways to cook and eat spinach. In this form it can be served over rice and polenta, or on the side of any type of meat and fish entree. You can use fresh or any type of frozen spinach to create this creamy vegetable. Today I want to share with you my basic recipe for garlic-creamed spinach using frozen chopped spinach cubes. Please check the “Notes” section in the recipe for instructions using fresh leaves and other frozen spinach options. It doesn’t matter what type of spinach you are using because they all work well and taste great too.
(Please make sure to read through the whole recipe and notes section before beginning.)
- 325 grams or 11.4 oz frozen chopped spinach*, thawed out and all liquid squeezed out
- 1-2 tbsp unsalted butter or olive oil
- 5 garlic cloves, minced
- half to 1 tsp of fine sea salt, adjust to taste
- ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper, adjust to taste
- ⅓ cup or 80 ml cream (a high-fat cream), to start with and may need less or more
- Thaw out the frozen spinach completely. Drain and squeeze out as much of the liquid as possible. Heat a small pan and melt the butter, next add the minced garlic and sauté for 2 minute or until soft. It is very important not to burn the garlic because, if burned, it will give off a bitter taste. Next add the thawed and drained spinach to the pan, sprinkle in the sea salt and ground black pepper. Give the ingredients a good stir. Allow to cook for about 4 minutes or until any extra liquid has cooked off. Next pour in the cream, stir to well combine, allow to simmer for a few minutes, anywhere from 4-8. Now comes the part where you need to make it your own. You need to decide how liquidy, or creamy, you want the spinach to be and for what you will use it for. If this amount of cream is too wet for you then simmer until enough liquid has evaporated to reach your desired consistency, or use less cream. If you would like the spinach to be more liquidy, then little by little pour in more of the cream until you reached the desired consistency. If I’m serving the spinach over rice then I’ll leave it more liquidy, for polenta I tend to use much less cream for a drier spinach. If I’m serving it alongside steak then I’ll cook off or use less cream.
— Another trick you can use to make thicker creamed spinach is to use flour as a thickener. One tablespoon of flour is added to melted butter and cooked garlic, then stir half of the cream until a smooth sauce is formed. Next add the spinach and cook for about a few minutes. Lastly, add the remaining (or little by little) cream until you have the desired consistency.
— Some people also like to add a pinch of ground nutmeg to the spinach, this yields a slightly different tasting dish. Another ingredient that can be added is onion, just sauté it in the butter before adding in the garlic and rest of ingredients.
I know adding cream makes the dish higher in calories, but it’s okay to be bad sometimes. Besides we’re still ingesting spinach, which is really good for our bodies.
Have a great weekend everyone, who knows you might actually be able to squeeze in some Popeye cartoons.
I freeze spinach too, so that I can portion it out and package individually for one dish in bento box! I like your cubes. :) Garlic and spinach together is good! Great way to get nutrition. :)
I actually buy my like this or fresh, I’ve never freezer it myself but it’s a great idea. Thanks Nami!
Totally making this dish tonight!
Enjoy!
G’day Nancy, love your photo today too!
Popeye was my childhood hero and probably why I love spinach today!
Cheers! Joanne
That’s great, Joanne. Thank you:)
I love spinach very very much and this eyecatching photo just makes you want to eat it up straight away
Glad to hear you also love spinach. Thank you Tania!
I love spinach, especially with plenty of garlic and a little cream! :)
Exactly;)
My husband LOVES creamed spinach, although I’ll admit, I rarely make it because I’ve never been a huge fan. I love all types of greens, but for some reason, cooked spinach just hasn’t hit the spot yet. I’ll definitely try your recipe, though. Sounds delicious. And I LOVED Popeye cartoons as a kid. I’ll have to see if I can round some up for my own kiddos. Thanks for the reminder!
I hope you do give it a try Mindy, perhaps this might change your mind about cooked spinach. Thank you and enjoy watching Popeye with your kiddos.
I also love spinach and I am lucky my kids love it too. I always have frozen bags of it stocked my freezer to throw into many dishes. Love the garlicky and creamy version you have here. :)
That’s great that they do too since it is so healthy. Thank you Ramona!
Great looking dish! I noticed that you used frozen spinach, but from the photo, it doesn’t look like commercial frozen spinach. Did you make these yourself? How did you make them?
Hi Tracey,
I buy the spinach like this, so it is commercial. At the moment I can’t recall the brand name but I’m not sure you would be able to find it outside of Czech Republic. If I find it I’ll let you know.
I too enjoy spinach, frozen or fresh. Love the lighting of those photos.
Thank you Angie and glad to hear you’re also a fan.
I was so impressed by Popeye when I was a kid that I made my mom buy canned spinach once. Big mistake! That stuff is awful. Frozen, though, is another matter. Love this recipe. And love the vibrant green in the photos!
Haha, that’s too bad but at least it made you curious about spinach. I’m not a big fan of canned foods so can’t say I’m surprised that it didn’t taste good. Glad you didn’t give up on it. Thank you John!
What’s a little cream here and there! This looks healthy and delicious!
It’s perfectly fine to indulge a little now and then, right?:) Thank you Sandra!
I have never tried making spinach this way and since I love this veggie, I am going to try your recipe.
Enjoy, I think you’ll really like this way too.