In honor of Thursday, being National Spinach Day, here’s Mom’s secret copycat recipe for…
SPINACH SOUFFLÉ
[(MAYBE) LIKE STOUFFER’S]
By Gloria Pitzer, as seen in… Gloria Pitzer’s Cookbook – Best Of The Recipe Detective (Balboa Press; Jan. 2018, p. 132). [A revised reprint of Gloria Pitzer’s Better Cookery Cookbook (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; May 1983, 3rd Edition).]
BETTER-THAN-FROZEN – Some restaurants do this so elegantly that you’re convinced there is a mystery surrounding the creation of the dish, when in layman’s language, what it really amounts to is chopped spinach, a baked custard combination and some grated cheese – and you can call it a soufflé!
There is one on the market in the frozen food section, which, from the picture on the box, looks like it was made in heaven; but when it comes out of my oven, I am convinced that the food company either needs a new photographer – or a new chef.
What goes into the box, NEVER looks as good as it does in the picture of what you are expected to find inside. Sometimes, it just doesn’t pay to complain! Therefore, I devised a recipe for my own side dish, which I once adored when I was apt to buy the frozen food product or to order when dining in one of their restaurants.
INGREDIENTS:
3 whole eggs, plus 2 raw egg yolks
1 tablespoon sugar, or artificial sweetener equivalent
¼ teaspoon salt
a few flecks of pepper
½ teaspoon each: nutmeg and vanilla
2 ½ cups scalded milk
¼ cup each – shredded cheese: cheddar and Swiss
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed
INSTRUCTIONS:
Put the eggs and egg yolks through your blender with the sugar (or artificial sweetener), salt, pepper, nutmeg and vanilla, blending on low speed about 2 minutes. While continuing to blend, add scalded milk in slow steady stream. Pour into a mixing bowl and stir in the cheeses.
Pat the thawed spinach very dry with paper towels and stir into cheese and egg mixture. Pour into a greased 3-quart baking dish – or a 9 x 12 x 2” baking dish and place it inside a slightly larger pan or baking dish that contains enough water to come half-way up the sides of the dish containing the spinach mixture.
Bake at 350°F for about 50 to 55 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean and the soufflé appears to be “set.” Serve it while quite warm. Serves 6 satisfactorily.
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