More spinach...

A few more spinach meals from this week:


Julia's classic cream of spinach soup, so simple when adapted for springtime:

1/2 cup sliced onions, I used the whiter halves of egyptian walking onions
Butter
pinch of nutmeg, salt and papper
A big bag or colander of fresh spinach
1 quart stock (chicken or veggie is fine)
1/3 cup plain raw white rice
1/2 cup cream, milk, or half/half
2 egg yolks
salt, pepper, lemon juice
more butter

Cook the onions in until soft (green onions took much less time, obviously).  Add washed, trimmed, and chopped spinach, cook until soft.  Add the stock, rice, and seasonings: simmer for 20 minutes or so until the rice is tender.  Puree soup (I just use an immersion blender right in the pan).  Blend egg yolks and cream (or milk etc) together and gradually add a little of the hot soup liquid to temper.  Add back to the rest of the soup.  Bring back up to nearly boiling, adjust seasonings to taste, and add a squeeze of lemon juice.  Serve with a swirl of yogurt or some sprinkled chives.



Squash curry:  One of our favorites at area Thai restaurants, but we don't make it at home very often, not sure why.  This one we made last night was SO very good, and used up both spinach AND butternut squash, a definite win win.

Made this recipe nearly as-written, except again, green onions, and we had yellow curry on hand, and no fish sauce, so just went with lime juice per a suggestion in the comments.  It was flavorful but needed some bump-up if you like it spicier, so we added some homegrown cayenne and red pepper flakes.  Some green chiles might be good mixed with onion too.  It's such a basic recipe, I can see it being adaptable (as most curries are) to whatever you have on hand. 


And since spinach dishes are not the most photogenic, I'll just end with this.