Creamed Spinach

An issue we have with creamed spinach is the inevitable water weeping out of the spinach into the cream component and creating a mess. Traditional creamed spinach is made with béchamel, relying on the hydrocolloid flour to keep everything together. We borrowed from tradition and created an excessive gel with milk and gellan, our interpretation of béchamel. We then vacuum sealed spinach and blanched it. When the spinach was cooked and cooled, we puréed it with the bouncy milk gel. As the purée came together, we added some cayenne, salt, and nutmeg. The end result is a silky purée of creamed spinach that shows no signs of syneresis. The purée can be spread thin and frozen to drape over presentations. It may also be simply reheated and served with pita points as a decadent spinach dip. When dried, this spinach becomes wafer-thin and crispy, the essence of creamed spinach. With all of these options at hand, our main goal was to make an intense creamed spinach filling for our preserved lemon pasta. The results show promise for many more extrapolations.