Steak Dinner Sides: Spinach Gratin

Tim dug our grill out of the snow yesterday so that he could grill the porterhouse steaks from our half-steer.  Tim grilled two porterhouses to perfection!  Porterhouses are not for those with a light appetite — they consist of a strip steak + a filet.  Although the steak was delicious, I could only manage to eat the filet and a couple bites of the strip steak.  Luckily, Tim was in the mood for steak and eggs this morning and ate the rest of my steak.

To accompany the steak, I made a couple of traditional steakhouse sides: spinach gratin — not dissimilar from creamed spinach — and sauteed wild mushrooms.

I only made about 1/4 to 1/3 of the spinach recipe since the original recipe serves 8.  I forgot to buy heavy cream so I just substituted 1% milk for the heavy cream.  Since you use some flour to thicken the sauce, you can really skip the heavy cream.  You won’t sacrifice creaminess and you’ll save a few calories and grams of fat.

I loved the spinach which might be why I didn’t make that big of a dent on my steak!  I plan to make this again when we entertain because you can do everything but the baking in advance.

(Pardon the photo — forgot my good camera in NYC.   And, I didn’t get a good photo of the ‘shrooms.)
Spinach Gratin
Barefoot Contessa

• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
• 4 cups chopped yellow onions (2 large)
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 cups milk
• 3 pounds frozen chopped spinach, defrosted (5 (10-ounce) packages)
• 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup grated Gruyere cheese

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed saute pan over medium heat. Add the onions and saute until translucent, about 15 minutes. Add the flour and nutmeg and cook, stirring, for 2 more minutes. Add the cream and milk and cook until thickened. Squeeze as much liquid as possible from the spinach and add the spinach to the sauce. Add 1/2 cup of the Parmesan cheese and mix well. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.

Transfer the spinach to a baking dish and sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup Parmesan and the Gruyere on top. Bake for 20 minutes until hot and bubbly. Serve hot.

Serves 8.