Baked Creamed Spinach

Ever since Laurie made a delicious creamed spinach dish for our small group a few weeks ago, I've been wanting to have creamed spinach again. Since I often am cooking something in the oven, I thought I would experiment with a recipe for baked creamed spinach. It's not exactly the same as creamed spinach cooked on the stove, but it's still very tasty.

The recipe below makes enough for just two adults, but if you would like to make enough for a crowd, then go to the link to the original recipe.

Baked Creamed Spinach
serves 2 adults

Ingredients:

• olive oil
• 1/2 small yellow onion, diced (about 1/4 cup)
• 1 Tbsp. Bob's Red Mill Gluten-free flour
• 1/3 tsp. sea salt
• dash of ground black pepper
• dash of nutmeg
• dash of paprika
• 1/2 cup Lactaid milk
• 1 large egg
• 1 10-ounce package of frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and drained

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Immediately pour 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil in a small 15-ounce baking dish (about half the size of an 8"x8" pan), and put the dish in the oven while the oven heats.

Heat a 10-inch, medium size frying pan over medium-low heat. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and heat until shimmering. Dice the onion and saute until softened. While the onion is sauteing, defrost the spinach in the microwave. Place the defrosted spinach in a colander with small holes and press on the spinach to get rid of the excess water.

When the onion is soft, add the flour, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and paprika to the onion and stir until combined. Then slowly more in the milk and stir constantly until the sauce has thickened. Whisk the egg in a separate bowl and then slowly pour the egg into the sauce, whisking the sauce very quickly so that the egg does not form lumps. (You might want to take the pan off of the heat for this step to help prevent lumps from forming.) When the sauce has thickened, add the spinach and stir until combined.

Take the baking dish out of the oven and transfer the spinach mixture to the dish. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake for 25 to 30 minutes. If you double the recipe, use an 8"x 8" baking pan and cook for 30 to 40 minutes.