I was never convinced as a child – no matter how many cans of spinach Popeye ate – that spinach in any form tasted good. But I had never tasted spinach the way the French cook it.

I was at Le Foyer restaurant underneath the Madeleine Church recently when I first tasted creamed spinach, or épinards à la crème as the French say. 

The food tasted gourmet, but my French friend told me that this is an everyday dish in France, easy to make, she’d give me the recipe. And here it is – a genuine down-home French dish:

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs. fresh spinach, or 1 lb. frozen spinach – chopped
• 1/4 stick butter
• 1/2 c sour cream
• salt and pepper to taste
• pinch nutmeg

(If using fresh spinach, rinse then blanche in lightly salted water. After it cools, chop finely.)

Drain the spinach – go ahead and put some muscle into it when you squeeze out the water.
You don’t want soggy spinach.

Over a low heat, melt the butter in a skillet.
Add the drained spinach, half of the sour cream, the salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

Sauté until thoroughly heated, 5-6 minutes.

Pour the spinach into a bowl and set aside. Heat the remaining sour cream.

Pour the sour cream over the spinach. 

Voilà! If I like this dish, anyone can love spinach.