Spinach Kugelettes

DH is a huge fan of spinach. He will always look for it first on the menu when going out to eat and when seeing green and leafies will look hopefully and say, “Is that spinach?”.

I try to be a good wife but for many years wasn’t a fan myself and the kids would make hideous faces and say gross Ema! so he had to content himself with eating out when he wanted his spinach.

In the spirit of coupledom, I decided over the past number of years to work on my spinach antipathy and discovered that there are many foods that have spinach that I actually quite like! With this in mind, I have been able to get my hands on fresh kosher spinach which is gorgeous, bright green and makes you want to make all kinds of things with it. I decided to go with a simple spinach kugel which can easily be made into patties just as nicely. The spinach itself is not too powerful in taste so you just can add onion and spices to perk up the flavor and it makes a stunning appearance on your plate.

This can be used as a main dish for a meatless meal, perfect for the vegetarians amongst us, or a side dish. As a main, I’d make it into patties. When you serve them in the gold cupcake liners they are especially pretty and suitable for Shabbat, Chag or 7 brachot, which I’ve done many times.

Start with cleaned, fresh spinach

Then, pull out your food processor, put in the onions and whirl

Zap the thoroughly cleaned spinach in the microwave briefly till lightly wilted, not fully cooked. Throw it into the chopped onion in the food processor. Whirl. Then, you add the egg, oil, breadcrumbs (or potato starch for Passover) and spices and whirl these too and then either form into patties to bake (or fry) or scoop into muffin lined cups and bake at 350 in the oven.

See how pretty in the gold foil cups? You just pat the mixture into the cups lightly.

I find the spices that work well with this mixture are nutmeg, salt and pepper (just a smidge) and it is fresh and flavorful.

What is also nice about these is that they are not too heavy and if served with a meat meal, give a lighter note and lovely color and taste. What could be bad?

Spinach Kugelettes

6 cups raw spinach (2 packages of 200 grams each) Remember that the spinach cooks down a bit when you zap it.

1 large onion, peeled and quartered

2 eggs

2 tablespoons oil

3/4 – 1 cup breadcrumbs OR 1/3 cup potato starch for gluten free or Passover

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon salt

1/4-1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon chopped garlic (optional)

Pull out your food processor for this, it will simplify your prep enormously. You can do this by hand but be prepared to chop it all finely.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Take the spinach and put in a microwave safe bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and nuke in micro just till slightly wilted, a few minutes. Check your spinach, it goes quickly and every micro is different. When you microwave lightly, you don’t need to squeeze out the spinach. Set aside.

In the food processor, plunk your onion and whirl till chopped but not fine. Remember you are adding other things to chop. Now put the wilted spinach in and whirl a bit. Add the eggs, oil, breadcrumbs or potato starch and add nutmeg, salt and pepper. Add the garlic if you wish. Whirl in food processor just till combined.

At this point, check the mixture and see if it is a bit watery. If so, wait 15 minutes (just leave it in the processor) and see if the liquid is absorbed. This usually is the case, if not, add another tablespoon of potato starch or 1/4 cup breadcrumbs. Mix briefly.

My favorite way to serve these are in gold foil muffin cups as a lovely contrast in color between the green spinach and the gold and it is so lovely on the plate (you serve in the gold cups, don’t remove the kugelettes). So, scoop enough mixture into the cups to 3/4 of the way in the muffin cups and pat down lightly. Bake in hot 350 oven for approximately 20-25 minutes or till lightly browned on top and fully cooked.

Alternatively, you can fry these (yes, it’s even tastier, c’est la vie) by scooping a 1/4 cup or so of mixture into a patty and frying with oil in a pan, approximately 2-3 minutes on each side till medium browned. Lastly, you can form into patties and bake on parchment paper in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes till lightly browned. Any of these ways taste yummy but for eye appeal and elegance go with the gold foil cups. Enjoy!