Spinach Casserole

First, I'll report that both Tigger and Pipster are doing fine and have mellowed out completely! No fights, no growls, no hissing. It's wonderful.

You may be planning a New Years Eve get together or a good roast pork and black eyed peas meal for New Years Day, so thought you might like a good spinach casserole recipe to go with. This one is from the 1987 cook book published by the Lebanon United Methodist Women. It's called "Specialities of the House" and it has some pretty good real recipes. This recipe is called Roxie's Spinach Casserole and was contributed by my mother. Roxie was a very dear friend who passed away a couple of years ago. She was always loads of fun, bright and always smiling. We miss her and we love her spinach casserole. Enjoy!

Roxie's Spinach Casserole



4 10oz packages of frozen spinach - or bags of frozen spinach to equal

1 pound button mushrooms, gently washed and sliced or any mild mushroom you like

1 glove garlic

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 pound grated Swiss cheese

5 tablespoons butter

5 tablespoons flour

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 1/2 cups whole milk

a few grates of nutmeg (optional)

Cook the spinach with the garlic. Drain the spinach well pressing down on it with the back of a large spoon to get the water out and discard the garlic. Transfer the spinach to a large mixing bowl.  Cook the sliced mushrooms in two tablespoons of butter. You might add a little oil just to keep the butter from burning. Cook the mushrooms over high heat, disturbing them very little so they brown a bit. Add them to the spinach. 

In a medium saucepan, make a white sauce of the five tablespoons of butter and flour and milk. Melt the butter, whisk the flour into the butter and cook it over medium high heat for a minute whisking the mixture as you go.  Add milk to the butter flour mixture and cook, whisking well until the sauce is thick and smooth. If you heat the milk, just until its hot, it incorporates more easily into the butter and flour. Add the salt, the nutmeg and 3/4th of the cheese to the sauce and cook, stirring until the cheese begins to melt.

Pour the cheese sauce over the spinach and mushrooms and mix together. Pour the mixture into a buttered casserole dish and top with the remaining cheese. Let stand one hour or longer before baking in a 350 degree oven for an hour.  My mother uses a deep, oval casserole dish with a lid. It's about 9 inches long and five inches wide four or five inches tall. It is an oven to table decorative dish. She likes to bring this casserole to parties in that dish because it keeps well and the dish is pretty, so all she has to do is take the lid off and serve.

Note:  I've augmented the original instructions and added the nutmeg - it was not in the original recipe but always goes well with spinach and Swiss cheese. 

This is my version of a deep, covered casserole dish. This one is by Portmerion and is great for serving a variety of casseroles and vegetables. It's oven to table as well.