Popeye

One of my mother's go to vegetable side dishes was spinach with onions and sour cream. It wasn't a fancy dish, but rather something that could go alongside a meatloaf or a pork chop on a weeknight. She'd take a block of frozen chopped spinach, out of one of those waxed paper boxes, sprinkle it with dehydrated minced onions and steam it in one of the Revere Ware skillets she'd gotten as a wedding present. Just before serving, she'd stir in a big blob of sour cream. It was delicious - sort of like a tangy creamed spinach.

The other night, I was rooting around in the freezer looking for something green to go with a pork chop - it being that time of year when fresh greens are an occasional proposition - though the greenmarkets are starting to burst. Happily, I found a package of blanched spinach, from the CSA greens glut last fall. We had onions, we had the tail end of a container of sour cream, and I decided to reinvent my mother's old standby.

Spinach and Onions with Sour Cream
1 onion
2 T. butter
a pinch of cayenne
1/2 t. salt
1 package of spinach (fresh or frozen)
1/3 cup sour cream

Peel and trim the onion. Cut in half, vertically. Cut sides down, slice into little half moons about 1/8" thick. Melt the butter in a pan with a lid. Add the onions and a tablespoon or two of water. Cover and cook slowly, until the onions are tender, melted, not brown. Add spinach, cayenne and salt. Cover the pot and cook until heated through. Take off the lid - if there seems to be too much liquid, turn up the heat and boil some of it off. Off heat, stir in the sour cream. It's not beautiful, but it's awfully tasty.