Post-Hike Creamed Spinach
Steakhouse creamed spinach rebuilt from dried greens and powdered dairy, cooked in one pot at camp.
- calories
- 420
- weight
- 3 oz
- cal / oz
- 140
- protein
- 13 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 10 min
- total time
- 15 min
- water
- 300 ml boiled
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Backpacking
- Winter / snow
- Vegetarian
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Dried spinach flakes | 1 cup, loosely packed | freeze-dried leaf, not powder |
|---|---|---|
| Whole milk powder | 1/3 cup | |
| Powdered cheese sauce mix or grated parmesan | 3 tbsp | hard parmesan keeps for days unrefrigerated |
| Butter powder or ghee | 2 tbsp | ghee travels warm better than butter |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | |
| Dried minced garlic | 1 tsp | |
| Dried minced shallot or onion | 1 tsp | |
| Cornstarch | 1 tsp | replaces the cream reduction |
| Nutmeg | a pinch | |
| Salt and black pepper | to taste |
Method
- Boil 300 ml of water. Drop in the spinach flakes, garlic, and shallot. Simmer two minutes until the leaves relax.
- Pull the pot off the heat and let it sit one minute. The spinach keeps drinking water while it stands.
- Stir the milk powder, cheese, butter powder, and cornstarch together dry in a cup, then add them to the pot a spoonful at a time, stirring hard so nothing clumps.
- Back on low heat for two or three minutes, stirring, until it thickens and coats the spoon. Do not let it boil hard or it will scorch on the bottom.
- Kill the heat. Add the oil, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Stir and let it stand two minutes to set up.
The original is a skillet dish built on fresh cream, cream cheese, and a fridge. None of that travels. Dried spinach, milk powder, and a teaspoon of cornstarch get to the same place: the starch does the thickening a cream reduction would have done, and the fat comes from oil and butter powder instead of double cream.
Water is the thing to watch. Fresh spinach has to be wrung out or the sauce splits; dried spinach has the opposite problem and will keep pulling water out of the sauce for a minute or two after you think it is done. Add the powders off the heat, stir them in slowly, and let the pot rest before you judge the thickness. The nutmeg is not decoration — a pinch is what makes it read as steakhouse rather than as cheese sauce.
Packing
Spinach in one bag. All the powders premixed in a second bag so you are adding one thing, not five. Oil in a dropper bottle, ghee in a small screw-top jar.
Variations
- Stir in a foil packet of chicken and it stops being a side dish.
- A spoonful of instant potato flakes tightens it fast if you overshot the water.
- Dried mushrooms simmered with the spinach add body without more dairy.
https://www.baldhiker.com/an-easy-keto-creamed-spinach-recipe