The Best Spinach Gratin Recipe Ever - Everyday Dishes (2024)

FAQs

Can you make Ina Garten's spinach gratin ahead of time? ›

This spinach gratin, from her fabulous 2001 “Barefoot Contessa Parties!” cookbook (Clarkson Potter), is perfect for the Thanksgiving table. Make it a day ahead, cover, refrigerate and bake while the turkey is resting. Garten told me she keeps Thanksgiving as traditional as possible.

Spinach releases a lot of water as it cooks. So my father's trick is to drain and dry the spinach leaves as well as you can, using a salad spinner if need be, before cooking them.

The simplest way to cook spinach is in a pan with a little butter, a grating of nutmeg and a tiny squeeze of lemon juice with a lid on to let it steam. This will taste great, and it goes with just about anything – pasta, fish or meat.

While spinach's oxalic acid may inhibit iron absorption, the addition of vitamin C from lemon juice helps convert iron to a more absorbable form, facilitating its uptake by the body.

The good news is that cooking spinach drastically reduces the amount of oxalic acid found in one serving. According to Food Revolution Network, “Steaming spinach has been shown to cut the oxalic acid by 5-53%. Steaming also allows the spinach to retain its folate content, a B-vitamin that helps your body produce DNA.”

What's bad about spinach? If you eat spinach every day in excessive amounts (more than a bowl) there can be adverse health effects. Most commonly these include gas, bloating and cramps due to its high fiber content. Eating too much spinach can also interfere with the body's ability to absorb nutrients.

Too much of anything is going to be a bad thing. But when it comes in spinach, you have to eat quite a lot of it to any serious damage. It is recommended by nutritionists that you eat maximum 2 cups of spinach per day; eating any more over a long period time could incur health complications.

Every time you reheat spinach or other veggies that are rich in nitrates, they become increasingly toxic. Here's the deal on those spuds.

Ina Garten Is Ditching Mashed Potatoes for This 5-Ingredient, Make-Ahead Thanksgiving Recipe. The best part (well, besides all the cheese)? You can prep it a day in advance.

This Ina Garten Overnight Mac and Cheese recipe takes two days to make; the sauced pasta has to rest overnight in the fridge and then gets baked the next day. The recipe makes 4 to 6 servings.

Can you make au gratin potatoes ahead and reheat? ›

You can absolutely make these cheesy au gratin potatoes up to three days ahead of time! Simply pour the sauce over the potatoes as directed, then cover the pan with foil and instead of baking, place in the fridge until ready to bake.

These scalloped potatoes can be made ahead. You can assemble the dish and refrigerate for about 8 hours before baking, or you can bake it and refrigerate for about 24 hours before serving.