French spinach balls

Polish: szpinak
portuguese: espinafre
Dutsch: spinazie
Gujarati: પાલક
Persian: اسفناج
Guarani: ka’anaite
Russian: Шпинат
Greek: σπανάκι
Korean: 시금치
Luxemburgian: Päinetsch
Basque: ziazerba
Irish: spionáiste

I really adore spinach. I took this recipe from an old Polish cookbook with French recipes ("Kuchnia francuska na co dzień i od święta" by Barbara Buczma and Bożena Bonik). I don't know if this recipe is something popular between French cooks and housewives, but tastes good and contains no meat. I modified the recipe a bit cause my mum always tells that when using breadcrumbs instead of flour, many dishes taste better and softer. If you like spinach, you should try those curd-spinach balls (epinards au fromage blanc)

500 gr frozen spinach
500 gr curd
30 gr breadcrumbs
100 gr grated cheese (Edamer, Cheddar...)
1 egg
nutmeg, salt, pepper
some flour

1. Make sure there is no whey in your curd (drain it if you have to).

2. Heat spinach (I did it in microwave, you can heat it in a pan) and drain

3. Blend curd with spinach, breadcrumbs, egg, grated cheese. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste. Leave in the frinde for about 1 hour

4. Form walnut-size balls from curd dough and coat them with flour



5. Cook them in boiling water about 3 minutes, until they emerge from the water. Drain. Now you can eat them cooked (like I did) or bake in greased pyrex tray, sprinkled with 100 gr ground cheese and morsels of butter. I think the second option is even better cause the cheese inside the balls will melt just the cheese on the top. But surely the first option is low-fat.

I served my epinards au fromage blanc with stewed chicory...


...and the most simple bechamel sauce