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

FAQs

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

Make it a day ahead, cover, refrigerate and bake while the turkey is resting. Garten told me she keeps Thanksgiving as traditional as possible.

Shake the excess water off (if you plan to stir-fry it or eat it raw in a salad, you should pat it dry with kitchen paper, too). Older spinach may have tough stems - cut these off. If the rib of the leaf is particularly big, fold the leaf in half lengthways with the rib facing outwards, then tear it away from the leaf.

The high heat and stirring will help any liquid the spinach releases evaporate quickly, which is what you want to avoid wet or slimy spinach when all is said and done. To cook more spinach, add it in batches so that as the leaves wilt; any liquid given off will evaporate right away.

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.”

Garten recommends letting the gratin sit for 10 minutes before serving it hot. She also notes that the gratin can be cooked a day ahead and reheated at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, a helpful tip if you want to save some time on Thanksgiving or Christmas.

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.

It is possible to pre-prepare the gratin up to 2 days ahead by simmering the potatoes and transferring them to the buttered baking dish, then refrigerating them until needed. You should cool and refrigerate the mixture as quickly as possible, and within 2 hours of cooking.

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.