Creamed Spinach with Wild Mushrooms

This isn’t your average creamed spinach. Dried porcini mushrooms rehydrated and sauteed in butter bring an earthy, woodsy intensity that transforms a simple side into something restaurant-worthy.

The porcini soaking liquid is liquid gold. After 20 minutes of steeping, that water is packed with concentrated mushroom flavor. It gets strained to remove any grit, then added to the pan with the spinach. As the liquid cooks down, every drop of that mushroom essence absorbs into the greens.

Heavy cream mixed with an egg yolk finishes the dish. The yolk thickens the cream into a velvety coating that clings to the spinach rather than pooling at the bottom. A squeeze of lemon juice at the end brightens everything and keeps the richness from feeling heavy.

Kitchen Tips

• Soak the dried porcini in boiling water, not warm. Boiling water extracts the maximum flavor in the shortest time.
• Strain the soaking liquid through a fine-mesh strainer or coffee filter. Dried mushrooms often carry grit and sand that you don’t want in the finished dish.
• Cook the cream-yolk mixture gently for just 1 to 2 minutes. High heat scrambles the egg yolk and turns the sauce grainy.
• Trim the hard stem ends off the rehydrated mushrooms before chopping. Those woody bits never soften fully.

Variations

• Use a mix of dried mushrooms: shiitake, morel, or chanterelle alongside or instead of porcini for a more complex flavor.
• Add a grating of fresh nutmeg to the cream for a classic steakhouse-style creamed spinach.
• Swap frozen spinach for fresh baby spinach, wilted in the pan just before adding the cream.