As the seasons transition from winter to spring, the foods are ever evolving. Spinach, green onions, and eggs are wonderful quintessential Spring foods. I was thrilled to find a recipe for German Spinach in the April, 1916 issue of Good Housekeeping that calls for all three. The spinach and green onions, combined with bacon and a lovely chopped egg garnish, creates a stunning seasonal dish.
Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:
German Spinach
- Servings: 4-5
- Difficulty: moderate
2 quarts baby spinach (1 10-ounce package)
2 bunches (approximately 20) green onions (scallions)
4 slices bacon, chopped
1 tablespoon flour
1 tablespoon fine breadcrumbs
dash of nutmeg
1 hard-boiled egg, chopped
Wash spinach, then put into a large saucepan with just the water that is clinging to the leaves. Using medium heat, cook spinach until wilted while stirring occasionally.
In the meantime, chop the white and green parts of the green onions. Put the bacon in a skillet and using medium heat, cook the bacon for several minutes. Add green onions, and continue frying until the green onions are wilted. Stir in the flour, bread crumbs, and nutmeg; then add the cooked spinach.
Put into serving dish and garnish with the egg. If desired, sprinkle a little nutmeg on top.
Here’s the original recipe:
The old recipe called for adding water to the spinach and bacon mixture, then cooking until the water is “boiled up.” When I made this recipoe, I didn’t add any additional water since it didn’t seem needed. Without the added water, the dish was ready to put in a serving bowl as soon as the bacon mixture and the spinach were combined.
What an interesting combination–it sounds really good, although it never would’ve occurred to me!
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I was really pleased with how this recipe turned out.
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This is new to me. I wonder if it was served for Easter.
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It might have been. This recipe was in the April, 1916 issue of Good Housekeeping. Your comment motivated me to Google when Easter was that year. It was on April 23, so they may have published it as an Easter recipe.
That’s great to know. For some reason I imagined it on a buffet table.
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I looked up her house on Google Maps. It’s a nice house.
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Now this brought back some lovely memories! There is strong German heritage on my mother’s side and when I visited my Nana, I remember having a dish very much like this! Nutmeg, bacon, spinach, eggs and also lots of cream were commonly used ingredients in recipes. My Nana’s potato salads were always so much better than the traditional Australian ones which seemed to have too much bite for me. Basically Nana would use heaps of sugar and cream and a touch of white vinegar to add to the potatoes. Not very healthy but we loved it! Thanks for this recipe which I will definitely try. 🙂
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It’s wonderful to hear that this recipe brought back some good food memories. Cream would be a nice addition to this recipe.
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Not a real spinach fan, but it’s an interesting combination!
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Spinach has grown on me over the years. When I was a kid, the Pop-eye the Sailor Man encouragement to eat spinach just made me hate it all the more–but I now think that it is a tasty green.
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What an interesting recipe- would definitely not have thought to combine all those ingredients together, but it sounds like it works great together!! Happy spring!
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I hope that you also have a wonderful Spring. I’m ready for warm weather. 🙂
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Looks delicious! I like the addition of the hard boiled egg in there.
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The hard-boiled egg worked well in this recipe. They added additional colors, texture, and flavor to this recipe. My general sense is that chopped hard-boiled eggs were used more frequently as a garnish a hundred years ago than it is used now.
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You’re right, I’ve seen it in many old recipe. In some cases they used to grate the white and yolks separately as another form of garnish.
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Your comment makes me want to experiment more with using hard boiled eggs as a garnish. I know that I’ve seen recipes that called for pressing the yolks through a sieve or “sieved egg yolks.” That process sounds like it might create a lovely garnish.
It is especially known as a garnish for caviar and steamed asparagus. Worth trying. 🙂
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This sounds good, and easy enough for me to try! I also discovered you have other interesting “related” recipes. I’m always looking for new, and not too cumbersome, things to try. Thank you!
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Word Press has an optional algorithm that automatically lists related posts. I am often surprised by which other posts are selected–sometimes (like today) it’s the perfect companion to the current post, and other times it’s further afield. 🙂
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I love the recipes that you find!
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It’s wonderful to hear that you enjoy them.
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They are great!
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Happy spring!
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And, I hope that you also have a wonderful spring. 🙂
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Wonderful sounding. I like spinach but have to disguise it to get family to eat. But bacon makes everything better!
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I agree – bacon makes everything better. 🙂
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Like this old school salad!
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It’s nice how it uses seasonal ingredients.
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wow, I just went down memory lane! Grandma made this salad with spinach or dandelion. I always wished she would have left the egg out of it. 🙂
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It’s nice to hear that this post took you down memory lane. This recipe would work just fine without the egg. The egg adds some flavor and texture, but it mainly serves as a garnish.
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Of course, the egg adds a bit of protein, too. Chopped egg often was used by my mother and grandmother to garnish veggies, or as an ingredient in salad. This looks like a wonderful recipe. The nutmeg surprised me, and intrigued me. I just happen to have a bag of freshly picked spinach in the fridge that needs to be used promptly, so I think this will be on the supper menu.
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The recipe only calls for a little nutmeg, so it is not a dominant flavor. Its hint of warmth marries nicely with the spinach. If you make this recipe you’ll have to let us know how it turned out.
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Looks and sounds delicious! I will definitely be trying this. Thank you!
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It is yummy. 🙂
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I am going to have to try this – sounds delicious. Mom did not care for spinach so I am sure she never made this dish. Her specialty for spinach was creamed spinach – still love it today – although I do not have her recipe.
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Creamed spinach sounds good, too.
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My dad loved this with just a little bit of malt vinegar sprinkled on top. Sometimes my mom would just scramble an egg and put in it. We had it often. I still make it.
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mmm. . . the malt vinegar sounds like it would be a really nice addition. I may have to try it.
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This sounds delicious and very try-able. Will def give it a go 😀
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I think that you’ll like it.
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