Oldie and Goodie with Fresh Spinach

One of the posts that are most often accessed on this blog is the one for Spinach Rice Casserole, a wonderful recipe from the Moosewood Cookbook...a throwback to 1977!

In the past I've always made it with thawed frozen spinach, because it's easy and works well. Yesterday I made it with fresh baby spinach because Sweetie brought home fresh spinach instead of fresh mixed greens. It's an easy mistake because the local greens...both kinds... are packaged in plastic bags with no labels. Unless you look closely, they all look the same.

So why do I need greens instead of baby spinach? You can make a great salad with baby spinach. The reason is that the oxalic acid in spinach doesn't get along with my kidneys and causes stones. So, I don't usually eat much spinach, even though I love it. 

Since I had the fresh spinach I knew that this casserole was a great place to use some of it up. There isn't enough in the casserole to cause a problem unless I eat a huge amount of it, which I won't. I cut the recipe in half and baked it in an 8-inch by 8-inch glass baking dish.

So you get to see this great recipe again, AND learn how to make it with fresh spinach! I did make two changes... I used soy sauce instead of tamari and I increased the sunflower seeds so that they pretty much covered the top of the casserole. You will still have a great dish is you just use the amount given in the recipe.

Spinach-Rice Casserole
based on a recipe from Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen, 1977

2 cloves minced garlic
1 medium yellow onion, peeled and chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt (More, to taste)
3 tablespoons butter (I used 2 tablespoons olive oil)
2 lbs. raw, chopped spinach
4 cups cooked brown rice
4 beaten eggs (I used the equivalent amount of egg substitute)
1 cup milk
1 1/2 cups grated cheddar
1/4 cup chopped parsley
2 tablespoons tamari (optional)
a few dashes each - nutmeg, cayenne
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
paprika

Saute' onions and garlic with the salt in butter (or oil). When onions are soft, add spinach (I sort of stacked the spinach and cut in one direction about 1/2 inch apart, then turned the cutting board and cut crosswise. It took some time to cut all that spinach!). Cook 2 minutes. (Alternately, thaw and drain a 10 oz box frozen chopped spinach. Add to onion mixture, but don't cook any further.)
Combine the onion mixture with the brown rice, eggs, milk, cheese, parsley, tamari, nutmeg, cayenne. Spread into buttered casserole and sprinkle sunflower seeds, paprika on top.
Bake, covered, 25 minutes at 350 degrees F. Uncover and bake 10 more minutes.

Serves 4 - 6