Chef Juliette
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Épinards à l’Anglaise
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 2133, Épinards à l’Anglaise, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
Épinards à l’Anglaise proves how much discipline can live in a plain green vegetable: shred carefully, boil quickly, drain fiercely, and carry it straight to the table.
Side Dishes
French
Weeknight
Quick Meal
Budget Friendly
15 min
Active Time
10 min cook•25 min total
Yield4 side-dish servings
Épinards à l’Anglaise (spinach cooked in the English manner) teaches one true thing: draining is part of the cooking. The leaves should reach the table tender, vivid, and free of standing water. Leave them wet and their clean mineral flavor disappears into a puddle.
The entry assumed a vegetable station with a broad kettle already boiling, a cook to prepare a great basket of leaves, and a warmed timbale waiting for service. Your honest equivalent is an eight-quart pot, a large colander, and a serving bowl warmed with hot water. Brigade quantities and prolonged holding are scaffolding, so they go. Careful shredding, abundant salted water, hard draining, and service without cooling are the dish, so they stay. One cook, one stove, one evening.
There is no butter, no cream, and no sauce to hide behind. The salted water seasons the spinach, while fast cooking preserves its color and character. The step that matters most comes after the pot: drain fiercely, never rinse, and serve before the leaves lose their heat.
Épinards à l’Anglaise belongs to the French classical service table, where à l’anglaise named a deliberately plain treatment of vegetables cooked in salted water and presented without a built sauce. The title records a French reading of English vegetable cookery, not a claim that every English household prepared spinach this way; other vegetables might meet butter at service, while this spinach formula stops at hard draining. Its bareness carried it easily into cuisine bourgeoise, because freshness, plentiful water, and immediate service matter more than an elaborate garnish.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
mature spinach leaves
Quantity
About 22 loosely packed cups (5.2 L / 680 g)
washed, coarse stems removed, and carefully shredded into broad ribbons
water
Quantity
4 quarts (3.8 L / 3.8 kg)
fine sea salt
Quantity
1½ tablespoons (22 ml / 27 g)
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| mature spinach leaveswashed, coarse stems removed, and carefully shredded into broad ribbons | About 22 loosely packed cups (5.2 L / 680 g) |
| water | 4 quarts (3.8 L / 3.8 kg) |
| fine sea salt | 1½ tablespoons (22 ml / 27 g) |
Equipment Needed
- •8-quart (7.5-liter) stockpot with lid
- •Large colander
- •Spider or broad slotted spoon
- •Chef’s knife and large cutting board
- •1-quart (1-liter) timbale or deep serving bowl
Instructions
- 1
Heat the water
Put the water and salt in an eight-quart pot, cover, and bring it to a vigorous rolling boil over high heat. Fill the timbale or serving bowl with the hottest tap water and leave it beside the stove. The large volume of water lets the spinach cook rapidly without pulling the temperature down for long.
Taste a cooled drop of the cooking water. It should be distinctly seasoned but not punishingly salty, because this is the dish's only seasoning. - 2
Prepare the leaves
Wash the spinach in several changes of cold water until no grit remains at the bottom of the bowl. Remove the coarse stalks, stack the leaves in manageable handfuls, and slice them crosswise into broad ribbons about ¾ inch (2 cm) wide. Work lightly and don't mince them; careful shredding gives an even cook while leaving enough body for the spinach to remain itself.
- 3
Cook at the boil
Add the spinach rapidly in several large handfuls, folding each beneath the water with a slotted spoon as soon as there is room. Keep the heat high. If the boil disappears completely, stop adding leaves until the water begins moving again. Once the final handful is submerged, cook for 1 to 2 minutes, turning once, until every ribbon has collapsed and become tender but remains a clear, deep green. Don't wait for the color to darken.
- 4
Drain without cooling
Set the colander securely in the sink. Lift the spinach into it immediately with a spider or slotted spoon, then carefully pour the remaining contents of the pot away from you. Press firmly and repeatedly with the back of the spoon until a flowing stream becomes only an occasional drop; toss the leaves once and press again. Never rinse them. If water collects after the spinach reaches the serving bowl, return it to the colander and press once more. Ça se rattrape.
- 5
Dish and serve
Empty and dry the warmed timbale. Transfer the spinach while it is still hot, loosening the ribbons lightly with a fork before mounding them generously. The timbale is the serving vessel, not a mold to invert. Bring it straight to the table with no butter, cream, pepper, or decorative garnish. À table!
Chef Tips
- •Mature flat-leaf spinach has enough substance for this treatment. Baby spinach will work, but it collapses more quickly and gives a softer, smaller mound, so begin checking it as soon as the final leaves enter the water.
- •Buy about 2 pounds (910 g) of spinach in bunches if the coarse stems are still attached. After trimming, you should have close to the 1½ pounds (680 g) of prepared leaves needed for four generous portions.
- •Use the widest large pot you own. Crowding the leaves into a small saucepan cools the water, extends the cooking, and gives dull spinach before the center of the bundle has softened.
- •A cold serving bowl steals heat from a preparation that must not be refreshed or held. Warming the timbale is small brigade scaffolding worth keeping because it protects the dish rather than complicating it.
Advance Preparation
- •The spinach can be washed, stemmed, and dried up to 8 hours ahead. Wrap the whole leaves loosely in a clean kitchen towel and refrigerate them, then shred shortly before cooking so the cut edges stay fresh.
- •Measure the water and salt and set out the colander and serving bowl before cooking. Once the spinach enters the pot, the method moves quickly.
- •Do not cook this preparation ahead or hold it over heat. Reheating makes the leaves softer and wetter, while chilling contradicts the instruction to dish them without cooling.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 140g)
Calories
40 calories
Total Fat
0 g
Saturated Fat
0 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
0 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
400 mg
Total Carbohydrates
6 g
Dietary Fiber
4 g
Sugars
1 g
Protein
5 g
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