An easy and delicious side dish, this cheesy spinach gratin recipe (ıspanak graten) is a recent discovery for us.
The first time we had it not too long ago, it was a revelation.
Spinach Gratin A La Turca – Ispanak Graten
We were in one of our local eateries in Fethiye – the lokanta, Yeşil Asma Yaprağı – perusing the wide choice of dishes on display.
What to eat for a late lunch…
We’d already chosen a couple of offerings.
And then I spotted the casserole dish with the spinach gratin inside. A few portions had already been served to hungry customers.
Whenever we see a spinach dish in a lokanta, it’s just got to be part of our order.
Usually, it’s the spinach borani that we go for as our perfect side dish. But the sight of the baking dish containing the tempting-looking spinach mixture was our perfect opportunity to break with tradition.
The lady serving the food confirmed that we were looking at ıspanak graten and immediately served a large slice onto our mixed plate (you go to a lokanta for tasty, home-style cooking; not presentation).
A huge hit with both of us!
We immediately started discussing what we could taste – the main ingredients.
It’s just one of those delicious recipes – and we’ve been making spinach gratin at home since then.
Versatility
And the great thing with this spinach gratin recipe is its versatility.
- It’s a perfect complement to grilled meats – an alternative to Turkish rice or bulgur pilaf – and fish.
- No worries if you have leftovers. There’s only two of us in our house so leftovers are commonplace. But they don’t go wasted. Spinach gratin tastes great the next day, too, either reheated or left cold – it’s lovely spread over hot toasted bread for a brunch!
- And if you want to make individual side dishes for a dinner party you can bake your spinach gratin in a few smaller ramekins so that everyone can have their own portion. More aesthetically-pleasing than a big slice on the side of your plate.
- It’s a great recipe to make ahead, giving yourself time to deal with other dishes. You can make the bechamel and spinach mix beforehand and then store it, covered, in the fridge until you’re ready to add the cheese topping and bake it.
- You can refrigerate and freeze cooked spinach gratin. Place your cooked gratin into an airtight container and refrigerate for up to three days. Alternatively, you can freeze it for up to three months.
Our Spinach Gratin Ingredients
As we’re doing a Turkish spinach gratin recipe (graten), we’re going to be keeping the ingredients as Turkish as possible.
The Spinach
One of the stars of this show, fresh spinach is piled high on the stalls of Turkish markets – it plays a big role in Turkish cuisine, featuring in dishes like ıspanaklı yumurta, pilafs and böreks – so we’re going to be using a lot of chopped, fresh spinach leaves.
If you’re in Turkey, once you have chopped the stems off (don’t discard these because they make a great Turkish spinach stem salad) give your spinach leaves a really good wash to get rid of any muddy gritty bits that will be there.
Then we put them into the salad spinner to get rid of as much excess water as possible.
Watery spinach leaves will give you a watery spinach gratin.
And that’s not what we want. We want oozy.
Which brings us onto frozen spinach leaves.
If you are using them, get rid of as much liquid as possible from them. You can do this by defrosting / cooking them first and then squeezing the liquid from them through a large sieve or colander.
Your chopped spinach leaves will then go into a large frying pan after your onion has softened as it sautes in butter and olive oil.
Fresh spinach users; you might need to add handfuls at a few second intervals to give it chance to wilt down and fit into the pan.
The Cheese
Whilst we’re going to be adding a bit of freshly grated parmesan to our bechamel sauce, our topping for the spinach gratin will be Turkish.
Gruyere cheese is a popular – and very tasty – topping for gratin. And, although it’s a very famous Turkish cheese, it’s not widely known outside of the country that the northeastern city of Kars is famous for the production of Kars Gravyer Peynir.
This is a delicious gruyere and it will be used to crown our ıspanak graten.
The Bechamel Sauce
Because we’re making a spinach gratin, the bechamel sauce is going to be mixed into to the spinach.
Lots of people worry about making a bechamel but it’s really easy.
And, in fact, we’re going to be keeping our spinach mixture simmering over a medium heat and forming our sauce in the same pan.
Our butter is already there so we just add a couple of dessert spoonfuls of all purpose flour and stir that in before gradually adding milk.
We use full fat / whole milk for a more creamy spinach gratin.
Once your bechamel has thickened to a creamy consistency, you can pour the spinach mixture into your shallow casserole dish.
And then, when you’re ready to bake it, top it with your grated gravyer peynir (or gruyere cheese) and place it in the oven.
Once the topping is golden and your spinach gratin is bubbling away, you’re good to go – and it’s time to serve it up.
If you want to, as we’re doing a Turkish spinach gratin recipe, sprinkle a few hot chilli flakes (pul biber) over the top, before serving.
A simple recipe! A great dish!
Our Easy, Cheesy Spinach Gratin Recipe – Ispanak Graten
A yummy, comforting vegetarian recipe that makes a versatile side dish to complement lots of our other Turkish recipes.
What it might lack in aesthetics, it certainly makes up for in flavour!
Easy Spinach Gratin Recipe – Ispanak Graten
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- 700 grams spinach leaves (thoroughly washed & roughly chopped)
- 1 large onion (finely chopped)
- 100 grams gruyere cheese (grated)
- 60 grams parmesan cheese (finely grated)
- 300 millilitres milk (approximately)
- 30 grams butter (approximately)
- 30 grams plain (all purpose) flour (approximately)
- 2 teaspoons sweet paprika
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon hot chilli flakes (optional, to garnish)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- salt (to season)
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Fırst of all, set your oven to preheat to
200 °C. -
Meanwhile, over a medium heat, gently heat your olive oil in your large frying pan and add your chopped onion.
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After a few minutes, once your onion begins to soften, add your butter and allow to melt.
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Now start to load your chopped spinach leaves into the pan. Keep stirring them so that they begin to wilt and you can fit the rest of them in the pan.
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Stir them around for a few minutes and then cover the pan and reduce the heat to low so that your spinach leaves and onion and cook.
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Once you are happy that your spinach leaves are wilted and cooked – after around 5 minutes – remove the lid and add your seasoning, paprika and garlic powder and stir them in.
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Now sprinkle your flour into the pan and stir it in so that it soaks up your butter and oil.
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Increase the heat to medium and add your milk a splash at a time. Keep stirring so that your white sauce remains smooth and thickens as you go.
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Keep adding the milk, stirring as you go, until you are happy with the consistency.
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Now add your grated parmesan and stir that in before pouring your spinach mixture into your shallow casserole dish.
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If you are serving immediately, top the spinach mixture with your grated gruyere (gravyer peynir) and place in the oven to bake until bubbling and your cheese topping has melted (around 15 minutes).
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If you are making your spinach gratin recipe ahead, leave your spinach mixture to cool and store, covered, in the fridge for up to three days. When you are ready to eat it, top with grated cheese and bake in the oven at200 °C for 20-25 minutes until bubbling.
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Sprinkle hot chilli flakes over the top of your spinach gratin before serving, if you like.
- Nutritional information is intended as a rough guide only and is calculated by a 3rd party API. Please do your on due diligence if you have any special dietary requirements.
- Values will differ depending on your preferred weights and measures and ingredients.
- If you are using frozen spinach, make sure you squeeze the excess water from the leaves once they have defrosted/cooked. You don’t want a watery gratin!
- We used fresh spinach leaves which we thoroughly washed before drying them in a salad spinner.
- If you like, you can cook your spinach gratin in separate, smaller, individual ovenproof dishes rather than one large casserole dish. This can be a good idea for dinner parties so that everyone can have their own mini gratin. We used two of the dishes shown in our photos for our gratin so that we could eat one the following day.
Serving: 1Calories: 256kcalCarbohydrates: 14gProtein: 15gFat: 17gSaturated Fat: 9gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0.2gCholesterol: 42mgSodium: 431mgPotassium: 826mgFiber: 4gSugar: 4gVitamin A: 11814IUVitamin C: 35mgCalcium: 478mgIron: 4mg