It occurred to me after perfecting my recipe for Indian Saag that ordinary creamed spinach would probably be easy in comparison. Why would I need regular creamed spinach if I were enjoying my saag? Well, certain folks and certain occasions in my life call for non-Indian food. I can’t exactly bring Indian Saag to Thanksgiving dinner, and most of my family members are afraid of Indian food, so a recipe for creamed spinach comes in handy. After trying a few versions that I found relatively bland, I did punch this recipe up with a few spices, but only enough to give it a hint of flavor:

SARAH’S CREAMED SPINACH

Melt butter in a medium to large saucepan. Saute garlic and onion in butter until softened. Add spinach, broccoli, cream, mustard, spices and cream cheese. Cover and simmer on low temperature, stirring often to integrate cheese as it melts. Use an immersion blender or food processor to chop if a finer texture is desired. Stir in about half the white cheese, letting it melt into the hot spinach. Use remaining shredded cheese to garnish while serving.

Now, I love anything with sun-dried tomatoes, but it’s troublesome and expensive to keep sun-dried tomatoes on hand. As a result I make dried tomatoes in the oven. It takes some foresight, but I find these are just ask tasty as sun-dried from the store:

OVEN-DRIED TOMATOES

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Cover a shallow container (roughly just large enough to fit the tomatoes spread out in a thick layer) with tin foil, leaving enough of a flap to cover. Drizzle tomatoes with oil and spread evenly in the pan. Cover lightly with foil flap. Allow to dry for several hours; check about once an hour to see if they have reached desired dryness. If the tomatoes at the edges are getting a little crisp when you check on them, while the ones in the center are still plump, stir them all up before putting them back in.

So, once you have created for yourself a supply of dried tomatoes, be they from the sun, the oven, the store, or of your own making, you are ready to begin the Dried Tomato Mac & Cheese. When I make Mac & Cheese, it’s very much an “eye-it-up” approach, so I’m not going to give exact measurements here. It’s up to you to wing it and add items to taste:

OVEN-DRIED TOMATO MAC & CHEESE

Cook the pasta as desired. The servings of pasta will fundamentally be the determining factor of how much this recipe yields, so boil accordingly. Meanwhile, saute the garlic and onions in butter (or oil) over medium to low heat in a saucepan until onions are soft. By now, the pasta should be done, so drain it. Take the saucepan of onions, garlic and butter off the fire and add pasta to the saucepan. Toss to coat. Add your pepper and dried tomatoes (again, as many or few as you like, cut up as finely as you like; my only advice is to drain them if they are packed in oil). Spoon in cold sour cream. Stir it in to the pasta mixture. Add more and stir again until you’ve added enough to coat the contents thinly. At this point, add the shredded cheese and turn the burner on again, setting it to low. As you stir in the cheese (again, to taste, and depending on the amount of pasta, you need to eye it up) it should begin to melt slowly. Melting slowly is a good thing. Don’t leave the pan unattended at this point. Stir often and add a splash of milk here and there if the sauce seems too thick. Once the cheese has just melted into the sauce, it’s ready to serve!