Sautéed Spinach and Mushrooms

Sautéed Spinach and Mushrooms is an easy and savory side dish, excellent served with beef or chicken. 

We typically keep a 16 oz. container of greens in our fridge. More often than not, those greens are deployed in a tasty salad, like this Smoky Maple Greens and Cabbage Salad. But I do like to cook up a side with them sometimes, and this Sautéed Spinach and Mushrooms recipe is the latest example. Good news is the spinach and mushrooms dish doesn’t take much longer to cook than making a salad.

Sometimes I’ll simply sauté spinach with a bit of garlic and olive, making for a quick side. But sautéing spinach with mushrooms adds a depth of flavor that made it a good partner for the grilled steak we had. This also made the sautéed spinach and mushrooms a good partner for red wine–more on that to follow. Topping the dish off with a bit of cheddar also added some good savoriness to the recipe.

The method here starts with a basic approach to sautéing mushrooms, something I will often do to create a sauce to top meat or fish. I melt a little butter, then soften some shallots and garlic before adding the mushrooms. The mushrooms are first cooked until they “sweat”–that is, some of the moisture begins to visibly get cooked out of the mushroom. The mushrooms get finished by simmering in red wine and herbs. The spinach get added to wilt at the end of cooking, and you are ready to serve the sautéed spinach and mushrooms with your entree.

Wine Pairing 

OK, I don’t pair to the side dish per se. We had the Sautéed Spinach and Mushrooms with a bottle of 2013 Flora Springs Trilogy ($80), which I got as a courtesy sample from the Napa Valley winery. I picked this wine first and foremost to have with our grilled ribeye steak. If you are going to open a special bottle of wine like the Trilogy, you also want to have sides that will complement the wine. In other words, no steamed spinach please!

The Trilogy wine has a complex flavor profile with some blackberry and currant fruit, along with menthol and oak. The Trilogy is a pretty wine, with rose petals on the finish. It was great with the steak, as you might suspect, but also went along nicely with the spinach and mushrooms. The earthiness of the mushrooms and the cheddar cheese definitely make the side dish tie in nicely to the wine as well as the steak.

Now, the Trilogy is great but you don’t have to spend $80 to find a nice pairing for this recipe. Other good quality Cabs or Cab blends would also work here. Pinot Noir is also a good choice to pair with the mushrooms in the dish…you might consider plating this sautéed spinach and mushrooms along with roast chicken or turkey, and serving it with a Pinot. Cheers!

Sautéed Spinach and Mushrooms

Spinach and mushrooms sautéed with a bit of butter, shallots and herbs for an easy and tasty side dish.

• Author: Cooking Chat
• Prep Time: 5 mins
• Cook Time: 20 mins
• Total Time: 25 mins
• Yield: 3 servings 1x
• Category: Side dish
• Method: stove top
• Cuisine: American
• Diet: Vegetarian

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 1 tsbp butter
• 1 medium shallot, minced
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 10 ozs button mushrooms, sliced
• salt and pepper to taste
• ⅓ cup red wine
• ½ tsp dried sage
• ½ tsp thyme
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 4 cups baby spinach leaves
• 2 tbsp shredded cheddar cheese (optional)

Instructions

1. Melt the butter in a skillet on medium heat.
2. Add the shallots, cook until softened, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic, cook for 1 minute more.
3. Stir in the mushrooms, add salt and pepper to taste. Cook until they begin to sweat, about 5 minutes.
4. Stir in the red wine, thyme and sage. Cook until the wine is mostly absorbed, about 3 to 4 minutes.
5. Add the olive oil, then gradually stir in the spinach. Sauté for a few minutes until the spinach has wilted.
6. Plate the sautéed spinach and mushrooms, sprinkling a bit of the optional cheese on top if using.

Keywords: spinach, sautéed spinach, side dishes, vegetable sides

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