Beef / Pork

Julia Child's Spinach Turnover takes several minutes to prepare.

Julia Child's Spinach Turnover takes several minutes to cook.

Julia Child's Spinach Turnover makes 6 servings.

The ingredients for Julia Child's Spinach Turnover are:

Pastry for 2 - 9? crusts, (unbleached pastry flour)
9 oz. fresh spinach, washed (Yield 2 cups blanched, drained- squeezed dry, chopped)

4 oz. fresh white small mushrooms, quartered
? cup diced (3/8?) ham
1 Tbsp. butter

Sauce Bouill?e:
1 medium onion, diced (1 cup)
? cup butter
? cup flour
1 2/3 cup hot milk
1 egg
Salt & pepper to taste
Pinch of nutmeg

2 eggs, 1 separated
1 tsp. water

For Cream Sauce:
Remaining Sauce Bouill?e
? cup or more cream or milk
Salt & pepper to taste
1/3 cup shredded Gruy?re cheese

Wash spinach well and plunge into a large kettle of boiling water for about 2 minutes, then immediately shock it in cold water. Drain well, squeeze dry and chop. Reserve 2 cups in the kettle.

Wipe mushrooms with clean damp rag. Quarter mushrooms and saut? with diced ham in 1 Tbsp. butter, set aside.

In a heavy bottomed 2 qt. sauce pan, ("We don't like soggy bottoms in pastry or scorched bottoms in sauces." ), saut? onion over low heat in 1/4 cup butter until translucent. Put half the onion in the kettle with the spinach.

For Sauce Bouill?e:
Add the flour to the remaining onion and cook the roux over medium heat, stirring constantly with a whisk. Whisk in the hot milk a little at a time. This sauce is going to be THICK, like paste. Take the pan off the heat and beat in an egg. Salt and pepper to taste and add a pinch of nutmeg. ("You don't ever want someone to taste something and say, 'Oh: nutmeg.'") Put about a ? cup of the sauce in with the spinach.

For Cream Sauce:
Stir ? cup or more of milk or cream into remaining Sauce Bouill?e until it is thinned to a sauce consistency. ("I'm using cream but I suppose you can use milk if you're on one of those hideous diets.") Simmer slowly, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to finish cooking the flour. Remove from heat. Salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with cheese, to let it melt and keep a skin from forming. Set aside. When ready to serve, warm it over low heat and stir in the cheese.

To assemble the pastry:
Preheat oven to 400?F.
Roll the dough into a 10? by 15? rectangle, ?? thick. Trim the edges so that it is even and square, saving cut scraps. Lay the dough 2/3 over parchment or wax paper, to simplify rolling over the top. Paint the pastry with egg yolk beaten with 1 tsp. of water.

Spread half the spinach mixture on the lower 1/3 of the pastry that is NOT on the paper, keeping a 1/2? edge bare for sealing. Place mushrooms and ham on top. Spread remaining spinach over ham and mushrooms.

Grabbing the paper, fold the pastry up and over. Seal the edges with fingers, then press with tines of fork.

Place on greased baking sheet. Cut pastry scraps into strips. Paint turnover with an egg glaze of 1 egg beaten with 1 tsp. water. Decorate with strips, laying them on a diagonal. Trim edges that hang over. Glaze again. Press cross hatch designs all over with a fork.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until nicely browned and crisp.

Slide it onto a board to cut diagonally and serve with the warmed Cream Sauce.

This can be made ahead of time, without glazing, and refrigerated. Glaze just before baking. If baking cold, it will need a little more baking time.

Here is how you make Julia Child's Spinach Turnover:

Serving Size: 6 servingsNumber of Servings: 6Recipe submitted by SparkPeople user RDYER9.

The nutritional information for Julia Child's Spinach Turnover is:

• Servings Per Recipe: 6
• Amount Per Serving
• Calories: 528.3

• Total Fat: 32.5 g
• Cholesterol: 149.8 mg
• Sodium: 632.3 mg
• Total Carbs: 48.5 g
• Dietary Fiber: 1.9 g
• Protein: 15.7 g