Spinach Balls 17/325

Pat & Henry's Wedding

The Relation

Grand Pat, coming at you fast with another amazing recipe. Pat Gassmann was married to Henry Gassmann (George>Gert>Henry) and is my grandmother. I often find myself wondering how Grand Pat was so nice even after raising seven kids, six of them being boys. My dad sometimes talks about what they would get up to as kids and it sounds like pure anarchy. Nonetheless, Grand Pat persisted and the meanest thing I ever heard her say was that someone wasn't her "favorite" person.

The Process

Ooey-gooey goodness

So, after I made 3 recipes in one night for my Old Co-Workers, I said: "that wasn't that hard, let's do five!" Well, not actually. But I really needed to start tackling the appetizer section of the book so I figured I could do a bunch of small dishes. Spoiler alert: five recipes in one night is too much to do alone.

Okay, back to the balls. I first had these tasty treats at my Uncle Neal's (George>Gert>Henry> Neal) house for Thanksgiving last year. There was a whole debacle about cook time as 25 minutes did not seem sufficient. If I recall correctly, Neal had frozen them ahead of time (a smarter man than me) to bake the next day, so I think the freezing had added to their cook time. I want to say we ended up baking them for 35 or 40 minutes... I could be wrong.

Bird nests??

I bought two bags of frozen spinach and cooked them according to the instructions on the back. I assume that's what was meant by "thawed" but I could be wrong.

Alright, crushed herb croutons instead of the usual bread crumbs? Grand Pat, you are truly a genius. I threw all the croutons in a gallon baggie and started wailing on them with a large metal measuring cup. I suppose if you have a mallet, that would be preferable, but I did not. I continued pummeling until I had a breadcrumb-like consistency. There were definitely a few larger pieces that I could have crushed up more, but I was on a time crunch.

Ready to eat!

Once everything was mixed together, I started balling them up. Except, they didn't really retain their ball shape. One of my friends referred to them as bird nests, which is a pretty apt description, only they aren't supposed to be bird nests... Neal had them in these perfect little balls. I wonder if it has something to do with the freezing bit?

I made nowhere near 72 balls, but that was to be expected since Neal warned me. At most I think we got to 50, but I wasn't too strict on the "walnut-sized" criteria. College Friends Josh and Elizabeth assisted with balling/birdnesting. FYI, 25 minutes was perfect for these unfrozen batches.

The Feedback

Despite not being quite the shape I had imagined, the spinach balls were delightful. Definitely on the savory side, they are an app that builds up a thirst. College Friend approved for sure. They also taste pretty good as leftovers. I do think if I had gotten them small, they would have been crispier and have a nicer texture.

The Receipt

SPINACH BALLS - CC90
Pat Gassmann

2 packages chopped frozen spinach – thawed
2 cups crushed herb croutons
1 cup chopped onion
6 well-beaten eggs
¾ cup melted oleo
¾ Tbs or less pepper
1 Tbs salt
1 cup Parmesan cheese

Mix all of above and roll into balls about size of walnuts. These may be frozen. Bake approximately 25 minutes at 350°.

Makes about 72 balls.